A Question of Proper Cake Thickness

[hauntedmyst]

For me, about a dime is right. It depends on what you smoke. Goopy aromatics are easy to clean out, just a flush and wipe and they clean but leave a little cake. Unflavored tobacco builds up a nice even cake just more slowly than an aromatic. Again, flush and clean. Your Dark Lakeland Flakes, they are another matter for a few reasons. One reason is they are so delicious horrendous so you just keep reloading the bowl trying to get a good smoke and forget to clean it. The other reason is that when God was creating the White Marble like what was to be used in the Pieta and the Statue of David, he burned Dark Flake, which became Marble. (It's somewhere in Genesis I think). Yeah, He had to use a lot of it but He's God and has an unlimited supply. So when you have smoked Dark Flake and finally get around to clear it out the jobs a little tougher. Not heavy explosives tough (that would be foolish) but tough none the less. I recommend starting with lady fingers, then firecrackers and working your way up to an M80. Always fire them off with the bowl upside down and be prepared to catch it. Eventually you'll blow enough cake out to make the pipe smokable again and nothing enhances the taste of a Lakeland flake like pyrotechnic flash powder. You're welcome.

 

[telescopes]

Cake is important if you have but a few pipes and you smoke the piss out of them. A working person's pipe has cake because it must. Winds, tough jobs the challenge the body, and puffing because you must all were a part of working life for past pipe smokers. A good cake insured that the pipe would NOT burn out.

 

[Servant King]

The other reason is that when God was creating the White Marble like what was to be used in the Pieta and the Statue of David, he burned Dark Flake, which became Marble. (It's somewhere in Genesis I think). Yeah, He had to use a lot of it but He's God and has an unlimited supply.

Yep, it's Genesis. The flood was just a hot water flush gone awry.

 

[seanv]

Cake is important if you have but a few pipes and you smoke the piss out of them. A working person's pipe has cake because it must. Winds, tough jobs the challenge the body, and puffing because you must all were a part of working life for past pipe smokers. A good cake insured that the pipe would NOT burn out.

This is a good observation. The requirement of cake build up correlates to how you choose to smoke your pipe. I choose to smoke when I am not doing stressful or active tasks and do not require cake to protect the pipe while I am either smoking heavy or walking in wind.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I'm with the water flush guys... you're gonna get cake, no matter what you do, but by flushing and reaming with a paper towel it really slows down how often I have to actually ream the cake away... but eventually cake does build up anyways and has to be reamed.

 

[elnoblecigarro]

I don't need to own a reamer, and especially for new pipe smokers, this avoids the damage they can do learning to use one. You can kill a good briar pipe in short order by overzealous reaming.

I used this kind of tool to remove excess cake. I don't see how this could possibly damage the pipe. On narrow pipes where it didn't fit in I just used Czech tool to scrape it of.

 

[Dublin Old Man]

I like minimal cake. More cake means less tobacco per smoke.

I use Kleen Reem tool that I bought at a pipe show. It looks like it was made in the 1960's. I also use a pipe knife to clear cake at the bottom that the Kleen Reem can't reach. Most of my pipes get reamed about once per year.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I used this kind of tool to remove excess cake. I don't see how this could possibly damage the pipe. On narrow pipes where it didn't fit in I just used Czech tool to scrape it of.
View attachment 99764

That looks like a Chinese rip off of the Buttner Reamer. Unless of course on the other side it says differently. Does it?

In any event, my favorite tool. It fits every pipe I have except the ones with big diameter chambers.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I used this kind of tool to remove excess cake. I don't see how this could possibly damage the pipe. On narrow pipes where it didn't fit in I just used Czech tool to scrape it of.
View attachment 99764

It could if it catches in the chamber and force- maybe great force- is used. When it catches, I just reverse the rotation. Works a treat.

 

[elnoblecigarro]

That looks like a Chinese rip off of the Buttner Reamer. Unless of course on the other side it says differently. Does it?

In any event, my favorite tool. It fits every pipe I have except the ones with big diameter chambers.

That's not the actual one I have. I just copied an image from Google that is similar to mine to show an example. I have no idea of the maker of mine.

 

[elnoblecigarro]

It could if it catches in the chamber and force- maybe great force- is used. When it catches, I just reverse the rotation. Works a treat.

Yea I did it the same way. Spun it both ways. With good results I think.

I can't see why this would be risky for a beginner to do.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

That's not the actual one I have. I just copied an image from Google that is similar to mine to show an example. I have no idea of the maker of mine.

I had a cheap one like that (as pictured) was a freebie in a IPSD thing from P&C years ago. The rounded edges tended to just crush the cake off the sides, instead of cutting it down into a smooth surface. So, I ground the edges down to give it a sharper edge. It worked better... till I just bought a better one that came with a better edge to cut that cake out.

 

[jpmcwjr]

That's not the actual one I have. I just copied an image from Google that is similar to mine to show an example. I have no idea of the maker of mine.

If it's a real Buttner, it'll say so. If not, it's a copy- maybe good, maybe bad.

 

[Misanthrope]

A minority of Forums members, like me, don't build cake, but scoop out the ash and then scour the bowl with a paper towel. This retains a carbon layer, but maintains the diameter of the chamber at approximately its new width. I don't need to own a reamer, and especially for new pipe smokers, this avoids the damage they can do learning to use one. You can kill a good briar pipe in short order by overzealous reaming. I know building cake is a customary joy of pipe smoking for many; just know that it is not necessary.

This is what I do as well.

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

No cake for me.

same here.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

I clean the bowl with alcohol after every use. At my rate of tobacco consumption though it's going to take a lifetime to build any cake.

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

Cake is important if you have but a few pipes and you smoke the piss out of them. A working person's pipe has cake because it must. Winds, tough jobs the challenge the body, and puffing because you must all were a part of working life for past pipe smokers. A good cake insured that the pipe would NOT burn out.

That is a damn good point!

 

[olkofri]

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Cake is important if you have but a few pipes and you smoke the piss out of them. A working person's pipe has cake because it must. Winds, tough jobs the challenge the body, and puffing because you must all were a part of working life for past pipe smokers. A good cake insured that the pipe would NOT burn out.

I have no idea why cake would keep a pipe from going out, but... ok.

I know that my Uncles would show off their cake to each other and possible other smokers. It was like a point of pride... but this was also an era when men bought dime store pipes and tossed them when they had caked over to the point of not being able to get more tobacco in the bowl. Reaming a pipe with a pocketknife was sort of a poor man's thing. A hard working man could just toss the pipe and get a new one. It always seemed like this excited them. A new pipe!!
None of them ever had more than three pipes at a time, one they smoked, one that was probably a gift that they didn't like, and a new one waiting for the one they smoke all day every day to cake over. I am also pretty sure this is why we see so many estate pipes in junk stores with huge cake in them. These are the ones that didn't get tossed as planned yet.

Keep in mind that this was an era when driving 100+ miles to a bigger city that may have had a tobacconist took all day long. So, all of the supplies these working men had access to was OTC tobaccos, dime store pipes, and maybe some pipecleaners, but honestly, I don't remember ever seeing pipecleaners growing up. If they had them, they were tucked away out of sight.

 

[bullet08]

If you think there isn't any, that's a good thickness.