I try to keep the pipes inside clean as much as possible as I think a clean fresh pipe delivers a better smoke than one with residue from prior smoke, at least this is my feeling. For this in addition to cleaning the pipes with running warm/hot water as described in other threads, after they are dry I put a cleaner in the stem and some paper tissue in the bowl with the idea to absorb some odor and as a matter of fact when I use the pipe days or weeks later the cleaners and tissue have smell so I think they taking away some of it. Anyone does this or is it too excessive?
Pipe Storing
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I would consider it counterproductive to seal the bowl and airways. Even if the "seal" is only paper and cotton.
Everything codger style. Half smoked pipes kicking around the house that only get scraped out when the cake gets out of hand or a pipe cleaner run through when the draw gets affected.
I clean them with a pipe cleaner immediately after smoking, then insert a clean pipe cleaner before placing in my pipe bag. When I get home, the pipes get cleaned. Soap and water for the stems, plus obsidian oil for the vulcanite ones. An alcohol-dipped pipe cleaner for the airway. A wipe with a jeweler's silver cloth and then the pipe goes in a cedar cigar box for a day or so, then back to their normal drawer or box or pipe stand. All pipes with rubber stems get stored out of the light.
I don't really like the idea of storing the pipe with a pipe cleaner in it once it's clean and dry. To me, it's more likely to attract moisture from the atmosphere than from the briar. I don't think the tissue in the bowl would hurt much, though.
I don't really like the idea of storing the pipe with a pipe cleaner in it once it's clean and dry. To me, it's more likely to attract moisture from the atmosphere than from the briar. I don't think the tissue in the bowl would hurt much, though.
Greg Pease did a Q&A on this very subject and he felt that there is something to overcleaning your pipe as far as enjoying the taste of your tobacco. He said the old codgers, or grey beards as he called them, might have been on to something not thoroughly cleaning so often.
You can read it here: http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/ask-g-l-pease/ask-g-l-pease-volume-42/#more-8503
Lots of good info in those G.L. Pease articles...check them out in upper left of the page by clicking Ask G L Pease.
You can read it here: http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/ask-g-l-pease/ask-g-l-pease-volume-42/#more-8503
Lots of good info in those G.L. Pease articles...check them out in upper left of the page by clicking Ask G L Pease.
Personally, I run a pipe cleaner thru them, ream the bowl of any moisture with a wadded paper towel, then put them on the rack if it is an acrylic stem or in wooden drawers away from sunlight if it's a vulcanite stem. If they start to smoke wet or taste funny, then I'll clean the shank and stem with a pipe cleaner dipped in alcohol, but I don't overdo it unless it's an estate pipe I'm trying to "de-ghost" and sanitize.
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mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast
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Sounds excessive, but to each his own. It's all personal preference. I run a cleaner through the pipe as I smoke it and usually run a clean one through it when I'm done. They then go back on the pipe rest until their next smoke. I do other things like scrape out the dry dottle, sometimes wipe out the bowl with a bent cleaner or paper towel, and blow out the pipe. I don't use water or store pipes with cleaners, and a couple times a year I deep clean the shanks with some alcohol and ream if needed.
What ever makes you comfortable. Mine sit in ashtrays, on the dash, in gear bags, etc. until I gather them up for a Sunday cleaning.
Yes, I'd leave out the pipe cleaner and paper remaining in the pipe. Fresh air is a good thing.
No alcohol touches my pipes now, and won't unless I acquire a skanky estate.
No alcohol touches my pipes now, and won't unless I acquire a skanky estate.
I like my pipes to taste a little funky, musty, gamey. I just scrape the residue from the wall of the bowl, and run a pipe cleaner or two through the stem. Clean the shank with alcohol 2 or 3 times a year, or so.
Leaving a pipe cleaner in the stem prevents thorough drying, so I don't do that.
Leaving a pipe cleaner in the stem prevents thorough drying, so I don't do that.
When I started smoking pipe, I would run a cleaner down the shank and swab the bowl after every bowl. I'd give the pipe a good, deep clean if it started to taste foul. Well, through experimenting, I've found that after a day of smoking, 1-5 bowls, I clean it with Everclear, it tastes sweet all the time. When I get home, I take the pipe apart, clean the draft hole with Everclear until the cleaner comes out clean. Then I swab the bowl with a looped cleaner dipped in Everclear. I put the stem back on and stick it in my rack. If I do this my pipes don't smell, and always taste sweet. If I waited until the pipe started to taste foul, I noticed my bowl of tobacco would start to be more or less flavorless.
1. Never clean your pipes unless the draft closes. It's the leftover deposits from the smoke that make a well-smoked pipe, plus, it takes a lot of time and a lot of work.
2. Never clean your pipes with water, no matter the many barbarians on the site advocating the practice; an associated principle is drying your tobacco and using a microwave to do this, the former not needed and the latter the second a second barbarous practice.
(The use of the word "barbaric" is said tongue-in-cheek. How do I know what is best?)
2. Never clean your pipes with water, no matter the many barbarians on the site advocating the practice; an associated principle is drying your tobacco and using a microwave to do this, the former not needed and the latter the second a second barbarous practice.
(The use of the word "barbaric" is said tongue-in-cheek. How do I know what is best?)
Just a pipe cleaner for me, or a quick wipe with an unscented baby wipe. Then its back to the box with them.
Great 20th C advice! Microwaves= dangerous radiation and bad cooking. Unfortunately my wife sometimes refuses the microwave for reheating soup. Imagine!
I store mine in a cupboard in my office. I smoke, dump ash, run a pipe cleaner through, and then repeat until I have amassed a number of pipes with several smokes a piece, or until they start to taste weird, then do a bulk cleaning of 5 or more pipes. Typically i use the ever clear swab method and pipe cleaners and Q-tips, but sometimes use the hot water method, which I am starting to like more and more, followed by a thorough drying with paper towels and tips and pipe cleaners. Then a good wipe down with Arango Briar Pipe wipe rag, and some stem oil. Then back in the cupboard.
Sound advice! Microwaved tobacco tastes like toasted oats And who would want a clean pipe when they can have a fetid, rank, dank, foul, sour, nasty, vile, filthy, diseased,scabrous, pustulant, hole through which to suck their nucked weed? The staunchest foes of water cleaning well know the dangers of bathing and apply the sound hygienic logic to their pipes as they do to themselves. :nana:
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