Is it asking too much

Brothers of Briar

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fishnbanjo

Broken Pipe
Joined
Jan 11, 2013
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To have a pipe cleaner run through to the bowl? I don’t mean just your ordinary basket pipe because there are high $ pipes that suffer this as well, I know a bit of twist this way, or that, may not mean much but really shouldn’t that be a part of being correctly made. Rant mode off.
banjo
 
One would think not, especially with shapes that should obviously pass a cleaner--Oom-Pauls and similar excepted. Some Petersons, for example, tick me off to the point of getting rid of them. But I try to maintain a rational irritation threshold most of the time. The longer I smoke pipes, the more I wish I had smoked only cobs. Can't believe the expense, aggravation, repair costs, even travel time (in the old days), that I could have saved by doing so. But briars, even with their peculiarities, look so dang cool!  8)

[Suddenly, without warning, he realized whom he was talking to, and he made a hasty exit, stage right.  :oops: ]
 
That's the main reason I don't like full bent pipes and Peterson's System pipes! :twisted: :twisted:
 
It's also aggravating when you have a pipe that is made to have a filter, and the hole is so far off that the filter blocks any draw at all! I have one like that and it isn't a cheap pipe. My solution was to not use the filter! But, I still have to take it apart to clean it because the pipe cleaner won't go through it. And, yes, it is a full bent pipe. It always makes me wonder if the briar is not top notch when a pipe is made with a filter.
 
That's always the thing with bent pipes. I have an old BBB though, that comes apart so lightly even when hot, so it's just a little extra work that I don't mind. And the draught is perfect.
To me a pipe with bad draught or clumsy lips is dumped, no matter the price. I own one that I love despite of that.
 
At the risk of winning this week’s Captain Obvious Award — Sometime this little trick works. Instead of holding the pipe and pushing the cleaner into it, hold the cleaner and push the pipe onto it in 1/4” steps. SOMEtimes this works, sometimes not. When it works, I think it may be due to the cleaner getting a less solid “grip” on the impediment that’s catching it, so it slips past. To answer the Q: I have some very inexpenve briars that have no trouble executing this basic maneuver, so I’m not sympathetic to those than won’t.
 
Guess I've been lucky with this. On the one or two pipes that seem to be a problem, usually twisting the cleaner a little works. And even then it might take a dozen tries. I've also found a fresh cleaner works too as sometimes the slightest little kink can add to the problem. Patience is always required.

Cheers,

RR
 
Man o man, you've hit on my Number 1 pet peeve RE: pipes, ESPECIALLY when it happens to be an artisan pipe. Nothing makes me as batty as when I'm enjoying a nice smoke but feel the need to soak up a little moisture and CAN'T because I can't get a blasted pipe cleaner through to the bowl!
 
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