First Time Reaming Any Advice.

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SpookedPiper

Lifer
Sep 9, 2019
2,055
10,503
East coast
Sorry to go off topic, but is it just me or does this hobby lend itself to many kid like thoughts!

Let's take the title to this thread as an example...

first time reaming any advice?

Yes, there's lots of advice just be careful who you get it from!

???
 
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anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,678
29,396
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
Sorry to go off topic, but is it just me or does this hobby lend itself to many kid like thoughts!

Let's take the title to this thread as an example...

first time reaming any advice?

Yes, there's lots of advice just be careful who you get it from!

???
I seriously am trying to influence the creation of an out of context quote thread ;P
 
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JTex

Lurker
Oct 2, 2019
25
29
China Spring, Texas
I have a question and I hope this is the right subject area. I acquired a pipe that has not been carbonized. Is there an easy way to carbonize a pipe?
 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,568
27,070
Carmel Valley, CA
I have a question and I hope this is the right subject area. I acquired a pipe that has not been carbonized. Is there an easy way to carbonize a pipe?

Here's quick and easy: Wet the chamber with water. Fill with sugar, dump out excess. Let dry. Remove excess from heel if necessary. Load carefully with dry tobacco and smoke it as fully as you can.
 

JTex

Lurker
Oct 2, 2019
25
29
China Spring, Texas
Here's quick and easy: Wet the chamber with water. Fill with sugar, dump out excess. Let dry. Remove excess from heel if necessary. Load carefully with dry tobacco and smoke it as fully as you can.
Thanks. I will give it a try. Can't stand to see it sitting there unsmoked.
 

lawdawg

Lifer
Aug 25, 2016
1,792
3,801
I'm glad to hear the reamer is working out for you. I've never used one because I handle this issue the way mso does:

Nothing against cake or reamers, but you can smoke pipes without building cake, if you wish. Here's how. Just scoop out the ash after a smoke, then wipe out the bowl with a stiff paper towel or napkin. This will maintain a thin carbon layer but not allow cake, per se, to build. You don't need to own a reamer. Also, this maintains a pretty much original chamber size and reduces ghosting to a point. Does this work? A number of Forums members choose this approach. I've used it for decades, and my pipes approve entirely. This is NOT a campaign against cake building or reaming, just an option that you have instead. If you do ream, do it sparingly. Many a pipe has been ruined with a reamer.

I usually wipe my pipes out with a paper towel after each smoke. After quite a few smokes, I'll do a deeper cleaning where I remove the stem and swab out the mortise and draught hole with pipe cleaners and alcohol, the old school pre-hot-water-rinse way puf I also wipe out the bowls during a deep cleaning with paper towels and alcohol, and this seems to help keep the cake limited to a very small layer of carbonization that could barely be called a "cake" and this approach works great for me. I will say that you probably have to be more careful with smoking too hot if you're going to go with this no-cake / thin cake approach, as the likelihood of burnout probably increases without the protective cake, though I've never had any troubles with burnout.
 

shaintiques

Lifer
Jul 13, 2011
3,615
227
Georgia
I ream a lot of pipes doing restoration. Here is a pic of my tools. The best tamer is the all metal one and the little old timer knife for light shaving. The trick is to go slow and straight. Avoid the rim so as to not cut into the wood. The senior reamer is good, but you tend to miss cake at the bottom edges a more rounded bottom reamer is best to get all the way to the bottom 4115
 

shaintiques

Lifer
Jul 13, 2011
3,615
227
Georgia
I ream a lot of pipes doing restoration. Here is a pic of my tools. The best tamer is the all metal one and the little old timer knife for light shaving. The trick is to go slow and straight. Avoid the rim so as to not cut into the wood. The senior reamer is good, but you tend to miss cake at the bottom edges a more rounded bottom reamer is best to get all the way to the bottom View attachment 4115
 
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mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
I'm a non-cake builder as described in many many posts. However I have this one cautionary tale. I had an elderly friend pipe smoker, who had another friend who had just gotten a reamer and offered to do his pipes. Innocently, my friend handed over his rack of pipes, and yes, the man ruined every one of them completely. The man had to start over. I contributed a cob and an basic briar, but it was a lesson learned for both of us. I think the process of reaming is sort of exciting and invites to be overdone. I've heard a few stories about pipe bowls scraped to death. You can scrape out the cake, and the briar, but you can't put it back.
 
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