I have read several times that one should not remove the stem of a pipe while cleaning it, but one should rather wait until the pipe cools and then run a cleaner through the stem from the mouth piece to the bowl/chamber. (I'm not too keen on the specific anatomical parts of a pipe, so if I word something wrong please correct me.) Now, I have only just recently found out this bit of advice, so I can;t tell you how many times I have removed the stems of my pipes in the past. My question is, why exactly do most folks preach that stem removal is forbidden? How exactly will it harm the pipe? And does this have anything to do with why the stem of one of my `briars is now extremely hard to put back on and turn into the correct position? Thanks in advance for any feedback.