Cleaning Your Pipe After A Smoke

You don't need to be that vigilant, but it certainly nice that you are. One thing I would advise: don't try and remove the stem from the pipe while it is still hot. Let it cool for an hour, and then clean it out. Many a stem has left the tenon behind in the mortise, or cracked the shank itself from trying to remove it while the pipe was still hot. You can (and should) run a pipe cleaner through the pipe when you're finished smoking it. This will pick up any liquid, and or dirt that really should be cleaned out after each smoke. Then you can let your pipe sit and enjoy a well-earned rest. Every so often – i.e. 10 to 15 smokes – you should clean out your pipe using either grain alcohol or one of the commercial pipe cleaning liquids. This will remove accumulated tars, and ensure that your pipe continues to deliver a clean, sweet smoke.

Occasionally, I am slack on cleaning my last pipe of the day. But, I also keep a jar of alcohol by my smoking chair to give it a thorough cleaning when I do get slack. I find that just running a dry cleaner through a cold pipe doesn't really clean it very well, and letting the moisture set in the pipe, is a sure fire way to get a sour smelling pipe. I prefer to break it down while it warm and give it a thorough cleaning. (some will suggest you wait till it's cool to remove the stem, YMMV).

I've left one overnight a few times with no harm that I know of. Usually I twist a paper towel in the bowl, remove and do the same again with the other side of the paper towel. And then run a couple pipe cleaners (sometimes more) down the stem and give it a couple pushes and twists until it comes out clean. However I only remove the stem when cool, perhaps the next day. I learned early on that removing the stem when still warm could snap your tennon. And perhaps even crack the shank.

I keep the pipe cleaner in the pipe from bowl to button, then pull it the next morning. I usually clean the pipe properly and let it rest for a day or two.

Sunday afternoon or evening is when the pipes smoked during the week get cleaned.

Some of the estates that I've bought have been sitting for decades before I cleaned them, and they're still great smokes. I'm not advocating that you be lax, but the reality is that letting your pipe sit overnight, now and then, isn't going to cause any permanent harm. The important thing is to keep your pipes clean over the long term. They will last longer and smoke sweeter.
Which reminds me that I've got some cleaning to do!

After I finish a pipe, I run a pipe cleaner from button-to-bowl and leave it in until the next morning.
Before I leave for work in the morning, I carefully remove the the stem from the brier shank and remove the pipe cleaner so that the clean end passes through the button so not to befoul the stem. I run a paper towel or cloth patch around the bowl to clean out any remaining ungood byproducts. I cut the nasty part off the pipe cleaner, double the pipe cleaner over and use it to clean out the brier shank using a small nose pliers.
Carefully replace the stem onto the shank, blowing through the button to clear any residual fuzz an errant pipe cleaner might have left behind, and rest the pipe for the day (or more).
I alcohol clean a few times a year only, on a rainy day when there is nothing else or better to do.
[repeated from another post because both posts are same-same.]

Everyone has their cleaning method and I'll never bad mouth a one. But after smoking for 42 years here's what works for me, and is the least destructive to my pipes.... On all my pipes, run a pipe cleaner down the tube after smoking. Bend it in half and rub the bowl to remove ash. No, this won't bother your carbon cake you're trying to build in a brier or cob. Most believe the ash is the carbon you're trying to build up, but it's not. The cake was carbonized on the inside of the bowl by the extreme heat you produced while smoking. Just smoke your pipe and it'll work itself out. On a brier or cob, I take them apart after they cool for cleaning. I may do this after one smoke, or after 6 or 8. Depends on the pipe and what I'm doing. You have to get to know your pipes and see for yourself. Don't get me wrong... a pipe cleaner or two down the shaft after every smoke, but dis assembly depends....

On a meerschaum, I also run a pipe cleaner in after each smoke. But I don't take them apart for months....! Again, don't get me wrong. I have OCD and like things nice and neat. But you don't need to disassemble meerschaums often at all.

I smoke 15 to 20 bowls a day and stick to this method..... Do yourself a favor in the long term , don't take your pipe apart to often.

I was told by one guy that you can actually "over clean" your pipe. Cleaning it after each smoke or session wears it down, especially in the airway entrance at the bottom of the bowl. I tried this because when I first started smoking, I religiously cleaned my pipe after each session (usually 2-3 bowls worth). After experimenting with his suggestion, I found my pipes actually tasted a little better. Now, I clean every 2-3 sessions, unless I notice a large amount of moisture, usually noted by the gurgling. Seems to cake better.

I was told by one guy that you can actually "over clean" your pipe. Cleaning it after each smoke or session wears it down, especially in the airway entrance at the bottom of the bowl.

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In 40 years of pipe smoking, I've never known that to happen. A pipe cleaner is pretty soft compared to briar wood.

All that fluffy pipe-cleaner cotton is wrapped around a pretty sharp and unforgiving metal wire, so I can see how "overcleaning" could eventually scratch a groove into the bottom of a bowl or into the airway of a bent stem. I'm extra careful when I clean my meerschaum precisely for this reason. However, if the members of this forum who have multiple decades of pipe-smoking experience haven't seen a pipe worn out by overcleaning, then it must be pretty rare.

sometimes I dont clean a pipe right away. I usually run a pipe cleaner through it after every smoke but I never take the stem out when the pipe is still warm. I usually do a good cleaning of all my pipes about once a month.

I treat my pipes the same as TopD, with an occasional lapse.
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