When I get estate ebay briar pipes, I use rubbing alcohol and soak it onto cotton balls into the bowl and also run a soaked pipe cleaner into the stem/shank and let it sit over night. That’s for deep cleaning though. For meerschaum pipes, I thought I could get away using a pipe cleaner post smoke, but noticed build up of oils on the wall. Learned that you have to wipe the bowl pretty good with paper towels.
@@neighborhoodman323 SUPER good point! This video was getting a bit longer but I plan on doing a follow up. Definitely want to get meerschaum as clean as possible after every smoke!
When it comes to estate pipes after I cut out the carbon cake I pack the bowl with kosher salt and fill it with denatured alcohol and let it soak for 24 hours it works great. Also non scented oxiclean diluted in warm water does wonders for estate stems.
It's kinda nice to hear as a new pipe smoker that not everyone makes such a huge fuss about the cleaning and the carbon cake and not mixing blends in the same pipe.
My daily maintenance is similar to yours. I use filters, so I let the pipe cool before removing the stem to pull & toss the filter. While I have the stem off, I clean it using a pipe cleaner that has been dipped in either vodka or whiskey (my pref). Just a quarter to half inch of one end of the cleaner. It gets all the goo out of the stem and I get to drink whatever booze is left in the shot glass. Daily maintenance motivation!
All I know is I only worry about my carbon cake when my finger doesn't fit down the bowl anymore. Then whip out the reamer, a few grinds and start anew. What can I say? I'm a simple man who enjoys his pipe. Also Color me subscribed. Nice channel.
Agree man. Been smoking pipes for about 5 years or so and I don’t have any briars with serious cake in them. I clean my pipes every time I smoke. Just like drawing your weapon from the armory. Take it out, use it, clean it, put it back. That makes it last, and you avoid problems down the line.
My routine is similar, but, one more final step. I use a napkin with few drops of votka to wipe the bowl, and rub all the interior. I also use vodka to clean the stem. A fresh pipe, always tastes better than a muddy, sticky one, personal opinion. I saw you had artisan's blend, very good stuff. Thank you for your videos!
Nevet heard of letting pipe rest, though i haven't looked into what so ever. I remeber my grandfather smoked the same pipe daily and heavily 😅 he never got the memo
I never stress over pipe cleaning. I just use a fresh filter for every smoke, let the pipe cool and discard the filter before putting it back in the rack. I don't have a large collection but I don't feel like they need frequent cleaning. Maybe every couple months I'll take them all down and spend an evening giving them a good cleaning. People worry too much about cleaning (in my opinion). Just get the dottle out and let em dry. Personally, I leave the rim char because it just adds character to the pipe, I don't burn the hell out of the rim though either lol. I don't stress over cleaning, mostly, because I just dont like to do it and it's a part of the ritual I dont find relaxing, so I avoid it. Some people love to clean them because, again, the ritual. I like seeing other people's pipe journeys. It tells a lot about their character and lifestyle. It's such an individual thing. Some are very methodical, some very relaxed, and everywhere in between. Great video again 👍
Greetings, Sir! As a former antiques dealer, I purchased my first pipe in an antique shop, some forty years ago. I stumbled on to your channel several months ago, quite by happenstance. I think I subscribed after watching your first video. As pipe smokers, we all have differing theories on the best maintenance practices of our beloved pipe collections. Over the years, I have accumulated somewhere north of seventy quality pipes to date. I think of each pipe as a personal relationship and I actually take great pride in maintaining and caring for them. I value each of my pipes individually and regard each one as a beautiful work of art, but that's just who I am. I totally get that there are those who would not understand this and that is perfectly fine too. To each their own. I enjoy your channel and truly admire you for what you do, Sir. As fellow pipe smokers, I feel we have an obligation to preserve this dying art of pipe smoking for future enthusiasts. Keep up the good work, my man. Your doing a very fine job and I wish you all the best!!!
Great video! A clean pipe is a happy pipe. I rarely have any ghosting issues anymore since I do not smoke aromatics anymore, just English blends. I did convert my aromatic tobacco pipes to English by using the salt technique you alluded to. I may keep a pipe or two in case I start trying newer aromatics out of curiosity. I have never head to use a pipe reamer (even though I have one) for cake buildups simply using the same techniques you showed here. I have brought my younger boyfriend into pipes and I have had to really stop him a couple of times to NOT mess with the stem after he smokes a pipe, but he enjoys the hobby as I do now. To me, your videos are never too long because they are well made and chock full of good humor and information. I do envy some of those Petersons you have there, ha. Big fan. Thanks for all the work you put into these videos. Makes my day when there is a new one. Cheers! Chris.
Holy F**k Chris! Thank you so so much for those incredible words! That literally made my bad day of work into a great day. Im happy that you can take such enjoyment from these! I hope your boyfriend as well can get some enjoyment and information! This means the world to me, Sir! Cheers!! Happy to have you! 🔥🔥🔥
What with removing the stem after a smoke? Seems to do nothing at all. Wood expands and contacts based on the moisture content in it. Other then that doesn't seem to do damage or anything so why do you suggest not doing it? It's like the jet lighter theory.
