Quality tobacco pipes are works of art, and like any work of art, there is a right way to care for them and a wrong way. Take good care of your pipe and it should last many years. If you have a number of wooden pipes, care for them properly, and rotate their use, they may even outlive you.

On the other hand, misuse your pipe or neglect to perform basic maintenance and it will die an untimely death in just a couple of years. Below we present six ways to ruin a tobacco pipe and sincerely hope you do not practice any of them.

ONE: Carrying Your Pipe in Your Back Pocket

These days everybody is pressed for time. We get it. But that’s no excuse for the way some folks treat their pipes. While it’s understandable to a certain degree that a person in a rush might stuff their pipe into their back pocket as they head for the door, it’s bound to come back to haunt them. Probably sooner rather than later, when they plop down into the driver’s seat and hear that sickening crunch.

You wouldn’t stuff your watch into your back pocket if you were in a rush, would you? Of course not. By the same token, you should never consider the back pocket to be an acceptable place to carry briar pipes. The best way to avoid the temptation to shove your pipe into your back pocket is to always store it in a proper carrying case.

TWO: Using a Lighter Instead of Matches

It’s probably fair to say that a majority of people these days light their pipe with some form of lighter. But that doesn’t make it right. Whether you’re using a cheap convenience store lighter or an expensive and seductive Zippo it’s going to do damage to your pipe that won’t occur if you use matches instead.

Lighters tend to burn the rim of the bowl which leads to a buildup of char and ruins the look of the pipe. Ideally, you should use wood stem kitchen matches, but regular paper matches will do in a pinch. Just make sure to hold the head of the match slightly above the tobacco and take long, even draws.

THREE: Sharing Your Pipes

Share your home, share a night out, share your time and energy if a friend needs help moving, but keep your pipes to yourself. If your buddy states that he’s always secretly had a thing for meerschaum pipes and would really like to borrow yours for a little while, ask him if he’d also like to give you some tongue, because sharing a pipe is essentially the same thing. This is not like sharing good times or splitting a pizza. Sharing a pipe is like sharing a toothbrush.

Not to mention that if you lend your friend one of your pipes there is no guarantee it will be returned to you in good condition, and you don’t want to let a ruined pipe get in the way of friendship. So keep it simple: “Sorry dude, I don’t lend out my pipes.”

FOUR: Chewing on the Stem

This is a tough one because nobody wants to hold their pipe with their hand all the time. Sometimes you just want to let it hang out of the corner of your mouth while you flip the channel or turn the page on a book, or sit back on the porch and enjoy the view. Other times you may be under stress and chewing on your pipe seems like a great way to work off some nervous energy.

But chewing on the stem will at best take a bite out of the way your pipe looks, and at worst may cause the stem to crack under the pressure. If chewing on your pipe is a temptation you just can’t resist, consider buying some rubber mouthpieces. They’re cheap, readily available and they could save your tobacco pipes.

FIVE: Drawing Too Hard and Too Fast

This is basic pipe smoking stuff but it earns a spot on our list because it’s still one of the most common ways people ruin their pipes. If you draw too deeply and too frequently you’ll heat up the tobacco to an unnatural extent and burn the bowl, leading to a buildup of char. You’ll also ruin the flavor of the tobacco and leave an acrid, deeply unsatisfying taste in your mouth.

Take your time. Pipe smoking is supposed to be a relaxing experience. Remember, briar pipes are not bongs, and this is not weed you’re smoking here. There is no positive benefit to be gained from drawing fast and hard on briar or meerschaum pipes.

SIX: Leaving Your Pipe Outside

There are few things as relaxing as kicking back on the porch in the evening with a bowl of your favorite tobacco. But when the evening is over and you head inside, make sure you take your pipe with you. Frost, extreme heat, direct sunlight and more can all undermine the integrity of your pipe and shorten its lifespan. In addition, in this age of porch pirates, you never know if your favorite pipe will be there the next day.

The Bottom Line

If you take the above to heart and care for your tobacco pipes they will provide a lifetime of satisfaction. To see our entire line of retail and wholesale tobacco pipes visit the brick and mortar Paykoc Pipes store or peruse our online collection.