I smoke them without resting until I get bored with it. I will run a pipe cleaner through it when I taste it needs it. But to me a pipe needs resting after a smoke or 5 is BS
Resting a Pipe
- Thread starter C.S. Smoke
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Wisdom from the past about breaking in a new pipe:
Sauce:
Sauce:
It helps to remember that pipe smoking is a dying art and try to learn from the past. Smoking a pipe was much more common 50 or even 100 years ago, and plenty of old timers smoked a single pipe all day every day for their entire lives. On the other hand, there were also dozens of different "pipe sweetening" potions and concoctions for sale back then, so sour pipes were also much more common. When I started back in the 1970's, the common wisdom was to have two or three pipes, smoke one all day (6 to 10 bowls), and rest it for a day or two. You could then do a deep cleaning on them with alcohol every few months when they needed a reaming, and never have a problem. I rest and rotate just because I have enough pipes to do so, but I've kind of stuck to the old regimen out of habit. When I was traveling for work, I normally carried two pipes and alternated between them.
When that time comes when you really need to rest a pipe, I suggest Viking or Buddhist tradition. Toss it in a bonfire while smoking a bran new pipe.
That's more lack of cleaning than overlooking. For my first decade of smoking I only had two Grabows and a Big Ben. Smoked them constantly thtough the day but thoroughly cleaned them after each smoke. The Grabows were lost over time but I still have the Big Ben. Still looks new and has never given a sour smoke in the 31 years that I've had it.
Without reading this entire thread I will share this information.
A friend of mine from my YouTube days, Sparkys Pipes, who was/is a pipe maker had a commission to make a pipe. He didn't like the finished pipe, so he made another one for his customer. The first one he kept for himself and used as a shop pipe. He then put this pipe to a test. He smoked this pipe every day for 1 year straight to disprove the theory that you had to rest your pipes. He would smoke about 10 or more bowls a day in his pipe every day. He was a 1Q fan and would by 1Q, 5 pounds at a time and primarily smoked 1Q in the pipe. He did update videos on the pipe, and you could see how the pipe changed color over time, and by the end of the one-year period the pipe was looking pretty rough, but still smoking.
So... to answer the OP question, yes you can smoke your pipes multiple times a day, and multiple days in a row without causing harm to your pipes. If you're only smoking on the weekends, then your pipes will have plenty of time to rest between smokes, so you'll have nothing to worry about.
A friend of mine from my YouTube days, Sparkys Pipes, who was/is a pipe maker had a commission to make a pipe. He didn't like the finished pipe, so he made another one for his customer. The first one he kept for himself and used as a shop pipe. He then put this pipe to a test. He smoked this pipe every day for 1 year straight to disprove the theory that you had to rest your pipes. He would smoke about 10 or more bowls a day in his pipe every day. He was a 1Q fan and would by 1Q, 5 pounds at a time and primarily smoked 1Q in the pipe. He did update videos on the pipe, and you could see how the pipe changed color over time, and by the end of the one-year period the pipe was looking pretty rough, but still smoking.
So... to answer the OP question, yes you can smoke your pipes multiple times a day, and multiple days in a row without causing harm to your pipes. If you're only smoking on the weekends, then your pipes will have plenty of time to rest between smokes, so you'll have nothing to worry about.
From my experience a briar needs to rest 24 hours or it will smoke wet and start to get sour if repeated, even with light cleaning. A cob can be smoked twice a day. My pipes never get sour with this routine and I clean them with alcohol every 1 to 2 weeks depending on how much I smoke.
G
Gimlet
Guest
This is pretty much what I do. I own about ten pipes and smoke three of four blends of tobacco regularly. Each pipe is paired to the blend (some of them two blends) that suit them best and I might smoke any of them through the day as the mood takes me.
I rarely smoke two bowls in a row in the same pipe but that's about the extent of my rotation. The pipe I smoke first in the morning will get a few hours rest, maybe a day before its time comes round again, but that's about it.
I always run a cleaner through them when cold before each packing. The stem is the most important bit to keep clean for me otherwise I'll get bite from the tar. Clean the stem, double the cleaner over and clean the shank, run through the draw hole and then double the cleaner and wipe round the bowl. Takes a few seconds.
Every few weeks I'll clean thoroughly with alcohol by dipping cleaners in brandy or whisky (I've tried dedicated pipe cleaning fluids and they all leave a nasty chemical taste and take ages to dry. Spirit is much better and a hell of a lot cheaper). During these deep cleans I might run a knife or reamer gently round the bowl to take off any high spots in the cake then clean with more spirit and pipe cleaners and cotton buds until they come out spotless. This doesn't effect the cake, just removes the tars. Then I'll leave them with stems detached to dry. Overnight will usually do it. When they're done I can run my finger round the bowl and it's smooth and clean with tar and debris removed but the cake is intact.
