Olive Oil Problem

[madox07]

I don't know where you got your advice, but I would be very skeptical when using olive oil on wood. I do use olive oil for the stem every so often, but that's a totally different story ...

 

[mso489]

Many Forums members are carvers and pipe restorers and know much about maintaining, polishing and refinishing pipes. I know just a little. It is a sort of philosophical point, but for the average pipe smoker (whoever that is) keeping a pipe at a high shine throughout its life is not necessary. A certain amount of evidence of wear is a good thing, a little patina that makes a pipe your own. Mostly, a good energetic buffing with a cloth after scooping out and pipe cleaning a pipe will maintain it in highly smokeable condition through the years. Applying "stuff" is always questionable, or at least should be subject to forethought. You may just be seeding your pipe with crud that will show up later as spoilage, haze, or other glop you don't want. Some of the experienced resto guys and gals use buffers, but even this can wear away the stamp or finish. So apply elbow grease, maybe a little nose grease or spit, and let it go at that mostly. New pipes should look new. After that they should look enjoyed.

 

[blendtobac]

I wouldn't use olive oil for the same reason I used to dread getting a new meerschaum - the odor. When they used to finish meers with beeswax, the smell would drive me nuts until I smoked it enough for it to dissipate. I tried olive oil early on an the odor turned me off. I only use a silicone-impregnated cloth for a quick shine and low-odor wax designed for pipes.
Russ

 

[jpmcwjr]

If, when and as I get a new meer, I will wash it thoroughly in hot water to remove as much wax as possible. The wax is put there only to prevent marks while handling in the tobacconist's shelves. (Yes, some will say it helps coloring, but I think it impedes it a bit)
And I'd use mineral oil on the stem, sometimes touching up the rim with it (briars only). Olive oil in cooking, salads, etc, yummmm, but not on pipes.

 

[cortezattic]

The wax is put there only to prevent marks while handling in the tobacconist's shelves. (Yes, some will say it helps coloring, but I think it impedes it a bit

jpmcwjr: I couldn't disagree with you more. I have been smoking the same meer for 50 yrs., and it colored only very gradually -- and not very much at that. Then a few years ago I took Fred Bass's advice and applied white bee's wax, and the color literally exploded onto the surface from within.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Yes, wax—and even water— will pull what's already just under the surface out. When the water dries, it reverts to what it was before. Did the full color stay after the wax treatment?

 

[cortezattic]

Yes, the coloring remained. Of course, there is a fascinating ebb and flow of the coloring as the pipe warms and cools during smoking, but that's a different phenomenon.

 

[newbroom]

I hadn't heard of this particular 'technique' before I'd taken one of my pipes to the ball park at a Golden Seniors softball game, and showed it to one of the older spectators, a cigar aficionado.
He took in and wiped the bowl across his nose! I was aghast!

It seems that nose oil has been one way pipe smokers maintain their equipment.

 

[davek]

Sebum, nose oil, has been used for years as a quick way to get a little oil for mustaches, threading a needle, home repairs, etc.. Using it on a pipe is new to me and a little alarming.

 

[mariorossi]

thank you all for the advices, I really appreciate. The pipes are doing better after every smoke and returning back to normal state. This is what i did:
1 - I made the pipes sweat oil with a hair dryer, not too hot, until they stopped pouring oil. After I let them rest in front of a fan for 1 Day.

2 - I cleaned the pipes with the water method. Again let them rest in front of a fan for another day.

3- I started smoking them with the "Italian method" for resetting and de-ghosting pipes. The method consist in smoking rubbed out Toscano cigars (Originale in my

case)multiple times a day. The italian pipe community swear by it.

The cigar is %100 pure fermented Kentucky tobacco, in the pipe it become so strong that even if you put a chicken inside the bowl is difficult to recognize it. Jokes apart,

after each smoke the pipes are losing the oil taste however, when i smoke a "human" tobacco i can still detect a little oil but i can tell is getting better.
Also a funny thing to notice is that after all the pipes are smoking way sweeter and rounded than before.
Lesson learned, never put olive oil on pipes again.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Sebum, nose oil, has been used for years as a quick way to get a little oil for mustaches, threading a needle, home repairs, etc.. Using it on a pipe is new to me and a little alarming.

Fear not! I used nose oil exclusively on several natural finished pipes 50 years ago, and they are darkened with age and oil, and will buff up nicely. Today, I do a bit of it, but prefer carnauba wax or Halcyon.