Bowl of John Bull in a MM Mapel wood Ozark while I sit and do a bunch of paperwork. Plus side; I can smoke in my office. Take the W's where ya can right? lol Good thing too. Having an unseasonably warm day here at a balmy 3 degrees F. lol
Mac Baren 2011 Symphony in what's generally my favorite pipe, Rossi Rustic Prince. There's much talk about reducing moisture when a baccy is new and fresh. What to do if it seems dryer since the tin has been open for a while? I haven't moved this cellared product to a glass jar.
1) Yes. B) Sturdy, well built, 4 common bowl size reams. That said, I haven't purchased an estate pipe that I've used it on yet. For my own all newly acquired hardware, I'm still anxiously anticipating cake to form so that I might give it a twirl. @Bama Samurai may have an opinion, Chris?
Yes, I have one. It's does a very good job reaming out extremely caked estate pipes. I don't use it for maintenance as it's far too aggressive.
Aweso Awesome, ty for the input. As far as getting moisture back into a dry tobacco; I can help with that! The easiest way would be to go to a shop (or online to smokingpipes, pipesandcigars or WVsmokeshop) and grab one of the Tobacco Pouch Humidifiers (or a couple; they're about 80 cents a piece or so). You soak it in cold water, then just toss it in the tin, jar, etc. and let it sit for a while; usually 24 hours. But just check the tobacco every few hours to see how moist it is. Option two is put the tobacco in a jar (at least twice as large as necessary); you want plenty of empty air. Then take a paper towel, soak in cold water; wring it out, but not too much. The hang it over the edge of the jar with the bulk hanging into the jar ( but DO NOT let the wet paper towel touch the tobacco!!! This will cause mold) and screw the lid on tight. Let it sit; checking every so often as with the previous method. Or, instead of paper towel; you can super glue a small square of sponge to the unside of the jar lid; moisten it with cold water and do the same. That should do the trick. I have used this method several times with perfect results. In fact I am currently doing so with some of my Comoys that got too dry. Let me know if you have any more questions about it. =) Oh! And purified/distilled water is best. Not straight tap.
Also @RyX @Lo'Gosh It is aggressive, but with care it does a fine job. I've used one for both maintenance and restoration.
Good to know. I'd like to trim mine back slightly less than the thickness of a dime (a bit less than they say it should be). But on some I may try to get back to as close to fresh as I can. Also been on ebay shopping around for estate and vintage pipes. Working on buying a Yello-Bole Air Control at the moment.
When fortune and chance put a well caked estate pipe in my hands, I will treat my reamer like the aggressive tool that it is. Ride the cap? Joking, but I assume start with the smallest diameter bit, work up to larger if needed. When reaming is the idea to reduce or remove cake? Does it depend if it's your cake, or someone elses?
Good cake is mostly carbon. Many people trim estate pipes back to wood, out of sanitary reasons, though I question the actual need. The real reason to trim the bowl is to prevent cracks in the briar. Carbon expands faster than wood, and strangely, thick cake can heat up and stress the walls of the bowl, which can crack it. Dime thickness is the rule of thumb.
I generally will ream to remove all cake on an estate pipe as part of cleaning and sterilizing. I have been known to use a bit of sandpaper and a dowel on my pipes as maintenance.
Between the Cigar Club, my best local Tobacconist and the post office I enjoyed a knock-around cob of Perique. Straight up, no chaser.
