Uneven Cake
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What tobacco have you been smoking in there?
I would recommend you to ream that "cake" out - it seems to be very moist and I can hardly imagine, how should absorb any further moisture..
How large was the initial chamber diameter? Let's say it was 20mm. Now you're down to 16mm perhaps. You're smoking a group 1 or 2 pipe.
I have made some good experience with not letting a cake build up in my pipes. Only a very thin layer that is not consisting of unburned pieces of tobacco but only of a hard and dry residue.
Best, Eddy
I would recommend you to ream that "cake" out - it seems to be very moist and I can hardly imagine, how should absorb any further moisture..
How large was the initial chamber diameter? Let's say it was 20mm. Now you're down to 16mm perhaps. You're smoking a group 1 or 2 pipe.
I have made some good experience with not letting a cake build up in my pipes. Only a very thin layer that is not consisting of unburned pieces of tobacco but only of a hard and dry residue.
Best, Eddy
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As I have heard on the podcast with Brian Levine, I use a very fine grade sand paper every once in a great while when I do a thorough cleaning to smooth down the cake. On a regular basis, such as after every smoke, I use a pipe tool and a cloth and whipe it out. I don't use a reamer because in inexperienced hands, it can mess up the bowl. That cake is so thick, however, that in this case I would use a reamer.
Thick cake can be dangerous for a pipe. Because it expands differently, than the wood, it can crack the bowl. Uneven cake can elevate this danger, because it concentrates the pressure on the point of maximum thickness.
I clean all my pipes, like roth and only leave a thin protection layer, so that the wood is not directly exposed to the embers. Briar is used for pipes, because it absorbs moisture very well. An extremely thick carbon layer is not better in that.
Kind regards,
Peter
I clean all my pipes, like roth and only leave a thin protection layer, so that the wood is not directly exposed to the embers. Briar is used for pipes, because it absorbs moisture very well. An extremely thick carbon layer is not better in that.
Kind regards,
Peter
I have pipes decades old that have been smoked a lot and don't have as much as a dime's width of cake.
They smoke well and last (and last). I think the cake-building concept is over-sold. As rothnh says, if
you spoon out the ash and dottle, blow out the loose pieces, then ream/scour/clear the bowl with a paper
towel or tissue, you'll keep the cake to a minimum, which is a good thing. I don't own a reamer, so I don't
damage my pipes with a reamer.
They smoke well and last (and last). I think the cake-building concept is over-sold. As rothnh says, if
you spoon out the ash and dottle, blow out the loose pieces, then ream/scour/clear the bowl with a paper
towel or tissue, you'll keep the cake to a minimum, which is a good thing. I don't own a reamer, so I don't
damage my pipes with a reamer.
Damn, we've been smoking pipes for a millennia and have only recenty learned how to prevent our pipes from looking like Bryan's. :lol:
Edit: Don't get me wrong, I don't clean all my pipes after EVERY smoke. If it's the last bowl of the day, and I'm hittin' the hay immediately following a heavy nicotine buzz, I'll dump out what's left in the bowl and set her in the rack. Just don't feel like waiting for it to cool down. I never feel good about it though. The poor thing has to spend all night full of gunk and goo and other tobacco residues.
Edit: Don't get me wrong, I don't clean all my pipes after EVERY smoke. If it's the last bowl of the day, and I'm hittin' the hay immediately following a heavy nicotine buzz, I'll dump out what's left in the bowl and set her in the rack. Just don't feel like waiting for it to cool down. I never feel good about it though. The poor thing has to spend all night full of gunk and goo and other tobacco residues.
Thanks for all the replies.
As a preliminary matter, the photo distorts the thickness of the cake, it is really quite thin. Also, I do ream my bowls when they get like this. I also clean them regularly; not every time I smoke them, but on a fairly regular basis.
I had read that cake wasn't completely necessary, and I haven't been overly concerned about it. I was just wondering what would cause it to build so consistently-unevenly.
Anyway, off to get the reamer.
Thanks, boys.
As a preliminary matter, the photo distorts the thickness of the cake, it is really quite thin. Also, I do ream my bowls when they get like this. I also clean them regularly; not every time I smoke them, but on a fairly regular basis.
I had read that cake wasn't completely necessary, and I haven't been overly concerned about it. I was just wondering what would cause it to build so consistently-unevenly.
Anyway, off to get the reamer.
Thanks, boys.
When I was a novice pipe smoker, I used to let the cake build up far too much, then used a knife to whittle it down to 'dime' thickness ... I was very fortunate in never ruining a pipe with my bad practice.
Now, since a bristled pipe cleaner is something I always use along with some fluffy cleaners to clean the stem and shank, I then bend the bristled cleaner into a U shape and brush the bowl, being careful to not get any residue up through the draw hole, then blow through the shank in order to eliminate any and all loose residue. Then I repeat that brushing of the bowl using a folded fluffy cleaner and blow through the shank again.
