Booze in the bowl?

[tolstoyevsky]

As a newbie, I feel a solemn obligation to try to re-invent the wheel (this is probably why many eat their young). For example, would other woods have advantages? To the point:

Just bought my second cob. I've heard they really don't need a sweetener, but I'm trying something. After the daily cleaning, I swabbed the bowl with Forrester 100. The alcohol may take some gunk off it, but the other 50% may leave a slight residue which the cob will absorb. Thinking about a cheap brandy with the attendant sugars and flavors in the future. I probably want the 1st smoke of the day to be something uncomplicated to better evaluate it.

Every been that route?

 

[minerLuke]

I mostly use high proof rum or bourbon to clean my pipes. My Va and Whisky aro pipes get cleaned with the bourbon, my lat, burley and aro pipes get cleaned with the rum.

I will say the liquor does an okay job cleaning and freshening my pipes, but when I have occasionally run a couple of pipe cleaners dowsed with Pipemaster Clean and Cure, they did pull out some additional gunk that the high proof alcohol missed.

 

[mr_future]

These guys say there is no need to clean the bowl:

Pipe Maintenance - Pipe and Tamper (podcast)

01:05:51 - EP104 - Pipe Maintenance

amp.listennotes.com

 

[bullet08]

No need to clean cobs. Dry out the cob after a smoke is about all you need. Make sure to take the stem out and dry the shank. You might also want to clean out the chamber with pipe cleaner of something gets caught in there souring the pipe. Never seen anyone seasoning the cob.

 

[tolstoyevsky]

I mostly use high proof rum or bourbon to clean my pipes. My Va and Whisky aro pipes get cleaned with the bourbon, my lat, burley and aro pipes get cleaned with the rum.

I will say the liquor does an okay job cleaning and freshening my pipes, but when I have occasionally run a couple of pipe cleaners dowsed with Pipemaster Clean and Cure, they did pull out some additional gunk that the high proof alcohol missed.

I think we're aiming in the same general direction. The ethanol cleans, but a single halfway decent bottle costs the same as 3 cobs... as if the cobs needed cleaning at all. So the question would be about the residual.