Another cake thread

[Isaac]

Ok,

Lets hear your thoughts on cake building..

So i recently was reading, and take it with a grain of salt, about proper cake buildup. Mind you there are people that state that doing water flushes are extremely beneficial. But i digress, the thread i was reading stated to smoke your bowl and leave it for a few hours to "set" what you just smoked.

My routine after smoking is to usually immediatily clean the stem with two-three cleaners and then make U shaped tools with said cleaners and give a scrubbing to the inside of my bowls. I have minimal cake buildiup even after some time. Im wondering if perhaps I have been inhibiting any type of decent cake buildup.

 

[Kentos]

My theory on cake is that it is made from moisture/oils, heat, and ash. It isn’t magically deposited from the act of smoking tobacco per se.

I would definitively opine that your cleaning regimen is inhibiting cake build up, but that isn’t a bad thing. As long as there is enough to give the briar a bit of protection I think you are fine.

If you want more cake you would have to allow some of the tar and ash to remain on the surface of the chamber. I lightly go over the sides of the chamber after a smoke, but don’t scrub the walls down.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I haven't smoked a pipe for long enough, nor frequently enough to become an expert on such matters. All I can share are my own observations, in which I may have grasped completely the wrong end of the stick.

The pipes that caked the most for me, were not the ones I cleaned after every bowl. They are ones I maybe smoked three consecutive bowls in, reloaded while still warm/wet, and smoked again.

These were filtered pipes (cob and hardwood), which I don't think makes any difference in itself, except I wasn't reaching for the pipe cleaners until after that third bowl, when the balsa filter was shot. These seem to have caked way more than pipes I cleaned after every smoke. So maybe smoking like the old timers did, as if it's your only pipe, or you only swap between two or three, doing a full day's heavy smoking in each one in turn, is what builds cake fastest.

That said, it may have been the choice of tobacco, rather than the "neglectful" approach to smoking. For the most part, my briar pipes have little in the way of cake, even the ones that are eight (?) years old. There is some cake, but not to the extent of looking "lined", as some pipes do. Most have little to no cake at the bottom quarter too. Maybe from not smoking far beyond that point, or maybe from scraping out dottle.

I don't "try" to build cake, but neither do I avoid it either. Cake is just something that happens. If it reduces loading capacity, or it interferes with me getting the tamper in, I'll scrape it out. No special tools, just the spoon on a Czech tool, pocket knife, or woodscrew used as a rasp. Yes, I can be brutal with my pipes, but they don't seem to resent their treatment.

 

[luvmysuper]

I'm so disappointed that this thread wasn't actually about cake

Spoiler

I don't "try" to build cake, but neither do I avoid it either. Cake is just something that happens. If it reduces loading capacity, or it interferes with me getting the tamper in, I'll scrape it out.

This seems like a pretty good philosophy. I'm not trying to build up a cake in the pipe, it's something that happens, and I don't know enough to accelerate or delay it.
I'm not doing a deep cleaning every time I smoke a bowl, in fact I don't mess with the bowl much at all after a smoke, I'm mainly after the the wet areas of the stem and shank, as it's a lot easier to get the stuff out of the airway when it's hot and wet than it is dry and hardened. I've cleaned up enough antique store pipes to know what a pain in the rear it is if you let it go.
As far as cake in the bowl - if it isn't too much, I reckon I'll just leave it alone till it is obviously too much.
So, I don't know how much is good, though I have a pretty good idea how much is bad.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

This appears to be my most caked briar. My Parker Poker.







I have no idea how to quantify that thickness, and couldn't say if is is too thick, too thin, not deep enough, or the wrong type. It's just... there, and doesn't yet cause a problem, and so will stay there until it does. It kind of looks like a lot in the picture, but if I run my finger down the wall of the chamber, it doesn't feel like a significant build up.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

In fact, that was a pipe that was airing out after a smoke, and after wiping out the bowl as I normally would before stowing away, there now looks to be even less.



That's probably about the normal level that most of my pipes have, once they've got past their initial break in.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I thought this would be about cake-style tobacco.

 

[8 Track]

I allow mine to sit awhile after a smoke, oftentimes overnight. No cake for me please. I swab my bowls out with a barely moistened hemp cloth or Q-tip and use a shank brush after every smoke before putting up.

I don't know about this water flush thing. It goes against my grain and seems unnecessary if one routinely uses a $.90 shank brush but I've been intermittently experimenting with one pipe which doesn't seem to be suffering any negative effects - Yet.

