Pipe smoking myths about cleaning

[Ozark Wizard]

I figure a pipe cleaner after every smoke, and if the bottom of the bowl looks moist I'll mop it with a folded paper towel. Never thought of Q-tips. Hmmm

 

[monbla256]

I figure a pipe cleaner after every smoke, and if the bottom of the bowl looks moist I'll mop it with a folded paper towel. Never thought of Q-tips. Hmmm

If you smoke a blend/mixture that leaves a moist dottle the Q-tips will leave fibers at the bottom of the bowl and they don't taste good if you smoke a blend to the very bottom !! I'd stick with regular pipe clnrs either standard thickness or fluffy as they usually don't do this !! :twisted: :twisted:

 

[Dutch]

I figure a pipe cleaner after every smoke, and if the bottom of the bowl looks moist I'll mop it with a folded paper towel. Never thought of Q-tips. Hmmm

If you smoke a blend/mixture that leaves a moist dottle the Q-tips will leave fibers at the bottom of the bowl and they don't taste good if you smoke a blend to the very bottom !! I'd stick with regular pipe clnrs either standard thickness or fluffy as they usually don't do this !! :twisted: :twisted:

Michael, the way I prevent the fibers from staying inside the bowl, is to twist the q-tip between my fingers in the same direction it was spun at the factory. If you twist in the wrong direction, it will be apparent rather quickly. Once the cotton is nice and tightly wound, I use it to rake out the ash after each smoke.

I use the same twisting motion before I dip them in alcohol when giving my pipes a proper cleaning. In my experience, the only time there is anything for the cotton to snag on, is when I pipe is brand new and the wood is rough from tooling marks.. Once a cake starts to build, the rough spots in the briar start to fill in with cake. After a few twists with my Reem Kleen, it slicks the cake up nicely, and it's simply a matter of swabbing the bowl with a q-tip until I get a relatively clean q-tip. That's one reason I like q-tips, is you can see when they cease to turn black, so you know you have pulled out just about all the residue from your bowls.

As for fuzzies, I use BJ Long pipe cleaners, and I have more issues with loose fuzzies on my pipe cleaners than I do on my q-tips. Seems I am always picking loose fuzzies off of these BJ Long pipe cleaners. If I do ever end up with any cotton down inside the bowl, I use a small pair of needle nose tweezers to extract the stinker.

 

[user 3779]

My smoking amount fluctuates depending on a number of factors, time, if I have new tobacco I want to try, and so on. Currently I smoke about 5-6 bowls a day. I use a different pipe everyday and 1-2 of the bowls smoked goes in a meer which gets used everyday. Every bowl smoked, I let cool before removing the ash/dottle left, I do run a dry pipe cleaner through the stem. Then give the bowl a light scrape with a pipe nail, just enough to knock any loose stuff off the side. Then I let them sit empty and wait for the next smoke. They get about 5-7 days of rest in between the next use. I don't dedicate pipes so much as use them for common blends, and avoid putting specific tobaccos in certain ones.

Question on saturation, since a meer colors when the tars etc. pass through the wall to the outside, it makes sense to say this material is porous as well. Waxing these is common practice, to protect the outside and color them faster. It would make sense to me that this would also have a saturation point, and yet there are meers past down 2-3 generations that are completely black and still regarded as good smokers. I am mainly wondering if the saturation of a briar is something to be aware of, or is it possible the external finish is really causing the problem, being too good of a seal and not allowing the pipe to breathe properly.

 

[joshoowah]

Lately, I've been smoking 1-2 bowls per day. The way I "clean" my pipes is using a paper towel to clean the bowl of debris. I'll then take a bristled cleaner and rotate it around the inside of the bowl to make sure it is an even cake. Then, I run a cleaner from stem to bowl. When it is cooled down, I'll remove the stem to make sure there is no gunk build-up in the mortis, or stem for that matter. Fold the pipe cleaner in half and run it through the mortise a couple of times. Lastly, I leave the stem detached from the pipe for bit before reinserting and putting the pipe away. I, also, use a soft cloth to wipe the rim of the bowl. All of this takes 3-4 minutes most of the time.

I rarely, if ever, use any alcohol on my briar, but I never feel the need to either. I like my pipes shiny, but I've never had to do much to keep them that way.

 

[DWT]

I treat a pipe like a gun. If you want it to work reliably, keep it clean.

 

[pipetrepid]

at the end of a smoke i loosen the tobacco, put my thumb over the bowl and shake(shaken not stirred?). i then place a cleaner in the pipe for a while. then, remove the cleaner and let it stay overnight. next day tobacco out of bowl and run a cleaner with a touch of alcohol through. last thing, soft cloth and wipe dowm bowl and stem, bill

 

[Thomas Tkach]

at the end of a smoke i loosen the tobacco, put my thumb over the bowl and shake(shaken not stirred?). i then place a cleaner in the pipe for a while. then, remove the cleaner and let it stay overnight. next day  tobacco out of bowl and run a cleaner with a touch of alcohol through. last thing, soft cloth and wipe dowm bowl and stem, bill

I only do the shaky thing when building cake in a new pipe. After it gets started, wiping out the ash with a paper towel or bent over cleaner helps to keep it from getting thick enough for a reaming too often.