Throughout these three years, as a corn pipe smoker, I have been changing some systems or techniques, or whatever the hell you want to call it. The truth is that smoking and cleaning, once the pipe is cold, is for the moment for me, the best. I am not afraid to give an internal bath to the corn pipes, especially to give a deep cleaning, or to remove some aromatic tobaccos or loaded with latakia. However, with the few briar pipes I have, which are two, and a new one on the way, I will do the same cleaning, daily, using paper napkin, alternating with hot water. I imagine that sometime in life, I will have to hit it with alcohol, when the cake becomes more visible. Alcohol is infallible, it melts the oils and other dross, and on top of that it leaves no taste, since it volatilizes. I think that the vinegar of kitchen, is beginning to like also, for interior and exteriors, besides the almond oil, to give shine to the wood in exterior. Vinegar is also said to be a good cleaner, I'm using kitchen vinegar, so far the experiment is going well. There are people who use alcoholic beverages in interior, I have to say that it is not a bad idea, they clean well I imagine, and I doubt that they damage the wood or the interior of the bowl. In any case, this is what I do today. In summary, what I would not do, would be to clean the pipe, exterior or interior, with chemical products, not suitable for human consumption, for example products for cleaning in general, even if it is for wood.
