Newbie question about pipe

[Colorado_Sean]

Hi all, I am new to this forum. What a great resource. I am fairly new to pipe smoking, but really enjoy it. I have a few pipes, but my favorite is this little Castello that I bought as an estate pipe quite some time ago. I have smoked it maybe a dozen times.

I have a newbie question. Does the bowl on this pipe look to be in good shape? Should I sand down the pockets of cake towards the top of the bowl? Or does it look like I can just smoke it for awhile before any reaming or that kind of thing is necessary? I clean my pipes after every smoke, but I have never done a deep cleaning or reamed them. I am a little afraid to make a mistake and ruin the pipe because I like it very much and it was a bit expensive for me.

I am attaching some photos and hopefully they are good enough to view the condition of the pipe. If not, I will try to post some better photos. Thank you for any advice you can provide me.

Sean

 

[anotherbob]

man you got a lot more cake to make before you are anywhere near close to reaming. When you start noticing the smokes are getting ten or 20 minutes shorter then start worrying about if you have to.

 

[Eastmon]

Looks fine

 

[Colorado_Sean]

man you got a lot more cake to make before you are anywhere near close to reaming. When you start noticing the smokes are getting ten or 20 minutes shorter then start worrying about if you have to.

Thanks for the response. I appreciate the advice. I am glad to hear it. I bought the pipe without knowing anything about pipes and glad to hear I can smoke it for awhile before I have to ream.

 

[Colorado_Sean]

Looks fine

Thanks for the response. I have a lot to learn. Lol.

 

[dog_park_piper]

That's a nice pipe. I have a few almost identical ones from Castello. It's what I smoke out of in the summers.

 

[Philosopiper]

That’s a clean chamber. Especially if you keep cleaning it consistently—water flush and/or paper towel—you won’t need to ream for a very long time if ever.

 

[anotherbob]

Thanks for the response. I appreciate the advice. I am glad to hear it. I bought the pipe without knowing anything about pipes and glad to hear I can smoke it for awhile before I have to ream.

I ream once or twice a year. And that is preference not need. Occasionally it might need it because it is super extra uneven. That is rare too.

 

[Colorado_Sean]

That’s a clean chamber. Especially if you keep cleaning it consistently—water flush and/or paper towel—you won’t need to ream for a very long time if ever.

Thank you.

 

[Alejo R.]

This pipe need some half bowls smoked

 

[Alejo R.]

You are puting to much tobacco and smoking only the half of it.
Maybe you should.try using the half of the tobacco y smoked it to the end of the bowl.

 

[Colorado_Sean]

I ream once or twice a year. And that is preference not need. Occasionally it might need it because it is super extra uneven. That is rare too.

Thanks. That is good to know. I am going to clean it out after each smoke and maybe start using a paper towel, which was suggested by another person on the forum, and hopefully I can smoke it for awhile without any major cleaning. I am going to practice cleaning on some of my cheap pipes first, just in case I screw up.

 

[Colorado_Sean]

You are puting to much tobacco and smoking only the half of it.
Maybe you should.try using the half of the tobacco y smoked it to the end of the bowl.

Great advice. That is true. I sometimes don’t smoke the whole bowl. I think I will pack half a bowl for awhile and see if that Will help.

 

[anotherbob]

Thanks. That is good to know. I am going to clean it out after each smoke and maybe start using a paper towel, which was suggested by another person on the forum, and hopefully I can smoke it for awhile without any major cleaning. I am going to practice cleaning on some of my cheap pipes first, just in case I screw up.

I fold the pipe cleaner in half and use that, works great. Also I wipe out the mortise (where the stem goes into wood) cause that is where the most concentrated nasty goes.

 

[FALaholic]

My routine is to swab the stem like a rifle bore with a pipe cleaner. Then form a loop or fold it in half and swab the bore.

Every so often I’ll flush the bowl with warm water. I’m not too concerned about the carbon cake.

 

[Colorado_Sean]

My routine is to swab the stem like a rifle bore with a pipe cleaner. Then form a loop or fold it in half and swab the bore.

Every so often I’ll flush the bowl with warm water. I’m not too concerned about the carbon cake.

Thank you. It appears that I am overthinking it. Glad to get some advice from some seasoned smokers.