Cleaning the pipe

[PipedJimmy]

Hey guys, I'm a new member here, I've read through your forum at leisure before and found it to be informative. I have one question about cleaning your pipe, when the bowl is done and you are left with ash, should you allow the pipe to cool before tipping it out, or does it not matter?

 

[Oddball]

I dump mine right away, with some tobak I will stir and knock out ash as I smoke. I usualy run a pipe cleaner though too but you don't want to remove the stem until the pipe is compleatly cool.
BTW welcome to the BoB
Dan

 

[PipedJimmy]

Hey thanks for the info, and for the welcome!

 

[kilted1]

Hey guys, I'm a new member here, I've read through your forum at leisure before and found it to be informative. I have one question about cleaning your pipe, when the bowl is done and you are left with ash, should you allow the pipe to cool before tipping it out, or does it not matter?

I'm not sure there is a exact 'formula' for this, for me it varies with the pipe, the tobacco, the 'state of the cake' and other factors. I generally allow the pipe to cool first, as I believe the dottle will re-absorb some of the condensation and oils etc left over. I rarely leave it in there very long, usually until the bowl is cool to touch. If part of the bowl is dark and 'oily looking' (usually the heel of the bowl) I will sometimes take powdery ash (which I same in an old tobacco tin) dump a little in, cover the bowl opening with my thumb, shake it around a bit and dump out, thus evenly coating the bowl with fluffy fine ash. This aids in cake building. If the bowl is well caked, I generally fore go the 'ash treatment' and just gently use a pick or pipe tool to loosen the dottle stir it around a bit and pour out. If the smoke was 'wet' I'll run a couple of cleaners thru the stem and tenon area and set the pipe aside until the next smoke.

ipe:

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

I don't think that with a bowl entirely reduced to ash it matters when you dump it out.

More commonly there is dottle, in which case I remove it entirely and quickly. The wood has absorbed all the moisture that burning the tobacco in the bowl produces, and adding to it by leaving the dottle in for whatever length only increases the amount of time that the pipe will need to rest. This undoubtedly is a small amount, I think, but I wouldn't add to to that time.

 

[Natch]

I tend to "dump" right away. Gently "nudge" out the dottle, (using a wooden stick match, so no scraping the bowl), blow through it, and when cool, clean. Don't know if that's the appropriate method, but seems to work for me.

Natch

 

[Sasquatch]

PJ, welcome aboard. I won't contradict anything anyone has posted. All I will add is that I have treated some of my pipes more roughly or more poorly (out of ignorance and youth) than others, and really, no harm was done. Briar is remarkably hardy stuff. The advice given about waiting for things to cool before you pull the pipe apart is probably right, and I think it's worth running a pipe cleaner after every smoke, and dipping a cleaner in a little rum or something like that every dozen smokes or so to help remove tar inside the shank.

Other than that, I don't do much for my pipes but give them the occassional polish.

 

[PipedJimmy]

Cheers guys, everything you have said has been well-noted. I'm half experienced as a pipe-smoker, should a term exist, but I definately do need some clarification on some smoking rights! Thank you guys for a warm welcome, I hope that in time I may serve as a useful addition in some faculty, peace to you all and thank you, Antony (PipedJimmy)

 

[Justpipes]

I usually let the pipe cool just a bit before emptying the dottle but I don't let it stay in the pipe too long and definitely not overnight.

 

[Joseph76]

I use the scooper of the Czech tool and take the ash out right away... After the pipe has cooled I take the stem off and run an Everclear dipped pipe cleaner through... this takes all of 30 seconds and ensures a nice sweet smoke next time you pick up the pipe. I also loop and twist the pipe cleaner and quickly clean out the inside of the bowl. If you have a pipe with a very tight tolerance between tenon and mortise floor you don't have to take the stem off every time.

 

[JJPHOTO]

So when you guys use Everclear on your pipes - how do you keep the excess from stripping off the finish? Seems when you would force the pipe cleaner into the stem that it would squeeze the excess liquid out and down the stem.

It's getting time for me to do this to some of my pipes... I used overproofed rum last time. I was using it on a couple of my grandpa's old pipes, trying to clean them up (they were really, really bad) and the stems now look oxidized because the rum ran down them.

 

[Doc Manhattan]

So when you guys use Everclear on your pipes - how do you keep the excess from stripping off the finish? Seems when you would force the pipe cleaner into the stem that it would squeeze the excess liquid out and down the stem.

My technique for avoiding that problem is twofold:
1. I use a very scant amount of grain alcohol--just the very tip of the cleaner.
2. I hold the pipe with the stem perpendicular to the ground, bit side down. Any excess drips down onto the floor, and it gives me maximum distance between the stummel and the solvent.

(I also always make sure to follow the alcohol swab with a clean dry cleaner.)

 

[Joseph76]

So when you guys use Everclear on your pipes - how do you keep the excess from stripping off the finish? Seems when you would force the pipe cleaner into the stem that it would squeeze the excess liquid out and down the stem.

My technique for avoiding that problem is twofold:
1. I use a very scant amount of grain alcohol--just the very tip of the cleaner.
2. I hold the pipe with the stem perpendicular to the ground, bit side down. Any excess drips down onto the floor, and it gives me maximum distance between the stummel and the solvent.

(I also always make sure to follow the alcohol swab with a clean dry cleaner.)

I do the same thing