prob with dottles

[bolio]

a good day/evening to you sirs/guys(choose what you like, but if you wanna be called dude your in the wrong forum. your smoking something else)

on to more serious stuffs. can anyone please help me with my problem regarding dottles. its my first time breaking in a pipe(ive smoked pre carbonized pipes in my limited experience) and i dont seem to know what to do with those tiny bits of unburned tobacco that sticks to the insides of the pipe. should i remove them(how? ive tried all sorts of stuff but i cant seem to remove them 'cleanly') or should i just leave them alone.

i apologize for a long winded post and i hope that you can help 'another newbie' on his prob. thanks!!

[tzilt]

Fellow newb here:

If there is a big wad of dottle, I take the pipe tool and just poke a couple holes in it, that loosens it up enough that I can just shake it out.

For those stubborn little pieces of dottle I take a pipe cleaner and make a loop out of it, just bring the two ends together, but don't crease it or anything, so it looks like a really long tear drop I guess. Then I take the broad end, stick it in the bowl and kinda twist it around so it rubs against the sides a little and loosens the dottle.

[DubintheDam]

A pipe pen knife will be sharp enough to scrape off flakes stuck on the side, equally a normal small pen knife, you should always scrape a pipe out very gently, but when breaking-in a new pipe EXTRA care must be taken...cause you don't want to scape off that sweet layer of cake you've just built-up.

The theory goes flakes of baccy stuck on the side can create hotspots which 'may' lead to pipe burn-out latter. I find the scapers on a cechz our usually too blunt for scaping.

[IHT]

i've never had a problem removing dottle with a simple pipe cleaner.

dottle... i love that word.

[RJpuffs]

I find some types of baccy burn "cleaner" which is perfect for caking/breaking in a new pipe. Burleys leave a fine white ash and tends to burn clean, no flecks sticking. Some Virginia's also burn uber-clean. Aromatics are to be avoided for breaking in a new pipe, most are very soggy.

And dry the load a little extra so you don't end up with soggy dottle, less soggy = more burn and less sticking of unburnt debris to the pipe. Note you DO want the white ash to stick, that is what helps the cake to form. Good tamping also helps keep the sides clear, new pipes will tend to burn down the middle leaving stickin's on the sides, tamp down the sides and move it into the middle to keep the burn even and keep the flecks off the bowl during the smoke.



RJ

[smokehouse]

Originally Posted by IHT

i've never had a problem removing dottle with a simple pipe cleaner.

dottle... i love that word.

[evazan]

In my limited experience I have found that using the poker on my pipe tool will usually get out any dottle.

Originally Posted by tzilt

Fellow newb here:

If there is a big wad of dottle, I take the pipe tool and just poke a couple holes in it, that loosens it up enough that I can just shake it out.

For those stubborn little pieces of dottle I take a pipe cleaner and make a loop out of it, just bring the two ends together, but don't crease it or anything, so it looks like a really long tear drop I guess. Then I take the broad end, stick it in the bowl and kinda twist it around so it rubs against the sides a little and loosens the dottle.

This would probably work but I feel like it would disturb the break in process.

[wharfrathoss]

i use the looped end of a pipe cleaner to push the bits off the wall once the pipe cools-once there's a cake in the pipe, i use the rounded part of a tamper to scrape them off the walls

[bolio]

thanks for the very informative replies guys!

you are the reason why this forum is so great!

may the goddess nicotine bless you!