Never mind, for some reason the typed text remained in the quick reply field and I thought I hadn't submitted it.
Last edited:
Cake and cleaning
- Thread starter James8855
- Start date
SmokingPipes.com Updates
Watch for Updates Twice a Week
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
- Status
Never mind, for some reason the typed text remained in the quick reply field and I thought I hadn't submitted it.
If you like a nicely built cake, then the cake can gather contaminants over time that bring a sour taste. For those wiping or rising out the bowls, this isn't likely to happen unless you neglect the rest. Use a deft hand when you ream to avoid gouging the wood.
I always gently ream my pipe and run a pipe cleaner through my pipe after I use it and never have problems woth my pipe ghosting. Even if you just use pipe cleaners to give it a quick clean its better then nothing
Well, based on your input, gentlemen, it looks like with my rather aggressive post-every-smoke cleaning, a sour pipe is among the least of my worries. ?
Really there is no need to be super worried about what to do if a pipe goes sour. It doesn’t happen without a decided lack of cleaning. All you really have to do is run a pipe cleaner through it after each smoke, and wipe out the bowl. Then after every 10-20 smokes either use the hot water method or some liquor on a pipe cleaner to deep clean, along with a few q-tips in the mortise. As long as you do some very basic very simple maintenance cleaning and wipe the bowl, you should never have to ream or do anything harsh like a salt & alcohol treatment. Estate pipes sometimes need a lot of work when you first get them, but once reamed and clean the same applies.
I agree, 10-20 smokes with the hot water flush, OR whenever your wife tells you it smells.
I don’t smoke a lot, but in almost 10 years of pipe smoking, I’ve done a serious reaming job exactly once, and then only on my oldest pipes. I did not go all the way down to bare wood. Like everyone has said, regular cleaning of the pipe should prevent sourness from ever happening, and wiping out the inside of the bowl will greatly slow down cake buildup.
A sour pipe will taste just that, sour. Kinda funky like mold/gross. Sometimes what people call sour is really just dirty. It's hard to really sour a pipe, but if you want to know what it is, take a pipe or two, smoke them hot and wet, then put them in a ziplock baggy and then let them sit in a hot/warm place unopened for a week or two. If you really manage to really sour a pipe (and not just "dirty") then yes drastic measures might need to be taken because that flavor will and can penetrate cake. But for 99.9 percent of the time that isnt needed. A quick rise or a bowl soak with alcohol and cleaning out the mortis/shank/stem will get it smoking new again. If you ever came across a truly sour pipe you would know it.
Have you tried a pipe brush? Run it in through the shank, maybe a bit of alcohol (stuff a paper towel in the bowl to keep the brush from going harem-scarum up into the bowl) if it’s caked up badly. That’d be my first pass, but others here may have better advice. Good luck!
Overnight Diet Coke soak and a butter knife. I don't drink it myself but the diet version works better than regular Coke.
I tried building some cake on a pipe but failed miserably because a simple swab with a folded pipe cleaner keeps the cake down. I have a couple of reamers but they are only for estate pipes as well.
Not noticed one. Once the cake is broken out it's good to go.
- Status