Pipe Cleaning 101 
 The following is a very basic cleaning process which a pipe might go through. The techniques I use, work for me. I do not suggest you try to do exactly what I do.  Look and learn. Use what may be useful and discard what does not.  Each and every person I have met or discussed what they do when cleaning pipes has their own techniques.  Find ones that work best for you.
Step one - the pipe. The pipe I will use is a Castello Collection.  KK grade with factory gold band.  It is not in bad condition, but could use a ream and there is some patina on the rim. 

Step two - remove stem from shank and examine both bowl and stem.  You may note some goop at the end of the tenon and see a bit of the rim patina. 

Step three - clean the stem.  First I wipe the tenon with a clothe that has been dampened with alcohol. NOT soaking wet.   The stem and tenon are then wiped dry.  Pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol are then used to clean the air passage in the stem.  If the stem has a wide opening I will twist 2 or more pipe cleaners together to scrub out the air passage. When doing this be very careful NOT to jam a pipe cleaner in the stem. Below you will see what the stem looks like after the prior process. 

 For vulcanite, Ebonite, or Brindle stem that have been in light for extended periods of time and have gone very dull, or stems that have a nice thick green build up, you may need to offer them a soak. I air on the side of caution when doing this.  I first use a mix of Oxy Clean and water.  I soak for an hour. Remove from solution and rinse thoroughly. If this does not do the trick I will use a mix of unscented bleach and water blended 50./50. Soak for an hour, rinse thoroughly and inspect. 

 Make sure you mask any nomenclature or inlaid stem logos with tape or a thick coating of Vaseline.  DO NOT ever soak any stem that has an application!  You will do very nasty things to horn, wood, silver, etc. Be warned.  

Step four - the tobacco chamber.  Using a slightly smaller than needed reamer I remove any excess cake. I will then move up in size to the correct size reamer and remove as much cake as possible, without getting to the briar inner walls.  I then use my trusty Tom Eltang folding pocket knife to even out any cake that may need work and also make sure the very bottom of the bowl is clean. You can see from the two following pictures not a great deal of cake was removed. 

Step five - the rim. Making a soft clothe damp ( not soaking wet ) with either alcohol or sometimes water, I gently and I do mean gently, rub the rim with the damp area of the clothe.  While at times it may appear to have no affect if you look at the clothe you will see progress.  This may take a fair bit of time and some gentle elbow grease.  Below you will see the rim after it has been cleaned.  

Step 6 - the air passage in the shank AND mortise.  I begin with an alcohol dipped bristle pipe cleaner. Singles to start. Once some of the worst crud is removed I will twist two pipe cleaners together and again dipped in alcohol repeat the scrubbing.  This continues until the pipe cleaners come out looking near the same color as when they entered the shank.  Most often you'll never get them to be 100% perfectly clean.  If the need arises ( when a shank has a very open passage ) I will twist three, four and once even five pipe cleaners into an extra thick scrubbing wand.  I use pipe cleaners ( bent in half ) and Q-Tips for the mortise. In the pictures below you can see how many pipe cleaners and get an idea of the double and triple twisted ones I used on this pipe. The bundle at the foreground of the picture are the stem cleaners used. The back ones used on the shank.   

Step seven - putting the pipe back together. Never, never I really mean never insert a stem into a mortise that is soaking wet.  Always try and dry the inside of the mortise first.  I then apply a heavy layer of unscented hardened bar soap onto the tenon.  I wipe off the excess and carefully insert into the shank.  IF it squeaks, I back it out. Re wipe out  the mortise and re apply soap to the tenon and wipe off the excess. Re insert.  It should go in smooth and quietly. In the two pictures below you can see the tenon with soap and then with the excess wiped off.  Why do I use soap? Soap has NO abrasives, unlike graphite.  Sure graphite may be used in a pinch but it does have abrasive qualities. Prolonged use may create a loose stem. 

Step eight - on to the buffing wheels. WITH stem inserted fully into shank you may proceed to the buffing wheels. Never buff a stem or shank when they are apart.  No matter how careful or gentle you are, you will round the end of the shank and the stem. This will make a nice, very visible light gap.  Of course if the light gap look is what you're after .. go for it.  

 I use Tripoli on stems.  A gentle touch is far better than an aggressive one.  If you push too hard you can and probably will start to reshape the stem. You might also scorch the stem.  Tripoli is an abrasive and will peel skin off your hands very quickly.  Thus a gentle touch is needed.  Oh yes it will also strip the finish of a bowl.  Be wary of how warm the stem area gets. Heat will mar the stem.  Always when using the buffing wheels wear a dust mask of some kind.  Tripoli is a nasty bit of work to get into your lungs. I also wear eye protectors. Not for flying pieces of pipes but the Tripoli dust.  When I do not wear these protective devices I notice it after, with itchy eyes and a plugged nose.

Step nine - once the patina on the stem is removed proceed to the white diamond wheel.  This is used to remove vary fine scratches and return the gleam to a stem.  Again a gentle touch is better than a firm one.  Be careful not to "over charge" the buffing wheel with white diamond.  It will leave dust and a sticky residue. These will polish off with time, but why work extra hard when it is not needed? 

Step ten - carnauba wax the bowl. Here do as I say, not as I do.  Remember you are cleaning your pipes and not trying to make them sparkle for photographs.  "Charge" the wheel with a light amount of wax and again gently buff the bowl. I keep the bowl moving at all times. Staying still will allow too much wax to build in any one spot.  This can be removed with continued gentle buffing, but again, why waste the time if it is not needed.

Below you can see the washing machine motor ( with dual spindles ) that I use.  Note the fancy C clamp holding the motor to the table. The table I use is NOT very firm. It actually flexes quite a bit with pressure. This helps to insure I use a gentle touch. After you do 30 or 40 pipes, one after the other, you start to loose your feel for the pressure you are using.  I also have a swing arm magnifying glass lamp.  This helps for inspection of each pipe after polishing.

Step eleven - the finished job.  Before anyone asks the pipe used is NOT for sale.  It was made in 1996, the same year my daughter was born.  It is not my best smoking pipe, but will be kept for later down the road, just in case my rabid anti smoking daughter comes to her senses. :)

Thanks for your interest and reading the above.  I truly hope it has offered you some ideas.

Regards

Michael J. Glukler