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Thinner cake throughout reduces that inconsistency. That inconsistency also contributes to the danger that cake imposes on a pipe. I've had the advantage of seeing lots of used pipes, and most have cake built in the upper two-thirds of the bowl, with little cake at the heel. Because tobacco at the bottom of a bowl tends to absorb the moisture resulting from combustion from the upper layers of tobacco, more heat is necessary to keep it burning, and protective cake builds very slowly at the heel, if at all. The area around the smoke hole is one of the most delicate parts of a pipe, particularly in terms of excess heat applied as a smoker reaches the end of a bowl of tobacco. They have the advantage of being able to reach into the bottom of most tobacco chambers, though that part of a chamber seldom requires reaming - unless the pipe is oversmoked at the heel, which in itself risks damage. So blunt instruments are safer.Д«etter than a regular pocket knife is a pipe knife like the Brigham, John Aylesbury or Joseph Rodgers, all of which have blunt rather than sharp tips, and blades that are less sharp than that of a pocket knife. A gouge in the briar where combustion happens can lead to char around that gouge and the potential for further damage. Our grandfathers used pocket knives, and they work, but a sharp-tipped pocket knife risks damaging the walls of the tobacco chamber.

However, removing cake the right way requires tools. Briar is very tough, but it can't withstand repeated forced expansion and contraction at the level that is forced on it by excess cake.

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Cake expands and contracts with heat and cooling at a different rate from briar, and when it expands it can crack the bowl. While cake is necessary for the good health of a briar pipe, like anything, too much can be a bad thing. Pipes afflicted with excess cake such as that are often cracked, and that is perhaps the best indicator that cake should be well managed. The remaining tobacco chamber can sometimes be little more than the diameter of a pencil, and I'm not sure how the owners managed to enjoy smoking them in that condition. You've probably seen pipes in antique stores or flea markets that have too much cake. Its gradual thickening is a relatively slow process, though it can creep up on you.Д¬ake helps insulate and protect the briar of a pipe, but if it gets too thick, it may have adverse effects. However, even when the perception of time has changed, the need for keeping cake at the proper thickness has not.Д¬ake is the carbon buildup on the walls of the tobacco chamber. It also used to feel like a bowl of tobacco lasted much longer than it does now, but I don't know if that's because time is accelerating or my impatience is decreasing.

When I started smoking pipes, it seemed like it took forever for cake to build, but now I'm mildly irritated every time I see it's time to ream a pipe yet again. Its gradual thickening is a relatively slow process, though it can creep up on you.

Many may have a historical interest in such things as dimes, but are they still objects useful as units of physical measurement?ДЄnyway, if you're unfamiliar with dimes, the cake in a pipe should be maintained at about the thickness of one or two debit cards.Д¬ake is the carbon buildup on the walls of the tobacco chamber. I mention coins because I've always heard that the proper thickness for cake in the bowl of a pipe should be about that of a dime or a nickel, and I want to talk about cake, but does anyone even use dimes anymore? So many things have become obsolete that I'm not entirely confident everyone is any more familiar with coins than with VHS players or rotary telephones. I rarely carry cash and don't think I've had a coin in my pocket in years. It weighs about 50 pounds, but most of those coins were contributed years ago, because we use debit cards now for everything.

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We have a big decorative urn full of coins in the upstairs hallway, because nobody likes to carry coins, so they get tossed in there.