Tobacco in the Carbon Cake

[americaman]

In a pipe I have started to break in I noticed that there are two shag-cut leaves of tobacco carbonizing into the thin layer of cake starting to form, which has left two unnatural bumps in the carbon coating.

I was just listening to an episode of the PipesMag Podcast and Brian Levine was talking about how you should never touch the cake or wood with your tamping tool. Don’t scrape the inside of the bowl with the needle, etc., because it can disturb the cake and/or harm the wood.

I am surprised the leaves were there because typically I lightly “dust off” the inside of the bowl (the chamber) with a pipe clear folded into a U-shape. I tried to lightly dust the tobacco leaves off of the carbon, but to no avail. Should I scrape them off, leave them be, or am I thinking too hard about this after that episode? Is the pipe cleaner dusting trick safe? Cheers.

 

[python]

IMO, you're over thinking it. They will burn with the next bowl. But if it is bothering you, you could lightly scrape them with the spoon part of the pipe tool. I've done that thousands of times with no ill effects. YMMV.

 

[logs]

I scrape cake off all the time using a pipe scraper. I just try to get cake even on all sides. I'll sometimes scrape down to the wood if I'm trying to lose a ghost. I don't think you need to be that fussy about it but I know some people are.

 

[upnorth1]

I use the side of a small spike, also use my tamper along the bowl side to push tobacco to the centre, and scrape off excess cake with various pen knives. Some of my pipes are three generations in the family and my father and grandfather did likewise. Relax, use a reasonable level of care with your pipe and you'll be fine.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Cake is way over rated IMHO. I wrote the inside of the bowl with a pipe cleaner bent in half after finishing the bowl. I also water cleanse. Over time, I end up with a very thin layer of very hard and even cake.

 

[Spa32]

I wrote the inside of the bowl with a pipe cleaner bent in half after finishing the bowl.

?

 

[mikethompson]

?

wipe instead of wrote.

Autocorrect is a cruel mistress.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Yeh, I just wash mine out with water and ream it with a wadded paper towel after each smoke. There always has been a little mystique or taboo surrounding cake in the past. I remember my uncles sort of using their cakes as a badge of honor of sorts, especially among the more rural, less expensive pipe smokers. The would smoke them till they couldn't get any more tobacco in the chamber, then tossed them to get a new pipe.

One probably doesn't want to go hacking at the cake with a metal tool, but lightly scraping the sides wouldn't be the end of the world.

I keep my cake down to a credit card to dime thickness. Even with washing and reaming with a paper towel, I will get cake build up. But, because my cakes have no ash in the mix, it is a very hard, asphalt-like layer, that won't chip or easily break. I have seen pipes that have had ash mixed in with the cake. They were more crumbly and would fall apart easily.

FWIW, it's a personal call. YMMV

 

[sumusfumus]

The secret to becoming a happy pipe-smoker is to ignore most things about pipe-smoking.

Beyond the very basics....most suggestions are subjective, useless, anecdotal, and cause hyper-concern and less enjoyment for the pipe smoker.

Smoke that hunk of wood and don't fret so much. Life's too short to be vexed. : ))))

 

[mikefu]

I use the same method as Cosmic, but before I did, I actually tried to scrape the sides of the chamber with an aluminum pipe nail to keep the unburned tobacco out and to "polish" the cake so it wouldn't be a crumbly, weak layer. Not like a regimented thing, but while tamping and after I'd give it a light, even scraping that made sure that cake was all right and proper instead of being pores and crumbly. YMMV

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I think that after reading and hearing so much lore about cake that holding a pipe under running water felt like an act of blasphemy or breaking a taboo; stepping on a crack intentionally, or just brushing spilled salt into the floor, or asking a woman her weight. well... without getting slapped, ha ha.

But, once you do it and realize how fresh that pipe smokes afterwards, it makes you start to question bigger things in life, like the need for drier sheets, the button at walk signs in big cities, and cannibalism.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Hah, Michael. You do have a way with words.

