What Are Pipe Cleaners?

Question: What exactly are pipe cleaners?

Answer: Pipe cleaners (also called chenille stems or chenille sticks) are made of two pieces of wire twisted around a nylon or polyester material called “pile”.  Pipe cleaners are named as such due to their original intended use of cleaning smoking pipes.  Pipe cleaners used for this purpose would be made of wire and cotton or similar absorbent material to aide in the cleaning process. Pipe cleaners as an art form have been around since the turn of the 20th century and now come in all sorts of sizes and colors.