Why Not Clean your Pipe After every Smoke?

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sardonicus87

Lifer
Jun 28, 2022
1,184
12,519
37
Lower Alabama
You can if you want, but it's not necessary.

I wipe the bowl of my meer right before every smoke, but I use it every day. My briars, once they cool, I just swipe the bowl with my finger.

Otherwise, once a week I clean the stems and shanks with alcohol (if I used the pipe that week) and that's it. Alcohol cleaning stems and shanks isn't harder if you smoked it 15 times without cleaning after every smoke, or if you deep cleaned after every time.
 

Epip Oc'Cabot

Can't Leave
Oct 11, 2019
449
1,213
For people who like to clean very often and very frequently…. it is fine to do so. For me, however, I only clean when I find a decline in the pipe smoking enjoyment. And, like many things…. that too is variable. Some pipes seem needing of a bit of a cleaning after a few days, perhaps…. others may go a few weeks before cleaning to keep my preferred level of enjoyment.

In some ways, I guess I let the pipe itself tell me and dictate the cleaning schedule. I generally figure, “Why worry about it if it is currently pleasant and enjoyable?”
 

daveinlax

Charter Member
May 5, 2009
2,032
2,795
WISCONSIN
I’ll smoke a multiple bowls a day for a week or more only using a pipe cleaner between smokes. I rarely separate a pipe to deep clean the mortise with a Qtip dipped in 97% rubbing alcohol. I am anal about consistency polishing the pipe with a red/pink Dunhill pipe cloth that I keep at hand. I keep a little tube of Semi Chrome at hand for cleaning the bit and button crease of my vulcanite stems.
 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,931
16,988
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
I don't have to face the agony of having to clean multiple pipes at at the same time.
Agony? I load up a pipe, light it and enjoy as I start on the first pipe, some mindless TV show on (Packers' game if it's on.) and a beer or iced tea to enjoy. Makes for a passable afternoon. I usually only have three, maybe four, pipes to clean. Goes fairly quickly. And, no agony at all, particularly as I know I'll reap the rewards later in the week.
 
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shanez

Lifer
Jul 10, 2018
5,242
24,422
49
Las Vegas
For people who like to clean very often and very frequently…. it is fine to do so. For me, however, I only clean when I find a decline in the pipe smoking enjoyment. And, like many things…. that too is variable. Some pipes seem needing of a bit of a cleaning after a few days, perhaps…. others may go a few weeks before cleaning to keep my preferred level of enjoyment.

In some ways, I guess I let the pipe itself tell me and dictate the cleaning schedule. I generally figure, “Why worry about it if it is currently pleasant and enjoyable?”
^^^^This
 

LeafErikson

Lifer
Dec 7, 2021
2,004
17,333
Oregon
I deep clean a couple times a year maybe. I run a pipe cleaner through the stem after every bowl except for my meers. With my meers I just blow the stuff back into the bowl. I do clean the acrylic stems on my meers once a month or so with warm water in the sink.