Bent Pipe Cleaning

None of my bent pipes (I only have 3 bents) will pass a cleaner thru to the bowl, either. Make sure to let the pipe cool before pulling the stem or you could crack it. Been there, done that. After cooling, pull the stem and clean.
Harris (cigarmaster) mentioned doubling a pipe cleaner to clean the draw hole. I've been doing that for a couple months now, and it works really well!

It would be wise to leave the stem attached if you're going to run pipe cleaners through right after a smoke. Military banded pipes are good for easy disassembly and cleaning after use.

You can take the stems out of your pipes as many times as you want throughout their lifetime, as long as you let the pipe cool for an hour + before doing so.

I always remove the stems for cleaning, once the pipe is cool of course. I've heard of people saying that you should only remove the stem every now and again as over time the fit will become loose. If this is the case, how do manufacturers with filtered pipes manage? You absolutly have to remove the stem to dispose / dry the filter. Do these pipes have a shorter life expectancy? I don't think so.

The majority of bent pipes don't pass a cleaner, because the draft hole is at a different angle than the tenon, to give the illusion of a bend from looking at how the pipes bends from the outside. I take mine apart multiple times, even while smoking. I have yet to figure out exactly what it is that is supposed to happen if one does take a hot pipe apart. The materials expand, and the contract. Different materials do this at different rates, but all in all the mass stays the same. So, what's the danger? Maybe if one cannot take the stem out without rocking it or crimping the tenon, this would cause a problem if the material were softer from being warm, but many of the things that I hear in the pipe world seem to come from some sort of voodoo superstitious world, without anyone being able to explain the physics of the issue.
Of course I will concede on this if someone can better explain the hot pipe stem phenomena to me. :D

cosmic, I am also skeptical of the hot pipe stem removal boogieman.
Most of my pipes are straight, or slightly bent.

The one bent pipe that I own doesn't pass a pipe cleaner easily.

I find that if I give the stem a 180 degree turn (making the pipe "c" shaped rather than "s" shaped), the pipe cleaner can make the turn and get to the bowl.

This allows me to sop up any moisture in the shank and bottom of the bowl mid-smoke, without having to remove the stem.

That's why I like my bents to have military mounts, like the Peterson Kildare line from SP. That way you can safely remove the stem at any point to mop up the well. But of my 60+ pipes, I only have four full bents. Much prefer straights or quarter bents. By the way, my Ashton full bents all pass a cleaner through, so there's no reason why a bent can't be engineered properly.

It really depends on the design of the bend. The more exaggerated the bend the better the draft come under the chamber, leaving little dottle at the finish of the smoked bowl. I have several Nording Valhalla full bends that pass a cleaner, but the draft meets the chamber from the side, leaving a well below the draft. Those always leave dottle. But My Savinelli and a couple of Indie made pipes (well made pipes) have perfect draft to chamber meets, but they are so pinched at the tenon, that they don't pass a cleaner. Boles are well made, IMO, just different.
BTW - Why do you not remove a hot stem, Kashmir? What is it that you are afraid will happen?

I'm not a big believer in this one myself. Given a choice, I'd probably prefer letting it cool to room temp...What you don't ever want to do is smoke a pipe, pull the stem, and leave it apart overnight....

Heresy! If you pull a stem out of a hot pipe ... well, I've never done it. Presumably, from hearsay I might add, a clap of thunder ensues, triggering a 1.6 degree tilt of the earth's axis.

When I asked my tobacconist about this, (He's a fairly well known pipemaker too) he just shrugged and said that he didn't know why. He'd just always heard... I've had loose tenon fits on one day. Smoked it once, and it fit just fine the next. I think that sometimes they fit tighter when warm because of wax inside the join heats up, and when it cools it soaks back into the wood, just a hypothesis.

For the sake of science I will have to try this. LOL. I may have to smoke a big bowl tonight and leave them apart all night to see, but I can't imagine why they wouldn't go back together just fine. Once cool, they should just return to their proper size when they both reach the same temperature.

LOL, Kashmir! Knock on briar...

cosmic,
Materials change dimension when heated. Wood (and, I would assume, briar) doesn't change dimension much with heating or cooling: it changes more as it absorbs and loses moisture, which might also come into play when smoking a pipe. Vulcanite (and other stem materials) will expand when heated (but not so much when exposed to moisture.) So, a tenon that fits nicely at room temperature in a dry pipe might be snug when you are smoking your pipe. With the tighter fit, there might be some risk of cracking the stem.
That is the basic physics underlying the myth about removing a stem from a warm pipe. Is it enough to worry about? I guess it depends on your pipes and your tolerance for risk and a host of other variables. I'll confess, I've removed a stem from a warm pipe with no problems. Which is not to say that it won't crack the stem the next time.

I understand the general principle behind the idea. But general mass will not have changed once they are both back to the same temperature. It's funny that with 35 years of jewelry repair work, repairing eyeglasses, rings with every sort of stone, gold, silver, diamonds, bakelite, acrylic, rubber, plaster, bone, wood, etc... We take the effects of more extreme heat on different materials very seriously, but I've never heard of anyone in my industry worrying about different materials when heated, steamed, or cooled, affecting things to the effect that pipe smokers do.
Ha ha, but mainly I don't like to take my pipe apart in public because it looks amateurish, like when I get backlash when fishing with friends and I have to take the reel apart. It just doesn't look cool 8)

True, but a good pipe is far more precious than gold or diamonds!

With that, sir, I cannot argue, ha ha!! :D

Heresy! If you pull a stem out of a hot pipe ... well, I've never done it. Presumably, from hearsay I might add, a clap of thunder ensues, triggering a 1.6 degree tilt of the earth's axis.

Click to expand...

Remember Katrina?
Removing the stem is the only way I know to get the shank good and clean.

Well crap! There's always that one guy who steps on a crack and gets home to find his mother had a back injury Sorry about your pipe.

The underlying physics suggests a possible mechanism. On top of that, many of us have one or two pipes where the fit is somewhat loose and notice that it does tighten up when smoking. Whether from heat, or moisture, we can't really say. Probably some combination of both. But, enough observation to indicate that the effect might be real. What we cannot, so far, determine is whether these small, but non-zero, dimensional changes significantly affect the damage rate when taking apart and reassembling a warm pipe.
I am willing to run the tests and collect and analyze the data. Because the cracking of a shank is a somewhat rare event, I would need to do many, many trials of both cold and warm pipes. Of course, I don't have enough pipes pipes for statistically meaningful results, so everyone here gets to contribute by sending me a pipe. Preferably a Dunhill or a Castello, but pre-Cadogan era Comoy's (especially Blue Riband's) would also be acceptable. Basket pipes, because they are lower grade briar, might be exceptionally prone to cracking and that would skew the data, so you understand the need to stick to quality briar. For the sake of good science.
I'll disassemble and reassemble all of them while cold and note the failure rate. Then, I'll smoke each pipe and, while it is warm, disassemble and reassemble and note the failure rate. Depending on the results, I may have to smoke these pipes many times, so those who can't send a pipe can contribute by sending some tobacco, for the sake of science. (I am partial to Early Morning Pipe, Black Shag, and Frog Morton). Finally, I'll run some statistics to figure out if the difference is significant and report back to the community.
Yes, that's the kind of guy I am: willing to sacrifice for science and for the betterment of pipe smokers everywhere. I'll watch my mail delivery every day in anticipation of everyone sending a pipe (or some tobacco).
BTW, I'm sure all will understand that the postage to return all of these pipes would be prohibitive, so you'll just have to consider these donations to science and the greater good.