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Simple question.
Does rim darkening bother you or is it just a by product of smoking the pipe?
I don't care at all with cobs but with my nice briars I freak out a little when I notice the rim start to darken. I immediately wipe the rim down with some Scotch and a cloth until it is gone.
What say you?
Doesn't bother me at all. I don't intend to sell them so I don't care if it affects the resale value. In 2000 I bought a new truck and a friend of mine was horrified that I smoked in it the first day. He said "aren't you worried about the resale value?" Well, 16 years later I'm still driving it and still smoking in it. I bought the truck and the pipes for me, not for some possible future owner.
Our most senior member of our pipe club always keeps his rims looking good. He says he keeps them that way by filling the bowl only to a point well below the rim. On most of my pipes, I don't care about it unless it's an expensive one. I do try to keep carbon from building up on the rim on all of my pipes except for cobs.
I let them blacken up. After a while it looks like they belong that way. So I guess it goes without saying that I'd never pay good money for a pipe with a fancy rim. A pipe is more of a utilitarian thing to me.
Rim darkening is inevitable, I think. More noticeable with lighter colored pipes of course, but I just consider to add character to the pipe.
But I won't abide gooey tar on the rim, so, after the last smoke of the day, I wipe the rim with Everclear. 151 proof here in CA. I recall 190 proof years ago in MN.
It doesn't particularly bother me. I do wipe the rim down every couple of bowls. I find that with a little elbow grease I can remove most of the build up keeping the rim looking pretty good. Some rims have some decent grain, so I like to be able to see it, but a little darkening (if I can still see the grain) doesn't bother me at all.
does not bother me one bit
I clean mine every once and a while. Don't mind darkening, but am careful to avoid burning it.
I love darkening on cob rims!
On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say about zero :)
Of course I don't own any expensive briars to speak of, and cobs, well, they're cobs.
I have a nice meerschaum and a few cheap ones, and they're supposed to darken.
I toss a little slobber on a Kleenex when I clean it. After that, it is what it is.....