How Often do you Really Need to Clean your Pipe?

[telescopes]

After smoking and before I put the pipe back into the cabinet, I water wash the pipe, while the inside of the bowl, remove the stem and clean the stem and the mortise with a pipe cleaner until I am satisfied.

Deep cleaning. If I must, I usually do several pipes at once using the salt and alcohol method. I rarely do this and generally only to remove a deep ghost.

A clean pipe, in my experience, is as others have stated, a happy pipe that taste better.

 

[Sigmund]

Dunno, I've never eaten any tar. All my pipes are filter pipes though and I never smoke a filter more than once. They're cheap.

Well then your stems are decently clean but your airways will eventually get nasty and lead to bitterness. You also need to occasionally clean the filter chamber. I use filters twice. Once for virginias and vapers, the second time in bruley or lat blends. They they get tossed.

Just for the hell of it clean it and see if you notice a difference. Some alcohol on a pipe cleaner for the shank. Dont use alcohol on the stem if its acrylic.

 

[dottlejockey]

My answer here is the same for the last thread a month ago entitled "stem cleaning." Verbatim:

I think it's a good idea to run a cleaner through them often. I find that if this is done after each smoke it keeps the job EZ. 95% of my pipes get the cleaner from bit to bowl w/o removing the stem, so no real hassle there. I prefer to do it while the pipe is still warm as well to get the juice from the bottom of the bowl before it dries in. Gets more gunk. I would only let it cool if it's necessary to remove the stem. Otherwise, i dump it (when it's done), and swab it out in a jiffy before considering the next object of my desire. Simple part of the smoking process as far as i'm concerned. I prefer preventative methods and things that are ez now as opposed to more involved later when neglected. With this method it is very rare that i encounter souring and much less deep cleans with alcohol are necessary.

 

[tobakenist]

I run a pipe cleaner through after every smoke, ram it down and leave it until the next smoke, after about a month I have a cleaning session, then I start another rotation, when I get through all of my 250 pipes I start again.

 

[brian64]

Lazy slug here. I rarely clean. I have the same pack of pipe cleaners that I bought in March when I started this and I can't tell there's any missing from the pack.

Might have something to do with the green complexion.

 

[kcghost]

I just use my pipe tool to scrape the debris from the tobacco. Then I take a pipe cleaner and run it down stem and the pipe itself. Then I double over the pipe cleaner and use this to clean the stuff that is in the barrel of the stem.

 

[JOHN72]

After smoking, I let the pipe cool, then I disassemble it, paper napkin, cotton swab, and perform the cleaning as mentioned by my colleagues. I do not use water for daily cleaning, I use alcohol, if it is for a deep cleaning. I let it rest for a few days, while I use another one.

 

[Sig]

This is a tough subject due to many things.
How often is the pipe smoked?
Do you smoke your pipe hot?
Are you a wet smoker?
Do you do a basic clean after each smoke?
Are your taste buds fried?
What type of cake do you have?
The more often a pipe is smoked the more it needs cleaned.
If you smoke your pipe too hot, it can leave your cake acrid and off tasting.
If a lot of saliva goes down your stem, your pipe will sour quicker.
Running a pipe cleaner or two after a smoke, and cleaning out the bowl makes a huge difference. A thick, soft cake will stink and cause your pipe to sour. Cleaning after each smoke with a twisted paper towel or bent pipe cleaner will leave a rock hard, shiny and thin cake. When I scrape the cake out of my pipes it comes out like shards of glass.
And most importantly, if your taste buds are fried, or become muted over time, your pipe might be rancid and you don't even know. I've seen this a LOT.
If you can smell a dudes pipe from across the room, he has little sense of taste left.
You will know when a deep cleaning is necessary. An occasional off tasting pipe is normal, but when all the bowls from a pipe are off, it's time to deep clean.
There are endless resources online to deep clean a pipe.

 

[Choatecav]

I store my pipe collection, along with the cellared tobacco in the basement. However, my primary smoking spot is on the back porch, just off of the sun room. So, I have a pipe bag that I will bring up about four pipes (I try to have one cob, billiard, bull dog and something else in each group of four).

I also have a few baggies, each with a few bowlfuls of tobacco (a Virginia, VaPer, English, burley, etc.) that I place in the bags. This all goes up to the sun room and is stored in a drawer. I will smoke each of these pipes four or five times each before I get a new load from the basement.

As such, I will go four or five smokes before I clean. The exception to this is if I get a gurgle going.

Being anal retentive is a bitch...............

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Interested to learn this method. I have read of this years ago by @sablebrush52 and the moderator @j*** . What's the procedure and water temperature you use?

