Any Good Tips for Cleaning Inside Bowl?
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One of the all time great pipe refurbishers (Jim Benjamin, now deceased), always reamed back the bowl to almost bare wood, and then would soak it for about 20-minutes in 190 proof EverClear. He advised using an eye dropper to fill the bowl with the EverClear and let it sit at an angle in a bowl of dry rice. Once the 20-minutes was up, he'd drain the bowl through the shank and stem and run pipe cleaners through the shank and stem until they came back almost dry. Then he'd take paper towels and twist them down into the bowl until they came back as clean as they went in. After sitting for 24 hours, he'd proclaim the pipe ready to smoke. He did that for me on many occasions and I couldn't taste anything but the tobacco I was smoking. I've done that trick regularly since then and never had an issue. Well, except that one time I tried to get Mixture 79's scent out of the bowl of a pipe I had just purchased.
Is this method more effective than the salt and alcohol treatment?
Sounds a lot like the salt/alcohol treatment to me. That works a charm. I'm always surprised at just how much brown gunk the alcohol wicks away from the wood.
In terms of maintenence, a wet paper towel generally does the trick for me.
I use a paper towel after every bowl and about every other day or so i swap out the paper towel for a green scratch pad
I've been using a combination of Buttner reamers and a senior pipe reamer. The Senior reamer destroys cake easily but I like the buttner for putting on the finishing touches because the reamer can gouge wood pretty badly if you go too hard with it.
If it’s a second hand estate pipe I use, I strip the cake back with a reamer (leaving some in the base of the chamber), fill the bowl with salt and high proof rum and let sit over night.
I clean the salt out next day and run a rum soaked pipe cleaner around the chamber. I then leave it to sit for a week.
After that, or if it’s a new pipe, I just wipe with a dry paper towel at the end of the day and clean the shank and stem with a rum pipe cleaner.
I clean the salt out next day and run a rum soaked pipe cleaner around the chamber. I then leave it to sit for a week.
After that, or if it’s a new pipe, I just wipe with a dry paper towel at the end of the day and clean the shank and stem with a rum pipe cleaner.
I do something very similar. I put about a teaspoon of 90 proof alcohol in the bowl, hold my thumb and finger over the two openings, give it a shake, and let it sit at an angle with a doubled up pipe cleaner in the shank for ~1 hour. The pipe cleaner will wick up the alcohol. Once the hour is up, I drain the bowl through the shank and run pipe cleaners through until they come back almost dry. Then I take a paper towel and twist into the bowl and let it sit for 36 hours. I found that with a lower proof alcohol it worked just as good but took a little longer to dissipate. I actually got the idea from the back of a vintage pipe sweetener bottle I have which incidentally was ~90 proof according to the label.
It has worked well for me ever since trying it, maybe two years ago. I like it better than a hot water flush or salt treatment.
First of all, I think some people go a little overboard removing cake.
In pipes that I smoke on a fairly regular basis, I will dump the ash, blow it out, and then let it sit for an hour so. At the end of the day I wipe it out with a microfiber cloth.
Once the cake gets a little too thick, I wrap some 220 grit around the back handle of a utility brush and spin the bowl on it a few times. Then work it back and forth while spinning the bowl. Just enough to knock down the buildup and smooth out the inside.
On an estate that’s got real thick cake, I’ll ream it out, then sand it smooth, or in some cases, take it down to bare wood. You have to be careful to let the tool do the work and not bare down with all your might, or the chamber will get out of round, or end up with the chamber walls being convex.
As far soaking in alcohol, I’ll let it soak for 24 hrs to several days depending on how much crud is in there. Especially if the airway is packed with tar. I use a larger fluffy pipe cleaner soaked in alcohol in the airway and cotton in the bowl. Soaks up a lot of tar, and I don’t spend 4 hours, half a bottle of alcohol, and a bag of pipe cleaners.
If the airway is closed up, I use a 1/8” x6” drill bit in a drill chuck to open it. Just a chuck, that goes in the tail stock of my lathe. Helps to turn the drill it by hand.
