When should I get some cake?

[mateo]

I have been through 2 ounces of tradewinds #2 now but I really don't notice any cake forming. What does it look like? I clean the stem and bowl with a couple of pipe cleaners after every smoke and they always come out clean after a couple. I then swab the bowl with a paper towel and put the pipe away. The pipe was brand new when I bought it, now I am thinking maybe I should have gone with an estate pipe.

Anyhow, I have some more in the mail this week. a couple ounces of stokebye navy flake, Mclellands Blackwoods flake, and 2 ounces of Mcbaren Virginia number 1. I also ordered some clean and cure and some extra pipe cleaners. When should I really try and clean the pipe thoroughly? Will that take away from any cake that may be there?

Thanks.

 

[Fia]

what I do to help build cake is put a cleaner in the stem after Im done smoking. I put my thumb over the bowl and shake the pipe to distribute the ash on the walls. I then dump out the remaining ashes. I then go ahead and clean the stem and shank with a pipe cleaner. I dont wipe out the bowl. Once I get the cake where I want it, I would probably do like what you do now to try and minimize the formation of additional cake.

Good Luck

 

[LilBastage]

Cake doesn't build much if you clean the bowl after each smoke. It comes very slowly and stays very thin.

If you want to build it more rapidly, do as Fia suggests and it shouldn't take too awful long.

 

[jabba]

In my experience... a thin hard cake is all you want/need. A thicker cake can mute the flavors of a blend, unless you dedicate the pipe to a certain blend. When breaking in a pipe, I do as Fia suggested... once I get a nice thin cake, I ream the bowl after each smoke with a twisted up paper towel.

 

[Shibumi]

Also, english and va's produce less cake than an aeromatic.

 

[johncarbaugh]

On your birthday.
I also shake the ashes around and just dump for the first few bowls.

 

[mateo]

I came across this the other day and thought I should share and see if anyone has tried it. I am going to give it a try tomorrow. All I had was flake tobacco in a bag so I couldn't do it

http://pipelore.net/index.php?id=97

By the way the Mcbarren virginia is good, can be pretty sour if you don't smoke it gently but I really enjoyed it after I figured that out. I just smoked a quick half bowl of the stokebye navy flake and I like it as well. I think it needs to dry more because I had some lighting issues, but I would definitley buy it again. The spice is nice!