Years ago I read somewhere that it was a good idea to leave a pipe cleaner in the freshly smoked pipe overnight. So I began to do that, but I generally left it until the next time I smoked it. This could have been days, weeks, months. I did this for 20 years or better.

Now I make sure to pull the cleaner out within a day or so and discard it. I got to thinking that, while the pipe cleaner is absorbing moisture, a good thing, it is also constricting the flow of fresh air through the bowl/shank, and that probably isn't so good.

So to whom it may concern, what is your routine with pipe cleaners ?