In pipes that I smoke on a fairly regular basis, I will dump the ash, blow it out, and then let it sit for an hour so. At the end of the day I wipe it out with a microfiber cloth.
Once the cake gets a little too thick, I wrap some 220 grit around the back handle of a utility brush and spin the bowl on it a few times. Then work it back and forth while spinning the bowl. Just enough to knock down the buildup and smooth out the inside.
On an estate that’s got real thick cake, I’ll ream it out, then sand it smooth, or in some cases, take it down to bare wood. You have to be careful to let the tool do the work and not bare down with all your might, or the chamber will get out of round, or end up with the chamber walls being convex.
As far soaking in alcohol, I’ll let it soak for 24 hrs to several days depending on how much crud is in there. Especially if the airway is packed with tar. I use a larger fluffy pipe cleaner soaked in alcohol in the airway and cotton in the bowl. Soaks up a lot of tar, and I don’t spend 4 hours, half a bottle of alcohol, and a bag of pipe cleaners.
If the airway is closed up, I use a 1/8” x6” drill bit in a drill chuck to open it. Just a chuck, that goes in the tail stock of my lathe. Helps to turn the drill it by hand.
No need for harsh treatment or expensive "sweeteners" etc., unless a hot water flush does not do the trick.
The least harsh treatment being a dampened paper towel wipe of the chamber, slightly more aggressive is the very hot water flush. One benefit of the latter is it cleans the airway—including the mortise on most pipes— of ash and much gunk. Follow with paper towel to dry the chamber and pipe cleaners for the airway. If need to disassemble, q-tip in the mortise. One and done, in most cases.
If no joy, and there's a ghost, wet coffee grounds in the chamber a few days. If still stubborn, the salt or cotton balls and hi test alcohol.
The least harsh treatment being a dampened paper towel wipe of the chamber, slightly more aggressive is the very hot water flush. One benefit of the latter is it cleans the airway—including the mortise on most pipes— of ash and much gunk. Follow with paper towel to dry the chamber and pipe cleaners for the airway. If need to disassemble, q-tip in the mortise. One and done, in most cases.
If no joy, and there's a ghost, wet coffee grounds in the chamber a few days. If still stubborn, the salt or cotton balls and hi test alcohol.
I just ream it when the cake is too much. And swab some alcohol in there. I prefer high proof whiskey or rum. The reamer I use is one of those ones that has a handle and four different sized blades. People claim to break those and I have no clue how they pull that off. They say they don't force it but clearly they're forcing it if the darn thing is breaking. I leave a bit of cake. I don't consider a pipe something that needs to be meticulously cleaned, just not filthy and gunked.
I don't let my pipes get very dirty, nor do I clean them excessively. I use pipe cleaners dayly, doubled up in the chamber. This holds back the cake some.
2-3 times a year I'll clean the insides of my pipes with whisky or vodka or whatever is on hand. I ream the cake with a pocket knife. Sometimes I use fine grit sandpaper inside the chamber.
Buff the exteriour with carnauba wax.
2-3 times a year I'll clean the insides of my pipes with whisky or vodka or whatever is on hand. I ream the cake with a pocket knife. Sometimes I use fine grit sandpaper inside the chamber.
Buff the exteriour with carnauba wax.
The on;y thing I use to clean out the inside of my bowl are BJ Long Fluffy pipe cleaners that I double over and run around the inside of the bowl, which loosens the ash and removes dead tobacco. I never use alcohol or every c;ear unless I am trying to do a deep clean. I will also use moist coffee grounds before I will use alcohol or ever clear. I find that latter to be too astringent.
I have been cleaning the inside of my bowls for over 20 years and my method has worked just fine, for all these years,
I have been cleaning the inside of my bowls for over 20 years and my method has worked just fine, for all these years,
Coffee ground? Been seeing this method recently on the forum.What do you do with It? Let the coffee ground stay there for a day and then clean it with everclear? Does the first smoke after taste like coffee or something?
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