You can't mess up. I don't usually do hot water, but others say it's ok to do so.

It'll dry in 30 minutes or so, depending on how much cake you have in the pipe.

I only use pipe cleaners between rinses, when I'm smoking tobacco that is too wet. I bought a shit ton of cleaners in the begining. I don't think I'll buy more when I run out, beacause I hardly ever use 'em.

Some people like the whole process of cleaning with cleaners and such... It can be much easier than that though, if you want it that way.

 

[bullet08]

"Need" to? Never. Once it's solidly caked, or really nasty and sour, chuck it and get a new one. Or sell it on flea bay.

If you want to keep it for some time, at least clean all the moisture off after smoke, that includes running pipe cleaner through stem and draught. It's good idea to clean mortise, and wipe out the chamber also. Do this after each smoke, you won't need a deep clean for a very long time.

 

[Pipke]

@jpmcwjr. So, after removing dottle or ash, I run very hot tap water into the bowl and out the stem. Then a paper towel in the chamber, pipe cleaner for the stem, Q-tip for mortise.


So I took your suggestion to flush with hot tap water. I flushed the hell out of two pipes. Took the finish right off. LOL. Good thing I was planning on polishing it.

 

[Pipke]

I've smoked enough now to distinguish when objectional flavors are from the tobacco or from the pipe. Fortunately it is usually the pipe, and when the sour bitter taste starts coming on, I swab the bit, mortise, and airway. I may swab during a smoke if it gurgles too much. That's usually good enough to give me nice smoke for a few bowls. If it's more than that the bowl gets a quick scrape, and an alcohol swab for the stem and mortise.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

@jpmcwjr. So, after removing dottle or ash, I run very hot tap water into the bowl and out the stem. Then a paper towel in the chamber, pipe cleaner for the stem, Q-tip for mortise.


So I took your suggestion to flush with hot tap water. I flushed the hell out of two pipes. Took the finish right off. LOL. Good thing I was planning on polishing it.

View attachment 333973

What kind of pipe was it?

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Depends on how you smoke, what you smoke and the pipe. I've found the best method is a water cleanse or flush after every bowl or two. If you're disciplined with doing this, I'm not sure you ever need a deep cleaning. I've done this thousands of times now and never had a problem damaging the finish.

If you don't water cleanse, you should drop clean your pipe when it brings to smoke sour. Pretty simple.

 

[warren]

When it really needs it. A lot of pipe smokers never clean, none here I think, and simply toss a pipe that is too caked, reeks badly and so forth. It's your pipe.

I clean, cleaners and Everclear on Sunday afternoon, the pipes I've smoked during the previous week. Sometimes a dozen briars/meers and, other times, only a couple of meerschaums.

 

[MarkinAZ]

After each smoke, I simply run a pipe cleaner into the stem and run it down to the bottom of the bowl and back out. Give the pipe cleaner a 180 and repeat. I may or may not take a pipe knife to the inside of the bowl, depending on what I see. Lastly, I place a dab of Obsidian oil on the stem and rub it all around and let pipe sit for about 30 minutes plus. Then wipe it down continuing down the shank and finishing on the bowl. Placing it back in its pipe sock and return it to the chest of drawers.

Its a process

 

[Pipke]

What kind of pipe was it?

I think it's a GBD second. It is marked "9493" but I couldn't find a GBD stamp anywhere, and there is no mark on the stem where the GBD roundel could've been. It is a straight pot with a round mortise. Looks like the one. It's a very good smoker, but the bit is oxidized and kind of nasty tasting. Needs reconditioning.

So if you want to really clean your pipe, hot water works very well. Just keep the hot water in the bowl and mortise. Just like with alcohol.

 

[Briarcutter]

I did salt method occasionally when I purchased estate pipes years ago and it seemed to work pretty good at removing ghosts. Never have, never will do the water treatment. I now smoke only my own and rarely if ever, do deep cleaning and seldom take them apart. Just ream when necessary and frequently use pipe cleaners. I also polish the silver when needed with a silver polishing cloth, I never use silver cream cleaner on the silver. Silver cream could be necessary on a heavily tarnished piece but i never let them get that bad. If for example I had an estate with black silver,silver cream would probably be necessary, a cloth could work but take much, much longer. The polishing cloth really works good and little to none of the white left overs in the crevices.

 

[Grimlineman]

I do a water rinse after a couple of smokes. If you do the water rinse you'll rarely have to do any major cleaning.

Could you explain to me the water rinse? I only smoke cobs and have learned they don’t mix well with water. How ever I’m getting a brier soon. No harm in just drenching a brier under a sink?