Cake Building Question : After Smoke Full Clean of Bowl or Not ??

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smokecloud84

Lurker
Jun 27, 2019
9
2
EDIT: Fixed Capitalization in Title (See Rule 9) - Bob

OK so I've read that it's essential to build up a layer of cake inside your bowl but I've been wondering what the best way to do this is....
Some guys suggest after smoking a bowl you empty the loose ash from the pipe but leave the ash that has clung to to the edges of the bowl and let that become the cake ??
Or do you empty the bowl and then use a pipe cleaner to clear off all the ash that has clung to the edges and leave only the black solid, burnt type texture around the edge of the bowl to become the cake ??

Thanks for all you help...
 
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BROBS

Lifer
Nov 13, 2019
11,765
40,026
IA
OK so I've read that it's essential to build up a layer of cake inside your bowl but I've been wondering what the best way to do this is....
Some guys suggest after smoking a bowl you empty the loose ash from the pipe but leave the ash that has clung to to the edges of the bowl and let that become the cake ??
Or do you empty the bowl and then use a pipe cleaner to clear off all the ash that has clung to the edges and leave only the black solid, burnt type texture around the edge of the bowl to become the cake ??

Thanks for all you help...
I did the loose ash thing for years.. it's terrible.
this makes a ghosty, brittle cake.
I ended up scraping out all of that type of cake out of my pipes.

if you wipe out the bowl with a paper towel after smoking, this leaves a much harder and flavor neutral cake.

I don't wash my pipes out with water, but some do.
 

olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,033
14,644
The Arm of Orion
No, cake is NOT essential. If you ask me, a caked pipe is a dirty pipe, I think they look gross.

The theory behind it is that the carbon 'cake' will give you cooler smokes. Bah. You don't really need it.

I clean my pipe thoroughly after each smoke: run a cleaner, twist it, and take it out; detach the stem from the stummel and clean both tenon and mortise: you'd be surprised at the amount of gunk that condenses on the tenon—you don't want that drying, hardening, and becoming a hidden cake of gunk; then wipe the chamber with a bent cleaner to get all the loose carbon, remains of tobacco, &c. off; next, I spit on my anatomical snuff box and wet a paper towel with saliva to wipe the chamber real good; wipe it again with dry parts of the towel to get the rest of the gunk and saliva off; let rest for a few hours; last, I wash the stem with lukewarm water (cooler if it's vulcanite) and dish soap, rinse it real good and set it to dry; when everything is dry I assemble the pipe back.

My chambers look like this, no ugly cakes there:

McQ_bowl--02.jpg

Vauen_Basic_Bowl.jpg

The pipes smoke fine.

Also, you don't want to build cake on Meerschaum pipes or cobs.
 

Frozenoak

Can't Leave
Oct 9, 2019
373
2,059
48
Lake Elsinore, CA
No, cake is NOT essential. If you ask me, a caked pipe is a dirty pipe, I think they look gross.

The theory behind it is that the carbon 'cake' will give you cooler smokes. Bah. You don't really need it.

I clean my pipe thoroughly after each smoke: run a cleaner, twist it, and take it out; detach the stem from the stummel and clean both tenon and mortise: you'd be surprised at the amount of gunk that condenses on the tenon—you don't want that drying, hardening, and becoming a hidden cake of gunk; then wipe the chamber with a bent cleaner to get all the loose carbon, remains of tobacco, &c. off; next, I spit on my anatomical snuff box and wet a paper towel with saliva to wipe the chamber real good; wipe it again with dry parts of the towel to get the rest of the gunk and saliva off; let rest for a few hours; last, I wash the stem with lukewarm water (cooler if it's vulcanite) and dish soap, rinse it real good and set it to dry; when everything is dry I assemble the pipe back.

You do this every time you smoke?
 
I wash mine with water and ream with a paper towel after each smoke. I still get cake, and I have to ream them back at least once a year. I think that in the beginning, I was really wanting cake, because I kept hearing that it would smoke cooler and such... but, I haven't found that to be so.

Cake happens... you don't really have to do anything special.
 

Frozenoak

Can't Leave
Oct 9, 2019
373
2,059
48
Lake Elsinore, CA
Every single time, yes. ?

Wow. I thought I was doing a lot with wiping the bowl out with a damp paper towel. I do a through stem cleaning (similar to yours) before the smoke so as to prevent any damage from disassembling a warm pipe. I've never had to ream a pipe but mine aren't as clean as the ones you show.
 
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mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
I'm not a cake builder, never have been. Cake is fine; some wouldn't enjoy pipe smoking without it. I scoop out the ash, wipe out the bowl with a paper towel, run a pipe cleaner though the airway, and polish up the pipe with a cloth. That's all. I don't miss the cake at all. The bowl retains the original circumference for good, and best of all, no reaming ever. I don't own a reamer after decades of pipes. Beginners can do serious damage over-reaming too. As Marie Antoinette said, "Let them build cake." No, that was on another subject. It works fine.
 

boston

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 27, 2018
539
1,238
Boston
I still have not warmed up to washing the smoked pipe with tap water, But I now do use a damp paper towel to clean out the bowl. I used to try to build a cake using ash from the bowl smoked but I've reformed my ways for one reason or another. I have noticed no decline in the quality of the smoke, and I do not need to take off extra bowl cake as I used to have to do.
 

whsergent

Can't Leave
Jan 8, 2020
385
1,295
On a new pipe i usually start out with 1/2 bowls and after a smoke, when the pipe cools down wipe the bowl lightly with a peice of paper towel or unscented toilet paper or napkin.

After a few half bowls i just smoke it as i want to, OTC burleys will build up cake quick, carter hall, prince albert etc.

I have experimented with no cake and a pipe reamed back to the briar, imo, doesnt smoke as good, or as dry, as a pipe with a slight layer of cake, doesnt have to be a very thick layer at all.
 
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