Carbon Cake

[brownbilliard]

Carbon cake is starting to become a serious issue for me now. I've read that you should always maintain an 1/8 inch carbon cake. Do you guys agree? I'm currently battling a thick carbon cake in my very first, trusty $20 POS briar. When I first bought it, I could stick my index finder down to the bottom of the bowl. Now I'm using my pinky. I've been filing it down with a curved blade but its incredibly stubborn. Do I really need to get a pipe reamer or is there some other shortcut to grinding it down?

 

[jchaplick]

There is a bunch of stuff on cake here, what it really comes down to is your personal preference. Do what ever makes you comfortable

 

[spartan]

Some would use a knife, sand paper (gently), or just spring the $10-20 for a quality reamer.

 

[captainbob]

After every smoke, I use a "dull" pipe knife and scrape the bowl clean. The thickness of a "dime" is a generally accepted rule for cake buid-up. If you follow my procedure, you will eventually attain that and maintain that. Also, I always use a pipe cleaner after every smoke, as well. But, I do not leave the pipe cleaner in the pipe. I allow it to air dry. I try to avoid smoking a particular pipe more than once or twice per day. I give them a rest of a day or so. I do rotate my 30 pipes. I also dedicate my pipes to specific blends or blends of similar character (such as Latakia or Virginia etc). I smoke five to eight different pipes per day!

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Take care of your pipes (ream and clean the bowl) and give them a rest. They will reward you!

 

[bobby46]

It stands to reason that beyond a certain point of accumulation, that excess buildup offers no additional thermal benefit. I wonder how much an excessive cake affects rest-time (drying time) requirement?

 

[bobby46]

I assumed a longer dry-time, myself.
For me, a question of "to-ream-or-not-to-ream" was determined only one time, by a taste test which an estate pipe failed. That was followed by an alcohol/salt bath.
OP- Let personal preference be your guide.