How to remove a filter?

[itsnotuitsme]

Hello folks.

I know the question might seem a bit dumb... I've had it happen, although pretty seldomly, when removing a charcoal filter, when the surrounding paper is pretty soaked and on a pipe with a particularly good fit between the filter and the mouthpiece, that the paper rips up and i end up getting one of the ceramic ends stuck inside the mouthpiece. I also never could remove it with a normal pipe cleaner then, i always needed a stronger wire. Is there a particular favourable method for removing a filter to avoid this? Turning motion or rip it out laterally? Any other techniques?

p.s. a friend told me, when removing with any kind of wire is unsucessfull, theres also the option to turn a screw in the cremic and get it out this way, fortunately until now i never had to resort to that kind of violence...

Thanks

 

[Hutch Piper]

This happens to me from time to time. You could try removing it immediately after smoking but some say that can damage your pipe. When it does get stuck, I remove the stem and soak it in water overnight. Then I take the pick (the long skinny piece) of my pipe tool and pluck it out that way. After it is out, I give the stem and shank a through cleaning with my pipe solution. First, I use pipe cleaners and then I switch to Qtips and really give it some muscle to remove all the debris.

I’m sure there are other methods but this has worked for me.

 

[RL Bucktails]

Get yourself some thin gauge stainless steel wire that just fits in the mouth piece hole. It’s very stiff wire.

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

I've had this happen a few times. I use thin pencil nose pliers to get the ceramic cap out. It's a messy pain in the arse when 9mm filters tear. Bloody carbon pellets all over the place.

 

[itsnotuitsme]

Thanks for the answers! So i guess there is no special technique to completely avoid ripping the filter in the first place when removing it.

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

Thanks for the answers! So i guess there is no special technique to completely avoid ripping the filter in the first place when removing it.

Not that I know of. It doesn't happen to me often but when it does it's annoying.