 

[luvmysuper]

I don't know if a water flush is bad or not, but seeing what it takes to actually clean a pipe - I don't see how a water flush really helps.
Water isn't a solvent and tobacco tar and goop doesn't seem to be affected by it favorably in any way.
Cleaning build up in old estate pipes takes a stiff brush, alcohol and some elbow grease, so I don't understand the perceived benefits of a water flush.
Having said that, just because I don't understand it doesn't mean it doesn't work.

 

[Isaac]

I don't know if a water flush is bad or not, but seeing what it takes to actually clean a pipe - I don't see how a water flush really helps.
Water isn't a solvent and tobacco tar and goop doesn't seem to be affected by it favorably in any way.
Cleaning build up in old estate pipes takes a stiff brush, alcohol and some elbow grease, so I don't understand the perceived benefits of a water flush.
Having said that, just because I don't understand it doesn't mean it doesn't work.

I’m kinda with you on that. But k owing how wood can swell in water, I’d rather not find out.

I’ve also just stared to wait an hour until I “brush out” the inside of my bowl

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Next, there'll be guys with dedicated counter top dishwashers for sanitizing pipes before putting them away. Some folks just seem to like making life complicated.

 

[KellyG]

Are we not supposed to put them in the dishwasher?

 

[Hirsute]

I think it really comes down to what you’re trying to achieve. My take on building cake is that there are methods to help you build cake faster, but they result in less dense cake which is brittle and more likely to come off, leading to uneven cake and risking hot spots. Some of the additives come to mind—honey, grape jelly, etc.—which will help stuff adhere to your bowl and form cake, but it may make too much stuff stick and not be properly hardened dense carbon.

The “leave ash in your pipe” technique can also lead to your pipe tasting like and ashtray. You ever leave a pipe half smoked overnight and then empty it in the morning? It doesn’t smell good. And then give that pipe a sniff the next day—the funk persists. And you’re adding that funk to your pipe when you let it sit. Which may lead to more cake, but for me, I’d rather smoke a pretty darn clean pipe, let the cake build slowly and gradually over time, and not try to force it.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

You ever leave a pipe half smoked overnight and then empty it in the morning?

I frequently leave a half smoked pipe overnight, and finish it the next day Not all blends are conducive to finishing off the following day though.

 

[JCinPA]

None of my pipes are burning out, so I'm not smoking them fast enough to "need" cake. I could not care less about it, frankly. I smoke 'em, put a cleaner in the stem, wad up a paper towel and screw it into the bowl to sop up moisture, next day remove the pipe cleaner and back in the rack. Works for me and I've never given a second's thought to cake.

 

[steveclarkus]

None of my pipes are burning out, so I'm not smoking them fast enough to "need" cake. I could not care less about it, frankly. I smoke 'em, put a cleaner in the stem, wad up a paper towel and screw it into the bowl to sop up moisture, next day remove the pipe cleaner and back in the rack. Works for me and I've never given a second's thought to cake.

Cake will happen eventually. Leaving a pipe cleaner in overnight will keep the airway from drying out. Best run it through and toss it. Dipping a pipe cleaner in Listerine and running it through occasionally does a good job cleaning out any residue that may have built up.

 

[nortac]

I don't avoid cake but neither do I promote its accumulation. I always thought that the conventional wisdom was that cake should be reduced to the thickness of a dime when reaming to reduce excessive cake, but I have no idea what thickness is optimal.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I tried measuring the cake in the pipe I posted earlier in the thread, and as best as I can measure by eye (assuming the chamber was bored parallel) it's about 0.5mm thick (19mm effective chamber remaining). That's tolerable for me, but I won't let it get much beyond that, I don't think.

 

[Columbo]

Baking a cake? Just smoke the dang pipe. It will eventually come.

If a gentle swab with a cleaner is knocking it off, it's not cake. It's ash.

Cake getting a little thick? Get out the spoon and rough it off. It will go.

If pipe smoking were more complicated, I never would have taken it up.

 

[Columbo]

I frequently leave a half smoked pipe overnight, and finish it the next day Not all blends are conducive to finishing off the following day though.

I do that more than I like to admit anymore. Sometimes by accident.

The other day, I drifted off in the recliner with one in my mouth (holidays with visiting relatives can do that). Amazingly, it was still in my mouth when I woke up a while later. I think my sleeping rhythm kept it going longer than I thought.

The more basic blends don't seem to mind taking a little nap under an ashen blanket.