Effective Tip for Cleaning Bent Stems to Minimize Damage

[smudgersmissingleg]

It sometimes helps to put a slight bend in the pipe cleaner, I do this by inserting the pipe cleaner in the stem about 3/4” or so and bending the pipe cleaner down a bit. You don’t need a large bend, just a small bend, this can allow you to ease the pipe cleaner through a bent stem easier, you might still need to turn it left or right, but this will usually avoid scraping. This can also help you to get into the bowl on pipes that aren’t drilled perfectly. *Also* Make sure you are buying decent pipe cleaners, as shitty pipe cleaners often have wire extending well past the fluff.

I use this method as well.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I've experienced this and don't give it much thought. I suppose if it happened 10,000 times, it might become an issue. I seriously doubt some minor scratches near the top of the mouthpiece is going to cause any significant turbulence.

 

[fightnhampster]

I'm SORRY Mods! I have a hard time Capitalizing Conjunctive Words as it's not proper English. Even in a title! But I digress....

One thing that bugs the crap out of me when I clean my pipes (and I clean my pipes after EVERY smoke) is when I stick a pipe cleaner in my bent stems, there was a scraping sound from the metal in the pipe cleaner making contact with the inside of them stem. It drove me crazy knowing I was slowly scratching away the Ebonite or Acrylic and that eventually it might ruin the stem.

I have discovered over my short tenure of Pipe Smoking, solution to this problem: When inserting the pipe cleaner, as soon as I feel any scraping resistance I twist the pipe cleaner as I continue to insert it. It works every time, Even on the most bent of stems.

I hope some of you might find this tip useful as I have never seen it pointed out before. Maybe because it's so obvious but not to Schlubs like me.

Good advice. I too hate that sound!