What about "Very"?
"Very" doesn't denote the same sense of awe and/or urgency when it comes to modifying a subject. Ex.:
"That's a very big tree."
"That's a big-ass tree!"
The tension and emotion of a situation that determine which qualifier people would turn to are quite different between "Very" and "Ass".
Soo... Basically, make it easier to make a sword out of pipe cleaners and candy than steel? That would work somewhat, I guess. But it would still make a new problem: everyone would be running around with silly stuff at low levels. That sort of changes the tone of the game, although some people would like that. It also means only the high-level people would have good materials for their equipment, which ruins one of my favorite aspects of the game- the fact knowledge is quite literally power.
Being completely serious, I think you're underestimating the power of pipe cleaners. Really. How much have you messed with pipe cleaners? I've had to do a lot of work at them, and let me tell you, each end of each pipe cleaner is a sharp metal point. I've seen many hands scraped by those metal pieces. Imagine if were able to accentuate the metal tip of pipe cleaner's, by shaving the fuzzy parts near the end off to reveal more metal one perhaps or making it larger which would result it a longer metal tip. These metal tips could penetrate flesh and organ just as easily as a blade, and made more nasty by the fact that they are not straight, but rather curled, which increases the potential for skewering.
Pipe cleaners are also extremely flexible, meaning it would be simple to construct a deadly pipe cleaner sword, provided you have enough pipe cleaners. Simply wrap enough up until you get a hilt, then constructed a "blade" with intertwined pipe cleaners which would have to be many pipe cleaners tall and wide, all connected with each other. At the end, of the blade, shave half the pipe cleaners off so that one fuzzy end remains intersected with the corresponding lower part of the blade, while the metallic section is now revealed. You know have a fuzzy sword with dozens or hundreds of tiny spiky claw-like barbs, capable of ripping through flesh and soft matter.