Reaming thick cake buildup is a PITA. Messy, takes special tools, and if not done carefully can cause permanent damage to a pipe. Depending on the tobacco smoked and chamber height, it can also be EXTREMELY difficult to remove. I've seen it nearly as hard as ceramic and take a half hour.
That's all part of pipe smoking, though, right?
Nope.
You never have to mess with it again.
There is a low cost, low effort, foolproof alternative.
Just get some wooden popsicle sticks---the rounded-end ones about a half inch wide (NOT the mega wide tongue depressors that doctors use)---and before each smoke scrape the sides of the chamber with one. Use firm pressure and don't hold back. The wood they are made from is EXACTLY the right hardness to level the carbon without chipping it, and also the right stiffness to flex slightly and "follow" the surface.
The rounded end also reaches & cleans the bottom of the chamber without any chance of digging into it like a metal blade.
I keep a mug of sticks by my rack, and take the eight seconds to scrape the chamber of a selected pipe as part of the "gather and prep" process before each smoke. (Before smoking rather than after to assure the pipe is cool and dry... reaming cake while it is still hot and wet, even with wood, will give a less even and smooth result.)
Not only is the cake "higher quality" (for lack of a better term), but reaming "as you go" is like a golf course mowing its greens every morning... You'll never have to deal with heavy buildup again.
The rule that every engineering decision involves trade-offs seems to not apply here. There are no negatives. Even the cost---$11 for a thousand---is vanishingly small. (Each end of a stick can be used about four times. That's 8000 reams per package, or ten year's worth at two smokes per day.)
That's all part of pipe smoking, though, right?
Nope.
You never have to mess with it again.
There is a low cost, low effort, foolproof alternative.
Just get some wooden popsicle sticks---the rounded-end ones about a half inch wide (NOT the mega wide tongue depressors that doctors use)---and before each smoke scrape the sides of the chamber with one. Use firm pressure and don't hold back. The wood they are made from is EXACTLY the right hardness to level the carbon without chipping it, and also the right stiffness to flex slightly and "follow" the surface.
The rounded end also reaches & cleans the bottom of the chamber without any chance of digging into it like a metal blade.
I keep a mug of sticks by my rack, and take the eight seconds to scrape the chamber of a selected pipe as part of the "gather and prep" process before each smoke. (Before smoking rather than after to assure the pipe is cool and dry... reaming cake while it is still hot and wet, even with wood, will give a less even and smooth result.)
Not only is the cake "higher quality" (for lack of a better term), but reaming "as you go" is like a golf course mowing its greens every morning... You'll never have to deal with heavy buildup again.
The rule that every engineering decision involves trade-offs seems to not apply here. There are no negatives. Even the cost---$11 for a thousand---is vanishingly small. (Each end of a stick can be used about four times. That's 8000 reams per package, or ten year's worth at two smokes per day.)
