Newbie question: I have just started pipe smoking, and enjoy it very much. I am a cigar smoker of many years, cigarette smoker many years prior to that, and a snuff chewer several years before that. I see people talk about smoking “a pipe” on this forum all day long. Are they smoking many bowls per day from the same pipe, or do they have a massive pipe collection that they smoke one bowl each from (meaning spending a large amount of time cleaning pipes every day). I read that pipes need 24 hours to rest after cleaning (per bowl!), which is why I ask. Any advice is very much appreciated (sorry for the long question)!
Smoking All Day
- Thread starter dane5560
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Wow! Never heard of anyone chewing snuff.
I have fingers taped together so I'm not gonna type a long answer. Most of your questions have multiple answers which you can find here with the search engine There is no "pipe police". You own the tools . Do as you please. There is nothing arcane about the pipe. How you smoke it will be whatever you are comfortable with.
I have fingers taped together so I'm not gonna type a long answer. Most of your questions have multiple answers which you can find here with the search engine There is no "pipe police". You own the tools . Do as you please. There is nothing arcane about the pipe. How you smoke it will be whatever you are comfortable with.
Thank you for your reply! After reading other "newbies" first post, I am afraid I might have been a bit rude! I was just trying to keep my question short and to the point, which I probably failed at!
I am from southern Indiana, 53 years old, and yes, when I was a teenager I chewed countless cans of Skoal...LOL! After all, I grew up in hillbilly territory!
I've been smoking the same pipe for 8 months now. Usually I get 5-7 bowls every day through it.
You can smoke multiple from the same pipe.. just clean it after every smoke and I let it rest for a day per load. So 3 pipes out of it = 3 days rest for me.
Wow! Thank you so much. That pretty much answers my question.
Do you do any thing to clean the pipe after each bowl?
Nothing special. I try to run a pipe cleaner through it when I'm done. Sometimes I go 3-4 bowls before the pipe cleaner.
Every 2 months or so it will start to stink and taste bad. Then I do a warm water flush from the sink into the bowl for about 20 seconds . Next day it's dry and fresh!
Thanks for the info! So how thoroughly do you clean the pipe between bowls? Just a single dry pipe cleaner per bowl, or more more than that?
Yup just one. I don't worry much about keeping on till they come out clean. Mainly just to get the moisture out.
I'm sure other here will say otherwise. I think I'm kind of one of a few that takes such little care of my pipes. Probably looked down upon around here. They are just tools to get my tobacco.
I've got a large collection but most of the time I smoke the same pipe 2+ times per day for a week, sometimes longer before switching pipes. I disassemble them after each smoke and clean the mortise with a Q-tip, run a pipe cleaner through the stem and draft hole, and wipe out the chamber with a paper towel.
I was just surprised. I've known a lot of snuff dippers, a pinch in the lip. You're the first snuff "chewer" I've run across. I'm an old chewer myself from my load-master days.
Guess as long as you don't stuff the snuff in your ears. Apparently, someone got a case of ear cancer by doing that. 
Pipesmoking doesn't have to be all about rituals of cleanliness.
When I have smoked one bowl in a pipe, I'll use as many pipecleaners as it takes until they come out fairly clean. Usually 2-3. The last one gets bent into a u-shape and gets to wipe out the bowl.
My pipes rest for as long as it takes me to smoke through my collection, which isn't long, but long enough that none of them has gone sour yet.
The deep cleaning is a 2-3 times a year thing.
When I have smoked one bowl in a pipe, I'll use as many pipecleaners as it takes until they come out fairly clean. Usually 2-3. The last one gets bent into a u-shape and gets to wipe out the bowl.
My pipes rest for as long as it takes me to smoke through my collection, which isn't long, but long enough that none of them has gone sour yet.
The deep cleaning is a 2-3 times a year thing.
You have asked a perennial question which has been discussed quite a bit one here. So, no clear answer. The official method is one bowl in a pipe followed by at least one days rest, as you said. Many here smoke one bowl in a pipe and rest for a week.
