Cleaning Routine
- Thread starter NightShayde
- Start date
I disassemble mine after each smoke. I run a pipe cleaner through the stem and draft hole, clean the mortise out with Qtips, and wipe briar chambers out with a paper towel. For meerschaum and cobs, I wipe the chambers out with unscented baby wipes. I smoke the same pipe multiple times per day for a week or more before switching pipes.
Would you use the same routine if you were only smoking 1/4 bowls each time? That's what I do due to time contraints.
I would, but that's just me. I enjoy the process of cleaning them. Why not just fill the pipe completely and smoke it on and off throughout the day?
I don't think I've ever read about someone saying something specific like every other day. That wouldn't make sense to me. I am repulsed by the idea of putting a smoked pipe back on the rack without cleaning it. I am not ass adamantly a water rincer as I was when I first started doing it, but I at least will put a pipecleaner through the stem and then double it to clean out the shank well. But, I do still rinse with water, but not religiously every time. But never would I put a smoked pipe back on my rack.
But, what someone else does is interesting, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it.
But, what someone else does is interesting, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it.
If one only smokes once or twice a day, they may not feel the need to do a cleaning. At this point, I smoke about 3-4x a day and do a cleaning everyday and then a deep clean once a week. I am still learning but at least I am trying.
Based on my own observations of almost four decades of smoking a pipe, cleaning is important but being obsessed with it is over-rated. I’ll run a pipe cleaner through it and maybe, just maybe, wipe out the bowl. I deep clean a few times a year. My pipes last decades, and I’m still smoking the pipes I had when I was in college. I would encourage you to find your own vibe that works for you. Pipe smoking, I maintain, is about joy. It should never be about work. The pipe serves the man.
When I was a kid (1960’s-1970’s), every pipe smoker I knew smoked the same pipe all day long. I honestly don’t recall any of them cleaning it in between smokes. Personally, I think it tastes like ass. I smoke on average 10x a day, sometimes the same pipe 2-3x. I always disassemble and clean after every smoke but, like others said......it’s just personal preference ?
After each smoke I run a pipe cleaner thru the stem & shank. I then bend the pipe cleaner in half and swab out the bowl. I find that swabbing out the bowl after each smoke keeps the cake down to the thickness I prefer. Usually the pipe will let you know if it needs a more thorough cleaning.
If it were me, and it’s not, then I would run a pipe cleaner through it after each smoke. I’d remove the stem for better cleaning after your last smoke of the day to remove moisture and let it air out overnight.
I clean pipes, smoked the previous week, on Sunday. Bunt, not being anal and wanting to enjoy my pipes on my terms, if one I wish to smoke needs cleaning even though it's not Sunday ... I'll clean it. Other than that, I run a cleaner through a freshly smoked pipe and just before stuffing a bowl. It's not rocket science. Do what necessary to insure a good smoke.
I also run a pipe cleaner through after each smoke, and wipe down the bowl gently. Deep clean every 3 months or so.
I am an anal freak when it comes to cleaning my pipes. After each bowl I let it cool down. I break the pipe apart, clean the stem with fluffy stems from BJ Long. Next I double over the BJ LOng Bristle cleaners and clean the shank until the cleaner has nothing on it.I then clean the mortise and I end with some Obidisian Stem Oil and put the pipe back in the rack. Every day I wake up to all my pipes being clean and I can choose anyone I want for the day. I go through lots of pipe cleaners. I also smoke 4-6 pipes a day. I never smoke the same pipe twice in a day and I never smoke the same blend more than once in a day. I use Everclear if I need to do a deep clean but that is rare. I also ream my pipes with a Senior Reamer maybe once every year or two.
After each smoke, I disassemble the pipe and clean it out. Usually, leave on a pipe stand after that to let it dry. Next day, I'll toss it on the pile with other pipes. Just don't want stale tobacco taste when I smoke it next time. I'm sure it still taste like stale tobacco, but at least I know I cleaned it last time.
I wipe the chamber walls with paper towels and use a couple of pipe cleaners after smoking a bowl. I smoke the same pipe several times a day, occasionally for a couple of days in a row. At the end of a days use the pipe gets disassembled and thoroughly cleaned.
A clean pipe gives me better flavors.
A clean pipe gives me better flavors.
This right here. Little known fact about pipe tobacco: Unlike a cigar, you can finish half a bowl, leave the pipe, come back hours later, and light up, and it'll taste just fine (sometimes even better than when you first lit it).
That's one of the benefits to a Falcon in my book, it gives you a damn good idea of how quickly things can get really gross.
I don't always disassemble, but I do always fully clean with pipe cleaners, wipe the bowl out, & give the exterior a good polish.
Clean pipes make a huge difference to the flavour.
I don't always disassemble, but I do always fully clean with pipe cleaners, wipe the bowl out, & give the exterior a good polish.
Clean pipes make a huge difference to the flavour.
After each smoke. A clean, cakeless pipe is a happy pipe.
I go for wiping the bowl with a paper towel and a pipe cleaner through the stem after every smoke.
Then do a batch clean (alcohol through stem and buff) every once in a while when I taste like they need it. I don’t smoke that much though (2/3 bowls a day max and not that much everyday) so it isn’t all that often.
Then do a batch clean (alcohol through stem and buff) every once in a while when I taste like they need it. I don’t smoke that much though (2/3 bowls a day max and not that much everyday) so it isn’t all that often.
I try my best to run a cleaner or two through the pipe when I’m done smoking, and I often run one through before packing, but I’m also known to not care much and will forget. It’s also not wrong to use a cleaner during the smoke. I do a deep alcohol clean a few times a year on rainy days. I also water flush fairly regularly, but I’m not terribly religious about keeping my pipes clean and spotless and I don’t feel like my enjoyment suffers any. If a pipe gets nasty (my cobs can be pretty foul) I’ll certainly address it, but day to day I take a relaxed approach.
I used to be much more careful about it, as I believed the dogma that if a pipe has one iota of tar left over from a previous smoke, I was somehow doing it all wrong and not smoking to my full potential and thus wouldn’t pick up on those nuances of toast and maraschino Cherry skins or whatever the hell I was supposed to taste, but I’ve come to the conclusion that whatever works for each of us is just fine.
I used to be much more careful about it, as I believed the dogma that if a pipe has one iota of tar left over from a previous smoke, I was somehow doing it all wrong and not smoking to my full potential and thus wouldn’t pick up on those nuances of toast and maraschino Cherry skins or whatever the hell I was supposed to taste, but I’ve come to the conclusion that whatever works for each of us is just fine.