Does the Pipe Know?

[cigrmaster]

I smoke a bowl one day and then let it rest at least one day but usually more. After I smoke a pipe I clean the piss out of it. Most of my pipes are artisan made and have stems that can handle running two pipe cleaners next to each other through the pipe. I will do it once but if it is still dirty I will run 2 more through the stem. I will take two cleaners fold them over and then wipe my bowl out. I then blow through the bowl. If there was still some crap in the bowl I will take the other two pipe cleaners, double them over and then run them around the inside of the bowl again and in most cases they get what was left in the bowl.

I then take a bristled BJ Long Tapered pipe cleaner, double it over and then run it through the shank. I scrub it back and forth a few times, throw it away and then use another and use them until the shank is clean. It usually takes 2-3 of these pipe cleaners to get the shank clean. I then take one more bristle pipe cleaner double it over twice to get the mortise clean. Normally there is little to no dirt on my mortises as my pipes were made by artisans and they don't leave places for dirt to build up.

I then use some Obidisian stem oil to keep my stems shiny and free of oxidation.
Then my pipe goes in it's rack and is ready to smoke again in a couple to three days.
I never smoke a dirty pipe as I want my pipes to be as clean as possible that way when I go to use it, I have a nice clean pipe. There is nothing worse that using a dirty pipe. I spend good money on my tobacco and I refuse to waste it in a dirty pipe.

Pipe cleaners are cheap and I don't care how many I have to use to get my pipe as clean as possible. Once a year or so I will give them a deep clean using Everclear which is 190 proof grain alcohol. I will never use anything on my pipe that if I can't drink it I won't use it.

People may think I am nuts or even deranged needing medical help, lol. I tell you, there is nothing better than using a fresh pipe everytime I light it up. I dedicate all my pipes into genres or blend specific. I don't know what people are thinking when they use one pipe cleaner to clean their pipes. That does nothing. Don't lie to yourselves thinking you just cleaned your pipe with one cleaner . You are dreaming if you think one will ever do a credible job.I buy 25 packs at a time when I buy my pipe cleaners.,25(100 cleaners) Tapered fluffy and 25 Tapered Bristled(80) at a time. I only use BJ Long and will never use any other kind.

 

[LikeDadDid]

To answer the question; no the pipe doesn't know, it knows nothing. Hence the name Agnosticpipe.

I like your keen wit.

I think....

Actually, I'm not certain whether I like it at all. In fact, I'm not even sure it's possible to be certain about what I like, which makes me feel dirty somehow, though I do like to think it may be possible. I guess I'm an Agnostinastinostic. But I'm not sure.

I think that was funny.

Maybe...

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Who “rests” their lighters?

 

[trouttimes]

My grandfather smoked a pipe continuously until he had to ream it with his omnipresent pocket knife. He never saw a pipe cleaner in his life. Times have changed. We like to fiddle with our stuff so we clean. It don’t hurt to clean them good ever so often but unless you smoke horse shit like Haunted Bookshop, I don’t know it matters all that much. I use a pipe cleaner when the tobacco smokes wet but that’s just to sop up the juice so I don’t get dosed.

 

[verporchting]

This is not commonly known or well understood, but pipes are actually alien life forms that survive on a steady diet of tobacco. They can lie dormant for decades at a time but will remain viable should they encounter sufficient nutrients. Depending upon their dietary needs some may signal they are satiated by gurgling or producing a foul smell or taste. This means they are digesting and processing the tobacco products. We don’t talk about it much because these aliens are shy and we don’t want them to return to their native world so we just play along. Shhhh. Now you’re in on the secret. ?

 

[cigrmaster]

My grandfather smoked a pipe continuously until he had to ream it with his omnipresent pocket knife. He never saw a pipe cleaner in his life. Times have changed. We like to fiddle with our stuff so we clean. It don’t hurt to clean them good ever so often but unless you smoke horse shit like Haunted Bookshop, I don’t know it matters all that much. I use a pipe cleaner when the tobacco smokes wet but that’s just to sop up the juice so I don’t get dosed.

Trout, I had a guy who I worked with and he had the nastiest pipe on the planet. His stem was chewed up and you could barely put any tobacco in it. How do I know how much he could put in his pipe, it is because we tried to jam some weed in it. We got enough in there to totally piss him off which was what we were going for. We laughed our asses off at him when he figured out what we did. Since I was also a manager at the car dealership I told him I did it so he couldn't fire a salesman. He had no power over me and the more we laughed that more pissed off he became.

Just because a grandad or father did it one way, there is no reason to duplicate poor pipe hygiene. Break the bad family habit and come to the side of nice clean pipes.

