Resting Your Pipe

[dottiewarden]

When I'm out and about, I only take 1 blend and 1 pipe, but if I'm at home I rarely repeat the same blend/pipe pairing in a day. I get by with 6 - 8 pipes, and I usually have 3 - 4 blends on the go at any given time. Some pipes are blend type dedicated, however most are not. As far as resting goes, I pay no attention to time frames, but I'm usually filling a dry, cool pipe, and I believe a pipe smokes best when it is cool and dry.

 

[archerdarkpint]

Will smoke the same pipe until I want to smoke something else. Many of my pipes have a 9mm filter and I'll swab the pipe, then change the filter every two or three smokes without concern for resting. Filter-less pipes, just run a cleaner down the stem and mortise/shank, no rest. Personally, don't really subscribe to the pipe resting recommendations. However, if it works for you, it works for you.
Then again, never have had a pipe go sour or one that burned out, or cracked when I removed a stem from a warm pipe.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The briar will reach room temperature in less than an hour after you put it down. I keep mine reamed out with a paper towel and a pipecleaner or two. I'm not sure what would happen in a day that doesn't happen in an hour or so. Maybe this all stems from guys who want the tars to harden into cake? Just a guess. But, I have had pipes sour from smoking them twelve or so times a day, even with a pipecleaner and a bowl wiping with a paper towel. I think the sour come from the moisture getting in the cracks and crevasses inside the shank, little niches where the moisture gets that doesn't get wiped by the pipecleaner, especially if one uses one of those little diddly pipe cleaners that doesn't give a good reaming to the draft. If the moisture in there doesn't dry, I could see where it would sour. But, a day? Two days? One day for each time smoked? I'm not sure that anything more than a day is doing anything more than what has happened in that first day.

 

[luigi]

I was completely against resting idea but after first two months of smoking I realized resting actually can contribute to a better taste. In my humble experience a day is the minimum but it all depends on the pipe, weather/humidity and type of tobacco. I get best smokes after a few days of resting. If I smoke one pipe more than once a day I tend to use a filtered one and rest it for 5+ days. I was using a scale (accurate to 0.00g) for some time to see if there was any difference in weight but didn't notice any changes though.

I've heard many times: the number of the smoked bowls in one day should be equal to the number of days when a pipe should rest. Of course it's a generalization but I believe there's some true about it.

 

[madox07]

Now in my opinion, a pipe doesn't necessarily need resting. What I have found out, especially with the lower grade pipes, is that if you smoke them day in and day out (which happened in my early days as I could only afford a couple of pipes) you do have to clean them more often. Since I am a very comfortable individual, I do prefer the rotation - I don't have to get my hands dirty too often and it allows for diversification as well. While I am not a ferm believer in pipe resting, I am of the opinion - and most guys here would agree with me, that certain tobaccos ghost. So if I fancy a certain tobacco today and not tomorrow, a haunting tobacco I mean, inevitably my pipe will rest. Long story short, while trying to avoid cleaning pipes too often I feel comfortable with respecting the 1 bowl = 1 day rest rule, but if I want to smoke the heck out of a pipe just because I feel like it, I have no drawbacks.

 

[jabomano]

Ii do what most of you do. I'll smoke a pipe then let it sit for days as I go through my rotation.

 

[jpberg]

I have four pipes that I load in the morning before work and smoke during the day. 5 days a week. They get cleaned with a pipe cleaner each night, and rest on the weekends. Been going that way for a few years with no negative effects.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I do what most of you do. I'll smoke a pipe then let it sit for days as I go through my rotation.

I don't have a real "rotation", and my pipes rest in three racks and three or four bowls. Some pipes get smoked many times a week, and others not for a month. It's all good; there's a lot of latitude. It helps that I smoke my blends on the dry side (ca. 65% RH @ 70º) and use the hot water flush from time to time.