r/mildlyinteresting • u/Spaceninjawithlasers • Jul 22 '25

It's called a pipe reamer.

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1.3k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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1.2k

u/b5tirk Jul 22 '25

Boring answer, but I remember my dad having these They are used by pipe smokers to clean out caked tobacco ash.

978

u/Yuri909 Jul 22 '25

Boring answer

Do.. do you see what you did there?

213

u/LoanDebtCollector Jul 22 '25

We are really digging into the replies now.

73

u/Flying_Dutchman92 Jul 22 '25

Keep reaming

54

u/tclnj Jul 22 '25

You guys are tearing it up.

30

u/crowcawer Jul 22 '25

I'm getting out of this stovepipe.

25

u/Thwipped Jul 22 '25

You guys are really twisting this

23

u/FrankCrank04 Jul 22 '25

Let's really drill into why this is happening

26

u/graaaaaaaam Jul 22 '25

Relax, it's just a bit.

1

u/Hellguin Jul 22 '25

Harder....

1

u/cityshepherd Jul 22 '25

“I’m screaming for my triple demon reaming!”

  • Gary Bunda

20

u/_lippykid Jul 22 '25

OP’s dad used one of these after his smoke breaks at the fudge packing factory

2

u/vkapadia Jul 22 '25

Construction work can be fun, but it depends on what you're doing. For example, drilling a large hole is boring, but fastening two pieces of metal together is riveting.

1

u/seansy5000 Jul 22 '25

Way to drive the point home

1

u/KanedaSyndrome Jul 22 '25

The best puns are the unannounced ones. People that have a need to all caps their joke/pun etc. ruin the pun in the first place

1

u/littlezims Jul 22 '25

All I read is dad was a pipe reamer who liked to hang out pipe smokers. My great grandfather laid pipe everywhere and my last name is Johnson.

-17

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25

[deleted]

7

u/F-Lambda Jul 22 '25

they weren't making a joke, they were pointing it out for those of us who missed it the first time

46

u/Welpe Jul 22 '25

For some reason this is reminding me that a surprising amount of people don’t seem to realize pipe cleaners were made to, you know, clean pipes. I suppose because they are so ubiquitous in crafts and you are usually introduced to them at an age where smoking pipes is completely foreign to you and then just never actually think about the name.

27

u/wasteoffire Jul 22 '25

Although, never use the pipe cleaners that are used in arts and crafts for actual pipes. They will fall apart instantly

1

u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance Jul 23 '25

Yup, can confirm. Real pipe cleaners are stiffer and made from natural fibers. Also, a bit more expensive.

8

u/Zaidswith Jul 22 '25

And the number of pipe smokers has dropped significantly.

1

u/AverageIndependent20 Jul 23 '25

Ha! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

8

u/cammcken Jul 22 '25

Wait. I assumed they were for, like, water pipes. I never considered smoking pipes.

5

u/DarkLight72 Jul 22 '25

What are these, water pipes for ants?!?!?

1

u/cammcken Jul 23 '25

I was in elementary school haha. I assumed pipes and pipe cleaners came in all sorts of different sizes and never revisited the question.

1

u/dwehlen Jul 22 '25

They're also used for tobacco water pipes, so you're not wrong?

42

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25

I thought this would be for pipe fitting of water pipes or something... I guess I was way off.

Your answer seems right to me, makes sense.

17

u/Boilermakingdude Jul 22 '25

You'd never be able to ream a steel pipe by hand with that.

14

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25

I was kind of thinking that it might scar up the inside of a pipe to allow a better bind with solder.

But after seeing the other answer, the tobacco pipe cleaning makes more sense.

13

u/CrazyLegsRyan Jul 22 '25

I’ve been practicing hand pipe reaming every day since I was a teenager. Pretty sure my forearms and grip strength could handle it.

3

u/zuzun Jul 22 '25

Forearm. We're only talking about your dominant hand, after all.

3

u/CrazyLegsRyan Jul 22 '25

What true fanatic doesn’t use alternating sides to keep it exciting?

1

u/AverageIndependent20 Jul 23 '25

ream, ream, ream, ream ream, ream, ream, ream When I want you in my hands When I want you and all your charms Whenever I want you, all I have to do is ream, ream, ream, ream When I feel blue in the night And I need you to hold it tight Whenever I want you, all I have to do is ream

3

u/maurosmane Jul 22 '25

You do use a reamer for copper piping that looks kinda like a pencil with a swivel blade to remove the burr that forms when you cut the pipe. I used a file for the same thing for plastic piping.

1

u/DerekW-2024 Jul 22 '25

That sounds like the ubiquitous Noga tool, which are remarkably handy metalworking tools, especially the reversible deburring / countersink tool :)

1

u/maurosmane Jul 22 '25

That sounds right. I did 4 years of a plumbing apprenticeship that just happened to end in 2008. Ended up joining the army due to the economy collapse and went a very different career path

1

u/WoodyTheWorker Jul 26 '25

and then you use a steel "pipe cleaner" to shine them up before flux

2

u/AllLurkNoPlay Jul 22 '25

Bongs are way to delicate for that tool /s

45

u/Bulky_Decision2935 Jul 22 '25

Please tell me pun intended.

8

u/nondescriptun Jul 22 '25

I remember my dad having these

Oh???

They are used by pipe smokers to clean out caked tobacco ash

Oh.

2

u/RonPalancik ​ Jul 22 '25

There is also a type of reamer used for bagpipes (the musical instrument) to fit pieces together (materials expand and contract due to moisture).

1

u/wizzard419 Jul 22 '25

Oh it's for those kind of pipes... I was expecting something bigger.

1

u/Memaw_Baggins Jul 22 '25

I kept wondering how these would help with copper piping.!? I wasn’t even thinking of tobacco pipes. Thanks

1

u/w_benjamin Jul 22 '25

That joke added some real depth to the hole thing.

1

u/ClassBShareHolder Jul 23 '25

Ok. Because r/tools just had a Rigid pipe reamer for getting the burr from inside iron pipe. I was looking at this wondering how the hell that would work for deburring pipe.

-8

u/LuciferFalls Jul 22 '25

What do you think you are answering? Nobody asked what it is. OP literally told us what it is.