Problem with Cleaning the Bowl

[64alex]

I found very easy and useful to clean the bowl of my Lepeltier clay pipe with a stream of running how water after each smoke. It cleans very well with no problems. It might be not necessary to be done every time but I like.
Now the problem is that I attempted the same thing washing the bowl (after it cooled down and detached from the stem) with a couple of corn cob and briars and then I have the problem that the stem is very tight and very difficult to insert back at a point I fear I can break it if I have to push too much. I figure out the problem is likely because the briar/corn swelled with the water. I probably can correct with sandpaper. But the question is if it can prevented as I really like to clean the bowl with running water. Maybe I should leave the stem in when cleaning with water or what else can be done?
Moderated by Cosmic: Please capitalize the titles for your posts. Thank you.

 

[elbert]

I don't think anyone cleans their bowls with running water, to be honest. Some will fill the bowl with coarse salt and drip in some spirits, but that's as far as I would ever go. The reason pipes are made out of briar burls is because that particular kind of wood is very good at absorbing water--meaning the condensation from the smoke. That's also why we rest our pipes after a smoke. They need time to dry, even from just that little bit of condensation. If you soaked a briar bowl with water, you may have to wait a very long time before you can make use of it again. Good luck, maybe the restoration masters around here can help you further!

 

[cranseiron]

Quite the contrary. John (jpmr), a veteran forum member enthusiasticaly recommends running hot water through a briar to clean it. I tried it my self and was very pleased with how clean the bowl was afterwards. I think the trick is to run the hot water through with or without the stem and immediately dry the bowl with a paper towel followed by pipe cleaners. Briar is a pretty dense wood and will not absorb that much water in that short a period of time. After washing though, do rest it a day. I'm not so much a cob guy, but I wouldn't use water on a cob.

 

[elbert]

Live and learn, I suppose! I will NOT be making that test myself. :mrgreen:
Edit; here's an interesting thread on the subject. http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/briar-pipes-and-water

 

[cranseiron]

Edit: John's handle is jpmcwjr. Sorry, John

 

[jpmcwjr]

No problemo!
Water works fine with briar, meerschaum and clay, not corncobs!
And I never ever leave the stem out for any length of time,—cleaning or not—as the fit will change in the mortise.
BTW- Briar does NOT absorb water much at all. Most moisture in a pipe is a result of damp tobacco, heated to steam in the chamber. That opens up the pores in the wood, and allow some moisture in. Oddly, perhaps, hot water run through the bowl does not get absorbed at all in my experience. I have towel dried same, and smoked within minutes, no problem, but usually leave it be for a while, and smoke others.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Elbert- It's not a test. A tried and true method. (Though not widely adopted, perhaps due to the old big pipe companies warned against it. That they were selling their own solutions to 'clean and sweeten" pipes had everything to do with it)

 

[elbert]

I certainly defer to your experience, John! ...I'm still not going to do it!
Just out of curiosity, is it a problem on cob pipes because of the cob itself, or because of the wooden shank?

 

[64alex]

[Water works fine with briar, meerschaum and clay, not corncobs!]
As a matter of fact Lepeltier (clay pipes) recommend using running water in their clay pipes, this is why i started using it.

About corncob I used water once in a new corncob after the first smoke, what should I do trash it or try to save? It is very cheap so no big deal if I trash it.

 

[alexnorth]

I knew you were doing it jpmcwjr and I find it curious but I respect your knowledge and input on the subject. Curious because it seems that so few are doing it.

 

[sablebrush52]

I knew you were doing it jpmcwjr and I find it curious but I respect your knowledge and input on the subject. Curious because it seems that so few are doing it.

So few are doing it, but as more people decide to investigate before holding the idea in contempt, more are doing it.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

After reading how Mr Jpmcwjr(john)told us this water cleaning trick,I washed some my pipes bowl chambers as indicated by him and several times, and found the results pretty satisfactory,these pipes afterwards did offer something more clean and dryer smoke,so thereby presumably I will follow on this practise on occasional basis in the future as well.

 

[smokeyweb]

I have a beater briar that I started cleaning this way to no ill effect. I still clean my pipes using grain alcohol (mostly out of habit), but washing out the bowl with water seems to work just fine. I would probably not do this with a cob though, unless I was planning to eat the corn.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I have little experience with cobs, but it would seem the chamber is likely to absorb water, or the glue holding the shank to the bowl might weaken and fall apart. But letting it dry slowly, then see what you've got.

 

[mso489]

When this discussion surfaced before, someone pointed out that briar pipes are wetted down several times during their manufacture. They are something like water resistant if not waterproof. I have to think that most briar pipes with much of a finish would lose the finish over time, though they might remain entirely smokable. In any case, I think it is true to say that very few pipe smokers wash their pipes in running water on any regular basis if ever. I do wipe out the bowl after every smoke, not building cake but only a thin carbon layer, and this has proved a good method over decades on numerous pipes. But if pipe cleaning with running water appeals to you, have at it, and let us know how it works over time. It seems to be recommended by at least one clay pipe maker. I agree, this is not for cobs.

 

[saintpeter]

I do it extensively with estate pipes and on occasion with meers. Once clean I go back to regular maintenance. Never had a problem. Maybe the water in Arizona is dryer.

 

[nevadablue]

And, as was mentioned, the shank of the normal cob pipe is wood. It is quite fuzzy inside and absorbs water readily. The tight stem should loosen up after the pipe dries. I won't be washing my cob pipes after looking inside the shank. The shank is glued in, as noted above and probably won't like repeated washing.

 

[mawnansmiff]

I've used John's method of hot water flushing several times and no pipe has ever suffered any ill effects from so doing. The important thing to remember is to thoroughly towel (paper or cloth) dry the pipe immediately after the hot water flush.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Jay-
My now advanced research indicates that's important only if you want to smoke sooner rather than later. But a very good idea, especially the mortise. It's just I've been careless or lazy enough times to know the pipe dries fine by itself. Not recommended to not dry and wipe it, though.

 

[tschiraldi]

Okay, you have convinced me to give this a shot. I will try this on an old Tinder Box pipe though, not one of my Castello or Jesse Jones pipes... yet. We'll see how it goes.

Tim