After how many bowls do you clean your pipe?

[pipeanddrum]

I'm fairly new to pipe smoking, only having started about 9 months ago. In that time I've collected almost 20 pipes that I rotate through regularly. Some have started to build cake. Can you tell me about how many bowls roughly do you smoke before doing a thorough cleaning of a pipe? Thanks.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I do all of mine about four times a year, but I have quite a few pipes.

 

[pipeanddrum]

Cosmic, do you do the salt and alcohol treatment when you do clean your pipes?

 

[philobeddoe]

First off, I don't keep any cake in my pipes, I allow the inside to carbonize and that's it, no thickness of cake. I use 3 to 4 pipe cleaners per bowl and I wipe out the bowl with a paper towel after every smoke, so I only "clean" the pipes when they start to turn sour, which is only 2 or 3 times a year. I only do the salt and alcohol treatment on new estates that I find out are heavenly ghosted after a normal cleaning.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

No, I have a retort that i have used on estate pipes, but (like Billkay says) if you'll use two pipe cleaners after each smoke and then wipe the bowl out with paper towel, you shouldn't ever have to retort or salt/alcohol treat a pipe again.

My deep clean means using alcohol and a shank brush to scrub the draft and stem out better. I'll also trim back the cake with my pocketknife, and wipe the outer bowls and polish the stems if they need it.

 

[ahmadothman]

I clean the stem every couple of smokes.. And as for reaming.. I don't have a reamer so I have to ream it carefully either with the pipe tool or a swiss army knife small blade, and this happens when I feel the bowl is getting "tighter" than normal

 

[philobeddoe]

I forgot to mention, I use stem oil on my vulcanite stems after every smoke and it has virtually stopped oxidation, good stuff!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I have a jeweler's polishing cloth that I wipe my pipe and stem down with before putting it on the rack. It has an embedded polishing abrasive on one side that keeps my stems shiny for quite a while, and the other side has a microcrystaline wax that protects my pipe from oxidation.

 

[mso489]

I'm with those who don't build cake. I scoop out, then wipe out the bowl each time I smoke a pipe, and do the pipe cleaner and a buffing. The thin carbon layer does just fine without having cake. I have pipes I bought new about forty years ago, thirty, twenty ... that are doing just fine thank you. Don't own a reamer and don't need one. Many are devoted to building cake, and if so, okay. I've never felt the need. Add an overabundance of pipes, and I don't need to do a lot of pipe overhauls.

 

[pipeanddrum]

Thanks for the tips everyone. Seems the best approach is to just let the pipe season while keeping the build up of cake in check. I have yet to take the stems off any pipe after I've started using them, except for my cobs when I change out the filter, but imagine when I do get to cleaning them, the part where the shaft meets the bowl will need most attention.
How can I tell if my stems are vulcanite?

 

[ray47]

The pipe will tell you when it needs a deep cleaning. I just run a pipe cleaner thru the stem and shank and swab out the bowl with a bent pipe cleaner after each smoke.

 

[instymp]

I do what Ray does, & sometimes I forget.

 

[deathmetal]

I clean pipes when they start to stink, just like my underwear.
When this appears:

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mundungus
It is time, no matter how inconvenient it is.
Then again, I'm not smoking Dunhills, only Dunhill's Royal Yacht

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

I clean as I go. I use a pipe cleaner nearly every bowl. I rub out my bowls lightly with the finger that fits. I scrape back cake with a small pocket knife blade that I rounded off for safe bowl scraping. I like a little cake on the inside of the lower part of the chamber that is towards me; whatever that is called? I don't deep clean, with exception to estate pipes when I receive them.

 

[mikestanley]

I just dry tbe inside of the stem with pipe cleaners after a smoke. I like to coat the bowl with the ash from a smoke by putting my thumb over the bowl and shaking it a bit. I double a pipe cleaner and swab out the bowl before the next smoke. I usually let a pipe rest for three days or so between a day's use. I'll give my pipes a thorough cleaning a about twice a year. I have a retort but don't need to use it on pipes I smoke. A little 91% Isopropyl with bristle cleaners, swabbing out the mortise seems the key to me.
Mike S.

 

[newbroom]

No one has mentioned a Q-tip?

I pull the stems after most bowls and clean out the shanks with a few Q-tips as well as with a pipe cleaner.

I try to get the gunk out while it's still wet. Once dried, it becomes or could become vitreous and problematic.

 

[lordofthepiperings]

After every smoke I run a pipe cleaner through the stem and shank as well as folding it in half and cleaning out the bowl.
I'd say I probably do a deep cleaning with salt and alcohol once a year.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I do salt and alcohol only if the pipe has soured. Cleaning the mortise hole is critical with some pipes.
Recently I read or heard that wet, used coffee grounds packed into the bowl and let dry for several days will do the trick. On two experiments, it seems to work.

 

[jvnshr]

After every smoke I run a pipe cleaner through the stem and shank as well as folding it in half and cleaning out the bowl.

I do the exact same thing. And after every 5 smokes or so I clean the stem and shank with 95% Ethanol.

 

[briarcudgel]

When I first started pipe smoking, which has been in earnest for about two years, I would use Everclear on pipe cleaners after every bowl. I had used Everclear in a retort on estate pipes and thought they should always be cleaned with alcohol after smoking. I had asked the question of other pipe guys and they said it was overkill. Now, I use a dry pipe cleaner down the stem and into the bowl if it is a straight run and that's about it. I don't wipe the inside of the bowl or ream it till the cake is about annoying enough for me to notice the bowl isn't taking as much tobacco as it used to. When the pipe starts to go sour I clean it with Everclear, stem, shank and bowl. A Peterson System pipe will tell you if you haven't done anything in a while. The sludge that comes out of that sump is the most horrifying thing you've ever tasted.