I used to stress so much about carbon kake. Nowadays I just dump the dottle and ash, swab the pipe with a paper towel and use a pipe cleaner or two. After that I just let it dry for at least 24 hours, but often it’s more like 3 days since I have 5 pipes I smoke the most and rarely more than two bowls a day. In a new pipe I skip the paper towel swab for the first 5 or so smokes just to give the briar a little bit of protection. After that, a reaming every year or so is more than enough to keep it in check.
I’ve heard a ton about the paper towel method! This is actually something I’ve never really got into. Not for lack of trust, but rather habit of my current system. It makes complete sense. Maybe even more than pipe cleaners! I’ll definitely be bringing it up in the future! Also love your process! Makes complete sense and I’m for it!
I was only smoking all of my pipes a max of once a day with 3 days rest but today decided to smoke my new muxiang twice with 8 hours rest in between smokes and a basic pipe cleaner clean and it was fine.
Loved this video so much, have been smoking just over 30 years. I clean my pipes every day but try to give them a deeper clean once a month. I like you do not want that heavy carbon build up and the daily clean up keeps the pipe just the way I enjoy them.
I'm new to pipe smoking, and I use filters and stingers in my pipes, so I've been taking ny stems off to run pipe cleaners through, but now Im concerned about them becoming too loose. Didnt think about that. I also would live some advice for cleaning off the char from my bowls. I've seen swapping with alcohol, like vodka, is useful.
I will say that for me I’ve noticed a brand new pipe will mellow for the first few bowls. The say 5th bowl has a darker less harsh taste then the 1st. I think that’s more of the wood maturing with heat then any cake that forms in that time. Good video I enjoy what you do man.
@@GetPiped i wanna see then how my dad's pipe i just found in one of the drawers would taste like 😂, already planning on ordering the basics along with some filters that fit it (coincidentally my brother has brought me some for smoking a month ago but they are too small), Its nothing too fancy, just a small pipe with a slightly curved stem😂 imma do a deep cleaning first cause you never know, just to be safe 😂
What about a one piece bone pipe? I have a small pipe made of moose antler, I use a few times a week at most. I normally just dump the ash and just wipe out the bowl with a paper towel and a little rubbing alcohol after smoking.
@@GetPiped Awesome, thanks for such a quick reply brotha, and yeah it's pretty awesome, fits in any pocket, very easy to carry with you. I got it made by a dude up in Alaska, I've always been into the rustic stuff made of wood, bone and steel lol. 🤙
Very informative video . was looking at some of my old pipes , the ones that have carbon build up and yes , A seasoned pipe is better to smoke . great video , some I have cleaned well with other methods , makes me feel as if i am breaking in a new pipe. Have over cleaned it , I have a different pipe for every tobacco i smoke in it that way there is no ghosting . But that is just me . I am sort of rigged about how I smoke a pipe , it gets expensive many times when i find a new pipe tobacco . i also buy a new pipe for that tobacco. Awesome video . thumbs up .
This is a great point! I also have widely different approaches for different pipes. My cobs, I never clean or maintain. Have some gnarly cakes LOL. Other briars I treat similar and only do a deep clean after a while. Have some pipes that are dedicated to a particular type of pipe or even tobacco as well and that maintenance process is also a tad different. I love how complex this hobby can be as well as how simple! It’s 100% on the smoker to decide what they like!
Getting to this one pretty late but…. I haven’t really noticed any ghosting in my pipes and I will go from one side of the spectrum to the other when it comes to tobaccos. From my Ardor to Ser Jacapo to Peterson and Savinelli to Stanwell I don’t do much maintenance. I typically use one pipe for multiple days. I don’t have much time on my hands sometimes I take a few days on one bowl or I will have multiple going in various stages. I hardly take them apart unless it’s a deep cleaning. I usually run a pipe cleaner dipped in some higher proof liquor in the stem and brushed lightly in the bowl after a good few weeks of use. When I started pipe smoking back in the army I would clean the crap out of them run pipe cleaners all the damn time. Then I got out and over a short period of time I started to not enjoy it anymore. So I said screw it, I doubt any issues will come up like most people say there will. Turns out I was right and they were wrong. But that’s not saying something can’t happen. I think those things can just in very extreme circumstances. If fact I had some medical issues pop up from old injuries and had a surgery. I was smoking less than usual. But with everything going on I stopped doing ALL maintenance for close to a year and a half and still had not one issue. I am going to be doing a cleaning on all my pipes before my next surgery though.
I'm the same run a cleaner trough it bend it run it around the bowl and Tada done. When it starts to get sour I'll use a liquid cleaner on a pipe cleaner let it dry for a few days and were good to go. Thank you for your service to ur country love the corn cob on the tank
My nephew borrowed two pipes of mine without permission. (I'm praying he didn't use them to smoke something else than tobacco.) Can I use white distilled vinegar to sanitize the stem or something else? Thanks in advance.
