Advice on Reamers

sparrowhawk · Jan 19, 2014

I'm about to get a reaming tool, but after using a $5 reamer that fell apart in a half hour, thought I might ask you gentlemen for advice. Is the McBarren tool a durable reamer? Any suggestions, with places to buy them, on other reamers, style and type? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

ravkesef · Jan 19, 2014

First and best advice: don't overdo it. As to the type of reamer, I have two: a Senior reamer, and a Butner. However, I briskly wipe down my pipes with a pipe cleaner after every smoke, so cake builds up very slowly, and only seldom have a need to ream at all.

petes03 · Jan 19, 2014

Hey Sparrow,

I have a Senior Reamer, it does a good job, but you have to go slow. If you expand the blades to quickly on it, it can bind up with you and gouge the walls of your pipe. That being said, any reamer has the potential to do that. I give the Senior pretty high marks.

patiobum · Jan 19, 2014

After breaking a cheapo reamer, I bought a Deluxe Senior box set from Mars Cigars site. He also lists the reamer only without the accessory tools.
The reamer is a must if you are into buying estate pipes. As Eric said " don't overdo it"

mso489 · Jan 19, 2014

As another erstwhile senior member and I used to regularly point out, if you have a few pipes,

and scoop, wipe, and clean them after each smoke, reamers are unnecessary for many smokers.

I've been smoking a pipe, on and off, for over forty years, and I don't own one, and my pipes

are not besieged with cake. It is easy to ruin or mar a pipe with a reamer, but if you own one,

you feel compelled to use it. If you can, live without a reamer. Your pipes will do fine, in most

cases. Also, don't let anyone else but a professional pipe repairman ream your pipes.

tbradsim1 · Jan 19, 2014

Be Careful with the Senior comeing out the hole( did that sound right) LOL serious now, you can overream the top inside lip.make sure you ream evenly 12 o'clock, 3, 6,9, you get the picture.

gmwolford · Jan 19, 2014

Personally, I prefer the Castleford reamer: t-handle with four different size bits that'll fit about all situations/bowls.

yazamitaz · Jan 19, 2014

I saw this on another thread somewhere and decided to try it. It actually works better than I thought, and you can't beat the price. I haven't seemed to do any damage with it.
Plumber's Brush

ssjones · Jan 19, 2014

Good advice from C&D. Cut once, measure twice works when reaming pipes. I rarely use my reamers, but like Greg, I prefer the Castleford set. I can get a much more straight angle into the pipe bowl with the t-handle (critical!) and the four inserts work 90% of the time. I also have Senor reamer, but the angle of those adjustable blades rarely match the shape of my bowl. With the Senor, it is very easy to have the wrong angle, which is an irreversible error. I do the paper towel bowl wipe after every smoke, which pretty much eliminates the need for a reamer. Using the reamer is reserved for restoring estate pipes I've purchased. I like to get those bowls pretty close back to the wood.

ravkesef · Jan 19, 2014

OK Sparrowhawk--you've seen the brethren weigh in.

To sum it up--

1. if you clean your pipes properly after smoking them, you will seldom have the need to ream them.

2. If it should happen that cake builds up and reaming becomes a necessity, don't go the cheap route--it has a strong potential of ruining a good pipe.

Recommendations are:

a. Senior--but be careful--this is a powerful tool

b. Brebbia

c. Castleford

d. Butner type, if you can control it

d. I've never tried the Plumbers Brush, but Yazamitaz always knows what he's talking about.

3. If you have a collectible, and you don't think you have the skill to ream perfectly (--yes--Perfectly!!!) send it out to a professional.
Hope this info is helpful.

taerin · Jan 19, 2014

Senior reamer is great, I've used it a few times in restoring pipes and I've never damaged a pipe with it, but then I've never reamed to bear wood either, just to the point where it was almost showing. I really love this reamer a lot and I feel any beginner should be able to use it easily as long as they are careful with the tension control. You don't have to be super careful (so don't be afraid), but you can't be manhandling it either. I use a butter knife to remove the bottom cake, which works well but is very very very slow going. If someone has a good method for the bottom, I'd appreciate it, I generally only give it a very light ream and move on because it's so hard to get at and my preference is to always have cake, never to ream everything. It's better for the pipe and requires no break-in period. Any ghosts can just be smoked out.

bryanf · Jan 19, 2014

Whittling is a hobby of mine, so I'm pretty decent with a pocket knife. I have to ream close to 1/10 inch of cake every few weeks, and I just use a very sharp knife with the tip rounded off. I go little by little and carve off the cake. Seems pretty easy to me but probably not a good idea is you're not handy with knives, but what's nice is if the cake is out of round, you can fix that.

sparrowhawk · Jan 19, 2014

As always, gentlemen, thank you for your sage advice. I believe I have enough information on not only what reamer to get, but how to use them and even prevent their use or at least minimize it. Much thanks!

ssjones · Jan 19, 2014

My major gripe with the Senor is that it doesn't fit the bottom of the bowl very well, this is where I like the uniformly shaped Castleford bits.

taerin · Jan 20, 2014

Castleford looks nice, better off reaming the bottom with your tongue than using the Senior for sure

lonestar · Jan 20, 2014

I have to go with the Castleford vote, though I actually use the Pip-net one Sam mentioned. I have lots of reamers, Senior, Buttner and several others. None of them come close to the T handle Pip-net for quality, ease of use and doing a heck of a job in no time at all.

sablebrush52 · Jan 20, 2014

I have a senior reamer, the Pip-Net set, several Danish made steel reamers, and a Buttner. I threw out the Castleford, which is a cheap Chinese knock off of the Pip-Net and of much worse quality, when I found that it had gouged the wall of a pipe because it had a metal burr coming off one of the blades. In other words, crappy manufacturing. The Butner is useful for conical chamber shapes, which none of the other reamers handle as well.
The senior reamer does a good job, as do the Pip-Net reamers. But none of them will handle a wide pot bowl. Also useful is emery paper wrapped around a shaped dowel.
Whatever tool you use, go slowly and gently. Visually check your progress often. When in doubt, don't do it yourself, send it out.

Advice on Reamers

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