Practical Tips

[sparrowhawk]

Some solutions I've come across:

To prevent burning the rim of a smooth finished pipe, coat the rim with a ChapStick. After awhile, you won't need the stick wax anymore.

If your butane lighter, like Thunderbird, seems weak but has hardly been used, add a second flint; the spring tension can easily take it.

Hope these are useful.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Never heard of the chapstick one. What happens when it melts and runs into the chamber?

 

[sparrowhawk]

It doesn't. It just sits there as it melts. And it wipes off with a tissue leaving a shiny clean surface.

 

[tennsmoker]

Here's one from an old catalog: Never knock out your pipe on something hard. After digging out most of the ash, turn the pipe upside down, holding the bottom of the bowl so that the stem and shank are pointing away from you. Then gently knock out remainder of tobacco in the palm of your free hand.

Oh, and be sure the ash is out and not burning.

One other trick I use is a very old-fashioned clothes pin, the kind that is split on one end and doesn't have a spring of any sort. The other end has a perfect rounded shape for tamping. The split also works to roust out ash down to smokable tobacco. I get 'em at the hardware store (Ace here locally). They are under $5 for a sack full of the light brown unfinished clothes pins.

 

[mso489]

The clothespin tamper is a new one. I like a wooden golf tee, but this one is as good.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I just run a bead of saliva around the rim when lighting.

 

[ashdigger]

This ^^^

 

[crashthegrey]

I'm a saliva guy, too.

 

[haparnold]

I've used chapstick on pipes I care about keeping pristine (which is only one or two in my modest collection). I also use Burt's Bees chapstick on the outside of unfinished pipes-- helps them take a nice sheen after several years of coloring.
As far as knocking out ash on the heel of one's hand, I've known about that one since long before I was a pipe smoker, thanks to one of my favorite movies, The Great Escape (on Amazon Prime currently if you care to watch). It's about British and American POWs in a German prisoner of war camp during WWII, and in one of the scenes, a prisoner knocks out ash from his pipe as a signal that the prison guards are approaching. I've always remembered that, ever since I was a little kid watching the movie for the first time. Steve McQueen's motorcycle chase scene ain't bad either ::

 

[dottiewarden]

I just run a bead of saliva around the rim when lighting.

I learned this trick here on the forums. I only do it for the first dozen or so bowls as by then I have a protective layer of soot and tar to protect the rim. As can easily be inferred, I keep my pipes as any ol' codger would, well smoked! When I get round to my annual deep clean, the well protected rim is shiny and unscathed.

 

[npod]

@sparrowhawk, I agree it’s always good to find new tricks for protecting the rims. Thanks for post the tips. I finally learned to use only matches on my smooth rim pipes. It controls the flame and is a directional lighting.

 

[brooklynpiper]

Plenty of good ones. I'd say:
The chapstick one is a good one. I'm not one that's had this problem before but many new pipe smokers do make little burns with the lighter. The chapstick remedy and practices like are called ''rimming" and if you're a new pipe smoker, should be researched heavily.

No need to jar the tobacco - instead, spit down the stem of your pipe before smoking to moisten the smoke.

Resting your pipe only occurs when the pipe is facing south-southeast. Anything else is wear. Chemicals, molecules, gravitational fields, chem trails and the like. What 'facing' means is the secret to this ancient proverb.

Meerschaum should be cleaned only with a Phillips Brand electric drill.

The folks at SmokingPipes and Cornell and Diehl have been making Penzance for the last eight years and there's enough for every man, woman and child in the world to have 6 pounds of it - they're just ornery fucks about it.

Tobacco not bought in secret from the wife does not taste as good.

 

[cossackjack]

Beeswax puck or bar vigorously rubbed around the rim, especially with cobs. Like Chapstick it melts after a few lights, but no additional chemicals (Chapstick is good for the stems).

+1 for saliva.

Beeswax, then saliva...even better.

The chapstick remedy and practices like are called ''rimming" and if you're a new pipe smoker, should be researched heavily.

No, apply a little spittle with a finger, not the tongue :nana:

Tobacco not bought in secret from the wife does not taste as good.

= 87.23% of my cellar

 

[Chasing Embers]

Tobacco not bought in secret from the wife does not taste as good.

I will never understand the wife fear.

 

[npod]

I will never understand the wife fear.

+1

 

[davek]

One other trick I use is a very old-fashioned clothes pin, the kind that is split on one end and doesn't have a spring of any sort. The other end has a perfect rounded shape for tamping. The split also works to roust out ash down to smokable tobacco.

I use a nail with a big head.
brooklynpiper - Hilarious.

 

[crashthegrey]

The chapstick remedy and practices like are called ''rimming" and if you're a new pipe smoker, should be researched heavily.

Google is your friend. Definitely do your research on the topic.

 

[akfilm]

Google is your friend. Definitely do your research on the topic.

Be careful googling "Rimming" you may want to say "rimming a tobacco pipe". The internet is full of rabbit trails that mainly lead to porn.

 

[sparrowhawk]

You know, this entire conversation could be seen as obscene if read out of context

 

[jpmcwjr]

Even if not!
PS How does one change the tag line/signature? I spent a long time in the profile area, but couldn't locate it.