Plowing Wet Areas

[carver]

Now that I have your full attention.

Do you carry pipe cleaners with you to clean your pipes immediately after smoking?
Simple question but that has made me wonder. Since we don't usually remove the mouth piece from the stem while the pipe is still hot, and since I imagine immediate cleaning will be more efficient, do you do that on the spot?

 

[fluffie666]

Usually I'll have a few pipe cleaners hanging from the rear view mirror in the car for cleaning after a smoke. Also, if I'm getting moisture during a smoke I'll push one in to dry out the shank. When I'm not at home I usually smoke cobs or Kaywoodies so I don't have to worry about leaving a nicer pipe in the car when the weather is hot. After a bowl is finished I do run a pipe cleaner through to dry it out and clean some of the gunky tar, moisture and ashy crud that's in the shank. After that, I'll have a pipe cleaning day when I take all the pipes I smoked during the week apart to give them a thorough cleaning with high proof alcohol. Then I set those aside to dry and smoke another bunch of pipes... Nice hook BTW :D

 

[pagan]

I let my pipe cool before I remove the stem and clean

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

I keep a cleaner around as I smoke and run it down the draft hole a couple times during the smoke and once after.

 

[voorhees]

During yes. After yes.

 

[aldecaker]

Yes, I do. I have a zippered pipe/tobacco pouch with 2 compartments- one for a pipe and a larger one for tobacco. That one holds tobacco in a Ziploc, 2 spare balsa filters, a tamper, and 2 Dill's regular pipe cleaners. That way, whatever pipe I take to work that day is covered, be it filtered or non.
EDIT: To give a fuller answer, the cleaners aren't really for cleaning immediately after smoking, more for gurgle swabbing if the tobacco is a bit wet or the day is too humid. Heh heh..."gurgle swabbing". Maybe I could be the Chief Gurgle Swabber on the Black Frigate. Or Chief Pornographer's Mate. That'd work, too.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I have no qualm with removing a hot stem, been doing it for years. But, I've stopped recommending it to guys when I saw guys at the B&M use their meaty hands to rip the stems out like gorillas building a nest. So now, I just shrug. But, all in all, if you have the hand/eye to use tools (besides crowbars and sledgehammers) and can remove the stem straight out, then there is no problems with whether it is hot or not. I think the main issue is guys wallowing and reducing the size of the warm vulcanite tenon with a heavy hand.

Eh, maybe we should just stick to saying that it magically breaks the pipe to remove a warm tenon. Fewer people will get their feelings hurt that way, ha ha.
Oh, and yes, I keep pipecleaners behind my ear, in my shirt pocket, my pipe bag, the console of my truck, my workbench, by my chair, my back pocket, by the pipe rest, in drawers, the tractor, tool shed, my wife's purse, my wife's car, anywhere I will be near or around there are pipecleaners. And, as dementia sets in, my kids know to follow the pipecleaners to find me if I forget how to get home.

 

[aldecaker]

Not being a huge cake fan, I use the paper towel method to keep it to a minimum, but am perfectly willing to wait 'til I get home for that.

 

[oldreddog]

I keep it old school. I always carry some poultry and pluck a feather as needed.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Great timing on this thread. Packing for a cruise, and I do want some pipe cleaners with me! I keep a pack in the car, but don't always run the stem though after a smoke. Almost no moisture there the way I smoke.
I always twist the stem taking it out or reinserting, and have not had problems with removing it while warm, but I also always stick it right back in after swabbing the area. Only time I've had problems with loose fit is when I've left the tenon out of its hole.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I don't always use them in the pipe, sometimes...

 

[dottiewarden]

Plowing Wet Areas

And here I was expecting a thread from Brad, with the flooding and all!

 

[hextor]

keep the cleaner around, It helps when my pipe is gurgling.

 

[dottiewarden]

I only use pipe cleaners when needed. I rarely have a wet smoke, but if I get some gurgle or I find some soggy dottle in the bottom of the bowl, I'll run a pipe cleaner through if I can. I will never disassemble a hot pipe, why would I?.
Otherwise I use them to keep the stem and shank clear while doing periodic general pipe maintenance.

 

[crashthegrey]

I didn't used to, but I now carry a few pipe cleaners only for after I finish the bowl. I keep them in my car as I usually go to my car during a lunch smoke at some point.

 

[carver]

@fluffie666 and the others: thanks for the details

Heh heh..."gurgle swabbing". Maybe I could be the Chief Gurgle Swabber on the Black Frigate. Or Chief Pornographer's Mate. That'd work, too.

That'd work!! :worship:
@Cosmic: thanks for the laughs

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

And here I was expecting a thread from Brad, with the flooding and all!

I thought the same exact thing when I first saw the post title.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

And here I was expecting a thread from Brad, with the flooding and all!

The thought ran through my mind before I clicked it also.

 

[carver]

And here I was expecting a thread from Brad, with the flooding and all!
The thought ran through my mind before I clicked it also.

Brad, flooding and all?

 

[puffndave]

I've been in the habit of running a pipe cleaner straight through the stem (I don't like having gunk clogging up my bits) after briefly removing the stem while the pipe is still hot, and then I put it right back on before there's a chance that the bowl will cool down without it in. I've done this because I expect to get a better cleaning from the effort while the gunk is still good and wet. I only do this when the stem offers little resistance, and the only pipes which have given me a problem for that are MMs, on account of that stupid plastic end cap on the end of the shank. Don't mess with an MM when it's hot, that crummy cap will fall right off!
Why, oh why can't MM make a shaft which fits the stems they make, without that silly, poorly glued-on cap? I've got several pipes which sport military-style stems, cheapies of briar and pear, and they don't need intermediary fittings! Is there something different about cob (I'm not really sure MM shafts are really that), or do those people just enjoy forcing us poor suckers to buy replacements unnecessarily?