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Pipecleaners?
motie2
Master
White or colored? Soft or bristles? Straight or tapered? Brand name or any-old? Fresh-one-each-time or re-use? After every bowl or when needed? Leave-it-in or not?
I prefer white straight, bristles, sometimes with a little alcohol, after every bowl, and sometimes when needed in the middle of a bowl. I re-use one until it's yucky. I never leave one in. I've never cared what brand, though recently I've noticed some recent bristle brands have been really stiff and a bit uncomfortable on the fingers. On the other hand, they really clean!!!!
Comments
BJ Long 61/2" regulars for every day, I use regular and tapered bristle for heavier cleaning and a bristle brush for the real stubborn ones.
There have been several discussions on what makes for a good smoking pipe. And under normal circumstances I'd have to say that I really haven't had a bad smoking pipe. Some are more expensive than others ... but for the most part even my cheap basket pipes are great smokers. But the simple gage I use for what is a good pipe is if I can easily work a pipe cleaner all the way through the stem to the bowl with minimal jiggering. Being somewhat of a wet smoker I tend to run a pipe cleaner through my pipe at least one or two times during the smoke. And the last thing I want to do is pull off the stem while the pipe is hot - and possibly loosen the stem - just to dab out the extra moisture. A topic on pipe cleaners may seem like a trivial subject matter but for someone like me a good pipe cleaner to have on hand when smoking is just as important as the tobacco you chose and the pipe you put it in. Which is why a sturdy, absorbent pipe cleaner can oftentimes make or break a good smoking experience. Good topic @motie2
Celebrity Invention: Kurt Vonnegut's Tobacco Pipe Cleaner
EDIT: SEE MY POST OF 3-2-18]https://www.pipesandcigars.com/p/super-value-pipe-cleaners-pipe-cleaners/1503076/#p-196130
Inventor: Kurt Vonnegut, Sr.
I raise my pipe to the humble pipe cleaner
[EXCERPT]
I have heard for many years that in times past pipe smokers used chicken feathers (and I suppose other feathers as well) to clean out their pipe stems and shanks. This makes perfect sense when you think about the stiff feather shank and the soft “bristles” of the feather. They function well as a brush when turned inside of the pipe. I am sure many a pipeman used them and threw them away until they needed another. I can almost envision them going out to the henhouse in the yard and either plucking a feather or picking one up, wiping it off and thrusting it into the stem to clean up before or after a smoke.
..... Pipemen seem to continually come up with ideas for a better pipe cleaner. The have bent and twisted wire, made creative twists and turns of metal, and designed tools that looked like cutting saws for the purpose of cleaning a pipe bowl. I came across many patents for unique designs. A quick Google search for tobacco pipe cleaners will give you ample opportunity to have a look at the wild creativity of designs for a simple tool. I have included two of the more recent patent diagrams from the 1980s that show that the search for the perfect cleaner continues to go on.
..... people have put spring cutting blades inside Bakelite cups to collect the scrapings of the blades. But there are also ones that have a growing following. These include such items as small shank brushes that can be washed and reused and also small barrel brushes like those used in cleaning firearms that can be run through the shank and the stem to clean out the debris left behind by the combustion of tobacco. Each of these two tools work quite well and have their place in the refurbishing kit.
But even with all this creativity and inventiveness churning out new and “better” pipe cleaners none of them have displaced the fuzzy cotton pipe cleaner. ..... If you come across a pipe smoker in your travels you will inevitably find pipe cleaners near at hand.
..... it seems to me that the idea of the [fuzzy] pipe cleaner came as a spinoff of the chicken feather. Its design is kind of a modern art version of the feather. It works in the same way as the feather – a central shaft with brushes attached that can fit in the stem and shank doing exactly what the feather did for those who used it in their pipes. ..... But who invented it? After a bit of research on the web I found that they were invented by John Harry Stedman (b. 1843, d. 1922) & Charles Angel in Rochester, New York in the early 1900’s. Stedman was a creative inventor who throughout his life invented not only the fuzzy pipe cleaner but also the streetcar transfer ticket in 1892. He sold the pipe cleaner rights to BJ Long Company who has continued to make them for over 60 years and still makes them today. A quick look at their website shows the expansion of the pipe cleaner’s uses to include medical and craft areas. Their product has wide uses and diverse purchasers. To me this brand epitomizes the pipe cleaner. I am sure many of us are familiar with it as most pipe shops in North America sell BJ Long pipe cleaners in bundles and they are sold across the World Wide Web in online shops and on EBay as well.
Pipe cleaners are normally made from some absorbent material, usually cotton. Bristles of stiffer material like nylon\plastic are added to the bristle version of the cleaner to enable the pipeman to scrub out the shank and stem of their pipes. Typically the cleaner is used by pipemen after a smoke of their pipe or when cleaning their pipes. It is used either dry or it is dipped in alcohol or is wetted with the tongue before it is inserted into the airway. The cleaner absorbs the moistures and oils from the stem and shank. It can also be folded and used in the bowl to knock out debris left behind once the dottle has been dumped. Some pipe cleaners are tapered so that one end is thick and one end thin. The theory behind the design is simple – the thin end is for cleaning the smaller airway of the stem and the thick end for the shank. Some are thin and some are fluffy. The designs are made for different sized airways and stem designs. Pipe cleaners are designed to be thrown away after use though there are many tales of them being washed and reused.
The construction of pipe cleaners is simple and involves two lengths of wire, called the core, twisted together trapping short lengths of fibre between them, called the pile. Pipe cleaners are usually made two at a time, as the inner wires of each pipe cleaner have the yarn wrapped around them, making a coil; the outer wires trap the wraps of yarn, which are then cut, making the tufts. Chenille yarn is made in much the same way, which is why craft pipe cleaners are often called “chenille stems”. Some pipe cleaner machines have actually been converted into chenille machines. The pipe cleaners produced vary from machine to machine type. Some machines produce very long pipe cleaners which are wound onto spools. The spools may be sold as-is or cut to length depending on the intended use. Other cut the pipe cleaners to length as they come off the machines. The pipe cleaners used by pipe smokers and refurbishers are usually 15 – 17 cm (6 – 7 inches) long while the ones used for crafts are often 30 cm (12 inches) and can be up to 50 cm (20 inches). I have found that these longer pipe cleaners work well in cleaning church warden pipe stems so I have a few always on hand.
https://www.smokingpipes.com/smokingpipesblog/single.cfm/post/shanes-top-five-pipe-cleaners
https://www.smokingpipes.com/smokingpipesblog/single.cfm/post/pipe-cleaner-woes