Cleaning a Pipe

All information in this section was extracted from Richard Carlton Hacker‘s excellent The Ultimate Pipe Book, highly recommended for the pipe novice and connoisseur alike.
Firstly, it is important to let the pipe cool down completey - otherwise you will risk cracking the shank of the pipe due to its expansion during smoking.
The first thing to do after smoking your pipe is to gently remove the ash and charred tobacco remains using a pipe knife or by tapping the pipe against the palm of your hand. Hitting your pipe against a hard object is all but guaranteed to break it.
Once the pipe has been emptied you can insert a pipe cleaner into the stem until its end rests against the bowl, and then put the pipe away (preferably with the bowl lower than the mouthpiece) to be cleaned later.
Once the pipe has cooled, gently twist out the stem from the bowl. Twisting rather than pulling will minimise the strain on the stem and be less likely to result in cracking. With the bowl and stem now seperated you should pass pipe cleaners through the airholes of each, removing all residue and moisture, until the pipe cleaners come out the same colour they went in. You may need to soak up excessive moisture using an old cloth or paper tissue.
The final step is to re-assemble the pipe, leaving an absorbant pipe cleaner inside to draw out any moisture which may remain.

Next articles: The pipe cleaner