Resting Your Pipe

[jabomano]

If you smoke 4 or 5 bowls out of the same pipe a day, how long do you rest it before smoking it again?
Ray

 

[alan73]

I'd say at least 4-5 days. Truth is I only smoke a pipe one time then rest it for 4-5 days.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I've smoked the same pipe twice daily for a week before rotating for years. Usually get back to that pipe after several months.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I give it a good hot water flush, dry it for a day, and back in business. Sometimes I'll smoke it again right away after towel drying.

 

[ray47]

I think it was Greg Pease who said 1 bowl= 1 day of rest. With that said, in answer to your question you should rest your pipe 4 or 5 days. If it was me I'd give it 2 days rest.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

I'm not a believer in the resting your pipe for several days up to a week after smoking it. If you have a good block of briar, and the mechanics of the pipe are good then you should be able to smoke the pipe daily. Back when I only had two or three pipes I would smoke them multiple times a day, daily. I never had an issue.
My friend who is a pipe maker, made a shop pipe out of extra materials, smoked the pipe daily for one year with close to 10 bowls a day every day. He retired the pipe after one year and while it had its issues it was still in smoking condition. He probably put 3000 plus smokes through that pipe in 1 year and it survived. Now this is not normal and he was trying to kill the pipe to prove that you don't need to rest a pipe. That pipe now sits in a frame in artisan pipe maker, Chris Morgan's workshop.
I think the resting your pipe theory was a sales pitch by the pipe companies to get individuals to buy more pipes, such as the 7 day set. Now it doesn't hurt to rest your pipe, but I don't think its necessary as long as you care for your pipe properly in between smokes, and smoke the pipe properly.

 

[crashthegrey]

I am with metalheadycigarguy. No need to rest for multiple days. Take care of your pipe, run some pipe cleaners after every smoke, and let it rest because you have moved on to another pipe. Not because you have to. I'll smoke the same pipe for weeks if it tickles my fancy, and I have had absolutely no issues.

 

[cortezattic]

From Russ Ouellette:

To ensure the life of your pipes, you shouldn't constantly smoke the same pipe over and over, as moisture is absorbed by the pipe and can cause heat to build up and possibly result in a burn-out. There's a general rule of thumb regarding resting your pipe(s): for every bowl of tobacco you smoke in a given pipe in a day, you should let the pipe rest for that many days. For example, if you smoke two bowls in a particular pipe one day, don't smoke it again for two days. When resting the pipe, store it upright in a rack. You should run a pipe cleaner through the stem and shank before storing. Some people prefer to leave the pipe cleaner in the pipe while resting, but that's a matter of personal preference.

 

[cortezattic]

I smoked a lower grade GBD at work, all day long, every day, for months without an issue.

Then one day the pipe turned "sour" (argot for "tasted like crap"). I gave it a good cleaning

with alcohol and rested it for over a week, and it smoked just fine.

 

[blendtobac]

The funny thing about what I wrote is that shortly after I put that out there, a gentleman who was making pipes sent me one and asked me to smoke it at least once a day for as long as I could deal with it. It was the first pipe I had with an open airway, and I smoked a couple of bowls every day for about a month, and it smoked like a champ. I still believe in what I said, but there certainly are exceptions to almost every rule.
Russ

 

[mso489]

It's been many years since I have had to think about resting my pipes. I smoke moderately, a bowl a day and some days off, with admittedly some weekends when I'll puff three or four bowls in a day. At some point, I entered the pipe acquisition disorder vortex and now my pipes get months of rest, to keep the rotation going and make sure that every pipe gets smoked every few months, which mostly they do. My dad was a dawn to bedtime pipe smoker, and never had more than one pipe in use at a time, so he rested them overnight, until they burnt out, and only smoked Granger. He was perfectly content and never seemed to have moisture or other pipe problems. I'd say a few days should rest any pipe sufficiently, but once your have twenty or more pipes in rotation, it isn't relevant.

 

[sablebrush52]

I generally give a pipe several days to dry out between smokes. Truth is, it really isn't necessary if you're good about keeping your pipes clean after smoking. But I still do it as a matter of habit.
Briar just isn't that absorptive. Look at the cross sections of old bowls with decades of use, thousands of bowls of tobacco smoked in them, and barely any penetration of the wood by the oils.

 

[ashdigger]

When I first started smoking pipes I was very methodical about resting pipes. When I traveled, which is often, I carried up to 20 pipes for a short trip. Not anymore. I'll smoke a pipe two or three times a day and then clean it that night and smoke it again the next day. Now when I travel, I take 4 briar pipes, even if I'm gone for a week.
BUT if I'm smoking a meer of morta, I only take one and smoke the shit out of them. I still clean them at night and they're ready to go again.
Caveat.... I run pipe cleaners through them after EVERY smoke.

 

[amisk]

I have 5 briars my great grandfather smoked and it seems like he favored 2 of them, the other 3 have little to no cake build up but the 2 he smoked were caked so much I could hardly fit a tamper in there. My great uncles don't recall him ever having any pipe accessories, no tamper, no pipe cleaners. Just a couple of pipes and a big tin of of some codger blend, no issues. I still smoke all his pipes (after reaming and cleaning) and the 2 he obviously smoked daily are knocked and dinged but still fine smoking pipes. I'm probably stating the obvious but I find english blends smoke really dry but something like 1Q will require at least one swab mid-smoke and some sopping up at the end of a bowl, at least for me. I tend to have fewer pipes dedicated to english blends because they just smoke dryer.

 

[unkleyoda]

I smoke 1-6 bowls a day in a pipe. I clean it well, with alcohol (I'm trying water now per another thread) at the end of the day. Put it in my rack, and don't go back to it for at least 3 days. Typically 7 or more, mainly because I have 50+ pipes and like to have a different one everyday. I do have my favorite pipes, and I try to smoke them weekly or at least monthly.
Really, I think as long as you take care of the pipe, you're probably fine smoking it whenever you feel like it. Remember, a lot of these 'rules' were setup by companies/people trying to sell you more pipes and gear. There was once a rule that said that you needed to choose a pipe shape that fit your face type and shape.
I would do whatever you feel comfortable with. If you have problems, adjust and move on. There seems to be no right or wrong answer

 

[cigrmaster]

I rest my pipes a day or two after smoking one bowl in them. I have plenty of pipes so resting is not a big deal. If for some reason I feel like smoking the same pipe two days in a row, I certainly would do so. It is just a very rare occasion when that happens, and I am not really sure why. Maybe it is just that resting my pipes has been drummed into my head since the beginning, so I automatically just do it.

 

[bluegrasspipe]

I usually smoke my favorite 3-5 pipes in rotation, and that seems to work for me as I usually only smoke once a day. I have also smoked once a day in the same pipe with no problems. (I was running a pipe cleaner through almost every time).
That being said, do you apply the same rules while breaking in a pipe?
I read a lot of people like to smoke a burley such as Carter Hall once a day to break in faster.

I find cake builds best when I am not paying close attention to it.

 

[popeofpiping]

I second all the opinions of not resting a pipe for multiple days. Smoke two bowls in the morning, the pipe will be fine to smoke in the evening.

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

It depends on the tobacco and the pipe. I occasionally smoke a pipe 4 or 5 times in a day, and when I do, I rest it for a couple days.

 

[derekflint]

2 DAYS