 

[brian64]

I smoke a bowl one day and then let it rest at least one day but usually more. After I smoke a pipe I clean the piss out of it. Most of my pipes are artisan made and have stems that can handle running two pipe cleaners next to each other through the pipe. I will do it once but if it is still dirty I will run 2 more through the stem. I will take two cleaners fold them over and then wipe my bowl out. I then blow through the bowl. If there was still some crap in the bowl I will take the other two pipe cleaners, double them over and then run them around the inside of the bowl again and in most cases they get what was left in the bowl.

I then take a bristled BJ Long Tapered pipe cleaner, double it over and then run it through the shank. I scrub it back and forth a few times, throw it away and then use another and use them until the shank is clean. It usually takes 2-3 of these pipe cleaners to get the shank clean. I then take one more bristle pipe cleaner double it over twice to get the mortise clean. Normally there is little to no dirt on my mortises as my pipes were made by artisans and they don't leave places for dirt to build up.

I then use some Obidisian stem oil to keep my stems shiny and free of oxidation.
Then my pipe goes in it's rack and is ready to smoke again in a couple to three days.
I never smoke a dirty pipe as I want my pipes to be as clean as possible that way when I go to use it, I have a nice clean pipe. There is nothing worse that using a dirty pipe. I spend good money on my tobacco and I refuse to waste it in a dirty pipe.

Pipe cleaners are cheap and I don't care how many I have to use to get my pipe as clean as possible. Once a year or so I will give them a deep clean using Everclear which is 190 proof grain alcohol. I will never use anything on my pipe that if I can't drink it I won't use it.

People may think I am nuts or even deranged needing medical help, lol. I tell you, there is nothing better than using a fresh pipe everytime I light it up. I dedicate all my pipes into genres or blend specific. I don't know what people are thinking when they use one pipe cleaner to clean their pipes. That does nothing. Don't lie to yourselves thinking you just cleaned your pipe with one cleaner . You are dreaming if you think one will ever do a credible job.I buy 25 packs at a time when I buy my pipe cleaners.,25(100 cleaners) Tapered fluffy and 25 Tapered Bristled(80) at a time. I only use BJ Long and will never use any other kind.

My grandfather smoked a pipe continuously until he had to ream it with his omnipresent pocket knife. He never saw a pipe cleaner in his life. Times have changed. We like to fiddle with our stuff so we clean. It don’t hurt to clean them good ever so often but unless you smoke horse shit like Haunted Bookshop, I don’t know it matters all that much. I use a pipe cleaner when the tobacco smokes wet but that’s just to sop up the juice so I don’t get dosed.

Somewhere between these two you will find the tao.

 

[OneGoodBulldog]

A valiant effort to start a new myth.

I knew it! Alright, what other myths have started here in this forum? C'mon fess up. Grassy knoll? Watergate? Spill it boys, you're busted like a Big Tobacco lobbyist in front of Congress!

 

[PipeIT]

The simple facts are, depending on the relative humidity in your area and tabac blend(s), the moisture/texture, as well as blend style, these can add moisture and goop in the chamber, along with a heavy puffing style, which further creates moisture. Taking these things into account, over time you’ll learn if you need to rest a pipe or not.

One thing I’ve not noticed discussed around the forum, that I have observed as a smoker, the carbon build up on the chamber, even when wiped out, leaves behind a sticky/tacky feel that drys over time.

After you’re done smoking smell the chamber, should pretty much smell like ash/dottle.

For me personally, when I’ve let pipes sit till the carbon is drier, and more importantly the chamber smells sweeter, at this point, my smokes are always better, fresher, cleaner tasting.

My Rest Deciding Factor is when the chamber smells sweeter, then I pick it up again.


I consider this a ‘Pipe Curing’ time, allowing the carbon, moisture, etc., to dry out and the Pipe Cures, like tobacco Cures.

P.S. Yes the chamber smells nicer over time, try it!

 

[bullet08]

When it came from factory, it knew. Then I smoke the hell out of it. Only thing it remembers is.. Latakia!!!

 

[Ahi Ka]

12 years ago I was given a brand new pipe. During the decade that followed I purchased and used precisely 2 packs of pipe cleaners, one pack of philt pads, aside from the occasional random scrape with a pipe tool (more to do with looking like I was doing something than actually knowing what to do), I cleaned the pipe’s insides exactly 3 times, never did anything to the stem, rim, or exterior of the bowl. I smoked about 4 bowls a week - normally hot and wet and in one or two evenings. I purchased 3 tins of tobacco (comoys scottish, erinmore flake and davidoff blue) and bummed a crap load off mates. Anything from LBF, nightcap, captain bobs blend, or sansepolcro just went in without any knowledge or fear of ghosting. I was just a guy who smoked a pipe. Nothing more to it.

In November 2019 a forum member moved next door. I was gifted a corn cob. Then over Christmas break I received a nose warmer. In February I joined here.

