I have a Comoys Christmas 1986 that I bought with a bunch of pipes I was wondering if I'm planning on smoking the pipe should I completely clean the cake out of the bowl or leave it in their ?
Clean it ... if it were mine and I were serious about it, I'd send it to Mike at Walker Briar Works ... he could make that pipe as good as the day it was new ...
I would say clean it as well, esp if the cake is thick, probably best to ream it.
If it's very thin, you may be able to get away with a salt & alcohol treatment to remove any nasty taste.