Welcome!
Please put your location in your Profile, and post in the Newcomer's thread.
How: Under your avatar, (top right, left most of three symbols) you choose "Account Details", which brings up "My Account". "My Location" is halfway down.
Stem Cleaning.
- Thread starter CBailey
- Start date
SmokingPipes.com Updates
Watch for Updates Twice a Week
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Please put your location in your Profile, and post in the Newcomer's thread.
How: Under your avatar, (top right, left most of three symbols) you choose "Account Details", which brings up "My Account". "My Location" is halfway down.
I've done that with the steam wand of my espresso machine, but didn't see results different from hot tap water.
For me it's cool down then clean delay forms bad habits one day become's 1 month quickly as fast as life seems to happen!
I clean with a quick pass of a pipe cleaner after every smoke. Once a week I take a bristled pipe cleaner through them all followed by a fluffy cleaner and then use bees wax to polish them. I only have 9 pipes so it isn't very labour intensive.
For cleaning acrylic stems I'd not use repeatedly strong straight alcohols but instead dish detergent and tap water
I haven't smoked pipe that long. But pipe cleaner is used multiple times during and right after smoking. They come handy. I use them during smoke to clean moisture out if it becomes necessary meaning when smoke is wetter than I want.
Right after the smoke, while the pipe is still warm, I break my pipe apart and clean mortise and tenon along with every surface. I don't suggest people doing this unless they are willing to crack their shank. But doing this, I never need deep cleaning. Just a bit of paying attention and gentle handling, none of my pipe ever cracked.
Right after the smoke, while the pipe is still warm, I break my pipe apart and clean mortise and tenon along with every surface. I don't suggest people doing this unless they are willing to crack their shank. But doing this, I never need deep cleaning. Just a bit of paying attention and gentle handling, none of my pipe ever cracked.
I break the pipe down almost immediately. Cold water through the stem, vigorous cleaner follows. Hot water through the bowl, paper towel ream and then pipe cleaner through the shank. clean pipe for every smoke.
That is a good point. I wonder whether other strenuous cleaners are wet smokers as well. It would help understand the breakdown. I'm a dry smoker for the most part so just run a cleaner through and around the bowl.
Not needed. While the pipe is still hot, hot tap water down the chamber and out the stem. No need to disassemble at all. Use pipe cleaner to dry airway, and paper towel in the chamber.
I find myself using a pipe cleaner maybe four times during a smoke to keep down the moisture in the bowl and shank. I take a used cleaner and immediately squeeze it with a paper towel, leaving a telltale brownish streak on the towel. Then I reuse that cleaner, squeezing out the moisture each time, and follow with a clean one at the end of the smoke. So, two cleaners per smoke. I'm picky, I guess, but it works for me.
Last edited:
That'll work, but don't forget that flavor is carried by the moisture. Sometime, try smoking on the edge of a gurgle - smoke slow until you get a hint of a gurgle and then pick up the pace a little to dry it out. I prefer pipes that smoke a little wet. For VAs anyway, this is where I find the nuance of flavor - lemons, sweetness, and with heavy perique a pepper (not spicy). If you do this, please let me know how it works for you.
