Blind reaming.

[Citizen B]

I have been smoking my red Nording Compass back to back for days now and finally decided to clean it.

I forced a pipe cleaner through the stem to remove a big plug of goo. It was disgusting.

Now, I am taking my pipe knife and gouging the insides of this bowl blind. Do not give me any lip about the optimal dime's width of cake. I can't see inside there. This bowl needs a reaming and I am not going to use a reamer, I'm a'gonna manhandle it with the dull, rounded blade of my pipe knife.

Well, I don't now how good a job I did but I got a lot of cake out of there. You should see what I dumped out. Charcoal city.

I never understood reaming with a reamer. I don't know how it works. I just fly blind most of the time and do what I do. Is there an art or science to reaming a bowl?

[Fr_Tom]

It is quick and easy with a reamer. You get a nice uniform cut. The knife works too!

[Mr Beardsley]

I take good care of my pipes so I use a reamer because it's uniform and I don't take chances on gouging it. But you do you

[MikeDennison]

When I'm doing serious work, I use a reamer. But to just do a little bowl maintenance from time to time, I've got a razor sharp Old Timer pocket knife that does the trick.

[simplepipes]

Tube of sandpaper . . .

-sp

[Ronv69]

A reamer is cheap and it takes seconds to do what it takes minutes to do with a knife, and it's safer for you and your pipe.

[Kevin Keith]

I coughed up the bucks for a “vintage” Kleen Reem and it works great. Before that I used a knife and it worked too, just not as evenly or as quickly.

[kschatey]

I don't do cake, so I have only had to ream a few estate pipes that I have purchased online. I ended up getting vintage Cook's adjustable reamer on eBay and it works pretty well for an even ream with little effort. I have also used a bit of fine sand paper on my finger for a final pass after the ream.

[Thelonious monkfish]

Reamer on estates, I let my bowls cake up and manicure them with a blade, meticulously, as needed. Only takes second, just shave off enough to get five more minutes out of my smokes. Comes off like graphite so it's about as much work as sharpening a pencil with a blade.

[Tsal]

Let's see the chamber so we can tell you if you did a good job or not.