I find that I don't get any cake buildup by following this method.
Many years of pipe smoking have taught me that rothnh is absolutely correct when he says that a clean, dry pipe will provide the best smoking experience.
Unfortunately, Roth is right. If you clean the pipe right after it has completely cooled down from the smoke, you will get all the residues out without a lot of effort. If you let it dry, it is much harder to get it out. However, I have been guilty, too, of going to sleep after the last smoke of the day and letting the pipe cool and dry until I clean it the next day, but if I clean it right after smoking the next time, I can see, that a lot more dirt, than from one smoke is coming out. That's why I now, if I really cannot clean the pipe right away, clean it with alcohol dipped cleaners as soon as I have time, although I normally do not clean with alcohol very often.
Kind regards,
Peter
Kind regards,
Peter
I procrastinated in getting some Everclear for way too long, and yeah, deep cleaning the few pipes I have was a messy, prolonged, repetitive experience.
I'd never tell another man how to smoke his pipe. However, I will tell ALL of you to care for your pipes.
No disrespect intended Gentlemen, I just find it hard to fathom a smoke house or pub or what have you, in which the fraternizing fellows didn't give each other a little bit o' shit.
Peace my brothers, I'm off to raise hell in another thread. :lol: 8)
I'd never tell another man how to smoke his pipe. However, I will tell ALL of you to care for your pipes.
No disrespect intended Gentlemen, I just find it hard to fathom a smoke house or pub or what have you, in which the fraternizing fellows didn't give each other a little bit o' shit.
Peace my brothers, I'm off to raise hell in another thread. :lol: 8)
I'm just thinking out loud here. Is the uneven cake occurring on more than just one of your pipes, all of them, or just this one? Does it just occur with a certain tobacco or type of tobacco? A little investigative work might reveal the culprit. If it's occurring with more than one pipe then it's reasonable to deduce that it's technique related. For example, if you always light your pipe with your left hand and the flame tends to concentrate on one side of the bowl then it may be baking on the tobacco residue more in that area. If it's only one particular pipe, then it may be an idiosyncrasy of that particular pipe.
I was reading through this thread and it got me thinking. How long does it take to build up this amount of cake? I have been in the hobby for a couple of years and none of my pipes are even close to this. Honestly I can't see a noticeable amount of cake in any of them. Now, I know I don't smoke much more than a bowl a day usually and I have a decent amount of pipes so it will take a while, but it seems like it would take me a lifetime to accumulate cake that thick. Am I just to aggressive in wiping the inside of my bowls out or does it just take a long time? Or am I just thinking about it too much haha?
@Wayne: Funny that you should chime in, that's your pipe.
And I have always thought that it was my lighting technique. I tend to light the center (rather than the entire surface of the tobacco)and I have always watched it carefully. If it creeps to the right, I light the left. This has not solved my "problem."
That stated, I am taking the cleaning route these days.
And, I'm still loving that pipe. It gets a lot of light time.
And I have always thought that it was my lighting technique. I tend to light the center (rather than the entire surface of the tobacco)and I have always watched it carefully. If it creeps to the right, I light the left. This has not solved my "problem."
That stated, I am taking the cleaning route these days.
And, I'm still loving that pipe. It gets a lot of light time.
It was taking me only 3 weeks to get cake that thick on that pipe, before I would ream it all out as close to wood as I could. I smoke that pipe every day about 10 bowls a day (sometimes more, sometimes less)...so that's about 210 bowls every three weeks to get cake that thick. At that rate, you one bowl a week per pipe smokers will take nearly 4 years...Since buying the pipe in May, I have smoked close to 2000 bowls thru this pipe. When I first bought it, I didn't ream for 2 months, and I could only get enough tobacco for less than a 5 minute smoke. With heavy heart, I reamed it.
This is why I love this pipe. It can take some SERIOUS abuse, and still smells and smokes sweet. I only run a single pipe cleaner through it every day, but lately I have been scraping it after every few smokes to keep the cake down. It is building up still, but MUCH slower, and the cake seems to be much harder. I have already gone 3 weeks since the last reaming, and the cake is less than a dime thick and rock hard. I'm glad for the guys that convinced me to try this, as I like my pipe even MORE now! Thanks!
This is why I love this pipe. It can take some SERIOUS abuse, and still smells and smokes sweet. I only run a single pipe cleaner through it every day, but lately I have been scraping it after every few smokes to keep the cake down. It is building up still, but MUCH slower, and the cake seems to be much harder. I have already gone 3 weeks since the last reaming, and the cake is less than a dime thick and rock hard. I'm glad for the guys that convinced me to try this, as I like my pipe even MORE now! Thanks!
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