Cake Buildup

[puffy]

From time to time someone writes that they are having trouble building cake in a pipe.I have the opposite situation.With the exception of one my pipes are all between 15 and 30 years old.They smoke good but it seems like I'm always cleaning cake out of them.I tend to feel that a pipe with cake already in it builds cake faster than a new pipe with bare wood.Am I right in this?

 

[wildcat]

If people just smoke their pipe and don't worry about the small shit, pretty soon they'll see the really don't need to worry about the small shit, it takes care of itself pretty good, at least so far as pipes go.

+1... that goes for most of life's issues wouldn't ya say Mike?

 

[sparroa]

Amen to people not sweating cake buildup until a problem actually arises...
It takes a nice few smoking hours to get started.

 

[Perique]

Funny, I too use the dull-knife-and-paper-towel tecchnique. Works like a charm. It should be noted that cake is desirable- better a bit too much than a bit too little. And reaming can be a dangerous business. I'll leave it to the pros and those who like to tinker. I like to smoke.

 

[mlyvers]

i like alittle cake build up in my pipes. (thin cake). i had a ben wade with thick cake, the bowl formed a verticle crack in the bowl which i had repaired. i think that cake can be a hassle at times. my least favorite thing to do is reaming a bowl. i may try what rothnh suggest. i never heard of cake forming in the bottom of a bowl frist. i have always found that the heel is the hardest to get cake formation in that area. i do not allow cake to form in my meer for sure.
mike.

 

[nsfisher]

I use a small paring knife regularly on my pipes. Hate cake, hate cake, hate cake. I just cannot stress enough how much I dislike it. I don't take it to the wood, but I have no cake buildup either. To me, there is nothing worse than having a nice size bowled pipe, that can only hold a small cob sized smoke because of cake.

 

[cigrmaster]

I have always used the Senior Pipe reamer to trim cake. I can't see for shit and I would never trust myself with a knife to remove cake. I like a dimes worth and and I rarely have to use my reamer because I have enough pipes in the rotation that it takes a long time to get over a dimes worth. You guys with the knives are brave in my book, I would end up cutting off a finger for sure. I think my pipes smoke much cooler with a dimes worth.

 

[instymp]

I let it build up to a nickle, ream it back to a dime & use the pipe knife in between if I think about it.(but always use the knife in the meer to keep nada cake)

Is it my imagination, it seems my Cobs build cake much slower, never had any cake build up yet in them.