It's pretty likely that much care is not needed. How promiscuous you are with cleanliness will ultimately be up to you. It's almost surely true that you can smoke a pipe all day and then rest it for a week. I smoke a pipe for about a week and then rest it for at least a week myself. I alcohol/water clean before I put it up to rest. Fill the bowl with alcohol and let it sit for a while, then hot tap water through the pipe and go to town with cleaners while warm.
Oops. Water cleaning is another perennial question.
You are likely asking this because you don't have a ton of pipes since you are new to the hobby. I'll be the first to recommend that you try a cob. I'm not going to sing their praises since that is another perennial discussion.
The first few bowls in a cob are not stellar and you may like cobs and you may not. If you do like cobs, then problem solved. Get 4-5 cobs and start playing. If not, you've got a knock around pipe. I smoke mostly cobs.
My recommendation to anyone new to the pipe is to start with a clay, a cob, and a briar. If you can afford a meerschaum after a while that is great, but clays and cobs are fairly cheap. A tobacco will taste a bit different in a different material pipe. (gosh darn it, that's another debate)
Anyway, the "official guidelines" are likely a bit stringent. Figuring out what works for you is half the fun. It ain't rocket surgery
It's pretty likely that much care is not needed. How promiscuous you are with cleanliness will ultimately be up to you. It's almost surely true that you can smoke a pipe all day and then rest it for a week. I smoke a pipe for about a week and then rest it for at least a week myself. I alcohol/water clean before I put it up to rest. Fill the bowl with alcohol and let it sit for a while, then hot tap water through the pipe and go to town with cleaners while warm.
Oops. Water cleaning is another perennial question.
You are likely asking this because you don't have a ton of pipes since you are new to the hobby. I'll be the first to recommend that you try a cob. I'm not going to sing their praises since that is another perennial discussion.
The first few bowls in a cob are not stellar and you may like cobs and you may not. If you do like cobs, then problem solved. Get 4-5 cobs and start playing. If not, you've got a knock around pipe. I smoke mostly cobs.
My recommendation to anyone new to the pipe is to start with a clay, a cob, and a briar. If you can afford a meerschaum after a while that is great, but clays and cobs are fairly cheap. A tobacco will taste a bit different in a different material pipe. (gosh darn it, that's another debate)
Anyway, the "official guidelines" are likely a bit stringent. Figuring out what works for you is half the fun. It ain't rocket surgery
Nice post.You have asked a perennial question which has been discussed quite a bit one here. So, no clear answer. The official method is one bowl in a pipe followed by at least one days rest, as you said. Many here smoke one bowl in a pipe and rest for a week.
It's pretty likely that much care is not needed. How promiscuous you are with cleanliness will ultimately be up to you. It's almost surely true that you can smoke a pipe all day and then rest it for a week. I smoke a pipe for about a week and then rest it for at least a week myself. I alcohol/water clean before I put it up to rest. Fill the bowl with alcohol and let it sit for a while, then hot tap water through the pipe and go to town with cleaners while warm.
Oops. Water cleaning is another perennial question.
You are likely asking this because you don't have a ton of pipes since you are new to the hobby. I'll be the first to recommend that you try a cob. I'm not going to sing their praises since that is another perennial discussion.
The first few bowls in a cob are not stellar and you may like cobs and you may not. If you do like cobs, then problem solved. Get 4-5 cobs and start playing. If not, you've got a knock around pipe. I smoke mostly cobs.
My recommendation to anyone new to the pipe is to start with a clay, a cob, and a briar. If you can afford a meerschaum after a while that is great, but clays and cobs are fairly cheap. A tobacco will taste a bit different in a different material pipe. (gosh darn it, that's another debate)
Anyway, the "official guidelines" are likely a bit stringent. Figuring out what works for you is half the fun. It ain't rocket surgery
Welcome to the forum Dane5560
That is what I am referring to. "Just a pinch between your cheek and gum" as Joe Walsh of the Eagles would say. The people where I live call it chewing.
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