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Water flushing a pipe?

Been bored tonight and started looking at a pipe forum. Found a bunch of posts about guys "cleaning" their briars after a smoke by running them under the faucet. Mind you, this was not one guy who posted numerous times...but a bunch of different people. The posts were fairly new, also. From 2021 or so.

I've smoked a pipe off and on for going on 30 years. This sounds like a terrible idea to me. Water, wood and heat can't be a good combination. Is this something new? Do any of you guys do it? The proponents claim it gets rid of ghosting. I may need to search more under this topic- I was looking up dedicating blends to certain pipes.
 

nortac

"Can't Raise an Eyebrow"
Oh sure, just run them through the dishwasher.....NOT. The tried-and-true salt and alcohol treatment works best IMHO. A severe case might require the "retort" method. No water for me either.
 
No.
No no no no no.


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brandaves

With a great avatar comes great misidentification
I've also heard of people doing this as well. I did it just yesterday...after removing the bowl from my Falcon. I certainly wouldn't do it with a briar.
 

Hirsute

Used to have fun with Commander Yellow Pantyhose
I don’t know why, but this has become kind of a fad in some other forums. But no, just don’t.
 
Lol, an older friend with a pipe collection worthy of a Danish Museum told me how he uses his insta-hot faucet to run water through his briar pipes. Sounded crazy but I met this gentleman along with Mary Mike McNiel which gave him more street cred.
With great trepidation I tried this in an attempt to rid an estate of its aro ghosting. After 6 salt treatments, the cherry yuck just held on strong. I will tell ya after 20 gallons of very warm water rushed through that pipe, the cherry didn’t budge however the water did a good job of cleaning and didn’t hurt the pipe.
 
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I’m not an adept, but I’ve done it out of curiosity.

As an experiment, pipe got clean and fresh, no issues.

Water won’t damage your pipe, tobacco itself releases tons of moisture. People fill bowls with alcohol and salt/cotton balls, this is not that different.

But it’s not my thing. Pipe cleaners and a good bowl wipe with paper towel does the job.

This subject gets a lot of heat, there’s no need for that, your pipe, your rules. Do whatever makes you happy.
 
Except that salt & alcohol both aid in moisture evaporation. So, in terms of moisture, it's actually doing the opposite of using water.
Perhaps the salt, yes, but not so much with cotton balls. It stays soaked for a long period depending on your treatment “technique”.

But I see your point. Salt treatment may not be a good comparison.

Like I said, I’m not a advocate, but I haven’t seen any ruined pipe because of that. It’s not a scientific data, just an observation.

Even cobs are being water flushed, now that’s brave 😂😂
 
Very interesting replies. Thanks guys. Knew I could get some intelligent responses here.
 

Kilroy6644

Smoking a corn dog in aviators and a top hat
I've done it. I don't do it regularly, but I do it on occasion. No ill effects. I do it right after I finish a bowl, when everything is still warm, and the hot water will flush out more tar than if you leave it to cool. It's not a substitute for deep cleaning, but it can reduce how often you need to do it. It's particularly helpful with cleaning Peterson Systems. At any rate, a quick flush isn't going to hurt your pipe. Briar isn't that absorbent, and you're not leaving it to soak.
 
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