How To Clean Your Pipe

[thesillyoldbear]

Cleaning your pipe is important. Without regular and diligent cleaning, your wonderful new pipe will become a soggy, ill-tasting mess, and will no longer provide you with the smoking pleasure you desire. To eliminate such problems, you need to embark on a regimen of regular pipe cleaning and maintenance for your pipes.
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[deathmetal]

Helps avoid this:

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mundungus
Great resource, TSOB. Thanks for posting!

 

[jefff]

So....the dishwasher is out?

 

[deathmetal]

So are Fleet enemas apparently, although I'm told they get out every bit of ash...

 

[zekest]

I hold the garden hose tight to the bowl and blast all the chemicals, nicotine, and tars out the bit end.
Works a charm.

 

[iaindescribable]

I'd actually been warned not to use alcohol. What's the discourse on proper pipe cleaning liquids?

 

[pagan]

Alcohol is very effective for cleaning the inside, but can ruin a finish.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Ah, smokngpipes does it again: Long winded and exceptionally fussy details on how to do things. Even worse is their monograph on how to load and smoke a pipe. Beginners can't be blamed if they look at that and say, "Sheesh, way to complicated".

 

[cigrmaster]

If I cannot drink it then it never touches my pipes. I use Everclear or if I run out I always have some 100 proof vodka around.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Isopropyl Alcohol is intended for use on people, your body will naturally metabolise small amounts, toxicity is a matter of quantity.

Not to mention it evaporates quickly and leaves no residue, so you can be sure it's not going to adjust any flavours.

Around here Everclear costs about $40 a liter, so that makes 99% Isopropyl Alcohol a much more reasonable cleaning solution.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

Agreed. Isopropyl is fine. Lower the dilution the better, though, as the excess water can take a while to dry.

 

[ravkesef]

I've been smoking going on 57 years, and some of my pipes have been with me nearly that long. But it doesn't matter whether a pipe has been with me for five, twenty or fifty years; every single one of my pipes looks as good as or better than the day I got it because they get cleaned and polished after nearly every smoke. In fact, the after-smoke ritual is as much a part of the pipe's life as the pre-smoke ritual. Keep your pipes clean; they will reward you with many years of happy smoking.

 

[sablebrush52]

I'd actually been warned not to use alcohol. What's the discourse on proper pipe cleaning liquids?

The sparing occasional use of alcohol is fine. The problem with using it constantly is that over time it leaches out the silicate content of the briar, which affects both the briar's resistance to heat and its properties for moisture absorption.
I use alcohol on the stem airway at the end of each day's smoking. I use pipe cleaners and elbow grease for cleaning out the shank, mortise, and chamber walls after each day's smoking, and use alcohol once or twice a year when I'm doing a deep clean.

 

[lotharen]

Thanks for posting this. I have bookmarked the linked page. Now if I can just talk my Majesty into letting me have one

 

[luigi]

How long do you dry your pipes after a periodical cleaning?

I lit mine 4 days after have cleaned it really good with 70% pure alcohol. I was so happy when I got rid of all the gunk, it was actually clean as new. But the first bowl now sucks, maybe it's normal after having it reamed also. I normally clean my pipes with alcohol when they start to taste sour, it's usually every month or so.

Alcohol should evaporate quickly, is it possible 4 days is not enough? Thinking too much is becoming frustrating, there are so many different opinions on how to clean, I guess I'll try with hot water next time.

 

[captpat]

Only on really gunked up pipes would I ream and do an alcohol treatment, usually one or the other. Monthly seems almost too frequent to me, are you letting your pipes rest after a day of smoking? Also, try using 91% alcohol or drinking spirits like Everclear.

 

[luigi]

I let them rest for at least a day or two, of course I clean it with one or two dry pipe cleaners after each smoke. It wasn't completely gunked but it started to taste bitter. That's when I clean pipes thoroughly. In this case it was after 16 bowls. A cake was thicker than a dime and it was probably the right time. I suspect I soaked it too much or let it dry not long enough.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Gents
Take a look at a softer easier way:
LINK to thread on cleaning.
I've smoked my pipe as soon as a minute after a hot water flush (drying bowl with paper towel, airway with pipe cleaner)

 

[pianopuffer]

Here we go again!
I love cleaning pipes, whether by hot water bath as jpmcwjr suggests or with the occasional everclear pipe cleaner. I think the main thing is, try and figure out what works for you and then keep a regimen going so as to keep your briars and meers in good shape long term.

 

[luigi]

I love cleaning pipes, whether by hot water bath as jpmcwjr suggests or with the occasional everclear pipe cleaner.

So how often do you mean when you say occasional? And how long do you let them dry after cleaning with everclear? Just curious.