Cleaning a Pipe TOO OFTEN?

[strugglingthinker]

Ok, this is a follow-up to a recent post by another member. I didn't want to hijack his thread.
I realize that everyone has a different routine, that there is a continuum of practice, etc. However, I want to elicit some opinions about what I am doing. I clean my pipes (stem and shank, with a pipe cleaner and everclear) after EVERY smoke. I do let my pipes rest as well. I have some pipes that I smoke more often than others, but NEVER more than once every two days. I notice that the majority of smokers seem to use the alcohol treatment only after a minimum of 3 or 4 bowls. I have even seen people recommend waiting for 20+ bowls to use the alcohol.
Am I harming my pipes with too frequent alcohol treatment? I haven't noticed any I'll effects. Also, I find the cleansing ritual quite relaxing. My pipes taste great.
Thanks in advance.

 

[jcsnaps]

I happen to follow a somewhat similar routine. I'll smoke a pipe for the day 2-4 bowls, then it gets a bowl wiping, a shank brushing with 151, a stem cleaning with pipe cleaner dipped in 151, waxed, buffed, then it rests a week or so before joining the rack for another go around. I don't usually do an alcohol salt soak until the pipe seems a little off. I agree it is sort of relaxing to sit and refresh the pipe for future enjoyment.

 

[markw4mms]

I doubt that you're harming your pipes, if it's something that brings you extra pleasure to the smoking experience, go for it.

 

[tiltjlp]

It's impossible to clean your pipes too much. By cleaning them after every smoke, you'll always taste the tobacco the way it really does taste. I could never quite understand smokers who don't properly clean their pipes until they either go sour or begin to taste funky. Pipe clearners aren't that expensive.

 

[jship079]

I would say the only way to over clean your pipe would been if you frequently use too much alcohol you could get too much moister in the wood which is never good for wood. As long as you give it ample time to dry and don't saturate every time you will be fine.

 

[philip]

I clean my pipes after every smoke, too, though I only use alcohol after every few smokes. I think you are doing well to keep the stem and shank as clean as possible. They don't get seasoned so much as just dirty.
The bowl on the other hand doesn't need much more than reaming when the cake gets too thick.

 

[patiobum]

After 3-4 schmokes in a pipe, I place it in a lil basket. After the basket gets to 5-6 pipes, I clean them with 151 Rum and rub them with a soft cloth and Briar Wipe. Usually every 6 months or so, I buff them. This process keeps the stem oxidation away.

 

[nsfisher]

i run a cleaner thr stem into bowl after evry smoke, after evry 4 or 5 smokes it gits a cleaner soaked in brandy an left in for half an hour then i run a dry cleaner tru it and im done. bowl gits cotton an alochol bout every 2-4 weeks

 

[dubinthedam]

The main argument against alcohol cleaning is that its a lot of moisture continually being added to the wood, the other is, I'd put it this way, sometimes the second smoke in a pipe you have is often better than the first. And thats without cleaning. The pipe has acquired some flavor from the first smoke, this can even be the case by the third bowl, but rarely by the fourth. Almost never, in fact.
A pipe cleaner after one or two bowls, alcohol after three, four, five or even six. And. Q-tips are a pipe smokers best friend.

 

[shaintiques]

A pipe's seasoning occurs in the bowl not the shank or stem. I clean my shank and stem after every smoke too, as it maximizes taste, but you need to leave the bowl alone until you have a cake built up to about the thickness of a dime. Then maintain the the cake to about that thickness.

 

[shaintiques]

Also make sure that your pipe cleaners do not rub the bottom of the bowl as you can eventually rub a groove in the bottom of the bowl

 

[jchaplick]

Oh this thread reminds me I have to clean almost every pipe when i get to my apartment...I do a pipe cleaner swab after every bowl and do alcohol after maybe every 20 smokes, like you said, and I am over due......ugh, and i have a couple pipes to restore as well

 

[smooth]

What, exactly, are all you folks trying to clean out with all this cleaning? How can you possibly expect to build up the carbon cover of the internal walls of the bowl if you scrub it out as often as you say you do?

 

[billinsfl]

I think many pipe enthusiasts overdo cleaning, especially with all this salt, alcohol soaking and other stuff. It can never be good to take a pipe apart more than absolutely necessary for periodic cleaning. I clean with pipe cleaners when I am done smoking, and after 10 or so bowls will pass a cleaner soaked with alcohol. I very rarely take a pipe apart for cleaning, and because I regularly clean with pipe cleaners, can't fathom ever needing the salt/alcohol treatment. Not trying to raise hackles here, I just don't see the sense in some of the extreme measures I regularly hear folks on this board use.

 

[rigmedic1]

By one definition then, I have no broken in pipes after 30 years, because I keep a thin, thin cake in my pipes. No worries though, it suits me. I like the way briar influences the smoke, and I think if the cake is too thick, that influence will go away. Your results may vary.

 

[pipeinhand]

I clean the shank and stem with a pipe cleaner dry after every smoke, just to get the whatever out of it. I only dip it in alcohol every now and then. Remember alcohol is a desiccant and WILL remove any oils or relative moisture out of the wood. This is a good thing every now and then, as we know moisture is going down there as we smoke but, after every smoke you may be drawing every bit of oils or moisture through the wood from the outside in. So, moisture on the inside none on the outside could lead to a cracked stem. I know wood, and yes, for those who will jump in and say the wood is already too dry to worry about that, moisture is always transferring as we smoke, but slowly not like the shock of alcohol.
So, like some, I clean with a dry cleaner after every smoke and do a proper spiff when the time 'seems' right. Now cake, that is a very different and individual thing and I think is not a part of cleaning, it is part of aging a pipe and not addressed here.

 

[mluyckx]

Pipe cleaner through stem and shank after every smoke. Clean up the outside of the stem once a week to control the oxidation more than anything else.

Scrub stem and shank with everclear about once a month, which equates to something like 20 smokes or so.
Bowl ? Since most of my pipe are relatively new or new estates, most of them have no or a fine cake. I leave them alone, except for a little swipe with the folded pipe cleaner if they look gooey after the smoke. Still developing a cake in most of them.

 

[spartan]

IMHO (and being a slight germ-o-phobe) I need to clean or at least wipe down the stem (inside and out) after a smoke. I'm not putting my mouth on my dried up drool from yesterday. That's just nasty to me. (lick a spoon, put it down for a day, and go lick it again with all your dried up nastyness on it, it's the same thing as not cleaning your stem after a smoke.)
You can pretty much leave the bowl and shank alone for a good while, but I don't see the harm in doing a LIGHT cleaning after every smoke.

 

[seakayak]

I often smoke more than one bowl in a single day. In that case, I run a dry cotton pipe cleaner down the shank (still attached) and then dust out the bowl with the same pipe cleaner doubled over itself. Next day, every day, I give the now cooled pipe a thorough cleaning with alcohol, a shank brush and a bristled pipe cleaner. I then finish the job with a slather of extra virgin olive oil and a good cotton cloth buffing. It's a beautiful thing and a remarkably calming exercise.

 

[baronsamedi]

After ever smoke I run pipe cleaners through the shank and stem and use a twisted paper towel to wipe out the bowl. I use alcohol once in awhile, but I rotate my pipes and only smoke a bowl every day or two. Sometimes I'll have a cleaning day where I do an alcohol cleaning on most of them and leave a couple to smoke while the others dry out. I let them dry about a week after alcohol cleaning.