I should add, I smoke exclusively 9mm filter pipes with cardboard charcoal filters and they soak up a lot of moisture so my pipes don't get particularly wet to start with. I never get gurgling or pooled moisture, just a touch of condensation around the draw hole. As far as I'm concerned, if it looks dry in there, it's good to smoke.
If I followed the advice of online retailers I'd be resting each pipe for seven days between each bowl and I'd have racks the length of the room and about 200 pipes all labeled with days of the month, which is plainly ridiculous.
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There are so many differing opinions on this, you could probably write a graduate thesis on it. At the end of the day, I think there is no definitive answer. Pipe smoking is something personal, so you need to find what suits your needs the best. I've gotten quite deep into restoring estate pipes. I recently bought out a pipe shop's estate inventory that was closing. It amounts to over 200 pipes (and not to brag, but I snagged them for around $3.50 a pipe). Now some of them are workhorse pipes. Grabows, EA Careys, Kaywoodies, Medicos, etc, and some of them are better factory pipes, Brebbias, Comoys, Savinellis, Petersons, Castellos, Chacoms, Parkers, etc.
All of them have been smoked, some have been rested, some have been smoked hard. I'm currently working on a Brebbia canadian that was well loved. I am guessing that this pipe was an everyday workhorse for whomever had it, there was 3/16inch of cake in the bowl! I finished up a Parker and a Yellobowl last week, that were also well loved, but you could tell the smoker either rotated them or took meticoulous care of them.
Why am I rambling about this? Because it illustrates that each pipe smoker is different and unique. We each cotton to certain blends, certain cadances, smoking habits, etc. If it makes a pipe smoker happier to smoke a pipe and then clean it, rest it and move onto another pipe, then I say go for it. If it makes a different pipe smoker to load bowl after bowl, day after day, then I say go for it.
TLDR: There is no right or wrong way to smoke a pipe. As we say in the motorcycle community, ride your own ride. In the pipe community, smoke your own smoke.
All of them have been smoked, some have been rested, some have been smoked hard. I'm currently working on a Brebbia canadian that was well loved. I am guessing that this pipe was an everyday workhorse for whomever had it, there was 3/16inch of cake in the bowl! I finished up a Parker and a Yellobowl last week, that were also well loved, but you could tell the smoker either rotated them or took meticoulous care of them.
Why am I rambling about this? Because it illustrates that each pipe smoker is different and unique. We each cotton to certain blends, certain cadances, smoking habits, etc. If it makes a pipe smoker happier to smoke a pipe and then clean it, rest it and move onto another pipe, then I say go for it. If it makes a different pipe smoker to load bowl after bowl, day after day, then I say go for it.
TLDR: There is no right or wrong way to smoke a pipe. As we say in the motorcycle community, ride your own ride. In the pipe community, smoke your own smoke.
Thanks for sharing this. It would be interesting if that's actually the origins of this myth. That said, it feels like this myth has been so thoroughly debunked, that I'd be curious to know where new pipe smokers are learning it? I've watched most of the popular YouTube pipe channels and have never seen this myth given any credence.
It is a complete falsity.
I've got nearly 100 pipes yet, I find myself smoking the same Peterson 107 one four to five times a day, every day of the week. That pipe never gets any rest. Furthermore, it rarely gets a deep cleaning... I run it through with a pipe cleaner, and when it cakes up enough, reem it out.
As a matter of fact, I'm on my second go round with it this morning.
I agree with a Greg Pease article I read that Latakia pipes need cleaned after 1 or 2 bowls, but Virginias or Vapers can go multiple bowls but not more than 3 for me. Still, my personal taste requires a pipe rest a day per bowl smoked. I do smoke full flavored tobaccos, not 1Q types. Quiet Nights, Blairgowerie, full bodied straight Virginias.
I picked up a Peterson short army 106 for smoking while being active, since bents seemingly get in my way and I didn't want another work cob. Your previous posts along with @Sobrbiker were the deciding factor.
The pipe smokes like a champ while letting me get things done. It's too new to ream, but I'm reaching for it the most and I generally don't care for straight stems.
I didn't think a Peterson would be this sort of workhorse, but was clearly wrong. Since I don't smoke throughout the day, it has been getting back to back use in the evenings when I have time. No rest. Nominal cleaning. No fuss. No issues. No regrets.