Spot on,except the reassemble. My old Meers NEVER get taken apart. For them that is a recipe for disaster (I know from experience)...
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To take it apart it's best to wait till it's cooled, unless the pipe has a military mount.
I stir the ash then dump after the bowl has cooled slightly. I run a pipe cleaner thru the stem and shank. I then run the other end of the pipe cleaner thru and then bend the pipe cleaner in half and swab the bowl.
I will dump the fine white ashes, and wait till the evening and then run water through the pipes that I have used that day before wiping them down, pipecleaner-ing the draft, and lightly buffing the pipe and stem with a polishing cloth before racking them.
Water has kept the pipes from stinking, and it has kept all of mine looking new and ready to go.
Water has kept the pipes from stinking, and it has kept all of mine looking new and ready to go.
I take the stem out only for a deep cleaning of the mortise, not necessary for the most part, maybe once or twice a year. The hot water flush helps remove gunk from the mortise, best done soon after finishing a bowl, before it starts to harden.
It depends.
With my Savinelli 305, which is my regular go-to pipe, I jab the scraper end of my pipe tool in and scoop everything out the moment I done smoking. Sometimes I clean it but sometimes I forget so I may end up smoking 2-3 bowls before it gets cleaned with paper towels and pipe cleaners.
With one of my artisan pipes, I let the bowl go out then gently loosen any remaining tobacco/dottle with my pipe tool before gently tapping the pipe to shake out the left overs. Once I'm satisfied I have everything out I blow through pipe just to make sure I've gotten everything. Then I let the pipe cool completely. After cooling, the chamber gets reamed/wiped with a damp paper towel and repeated until the towel comes out clean. Then it gets wiped out with a dry paper towel. Then I run a pipe cleaner through until it comes out clean. Then the outside get gently wiped down with a damp paper towel. Then the whole thing gets rubbed down if a Decatur pipe polishing cloth. Once all of that is complete the pipe gets gently placed back in its place in the cabinet. Then I read it a bedtime story, gently close the cabinet door, and tiptoe away.
I can't tell the difference in my pipes between the two methods.
With my Savinelli 305, which is my regular go-to pipe, I jab the scraper end of my pipe tool in and scoop everything out the moment I done smoking. Sometimes I clean it but sometimes I forget so I may end up smoking 2-3 bowls before it gets cleaned with paper towels and pipe cleaners.
With one of my artisan pipes, I let the bowl go out then gently loosen any remaining tobacco/dottle with my pipe tool before gently tapping the pipe to shake out the left overs. Once I'm satisfied I have everything out I blow through pipe just to make sure I've gotten everything. Then I let the pipe cool completely. After cooling, the chamber gets reamed/wiped with a damp paper towel and repeated until the towel comes out clean. Then it gets wiped out with a dry paper towel. Then I run a pipe cleaner through until it comes out clean. Then the outside get gently wiped down with a damp paper towel. Then the whole thing gets rubbed down if a Decatur pipe polishing cloth. Once all of that is complete the pipe gets gently placed back in its place in the cabinet. Then I read it a bedtime story, gently close the cabinet door, and tiptoe away.
I can't tell the difference in my pipes between the two methods.
Do you want to build cake? You have a choice. You can maintain just a thin carbon layer, which spares the pipe reaming and maintains the chamber more or less its original size. To do that, scoop out the ash, then wipe out the bowl with a paper towel or paper napkin. Run the pipe cleaner through the airway and buff off the pipe. To build cake, skip wiping out the bowl with a paper towel. Either way works, your preference.
On the pipes that I have wiped out after every smoke from day 1, they still build cake, a nice dense tar black cake. I don't believe that once can completely stop cake from forming. Keeping the pipe wiped down, just slows down how often I have to ream the pipe.
This is why I am always curious about meers. If you are supposed to prevent cake from forming, how exactly do you do that? But, maybe that should be answered on a new thread.
Does anyone use compressed air in a can to blow out the pipe? Would or could that affect the vulcanite/acrylic stems?
Personally I like to set the freshly smoked pipe in a potted plant near the back door of the house, still smoldering with dottle, possibly after giving it a quick swab with a pipe cleaner, but not always. There it will sit until about 8 pipes have collected and then I will clean all of the bowls and shanks at once before they go back to the pipe rack. (Hopefully my wife doesn't water the plant when I'm not around). 
Pipes are kind of like rooms. It's your pipe how clean do you want it to be. You can treat it like a hospital or like a college dorm. You're the one that lives there and have to be comfortable. Pipes need maintenance but many pipers are just necrotic about keeping pipes clean. The rule is it's your pipe and you are the one smoking it. That said I'd ream (scrap) out the tobacco with the spoon part of the pipe tool right away and send a pipe cleaner through after every few bowls and consider that the least one should do.
I dump the dottle right away and scrape gently, run a pipe cleaner through it, back and forth a bit, then fold the same pipe cleaner in half, to make a sort of loop, and use that to rub the inside of the bowl. I also usually use a little saliva to remove any indication of rim charring that I see from lighting. Then once the pipe has cooled, I remove the stem and use a pipe cleaner to clean the mortise and tenon, and run a pipe cleaner through the whole shebang again once assembled.
I do a deeper clean of the shank and stem with a bourbon/everclear solution every ten bowls or so, being very careful of course not to get any of that on and of the outer surfaces that have a stain on them, as it will remove stain instantly, and also not to use it with any acrylic.
I do a deeper clean of the shank and stem with a bourbon/everclear solution every ten bowls or so, being very careful of course not to get any of that on and of the outer surfaces that have a stain on them, as it will remove stain instantly, and also not to use it with any acrylic.
Meer will build cake slowly if you don't wipe it out. The cake it builds is also way easier to ream it's flakier more ashy. It's more of a crumble cake. I am told and not sure if it's true at all that the mineral wicks away moisture (it does do that). That's what I am told. And the only meer that's had a cake issue is currently jet black so..... Seriously the cake and the meer same color.
For me it depends. Ideally I dump out my pipe right after use. Sometimes my smoking is interrupted and I leave the remainder in the pipe to smoke later. Sometimes I forget I've done this and much later pick up the pipe to discover it has half a bowl of semi burnt tobacco still in it.
This is where I usually fire it up again and play the mental game of... "what is this tobacco?"
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