CLEANING YOUR PIPE

PLEASE NOTE WHEN WE COVER SOMETHING THAT REALLY WILL SPOIL YOUR ENJOYMENT OF SMOKING WE WILL LET YOU KNOW BY LABELLING IT THUS: THIS IS BAD.

So you have filled your pipe, you have enjoyed the smoke and now comes the mucky bit, cleaning the pipe. You have three main types of pipe, briar, meerschaum and what I call metal, that is with a metal stem like the Falcon or the Duncan. Each has its own particular method of cleaning. Now some experts say that you should not dismantle the pipe except on rare occasions but clean it with the stem still on the bowl. I say nonsense.

If you try and clean the pipe without dismantling it the pipe cleaner goes down the bore to clean the stem and then back out the same way, coating the mouthpiece with all the muck you’ve cleaned out of the stem. The next time you put that in your mouth it will taste like chewing on a rancid lizard which is not the experience we are aiming for. THIS IS BAD Insert the cleaner into the mouthpiece from the lip end, run the cleaner straight out through the bowl end. Then use the same cleaner to clean out the stem of the pipe jutting out from the bowl. Don’t forget if your pipe is a Peterson it will have an extra chamber below the main draw hole, clean this last, all using the same pipe cleaner.

Now most metal pipes have removable bowls. Clean it as above and then unscrew the bowl and clean out the metal sink underneath. This sink is designed to trap excess nicotine and muck so give it a good clean. Some metal pipes like the Duncan used to have small cardboard discs that sat in the bottom of the metal sink to trap excess moisture. These have not been made for over forty years now so you will have a hard time getting any, although a wad punch and a beer mat works just as well.(although I did manage to buy several packets not so long ago by simply Googling ‘Duncan’). However I find a scrap of kitchen roll works just as well.

Finally reassemble the pipe and give it a good wipe over. Every so often give your briar a polish with some beeswax, and the mouthpiece a clean over with mouthpiece polish. If your Meerschaum gets a bit grubby you can clean it with a toothbrush and some washing up liquid, just make sure you rinse all the soap off afterwards. Do not put pipes in a dishwasher! THIS IS BAD

After a while your pipe will build up carbon inside the bowl, this is as a result of burning the sugars in tobacco. This is very similar to building up carbon inside an engine, and you treat it just the same. A small amount is good, too much is bad. I would not advise using a knife to scrape the bowl for the following reason. You cannot run the knife all the way round the bowl in one movement, so you tend to do it in two. You scrape from one point to about halfway round, and then you do the same going the other way. The problem is that where you end up both times tends to get a double scrape, and this will wear away the rim of the bowl. Have a look at an estate pipe. Is the bowl considerably thinner at the rim where the stem meets the bowl? If so you have a pipe previously owned by a right handed smoker who used a knife to clean the bowl.

I do not recommend the hedgehog type of cleaner for the following reasons. A hedgehog is a metal plug with barbs coming out of its sides. This is inserted into the bowl and twisted, the metal teeth scouring the carbon from the sides of the bowl. However since these teeth jut out, there will always be some parts of the carbon scoured more deeply than the other. What you are aiming for is a lining of carbon the same thickness throughout, for this you can purchase sets of pipe reamers. These will normally have a single handle with at least four different diameter scrapers. Because the blades are parallel they will clean the bowl to the same depth of carbon.

If you have to use a knife to clean the bowl make sure it is a proper pipe smoker’s knife with a rounded tip. A normal knife with a pointed tip will eventually drill a hole through the bottom of your pipe. THIS IS BAD.

The reason you want to keep the carbon down to a manageable thickness is that it heats and cools at a different rate to that of the pipe bowl. If you allow a thick layer of carbon to build up this can heat up and actually crack the bowl. For some reasons old Dunhill’s seem very prone to this problem. I have yet to see an old Dunhill which isn’t cracked.

By the way when you are de-carbonising your pipe always do it with the mouthpiece removed. When you have finished make sure you blow out all the carbon dust before sucking on your pipe as the first puff will fill your mouth with foul tasting carbon. THIS IS BAD

Your nicely cleaned pipe should now be placed in your pipe rack until needed. When placing a pipe in a rack always make sure it is bowl down. If you put it the other way some of the moisture left behind might migrate to the mouthpiece – rancid lizard time again!