Deep Cleaning Cob Pipes

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OzPiper

Lifer
Nov 30, 2020
6,744
36,386
72
Sydney, Australia
I haven‘t had to deep clean my cob as yet.
But why should it be any different to deep cleaning a briar or meer ?

My oft stated opinion is the shank and mortise is where most of the :poop: resides - in heavily used pipes/ ones that are seldom cleaned.
Clear spirits and lots of cleaners/ear buds should take care of it.
Should you get an estate with a clogged up airway, then reaming out the crud with small drill bits saves using a whole packet of cleaners.

I deep clean all estate pipes when they arrive.
New and unsmoked pipes are given an alcohol treatment.

If you run a couple of cleaners through the airway after each smoke, then double up the cleaners and use them to scrub the chamber out, you shouldn’t need to deep clean for ages.

If it starts to smoke sour, or you’re getting an “off” flavour, then by all means do an alcohol soak/clean.

It depends on how fastidious you are.
 
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newbroom

Lifer
Jul 11, 2014
6,370
9,865
North Central Florida
Most of my cobs have filter accepting shanks, which I use without filters. Once in a great while, when I sense the need or feel ambitious, I remove the stem and work with Q-tips to clean out the gunk in the shank. Sometimes I use a Butner to remove excess cake in the bowl. Many times I've had to use a tea candle to heat a stem that I've chewed closed, and reopen it.
I do the same with my briars and meers and assorted other woods.
 

captpat

Lifer
Dec 16, 2014
2,389
12,421
North Carolina
I use a pipe cleaner to clean out the stem and wipe down the bowl after every smoke. If it gets to the point that more intrusive cleaning is required the pipe gets trashed and a new one broken out. A cob will normally last me 4-5 years.
 

makhorkasmoker

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 17, 2021
756
1,968
Central Florida
Most of my cobs have filter accepting shanks, which I use without filters. Once in a great while, when I sense the need or feel ambitious, I remove the stem and work with Q-tips to clean out the gunk in the shank. Sometimes I use a Butner to remove excess cake in the bowl. Many times I've had to use a tea candle to heat a stem that I've chewed closed, and reopen it.
I do the same with my briars and meers and assorted other woods.
That filter area in the shank of a cob is so cavernous .. even a fluffy pipe cleaner hardly touches the sides in there when run through. I used to do like you do, but at some point I was so taken aback by the amount of moisture/tar in there that I began removing the stem after most smokes, folding a pipe cleaner and swabbing it out.
 
Jun 9, 2015
3,970
24,838
42
Mission, Ks
I use two fluffy bristled pipe cleaners together with denatured alcohol and clean out the stem and shank when it gets funky. I ream with a paper towel after every few smokes.
 
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Aug 11, 2022
2,630
20,707
Cedar Rapids, IA
That filter area in the shank of a cob is so cavernous .. even a fluffy pipe cleaner hardly touches the sides in there when run through. I used to do like you do, but at some point I was so taken aback by the amount of moisture/tar in there that I began removing the stem after most smokes, folding a pipe cleaner and swabbing it out.
I like to bend and twist a fluffy pipe cleaner when swabbing out the shank with alcohol. In fact, I think I'll do a couple now. :)
 
Last edited:

olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,166
14,978
The Arm of Orion
No need to worry about the stem or mouthpiece if you take it apart and clean it after every smoke.

It's the bowl end of the stem and the area under it that are a major problem and a PITA:

Cob_gunk.jpg

Not even a water rinse cleans that up (BTW, please don't rinse smooth cobs with water).

I have brushes for the shanks, but not even those get all the deposits off.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,960
14,334
Humansville Missouri
The dowel stem of a MM pipe is huge compared with the hole drilled in the shank of a briar pipe. It would be difficult to gunk one closed.

The stems are replaceable. They can be cleaned in a basin of soapy water, if you like.

The product was designed to be a working man’s pipe for so long as it didn’t burn a hole in the bottom (they extended and angled the dowel, and later put a dowel plug in the bottom to prolong that) or the cob get so soaked with tars the kernel cells crumbled (they plastered the cobs and later developed new corn hybrids to prolong that). One year of constant use everyday without rotation or resting was and is a good life expectancy for a cob pipe, and for that matter, a briar.

It was all developed long before modern pipe cleaners.

Maybe they used a piece of wire, to clean them way back then?

I use regular pipe cleaners soaked in Everclear to clean my cobs.

Double them up for the shank.
 

Swiss Army Knife

Can't Leave
Jul 12, 2021
459
1,349
North Carolina
It's important to understand why you clean pipes in the first place.

The main reason is pipe smoking leads to a lot of moisture, in-between combusting tobacco in a concave chamber and our disgusting mouths it can cause bacteria and other natural junk to build up. Usually in the stems and shanks.

This is the main reason for letting pipes rest/rotation. It dries them out and helps reduce bacteria build up.

Alcohol is a really easy way to kill any bacteria without damaging the pipes or leaving weird flavors behind. So it's the go to when drying alone inevitably doesn't get everything.

So feel free to run some alcohol dipped pipe cleaners or paper towel through the stems and shanks of even cobs.

Tar and cake build up is a whole other thing you don't really need to worry about until you're farther down the road.

Cobs are the "rode hard and put away wet of pipes" though. Don't feel like you need to baby them at all. Most guys treat them worse than their red headed step children and they smoke just fine.
 

LeafErikson

Lifer
Dec 7, 2021
2,180
19,116
Oregon
I use a pipe cleaner to clean out the stem and wipe down the bowl after every smoke. If it gets to the point that more intrusive cleaning is required the pipe gets trashed and a new one broken out. A cob will normally last me 4-5 years.
I think many pipe smokers are like this about their pipes in general, briars included.
 

john3music

Lurker
Jan 31, 2024
41
236
Waco, Texas
john3music.com
It's important to understand why you clean pipes in the first place.

The main reason is pipe smoking leads to a lot of moisture, in-between combusting tobacco in a concave chamber and our disgusting mouths it can cause bacteria and other natural junk to build up. Usually in the stems and shanks.

This is the main reason for letting pipes rest/rotation. It dries them out and helps reduce bacteria build up.

Alcohol is a really easy way to kill any bacteria without damaging the pipes or leaving weird flavors behind. So it's the go to when drying alone inevitably doesn't get everything.

So feel free to run some alcohol dipped pipe cleaners or paper towel through the stems and shanks of even cobs.

Tar and cake build up is a whole other thing you don't really need to worry about until you're farther down the road.

Cobs are the "rode hard and put away wet of pipes" though. Don't feel like you need to baby them at all. Most guys treat them worse than their red headed step children and they smoke just fine.
You gave the best explanation I’ve ever heard of as to why we clean pipes, because of bacteria and the natural junk left behind.
 

renfield

Lifer
Oct 16, 2011
5,126
41,663
Kansas
I’ve never deep cleaned any of my cobs, apart from running an Everclear soaked pipe cleaner through the stem every few years or so. I do use a dry pipe cleaner every smoke.

My cobs typically get plenty of drying time between smokes so YMMV.
 
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