I recently read an article by a gent named Exile at his blog about reamers, particularly the Savinelli Fitsall...
http://thepipesmoker.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/let-them-eat-cake/#comments
His mention of using a knife finally made me try it out. It changed my life as far as pipe smoking goes. The technique is to lay the knife flat in the bowl with both the blade and back edge touching. From there, all that's needed is a twist of the bowl. Since using a knife, everything else just seems like goofing around. JUST BE CAREFUL!
The knife I'm using is a sheepsfoot blade with the end filed round.
The Savinelli he mentions can be bought for $35 at P&C. I plan to someday buy one of these and file the point off, which can be found at Dick Blick for $8.71:
Here's the reamer I'll be using to zero in on heel cake until then:
For an interesting bit about knives, here's a product description of something similar to that used by Tom Eltang:
http://www.finepipes.com/pipes/professional-pipe-knife.html
I'd prefer to just buy a cheap clam knife rather than blow $20 on that, though.
