How Often to Clean Your Pipe

I would argue that doing what you are doing, you'll never have to do a salt/alcohol or a retort cleaning. I've had pipes and used them for 20 years without issue, breaking them down and cleaning them after each use.

Just continue to clean your stem and shank, best if you use alcohol like rum or whiskey. The sourness comes from tar residue in the shank or stem. Technically you don't have to clean the bowl, but when you get cake formation you will want to maintain a thickness near the width of a dime. Salt alcohol treatments are generally done buy those of us who restore pipes to bring them back to near new quality. Or if you have some weird ghosting, but I can honestly say I've never done it to one of my personal pipes.

clean it out after each use with a pipe cleaner after every use

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Just one cleaner? Or do you run cleaners through it until they are white?

the alcohol and salt treatment

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That's for a used pipe you have acquired and need to thoroughly clean. You shouldn't have to do that. What you should do is clean the stem out periodically with pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol. Lots of folks swear by Everclear; I use regular cheap booze. After you do that, let the pipe dry out thoroughly for 24 hours. I am sure there are more comprehensive write-ups then this somewhere on this site.

I agree with the other responders. You should never have to do a salt/alcohol treatment of the bowl unless you smoke something that will absolutely never leave the bowl (and you want it to).
My approach is to run a pipe cleaner through after every bowl. After a day of smoking a single pipe -- say, 3-5 bowls -- then it rests for at least a week before I return to that same pipe. (It often rests much longer, since I have a number of pipes to choose from.)
If you're going to smoke every day, I would have to recommend investing in at least seven pipes. That way, each can get a week off to rest and dry out. On the other hand, if you're only smoking one bowl a day, I don't think you're going to run into too many issues with only one pipe, unless you're smoking particularly wet aromatics.
After six months or so, I'll take the pipes I've been smoking over that period and give them a more thorough cleaning with a 150-proof rum. I remove the stems, dip a pipe cleaner in the rum, and run it through the stem and shank. Then I use a pipe brush dipped in rum to thoroughly clean the shank. Then I'll run a bristle pipe cleaner or two through the stem and shank. And I follow this with dry pipe cleaners through the stem and shank until they come out clean. So it may take 3-6 soft pipe cleaners and 2-3 bristle cleaners per pipe. Then I put the pipes back together and let them all dry out for a week or so before I smoke them again. At no point, though, do I pour liquid into the bowl or run a rum-soaked cleaner around the bowl. There just isn't any need. . . and I'm wanting to build up a nice cake, not soften or remove it with alcohol.
I have tried packaged "pipe sweetener" instead of rum, but I've found that it leaves a very chemical taste in the pipe. A high-alcohol solvent -- like 150-proof rum or Everclear -- leaves no "off" taste and has enough alcohol to break down the tars that can build up over time.
This is just my own approach. It's served me well for 30+ years.
Bob

After smoking, I use a couple pipe cleaners to clean and dry my pipe. Run some dipped in Everclear or

Scotch/Bourbon every few smokes. You don't need to do a complete cleaning (salt and all that) unless

your pipe starts to smoke sour.

To each his own really. I may smoke a briar several times then rest it a few days. Most times I just smoke

it once. You'll find what is good for you and your pipe quick.
The ashtray smell........ well, it's a tobacco pipe. Mine smell sweet to me.

Eric talks about how he doesn't rest his pipes.

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If he's got more than 1 pipe, he's resting 'em. I'd like to see the quote, myself - always easier to comment on something if you c an see the context.

+1 to everything that's been said so far.

So is the ashtray smell normal? I keep reading about how the bowl needs to rest and it should smell "sweet". But I've also checked out smokingpipetobacco.com and Eric talks about how he doesn't rest his pipes.

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I've heard others say they don't rest their pipe. To each his own. I find that my pipes smoke much better (i.e. a drier, cooler, sweeter smoke) after a good rest.
Also, I notice my bowls will sometimes have an ashtray smell shortly after using - even aros; but that smell is usually minimized greatly the next day.
No matter what, a pipe is used for tobacco, and so I don't expect it to smell like a rose garden. ::

I clean the pipe during use. The slightest taste of foul moisture & I run a cleaner through it. Sometimes I use 3 cleaners for 1 smoke. I never have to use alcohol & salt or any other treatment, including on my 56 year old Wilke which started out as unfinished briar and is now a deep brown.

Alcohol won't harm the stain or finish of a pipe will it?

I've started doing what foggy is doing. I'll clean while smoking and then for sure after each smoke. Pipe cleaners are cheap compared to my babies.

Alcohol won't harm the stain or finish of a pipe will it?

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Aren't a lot of stains alcohol- or water-soluble? I try to keep alcohol from the outside of the bowl in all circumstances.

I lightly clean my pipes after each smoke. I use a pipe cleaner and just a bit Pipemaster's Clean and Cure in the stem and shank. And just lightly brush out the bowl...afterwards I let the pipe rest for a day or two. I've only used the salt and alcohol treatments on estate pipes.

Alcohol won't harm the stain or finish of a pipe will it?

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YES, it will! NEVER allow alcohol to touch the outside of your bowl, unless you're willing to sacrifice the looks of the pipe.
Bob