I now have over 40 pipes, smoke 1-3 bowls a day, own 50 packs of each pipe cleaner style, various things for restoration work and have collected enough tobacco for my lifetime. Oh, and clean my pipes after every smoke.

basically what I’m saying is that you are all a very bad influence.

P.S. my first pipe is still going strong, and if I’m honest, it has the most beautiful glow to the briar from a decade of dedicated abuse.

 

[mingc]

12 years ago I was given a brand new pipe. During the decade that followed I purchased and used precisely 2 packs of pipe cleaners, one pack of philt pads, aside from the occasional random scrape with a pipe tool (more to do with looking like I was doing something than actually knowing what to do), I cleaned the pipe’s insides exactly 3 times, never did anything to the stem, rim, or exterior of the bowl. I smoked about 4 bowls a week - normally hot and wet and in one or two evenings. I purchased 3 tins of tobacco (comoys scottish, erinmore flake and davidoff blue) and bummed a crap load off mates. Anything from LBF, nightcap, captain bobs blend, or sansepolcro just went in without any knowledge or fear of ghosting. I was just a guy who smoked a pipe. Nothing more to it.

In November 2019 a forum member moved next door. I was gifted a corn cob. Then over Christmas break I received a nose warmer. In February I joined here.

I now have over 40 pipes, smoke 1-3 bowls a day, own 50 packs of each pipe cleaner style, various things for restoration work and have collected enough tobacco for my lifetime. Oh, and clean my pipes after every smoke.

basically what I’m saying is that you are all a very bad influence.

P.S. my first pipe is still going strong, and if I’m honest, it has the most beautiful glow to the briar from a decade of dedicated abuse.

So for the 1st 10 years, you smoked 4 bowls a week but bought only 3 tins of tobacco that entire time? The rest you leached from your pals? Man, you have (had?) very nice and tolerant pals!

 

[Ahi Ka]

So for the 1st 10 years, you smoked 4 bowls a week but bought only 3 tins of tobacco that entire time? The rest you leached from your pals? Man, you have (had?) very nice and tolerant pals!

Still have most of them!

haha yep I’m trying to rack my brain to think of any other tins I purchased I honestly can’t think of any. To put in perspective, they had just gotten into pipe smoking and were ordering a new 2oz blend a week from SPC. If they didn’t like it after a bowl or two it came to me. I also had a huge stash of Cubans I brought home from my travels in South America which they could help themselves to...oh and my wife reminds me, we would make the wine and cook them dinner twice a week too. Lol...

Also, try not cleaning your pipe for a year and the amount of tobacco you need to use drops drastically

edit: I am being reminded that it was only the first 7 years like that until we had kids. It then dropped to really only while mowing the lawns...but it has now come back with a vengeance haha

 

[LikeDadDid]

basically what I’m saying is that you are all a very bad influence.

Hilarious. I agree. My wife doesn't even know me anymore. Oh wait, that's a different problem.

 

[OzPiper]

When I started with pipes, I was a poor student, and could only afford one pipe. That one pipe was smoked over and over. I was also smoking OTC aromatic blends which tended to be gloopy. Add to that a hard puffing style - that pipe gurgled and accumulated moisture and tars. The end result was a pipe that smelt like a pair of gumshoes worn constantly day and night for months - not pleasant for the smoker or anyone within breathing distance ?

Once I acquired a few more pipes and started to let each a couple of days and to use pipecleaners diligently, the quality of my smokes improved exponentially.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

The real question is, do you know your pipes? What respect do you show them; not only in your treatment of them but how you think about them?

 

[judcole]

Or, clean it.

It's not either/or for me. I wipe out the bowl, run cleaners through the stem until they come out clean. and still rest the pipe a number of days at least equal to the number of bowls I smoked in it that day.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I can rinse my pipe out with water, ream the bowl with a paper towel, and soak up any moisture in the draft with a pipe cleaner, and my pipe smells clean as a whistle, ready for the next bowl. But, I really have so many pipes that I can smoke for days without having to reuse a pipe again.

But, some people feel a need to rest them, some don't. There's really no rules, leaders, or guidelines... sure, there are consensuses and suggestions, but those are all up to you. No one is going to bawk if you decide never to rest your pipe. And, if they do, I'll gladly punch them in the face for you.

 

[Sgetz]

I only smoke one ,and sometimes two, bowls a week but I have observed the following.

After a smoke and water flush. Pipe cleaner etc I can smell a sort of ash tray scent in the bowl. A week later the smell has changed to pipe wood plus a little sweet tobacco scent.

So something has disappeared! I don't know what! But I think this might be important.

 

[LikeDadDid]

The real question is, do you know your pipes? What respect do you show them; not only in your treatment of them but how you think about them?

I thought I knew them but now I'm not sure.