Pipe tool
Encyclopedia
A pipe tool is any of a variety of small gadgets designed to aid in packing, smoking
, and emptying tobacco
pipes.
A typical pipe tool consists of a pick, a reamer, and a tamper:
Tobacco smoking
Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the resulting smoke is inhaled. The practice may have begun as early as 5000–3000 BCE. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes...
, and emptying tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
pipes.
- The pick is a narrow rod or pin that can be used to clear the shank of debris, or used to aerate tightly packed tobacco. Because it is sharp it may scratch the bowl of a pipe, and so shouldn't be used for scraping.
- The reamer is a flat instrument shaped like a dull pen-knife blade or a flattened spoon, used to scrape ash and unburned tobacco (dottleDottleDottle is the wet and sour-smelling mass of unburned tobacco found at the bottom of a tobacco pipe. Dottle is produced by a combination of two reasons, first the smoker is a "wet smoker", that is, he pushes a considerable amount of saliva down the stem and into the bowl, and second the tobacco...
) off the sides and bottom of a pipe.
- The tamper is a blunt instrument, either a simple dowel or shaped like the top of a nail, with a flat end for tamping down the tobacco when the bowl is being packed, and for crushing the ash together to aid relighting.