So my pipe experience untill recently has been mostly clay. However I have acquired several briar pipes of various lineage lately. A "friend" told me to clean the stems with rubbing alcohol prior to smoking them.... To my chagrin 2 of the stems have turned from a nice glossy black, to an ugly mat brown! Please tell me there is a way I can reverse or repair the damage... Did I just ruined my stems?
Did i just destroy my stem?!
- Thread starter skrap1
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Sounds like the vulcanite has oxidized. You will find many threads on here about how to deal with oxidized stems, and I am sure the restoration crowd will chime in very soon.
They can be saved, so don't worry. As peck mentioned there are numerous threads here on how to bring them back to the way they were. Other than that, in the future don't clean the 'outside' of vulcanite stems with s strong alcohol solution such as rubbing alcohol as they, from what you have seen, will get very dull. However, it is safe to clean the 'inside' of the stems with alcohol and a pipe cleaner.
I ruined the first two pipes I ever had by "cleaning" them with boiling water - The vulcanite stem turned brown , the Lucite went limp ...I blame the sadistic old Army instructors in nursing school teaching us 10 min. boiling field sterilization. The vulcanite was recovered , the picture in my avatar is all that is left of the lucite stemmed pipe.
skrap1:
Peckinpahhombre hit the nail on the head. Vulcanite naturally oxidizes, and it is sulfur which causes the brown-to-green discoloration.
I have found that Bon Ami brand cleanser does a good job of removing this oxidation, and it does not scratch the rubber material. Simply use a dampened piece of paper toweling to which a liberal amount of Bon Ami has been applied, thoroughly scrub the stem (taking care to avoid any stamped logotypes or nomenclature), and then rinse thoroughly.
Depending upon its appearance and your personal preference, you may then gently wet-sand starting with 600-grit wet/dry paper, and use successively finer grits until you have a smooth, even finish. For maximum gloss I buff (using a bench-top buffer) gently and at slow speed, and dress the buffing wheel with red rouge. Again take care to avoid logotypes and nomenclature.
I hope that this information is useful to you.
Good Luck, and Good Smoking!
Peckinpahhombre hit the nail on the head. Vulcanite naturally oxidizes, and it is sulfur which causes the brown-to-green discoloration.
I have found that Bon Ami brand cleanser does a good job of removing this oxidation, and it does not scratch the rubber material. Simply use a dampened piece of paper toweling to which a liberal amount of Bon Ami has been applied, thoroughly scrub the stem (taking care to avoid any stamped logotypes or nomenclature), and then rinse thoroughly.
Depending upon its appearance and your personal preference, you may then gently wet-sand starting with 600-grit wet/dry paper, and use successively finer grits until you have a smooth, even finish. For maximum gloss I buff (using a bench-top buffer) gently and at slow speed, and dress the buffing wheel with red rouge. Again take care to avoid logotypes and nomenclature.
I hope that this information is useful to you.
Good Luck, and Good Smoking!
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