I was looking at a few pipes today, and there was a no name pipe I saw 30 bucks, but I thought it looked nice, I really liked its looks, and I thought to myself maybe, 30 bucks is still a lot in my world... so I start looking at it closer and remember reading something about running a pipe cleaner through a pipe, so I asked for a pipe cleaner and started to run it through the stem, well the pipe cleaner would run through the stem but stop at the part where the actual hole was that went into the bowl, is this okay.. I could run the pipe cleaner through the stem and the bowl but now while they were together. There is a hole that the stem goes in, and inside that hole is a smaller hole, the airway I guess,well the smaller hole was not in the center of the larger hole that the stem fits in, making it impossible to run a cleaner all the way to the bowl without taking it apart

Well I passed on the pipe,because I wasnt sure. So what is this pipe cleaner test I should be using when looking at pipes. Thanks.

This was my first time at this B/M and the new owner was so nice, I picked up a couple of Illusion cigars, he's the only one in town with them, bought some bulk tobacco.....and he threw in a Tin of Tobacco he likes, how cool is that..... I'm still so new to pipes.
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That is the correct way to do the pipe cleaner test. But with a lot of the lower end to mid range pipes, they are not always drilled properly. If you bend the end of the pipe cleaner a bit and 'noodle' it around it might go down into the bowl.
If you buy lower to mid range this is just something you accept. I have a few pipes that I have to 'noodle' the pipe cleaner in to get into the bowl and it doesn't affect my smoking experience too much with these pipes. But as always YMMV.
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