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Recently bought a corn cob pipe. Anybody here use one before? I'm looking for tips on keeping it clean, lighting techniques (lighter vs. match), etc. This probably isn't the best place to look, but thought I'd ask anyways.
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i haven't got a corn cob pipe, but i have a small collection of pipes and know how to keep them clean. you can use a scraping tool like a small knife or go for a specialist tool like
this (which is what i use) and clean the pipe bowl with it by simply scraping away excess ash and tobacco, but being careful not to damage the inside of the bowl. next thing to use is
pipe cleaners. use them to clean the stem (the stem should come off leaving your pipe in two pieces), feeding the pipe cleaner all the way through and moving it about. then finally clean the stem leading into the pipe bowl using the same method. give it a quick blow to blow out any remaining ash or spit (gross, i know) and you're about done.
when it comes to lighting, i just use a normal disposable gas lighter. this is because if it goes out when i only have half a bowl of tobacco left, i can turn the gas up to maximum and reach into the bowl and reignite it using the flame. it's hard to do this with a petrol zippo lighter or something similar, which is why i use a bog standard disposable one when smoking my pipe. some people say using matches is better to light your pipe because you don't get the taste of petrol from gas lighters, but i have never in my life tasted petrol whilst smoking a pipe, no matter what it's been lit with. i think that's more of a class distinction and general snobbishness than actual valid preference. also, using matches to light your pipe will become tedious when first learning how to pack tobacco (or whatever you're using) into your pipe (which is fucking hard), because i can guarantee it will go out numerous times while smoking. i'm still learning myself. it can't be packed too tightly, but at the same time it can't be too loose and it can't be too damp either. it's an art. i've been taught to light all the tobacco on the surface while puffing shallowly to get rid of excess moisture and let the tobacco expand (pipe tobacco expands and unravels when lit so you need to get rid of this), then let it go out or gently put it out, softly but firmly tamp the tobacco down in the bowl to make it fairly firm in density again (due to the expansion), light it again and smoke away.
in short, get some pipe cleaners and maybe a multi tool, and stick to using lighters unless you really want to use matches. experiment. it's a nice hobby to get into if you're interested, and there's plenty of sites out there with a rich variety of different tasting and smelling tobaccos, as well as plenty of guides on how to use and maintain your pipe.
