I’ve just gotten back into pipe smoking after a few months’ break, and it was alright, but it made me wonder why I’d been so keen on it in the first place. Then I had that eureka moment: my pipe needed a thorough cleaning (duh!). That really made a world of difference. Lately, I’m really enjoying Samuel Gawith’s 1792 Flake. Not everyone likes it, but I think it’s really wonderful!
Just a small suggestion. Pipe reamers that remove cake from the bowl are not too good and very expensive. Having some familiarity with tools I suggest you find a surplus carbide milling tool. cheap and way better than the expensive kits. these really take off the cake so exercise some caution. Great tool. will never dull and you can quickly develop a “feel” for the tool. suggest 1/2 inch as suitable for all except the most caked pipes.
I try to run a cleaner through after each bowl, if I can find one handy.
I use my thumb as a reamer. I think fingers are the perfect pipe tool. A finger tip makes a better thaper then the check tool ( ). Yeah a thumb nail gets rid of excess cake easily I think. Or maybe I’am a mutant freak.
Cake is good and should have a 1/16 inch layer at minimum.Stems should be cleaned between resting, I often sweeten my stems with running a pipe cleaner dipped in mouthwash threw til it come out clean, A shank brush is also a good tool to free up resin deposits
I was told a rule of thumb for cake is the thickness of a dime- that is if you have a US dime. Too thick and it can split your bowl in half. That actually happened to me once-before I knew better…