Hand Polished Briar

I used to regularly recommend hand-polishing pipes after each smoking session, or day of smoking if you

are having several bowls in one pipe during a day. I think it is easier on pipes, and allows you to attend to

each surface and area, curves and grooves, and brings them to a nice bright polish without striping off too

much wax or finish. It just seems a more natural and humane way to keep pipes bright but still let them

develop a good patina over the years. Personal attention. Let me say, after about a dozen posts on that,

in various contexts, I didn't hear an echo or a murmur, so I figured people weren't charmed with the idea.

But it's still what I do and prefer. I think a cotton cloth does fine, and something like a bandana with a little

fabric sizing in it to make it stiffer (from newness) gives the slightest abrasive quality and cleans up a pipe

nicely. Especially if you are mobile and on the move in the military, this seems like a practical approach.

Now I will descend again into the deep vortex of silence on the subject. It works but it's not wildly popular.

Pip use this, portable, under 50$ and does a fantastic job.

Of course you can hand polish your pipes, it does no harm. I always have a microfiber cloth at my desk, and do it before each smoke out of habit. If you are going to get more serious, keeping some Paragon and Halcyon wax handy will do the job very well. Speaking of shoes, I know quite a few guys who use a soft shoe brush to put a shine on sandblasted pipes. Easy, peesy.

mso489, I follow the same post-smoke practices - you are not alone.

If your pipes are in reasonable shape you don´t need a bench buffer. Bench buffers are quicker and that´s why professional pipe refurbishers use them. There are several products on the market for keeping your pipe clean and shiny. I would suggest a soft cloth, maybe a fine microfiber cloth or soft cotton and pipe wax in liquid form for it. Apply the wax (that should clean your pipe as well) with one cloth and use another one for polishing. Rusticated or sandblasted pipes should polish up nicely with a shoebrush indeed! I have read about some guys even using shoe polish on their pipes but I wouldn´t do that because of the smell and the fact that it might stain your clothes.

Another option for hand polishing is Renaissance micro-crystalline wax developed by the British Museum. Very good stuff with a very durable finish.

LIL here. It is possible to get the briar wood smooth without powered buffing, and I've done it. You just have to work up through a lot of grits, and you can go as high as 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper. I usually stop at about 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper, though, as the wax on top of that will make the wood feel very smooth. You really do need a powered wheel to apply carnauba wax, but you can use softer waxes if you like.
The difficulty really comes when trying to shine up a stem. A buffing wheel can do in five minutes what it would take you hours to do by hand. You can mount a buffing wheel on just about any tool that spins, though, so as you've seen above, you have a lot of options.

I just use these.
http://www.smokingpipes.com/accessories/pipe-supplies/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=100766

I'm not a big fan of using buffers on pipes, except for the initial manufacturing stage, or the very occasional - as in almost never - touch up. I always hand polish. I'll use a soft cloth after smoking a pipe to restore the shine that it already had, and a bit of spit on a cloth to remove the build up on the rim.
Once or twice a year I'll apply either Halcyon or Paragon wax by hand to renew the wax after cleaning the surface. I also apply these products to the stem as well to retard oxidation. And I even rub out the polish in my hands to get a high gloss. So I guess you could say that my pipes are really hand polished!

I'm not a big fan of using buffers

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I don't have one because I don't trust myself using one. After a initial scrubbing and waxing of estates that need it I use a Dunhill polishing cloth with an occasional rub of the warm pipe on the side of my nose keeps them with a nice natural shine. 8O

Nose oil! Me too!

Members of our pioe club regularly use an old sock or old cotton t-shirt and olive oil to polish their pipes after use...this seems to keep them looking nice and polished