Clay Pipe - A first (asking for advice)

[madox07]

Today the opportunity arose to get me a clay pipe, which I have been meaning to buy for a while now, but the opportunity never came up. Some local online auction site had this for sale, relatively cheap - and since reading around the forums that clay pipes do come cheap, I didn't second guess the sale and just went ahead and bought it. Here are some picture, and my first question would be (of course it dawned on me after I bought it) how on earth are you supposed to clean this? The darn hole is in the middle of the bottom of the bowl, so a pipe cleaner won't run through there. Second question, what am I to expect from this piece? I hear clay pipes smoke pretty hot, so any tips?

 

[economistandfisherman]

I've never smoked out of one, but back in the old old old days, they used to simply break off the tip of the mouth piece when it got too soiled to smoke out of, that's why the stems are so long at the beginning. They also used to simply run fine pieces of sawgrass through it to keep the draft hole unclogged, then blow through it to clear it. If you live by the ocean or a swamp, you can get ya some 8O

 

[economistandfisherman]

Pretty pipe by the way...wish I had one :D

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

Easy to clean. They can be cleaned by putting in the fire in your fireplace if you have one. Or you can simply (I can't believe I'm saying this) run hot water through it. Yours looks like it has a pretty narrow airway, so I'd pack it a bit loose. The bowls do indeed get hot, but these were traditionally smoked by holding by the shank.

 

[economistandfisherman]

Madox...here's an excellent article about this topic http://www.aspipes.org/smoking-clay-pipe/

 

[5star]

I’ll often smoke a blend that’s new to me in a clay. I find that they don’t add any additional flavors to the smoke.

 

[fluffie666]

I bought myself a clay pipe similar to yours over the weekend. The only thing I could come up with to shove through that thin airway to clean it is a long piece of thin wire that I cut for the task. When the pipe gets gunked up I will put it in the fireplace. Been smoking the heck out of the thing since I got it and I really enjoy it. I hope yours suits you too.

 

[eaglewriter1]

Cleaning a Clay Pipe is as easy as it gets. If it ever gets blocked just put it in the oven for half an hour and you are good to go.

 

[madox07]

What do you mean stick in the fire place ... as in just throw it in the burning flames? I can understand that would burn all the stuff that may be clogging it, but what will it do to the pipe? As in darken it, break it if the heat is too high ???? :?:

 

[fluffie666]

The link economistandfisherman suggested goes into great detail on several ways to clean clay pipes including kiln, oven, fireplace, campfire and even using solvents like acetone. I just like the idea of cleansing by fire for the sake of tradition.

 

[economistandfisherman]

Nice looking cat, fluffie...I have 4, one of them loves to smell my pipe smoke, the other three could care less, lol

 

[fluffie666]

Thanks eco. That's Ishy. I have another cat that hates smoke. Ishy would smoke a pipe himself if he had thumbs.

 

[economistandfisherman]

LOL, cool name, mine are Dora, Snaggle Puss, Weezy and Hope...Weezy is the one that loves the pipe...cat's are cool.

 

[madox07]

economistandfisherman did post a good link, yes yes ... thank you !

 

[economistandfisherman]

Anytime! Glad I could help, although I personally have no idea how to care for one of these things (although I do want one now :lol: )

 

[ray47]

I read the post by economistandfisherman and after reading the article I decided that clays are just too much trouble. I'll stick with MM cobs. Thanks anyway for posting the article.

 

[crashthegrey]

They are no trouble. Smoke, throw in the fire when dirty. I have never had to clean a clay that way. I run a pipe cleaner and they are fine.

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

I've owned clay pipes for years, and although they are no in the routine rotation of smokes, I have never had to do more than run a pipe cleaner through the stem ... so far.

 

[crashthegrey]

I don't smoke them regularly, but they do not seem to pick up a ghost or have any other issues. I think the throwing them in fire story is just that, a cool little piece that people like to talk about but is totally unnecessary, like cleaning your pipe with water. :nana:

 

[foggymountain]

When I started smoking in the 1950s these cost 25 cents each. They smoke very well when fully broken in, poorly before that. The problem is that they are usually broken before they get broken in. Yes they smoke hot; just don't hold the pipe by the bowl.