Anyone With BoB Wash Your Pipes?

[William Ziegler]

This is for briar pipes, meerschaums - Missouri too - should not be cleaned by this method. Just a note, I thought this was nuts when I first read about it. But I now, after 3 years of using it, I love it. Simply, I use a sink with slow running warm water, with stem removed, I wash the bowl and stem out. Using small brushes, and my finger in the bowl, I brush and rinse the interiors out. I use the small brushes on the stem. I dry everything with a paper towel. I let everything air dry and repair to the shop where I buff the briar exterior with carnauba, polish the stem, and using a thin real bee's wax candle, I roll a little in the tenon to ease the shank back in. I used to clean with alcohol, but this eliminates all that and saves on pipe cleaners. It's counter intuitive to use water with wood, but briar is so hard, doesn't hurt it at all. And, I use this on high end pipes without worry. Frequency: After smoking the pipe for a week, I clean with this method. My pipes smoke better, too. Interested if other BoB do this.

 

[Singed]

I don't wash per se but after two or three bowls I lightly ream with a pipe tool and wipe the bowl interior with a dry paper towel. I clear the airway with a pipecleaner dipped in 100% grain alcohol. If the airway is particularly gummy I'll use a bristled pipe cleaner. I use filters where my pipe was designed for them, this absorbs a lot of excess moisture. I've often wondered about rinsing pipes but I rarely have a pipe in need of significant cleaning unless I've picked up an estate. Then it's usually an alcohol treatment. I don't polish my pipes, except my meers, and only with a microfiber cloth. I use food safe cutting board oil to brighten the briars, it only takes a drop. I rewaxed both my meers this past winter, they will be good for quite some time.