What Is Your GoTo Pipe Tool ???

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mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,211
60,638
I have to admit, for simplicity, versatility, and price, I greatly honor the humble pipe nail. I do like my several Czech tools, a little folding stainless steel pipe tool, and lately a willow tamper that came (long ago) with my Two Cousins pipe rack, but what I grab most often is a pipe nail or horseshoe nail. Since they cost less than a dollar, they do not get lost, except maybe among the junk in my pockets. If I spent $30 on one of those appealing tamper tools, it would disappear in a week. I'm reinforced in my pipe nail admiration by our venerable member foggymountain, who is an artist and has a strong sense of design. Haven't heard from him in quite a while, but hope he's doing fine.
 
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alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,438
43,995
Alaska
10 bucks on Amazon...

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davek

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 20, 2014
685
952
A stick, whittled a bit.

I keep a .25$ yard sale pocket knife in my back porch smoking spot. There's a big tree right next to it. When the tamper/poker gets a little dirty, into the trash.

You can whittle a stick to a nice scraper/reamer. The wood won't have a tendency to gouge the bowl.
 
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MrTom

Lifer
Oct 20, 2019
3,116
44,218
Liverpool, UK.
Finger, Czech tool, pocket knife. I've never had a problem with a pipe which demanded "leverage". I can't even imagine such a situation. Enlighten me please, as I wouldn't want to get caught unprepared.
Well...I tend to load a bowl quickly, not carefully packing it, ( using a wide variety of pipes in my daily rotation I find packing a pipe carefully is exclusive often to individual pipes whereas the loading & stoking & poking method, to see if it draws, works with most pipes quickly), I then puff on the pipe to see if it blows, (see if the surface of the tobacco in the bowl is disturbed), if it blows, then it is likely to draw & stay alight to puff on, if it doesn't blow, then I poke it & stoke it around with the screwdriver, which gives me enough leverage to stoke the base & feel how compact I've loaded the tobacco, then if it blows I will light & often it will puff without relights. This works well with flakes just stuffed in, as well as ready rubbed, with a flake stuffed in it needs a bit more leverage to obtain a correct compactness.

It often depends on the climate & weather, if I'm outdoors etc. (I live in a quite temperate climate with generally low humidity & moderate temperatures), to keep a pipe alight without relights.

The folding Czech type tools, do not give me enough leverage to feel the compactness of the tobacco in the bowl I find, the Czech tool not being long enough & being bendy.
 
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trubka2

Lifer
Feb 27, 2019
2,470
21,644
Finger, nails, golf tees, and, lately, one of those 8deco bamboo tampers (6 bones), which is totally awesome.
 
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