How often do you disassemble your pipes?

I dissemble mine as little as possible. If the stem is tight or stuck put the pipe in the freezer and before you put the stem back in rub the tenon with a pencil for lubrication.

I run a pipe cleaner through the stem into the bowl when done and then swipe the inside of the bowl. I don't break down my pipe very often. Guess I'm too lazy.

Same for me. Cleaner after every smoke and complete breakdown as needed, the pipe tells me either by being sour or restricted draw type things.

Care to detail your process?


Thanks.

Jay

I'm with Frank on this one.

Here goes...

First a disclaimer...  I am an engineer.  I am anal both by nature and by training.  I bring my engineer nature to pipes and enjoy figuring out the "science" of pipes.  The below is my method that I've settled on after 30 years of pipe smoking.  YMMV.

When I finish a bowl, I insert a standard pipe cleaner and leave it in to absorb moisture while the pipe cools.  After the pipe cools, I remove the cleaner, bend it in half and give the bowl a quick wipe after dumping the ash.  I also give the pipe a good wipe with a linen napkin.   A friend of mine is a pipemaker and he recommended a linen napkin as being just right texture to put a shine on a pipe with affecting the finish.

Then, every 5 bowls, I do my full clean.  First I check if it's time to do any cake maintenance and, if needed, give the cake a scrape with a pipe knife.  In extreme cases, a ream.

I pour a little Everclear into a shot glass.  You could use any liquor of choice; the higher proof the better.  I prefer Everclear because it is flavorless.  I can get 151 proof Everclear here in Michigan.

I first use Q-tips (cotton swabs; Q-tips is a US brand name).  I lightly dip in the Everclear and touch to the side of the shot glass to drain excess liquid.  I clean off the face of the tenon with the wet end and then dry with the dry end.  I then use Q-tips to clean out the mortise; likewise alternating wet and dry ends until I think I've gotten enough gunk out. I don't want too much Everclear on the Q-tips or cleaners as I don't want it to drip off into the shank and puddle in the bottom of the bowl; not good for the heel cake.

Then I use bristle cleaners.  I bend over about half an inch on each end of the cleaner to get a little tighter fit.  Then, I lightly dip the end of the cleaner in the Everclear and touch against the side of the shot glass to remove any excess.  Run the cleaner up and down the shank a few times to scrub.  Dip the other end of the bristle cleaner in Everclear and repeat.  I'll use typically 2 to 4 bristle cleaners until I'm at most getting a light gray color after use.

Then I take a fluffy cleaner.  Run it through my fingers to remove excess lint.  Dip one end lightly in Everclear and touch to the side of the shot glass.  Run it up and down the shank a few times.  Reverse and insert the dry end of the fluffy and leave it in the shank to absorb moisture while I clean the stem.

For the stem, I run a wet end of a bristle cleaner through the stem starting from the tenon and make sure to stop just before the button to avoid getting alcohol on the outside of the stem (especially vulcanite/ebonite).  Reverse and run the dry end of the bristle cleaner through the stem.  Note: I do not double over the ends of the cleaner when doing the stem.  Do the same thing all over again but with a standard cleaner.

Before reinserting the stem, if the pipe has a slightly tight stem, I apply some graphite to the tenon (i.e. I scribble on it with a pencil).  If the pipe has a slightly loose stem, I rub some beeswax on the tenon.

Once the pipe is back together, I give the whole pipe a good wipe using a linen napkin.

If the pipe has a vulcanite/ebonite/cumberland stem, I use Obsidian Oil on it.

So, on average, I'll go through 4 bristle, 1 fluffy, and 1 standard pipe cleaner per pipe for my thorough clean.  I use BJ Long 6.5" pipe cleaners, but any good quality pipe cleaner will work.

-John

I don't remove the stems very often but I do use a fair amount of pipe cleaners...There'e s slight chance of breaking something every time you do...Some of my pipes won't take a pipe cleaner without taking out the stem but most are drilled pretty well. I actually think pipes taste better if you don't overclean them...I smoke light English blends that burn cleanly.

In my opinion and many a pipe restorers' opinion you should not retort your pipes unless you really know what you're doing, and it's like a last resort, do it once a year if your pipe is so dirty it's had 1,000 bowls through it kind of dirty with no cleaning. You're liable to ruin your pipe finish and worse.

It's not just that I'm lazy about it, but cleaning pipes can get exaggerated. I run a cleaner through, dry, after each smoke. Don't break down my pipes until I do a fuller clean with alcohol on a few cleaners and cleaning out the shank and mortise area. I don't alcohol clean my pipes but maybe once a year once they get too much build up and ghosting from the shank/mortise. Running a new dry pipe cleaner through after each smokes largely captures most moisture and prevents it sitting and souring in there. I have some pipes I've been smoking for a few years and honestly still have not cleaned them with any alcohol and they still taste fine. Excessive use of alcohol can turn into a bad thing, raise the grain or possibly help to promote shank fissures or splitting. Just smoke the pipes, clean them when they are actually dirty. You're going to develop your own methods and get 100 different answers, of course.

Wow!

After reading about all the folks that clean their pipes after every smoke makes me feel like I'm neglecting my briars.

Having acquired several estate pipes, over the last 6 or 8 months, I find myself smoking em and laying em down on the desk when I'm through. If I smoke em again in the next couple of days I'll run a pipe cleaner through em and if it doesn't go all the way into the bowl I'll then remove the stem and clean out the stummel.

After I've got 8 or 10 pipes laying on the desk, I'll wipe out the bowl with folded up paper towel and clean the shank and stem with a pipe cleaner.

So, I guess my "attention to detail" in this matter is lacking to what I'm seeing posted here.

All that being said, none of my pipes look as grungy as when they did when I got em before I refurbed em.

Pretty much what I do.