Oily pipe bowl???

[winstonsmith]

Hello, I'm still a fairly new pipe smoker and still trying to figure out how this website works. So I have what might seem a rather dumb question. I have been trying to establish a cake in my new pipes but noticed the other day looking in the pipes bowl that there appeared to be "damp" spots. Upon investigation and a cleaning attempt using a paper towel and everclear it seems to be nasty, oily, sticky, black filth. I have not done anything unusual with these pipes, only smoked them and given each a day to rest between smokes. I have a variety of new pipes of different brands and they have the same symptoms.
SO, I am assuming this is normal. What is this oily filth? It's not hard dry cake. Is it from smoking tobaccos with propylene glycol? Is it natural oily residue from the pipe tobacco itself? Is it tar from tobacco combustion? And more importantly should I try to clean it out with everclear and paper towels or for some reason should I want this oily gunk in my pipe? I'm a newbie and confused. Please enlighten me.

 

[salewis]

You do not specify what type of tobacco you are smoking. Often, if you smoking aromatics, the residue in your pipe's bowl is the result of the fillers in aromatic blends. Often this filler appears as "gunk". I would not worry too much about this gunk and would not use Everclear in the pipe's bowl.
You may want to try other tobacco blends that are not aromatics and if you do I am sure that your current concern will be covered up by the non-aromatic blends. If the gunk is too thick ream the old tobacco in the bowl first before trying non-aromatic tobacco.

 

[tbradsim1]

+1 on the Aro, try drying the tobbaco a bit, some Aros the Mohave Desert will not dry!

 

[winstonsmith]

Sorry for not mentioning it. I smoke mostly Velvet, PA, tobaccos similar to those, and English blends.

 

[petes03]

I wouldn't word too much about it. Give your pipes plenty of resting time, dry your tobacco properly, use pipe cleaners after you smoke and maybe even twist a dry paper towel into the bowl after you smoke. You should be good if you do that. Welcome to the forum!

 

[pitchfork]

Sounds like tar, to me. Depending on the tobacco, some tars stay tacky longer than others. PA probably leaves very little in the way of dark, sticky tar, but VAs and blends with added sugars will leave more gunk behind.

 

[latbomber]

Could be tobacco residue as the other users have mentioned if its inside the bowl, also on the top of the bowl sometimes I get a similar oily patch. I attribute this to the match accidentally heating up the rim enough to soften the lacquer and make it shiny again. This happens to all my different pipes (even cobs)

 

[rcstan]

The oily stuff is tar and oils from the burning baccy. You don't want it on the rim, clean it with a paper towel and a bit of water/ saliva. Inside the bowl it will harden once it dries and will attract some of the ash and stuff, and build cake. You want to keep the stuff inside the bowl even. I prefer minimal cake, others like more thickness to their cake. Trim periodically with a pipe knife.

Don't use alcohol in the bowl.

 

[mso489]

Be sure to scoop out all the ash and unburned tobacco after each bowl, blow out loose tobacco, wipe the bowl

out with a paper towel or tissue, and run a pipe cleaner through the pipe. This will keep down most crud from

accumulating. You really have to do this after every bowl, to keep things drawing smoothly. I have a new pot

shaped pipe that is finished in a matte red stain, and it seems to sweat a little oil on the broad bowl rim. This

is "good" Grecian briar, so I suspect the stain or wax finish in this case. But it is a very thin spot, and not dark

at all. Keep the pipes clean, and I don't think you will have any problem. Wiping the bowl out throughly also

reduces or eliminates reaming, which done wrong can wear out a pipe, or ruin it.