One more pitch for a hot water flush: It removes much more ash than any wipe down and pipe cleaner through the stem. Who wants to suck ash into himself?

 

[americaman]

This water flush sounds interesting. So I just remove the stem, then flush the pipe with hot water, and then wipe the bowl with a paper towel? Or is it cool water I should be using? How long should I wait for the wood to cool down before removing the stem and/or flushing it with water? I am sure some of you leave the stem attached.

This is some good info, thanks everyone.

 

[logs]

I remember my uncles sort of using their cakes as a badge of honor of sorts, especially among the more rural, less expensive pipe smokers. The would smoke them till they couldn't get any more tobacco in the chamber, then tossed them to get a new pipe.

I love this. Super caked-up beater pipes look kind of cool.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

So I just remove the stem, then flush the pipe with hot water, and then wipe the bowl with a paper towel?

Pretty much. I leave the stem in and just use warm water, because it takes so long for the hot water to reach the tap at my house. Plus, if the water is too hot it can oxidize the stem. But, jpmcwjr is the man that best explains the process.
I rinse mine while it's hot sometimes, but most of the time, I just rinse them all out at the end of the day before bed. Then I hit them with a jeweler's polishing cloth and rub the rims on a piece of suede that i have stretched across a piece of wood to brighten up the rim.

 

[mso489]

A minority of us on Forums don't build cake. What I do is scoop out the ash with the scoop end of a pipe nail or similar dull tool, then wipe out the bowl with a paper towel with some texture to it. This leaves a thin carbon layer that serves to insulate the chamber from the ember and retains the size of the chamber on a permanent basis. I've never missed cake building at all. I started this on a whim, more or less, and it has worked fine for decades. Those of my pipes that are thirty or forty years old show no ill effects. I don't pitch this way of smoking, only offer it as an option. I've never owned a reamer, but I know of some horrible things done to pipes with reamers, none of them mine. Also, my method reduces the cake base for ghosts.

 

[jpmcwjr]

This water flush sounds interesting. So I just remove the stem, then flush the pipe with hot water, and then wipe the bowl with a paper towel? Or is it cool water I should be using? How long should I wait for the wood to cool down before removing the stem and/or flushing it with water? I am sure some of you leave the stem attached.

This is some good info, thanks everyone.

I use hot tap water, stem in, unless I feel the mortise needs a deep cleaning. If I've just finished a bowl and am near a sink, I'll flush it immediately.

If the pipe is dry before the hot water rinse, after a paper towel and pipe cleaner, I can smoke it immediately with no problem. Usually, though, it goes a day or three or more, as I have lots of others to smoke. Hope this helps.

I remove the stem as little as possible.

 

[anotherbob]

I was just listening to an episode of the PipesMag Podcast and Brian Levine was talking about how you should never touch the cake or wood with your tamping tool. Don’t scrape the inside of the bowl with the needle, etc., because it can disturb the cake and/or harm the wood.

Just because a person knows a lot about pipes and pipeing and is on that pod cast doesn't mean they know 100 percent of the time what your pipe needs. Or more likely it's one of those things where pipers and children are lied to so they're more careful when they break a silly little rule.

 

[BROBS]

sometimes I take a pipe knife and even out the cake so it's not "bumpy"
then just continue to smoke.
I always use my tamper to scrape down the leaves of tobacco onto the ember.
I also wipe out the chamber after the smoke while still warm with a paper towel.

I used to try to build a loose ash cake... you can form them fast but these are brittle and eventually a piece will fall off of it exposing the chamber wall underneath. You are better to form a thin, hard cake.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Just because a person knows a lot about pipes and pipeing and is on that pod cast doesn't mean they know 100 percent of the time what your pipe needs.

Having met and conversed with Brian several times, I think Brian would be the first person to tell you that Brain doesn't know everything, but he is a 100% expert in his own opinions. Love ya Brian!