Who Builds Cake In Their Pipes?

[samcoffeeman]

I like a nice cake. I feel like a nice cake not only protects the wood but also helps suck up any moisture and keeps an even temperature in the bowl. Just a supposition but my more heavily caked pipes seem to smoke more evenly.

 

[pinem]

Not sure if this question would derail the discussion, but when one talks of cake, are we talking about pure carbon? Do some people leave the tiny particles of burnt tobacco that are stuck to the side of the bowl, such that the resulting cake appears texured? I have been scraping the sides of the bowl smooth with wooden golf tee after each smoke, and then rub ash into any sticky spots, and it doesn't appear that cake builds up fast at all. I have never been able to clean a bowl sufficiently with just towels or pipe cleaners.

 

[pappymac]

I have minimal cake in all my pipes and don't let it get too thick (too thick being a measure of personal preference). I dedicate all my pipes to tobacco though I have found I enjoy aros in the smaller bowl pipes and generally only use them for aros.

 

[averagegent]

A prefer a thin, even cake... Though that doesn't always work for me because I tend to enjoy half bowls in the morning!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

o did someone suggest this method to you or did you just come by it yourselves?

I just found that a thick dime+ thick cake detracted from my being able to taste the tobacco, plus it disrupts the amount of tobacco. And, it gives a false sense of security in that you can puff too hand burning your tongue and affecting the flavor... for me. No, I do not worry that I will burn the bowl, because I am not puffing too hard at all in the first place.

On another thread I had mentioned that I suggested that newbies might try smoking a clay pipe instead of one of the corncobs or thicker pipes mentioned, to learn from the start how to keep the fire burning cool to gain the most from the smoking experience. Thicker pipes give you the sense that you can draw harder, smoke hotter. But, if you learn to smoke slowly, breath smoking very slowly, all of this cake talk becomes moot. Ironically, I find that smoking slowly actually forms cake faster, so thus the need to remove it more often.

 

[cossackjack]

Nope, no cake. Clean the bowl with a U-shaped pipe cleaner, sometimes followed by a dry paper towel wipe, then lightly burnish the carbon layer with the back of the Czech pipe tool spoon. Deeper cleaning every 1-2 weeks with alcohol dipped pipe cleaners & shank brushes. I don't like stale pipes.