Tool Review: British Buttner pipe reamer

The British Buttner pipe reamer has been around for a long time. As far as I can't find it has been made since 1945. It's a funny tool to use, but once you get the knack of it there is little it can not do. It's made from hardened tool steel and has ground edges.

The ground edges are an important feature. Take a close look at the photograph below. You can see that the left blade has rounded edges and the right has 90 degree sharp edges. If you turn either blade over you will find that they change from ground to rounded or vice versa.

Why is this important? Because it means that when you turn the tool clockwise it cuts, and when you turn it anti-clockwise it compresses, smooths and polishes. To latter of these two functions is excellent for that quick post-smoke cake touch-up.

In the photo above you can also see the ramped central pin. The further back you slide this the more each blade attempts to become parallel to it's mate. If you hold your pipe with tobacco chamber facing down, insert the tool, then slowly jiggle the ramp further in, it is quite easy to quickly and accurately adjust the Buttner reamer to the angles of the chamber.

Below is a photograph with the central pin fully retracted.

The tool is excellent at removing cake. However, there are a couple of design issues that prevent it from scoring full marks.


1. There is a degree of lateral movement in the blades. I worry that with use this will get worst and compromise the cutting ability of the tool.

2. The t-handle, whilst effective, is hard on fingers if used for any lengthy period of time. Only an issue when dealing with badly caked estate pipes though.

3.  Blades can never be made parallel. I have a few pipes (pots for example) that have parallel sides. However they represent only 3-4 pipes from my entire collection, so this is no great worry.

4. Cutting roundness is compromised by operator error. If you are pushing slightly to one side or the other the tool will cut more from that region. I combat this by rotating the pipe slightly every few turns so that no one spot is having all the fun.

Measuring across the tops of the blades (at the last point of contact with the bowl) reveals a maximum width of 1 3/8" with ramp fully inserted and 3/4" with ramp fully retracted.