DubintheDam's Cleaning Videos

[brianwalden]

I just wanted to thank you for your YouTube videos, DubintheDam. I watched them yesterday and used them to clean my pipes. I especially liked your tip about taking a swig or two of your liquor while cleaning, it does wonders for the pipes .Anyway I cleaned the shanks and stems of all four of my pipes with alcohol, and the two I learned on are in a salt and alcohol treatment because they're starting to go sour from all the abuse I put them through. I got a great sense of pride from cleaning my pipes. In today's culture where everything is disposable, we don't have the experience of caring for items that are important to us. I can see why people like working on their car or gardening or other similar hobbies.

A couple of questions. You recommended not pulling apart non-filter pipes after each cleaning, is this so the connection between the shank and stem doesn't wear out? I've been pulling all my pipes apart after they cool and running a pipe cleaner or two through them after each smoke. Also, I've been using bristle pipe cleaners all the time, not just for periodic clearning with alcohol. Can using bristle cleaners all the time do any harm to the pipe?

[Dedalus]

+1. Dub's videos were the way in which I laid the foundation of my piping knowledge, and how I stumbled upon this gem of a forum.

Not sure what others will say, but I deconstruct my pipes after each smoke so that I can wipe off the tenon and swab out the mortise. And to address your second question, I generally use my bristle cleaners every other smoke, and alcohol treatment every eight bowls or so.

[SmokinJohnny]

It's amazing how things like pipe quality, pipe hygene, tobacco designation, proper packing and lighting, bowl rotation etc. really brings out the flavors of tobacco. For years I treated pipe smoking like cigarette smoking where you light, puff, and extinguish. No questions asked. I missed out on a lot of good flavor.

[DubintheDam]

I'm glad you found my vids helpful...there's no problem using bristle cleaners everytime. I just find it unnecessary after every smoke. Call it a waste of good cleaners. I also find the second smoke in the same pipe on the same day often tastes better than the first...so to me there is such a thing as over cleaning.

Lastly with regard to taking the pipe appart..it is said that the less you do the less it wears out. But basically it's what you find what works best....dub