The Pipe Log-Jam

[toobfreak]

Does everyone here clean each and every pipe religiously after a smoke or are you like me, I hate cleaning them, often smoke late and then clean it the next morning (with no ill effects that I've noticed), or get into the position I'm in now where I have a table covered with a bunch of pipes and save them up and clean a half dozen all at once? Worse, one of them, a cob, I smoked it three times yesterday without anything other than emptying the bowl?
Still, I seldom need more than one pipe cleaner to get a pipe clean. I guess I'd rather the pipe serve me than my life wrapped around constant fussing with them.

 

[ashdigger]

I try to clean them every time but it's a fools errand for me. I have about 20 briars from the last week that need cleaned. But that's why I smoke meerschaums and Falcons when I get busy. The other day I smoked 10 bowls pretty much back to back in my Falcon with a meerschaum bowl. I ran a cleaner through after every smoke and took it apart once for a quick wipe and whenever I travel (quite a bit) I only take three pipes (meters or the Falcon with a Meer bowl), simply because of the pipe back log otherwise.

 

[jpmcwjr]

They stack up and I often end up cleaning a bunch at once. But I do a lot of it at the sink, hot water and a pipe cleaner after. Now I am experimenting and don't even wipe the chamber dry. Pipes are totally ready in a few hours:
Moisture is a problem when you smoke wet tobacco and don't finish near the bottom, (where the heat dissipates what moisture there may be.)

 

[alexnorth]

I run some pipecleaners through and clear the bowl. i should probably do a deep cleaning with some disassembly and alcohol soon.. Seems like a hassle ::

 

[tschiraldi]

I run a cleaner through, then double it to wipe the bowl, then wipe the stem and stummel with a polishing cloth after every smoke. Every three months, I take all my pipes apart and give them a thorough cleaning.

 

[darthcider]

Usually clean with a pipe cleaner after each smoke, but only do a couple bowls a week generally, so it's easier to do it straight away.

 

[bassbug]

OCD helps
"regular" pipes are allowed to cool down, taken apart and cleaned ASAP after smoking. The Peterson does not have to wait because of the stem mounting so it's done immediately after emptying the bowl

 

[warren]

Pipes smoked during the week are cleaned on Sunday afternoon. After a bowl a pipe gets a cleaner . Briars may get smoked four or five times in a day and then they rest until Sunday. The Meers? They just get smoked and smoked, cleaned on Sundays.

 

[mayfair70]

Log Jam method. I smoke different tobaccos in two or three pipes a day, alternating them to get at least a couple hours drying time. When they throw the flavor off, after a couple days, they go into the cleaning bin whereupon I will deep clean a bunch at a time. I've got three still clean right now so it is time to do at least four or five.

 

[addamsruspipe]

I used to clean the every night no matter what. But now I will wait till I have several ready to be cleaned then do them all at once. Guess I am getting more relaxed in my old age.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Sorry, I would respond, but I'm busy. Tonight is pipe cleaning night. ::

 

[aimlesswanderer]

No rhythm.
Sometimes I'll give them a look over and a spruce up before using them. Sometimes I won't.
Sometimes I'll clean out the stem and bowl before it's even cool. Sometimes I'll just stuff a pipe cleaner down and leave it in.
Sometimes I'll have put the pipe down to finish it later, and never do. So sometimes it's a few days later when they get due care and attention.
Sometimes I'll go a few consecutive smokes without cleaning. Sometimes if the smoke felt clean, and the bowl tapped out clean without digging out soggy dottle, I'll just put it back without a second thought.
Sometimes I realise I've left it a little longer than I should, but a good 5 minute furtle gets it singing again.

 

[mso489]

Though I'll sometimes smoke a pipe on and off during a day, or from one evening into the next afternoon with relights, once the bowl is smoked, I'll scoop out the ash, wipe out he bowl with a paper towel or paper napkin, clean out the airway with a pipe cleaner, and polish up the pipe with a bandana. Then the pipe gets a rest of a week or more. I wipe out the bowl and don't build cake, which saves reaming; this seems to work well for me, maintaining a sufficient but thin carbon layer. (Several Forums members do likewise. I guess we're a cult.) I pretty much keep up with this, but don't always do it immediately, but usually before I pack a new bowl in a different pipe. It takes minutes, once made a habit. Not really work. Rarely do I have more than one pipe to clean. With many pipes, and moderate smoking, it's a long time between deep cleaning or removing stems.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

After scraping any dottle out, I run a pipe cleaner through after smoking.

Every 3 or 4 smokes in a pipe I'll use a lightly dipped pipe cleaner with Everclear.

The only exception really is the reverse calabash. It gets taken apart and wiped clean after each smoke.

 

[markus]

I do like mso489 does, almost exactly.

 

[kiel]

I'm with Ashdigger on the falcon. I have a falcon with 2 meer lined bowls. They are my work horses. The other pipes, well, I'll clean them when I get around to it...

 

[toobfreak]

So there is a wide variation---- some people are very organized, proactive and ritualistic while others see it as a necessary evil to get around to eventually only because they have to, yet we all seem to get pretty much the same results! Clean, smokable pipes!

 

[ray47]

I'm an Old Codger and only run a pipe cleaner thru the stem and swab the bowl with the same pipe cleaner, if I feel up to it. When the pipe tells me it needs more cleaning, it gets the more in depth cleaning.

 

[toobfreak]

Funny you say that, Ray. I read some people's cleaning procedure and I wonder if it isn't necessary or they are just a bit obsessive?, me, I seldom find the need for more than one pipe cleaner as I use one end for the upper pipe and start it from the other end for the stem and bowl. Gets all the dirt.
But then, I find briars to be the dirtiest kind of pipe, meers and cobs don't seem to collect as much gunk.

 

[pipestud]

What? You're supposed to clean these dadgum things?