If they were bottled and something else were used, I’d do a deeper clean. Pick up a bottle of pipe sweetener (or high proof alcohol) and you can use pipe cleaners to continuously clean the inside of the bowl and stem. On rare cases you could plug the draft hole with a pipe cleaner and fill the inside chamber with the pipe sweetener and let it sit for a while. While the salt cleaning is very involved, it can be used for the worst cases of dirty (I.e. non tobacco smoked). For solutions, I would not used distilled vinegar. Only very high proof alcohol like an Ever Clear. You can also get a stem cleaning solution from Briarville! briarville.square.site/product/briarville-stem-oxidation-remover-8oz/254?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=true
Honestly, you could probably go half a year or more! If you’re only smoking one pipe, I’d say every 30-40 smokes could probably use a thorough cleaning. But if you do a quick swab of the chamber and throw a cleaner through the stem, you should be pretty good to go for the long haul
Im a young pipe smoker as well. I only let a thin layer of cake build up. Always cleaning or lighty scrape the cake. Thick carbon build up can crack your pipe. Since the briar and carbon expand and detract differently to eatch other.. i have around 16 pipes but 3 of witch i smoke many times aday never having issues. I honestly probably abuse my favorite pipes. Never had issues with them. Its a pipe not a baby. Just give them a simple clean with a pipe cleaner your all set. Ill smoke anything in one pipe from aromatic latakia booms to Virginias or what ever blend it is rarely do i have bad ghosting effects. Only heavy aromatics ive had problems with ghosting. After a few bowls of haunted bookshop in the pipe the ghosting is gone.
I've actually been doing nearly the exact same thing as you, except after every 2 to 4 smokes in a pipe, I tend to add vodka on the pipe cleaners. I feel I won't ever need to do a "deep clean" with this method.
I agree to what you are saying to a point. Yes always run a pipe cleaner down the stem after every smoke yes. However where we split and then come back together. Until I build a good enough carbon cake I don't clean the bowl, you will never get cake formed. Yes it helps with ghosting as you are removing that layer, but you are also removing the carbon that helps build the layer what to do? Simple don't clean the bowl until you get a carbon layer, once there go ahead and clean the bowl too after every smoke. Hope this helps, you almost nailed it, but try what I'm saying we are on the same page once the carbon is formed.
Love this take! I was thinking how in the video I may come off as “anti cake” which Im absolutely not! I love a good cake. I just don’t “stress” over it like some guys do. That said I have many pipes I really suck at cleaning and have awesome cakes!
Great video as always. New subscriber. Your channel has quickly become tied for my favorite. Please keep this great content coming. I value getting a younger person's perspective and what you're trying to do in terms of getting the younger generation involved to hopefully carry this onto future generations.
After I smoke I clean the bowl out then I run two pipe cleaners down and the third one I leave in until the next time I smoke it. When I pull that third cleaner out allot of residue and resin comes out with it and I don’t get that ghosting affect as bad.
What kind of pipe? Sounds like the draft hole might be drilled really small. Also packing method can be modified to prevent the tobacco from being sucked through the hole as well
I clean my pipes constantly, and still once every few years or so I get 1 pesky pipe that gets briny/salty. It's super nasty and it needs a deep clean. I don't know how it happens, but it just does. If you think your tobacco is salty, you have a briny pipe. Sometimes you can just run pipe cleaners with some pipe sweetener through the shank and bottom of the bowl, and maybe even a little on the side cake. I'd suggest a full week dry after doing this on a briny pipe. I still don't like to fully ream a pipe or do the salt clean thing. I've done it once, and the pipe takes a long time to get back to prime flavor dynamics in my experience.
Good tip for not removing the stem right after smoking UNLESS you have the ?army? Mount Such as Peterson pipes or whatever it's called when you should remove it right after
Hell yeah sir! Cheers! Was afraid I’d get some heat! But I think the best part is there are really very few WRONG answers. That’s what’s amazing about it!
@@jacobganzel824 take a look at using bees wax! You want to just take a chunk and really push it in and around the tenon (the piece that enters the shank) and then test it. Once it’s in, if it’s still loose, you’ll want to keep adding more. Once it’s snug, smoke normally!
Brown Listerine only thing other than pipe cleaners that usually touches my pipe... However this method got my pipes kicked out of the house and to the shop🤷♂️ my wife has a really good nose lol
For very clogged pipes, or an estate, nothing better than isopropyl alcohol (99.8%). It cleans thoroughly, let it dry / ventilate well at least two weeks before using: it will become new.
“Don’t remove the stem when hot…” Unless you are smart enough to buy Army Bit pipes, like a Peterson System pipe! In winter smoke it nice and warm, pull off the stem, put them both in your your shirt pocket and stay warm!
Hello, j'aime beaucoup vos vidéos, très intéressantes, mais on voit très peu fumer la pipe, cela serait bien que vous fassiez vos commentaires en fumant la pipe, se serait vraiment bien...MERCI POUR VOTRE PARTAGE...cordialement Éric
Its a piece of metel with a sidways slit in it to help the tabacco breathe but not get a hot ash down your throat. If i could get a email to show you and maybe you could help. dm/ pm me I know you want a private life and after this I can delete the email but I don't want to ruin my pipe more than I have already
Or just take the hint and realize a good chunk of your audience searching for this topic might be clicking away and going to a different video for faster information@@GetPiped
