After weeks nae months of searching for pipe cleaners without success - import restrictions was always the response I got from merchants for the lack of them both here out in the sticks and BA.
I finally received a package from my brother in law in the UK containing 50 pipe cleaners. The envelope had been cut open...by customs I assume....who surely wondered what they were. Thankfully they popped them into a sealed plastic bag and forwarded them on to me. I can finally clean my pipes properly instead of resorting to chasing molting birds.

What a bloody palaver.