Jeantet's Antidote - a catalytic pipe

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osiris01

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 21, 2017
146
31
This is not so much a discussion thread than a brain dump, but one I hope may be interesting to some (and probably useful to very few). But there is very little information on this pipe so I thought it would perhaps be sensible to put the meagre results of my research in a place where the search engines can find it should anyone go looking.
The pipe:
img_5915-600x400.jpg

This pipe came in a small lot that I selected from a large collection of estates. I didn’t know what it was and the image I was using to select my pipes was so dark they were practically in silhouette, but I love the curves of these old bents and selected it solely on that basis. When the pipe arrived it was well used and fairly well caked up, but the grain was a thoroughly pleasant surprise. I set about cleaning it up and once I’d removed the cake from the rim, I noticed it was a lined pipe, or at least, part lined. Assuming it to be meer, I put away the iso and gently sanded the chamber. Once finished, I was left with a pipe that had some sort of lining that appeared to stop half-way down the chamber; the lining was not what I expected – it was dark grey.
img_5927-600x400.jpg

The stamps read ‘Antidote’ over ‘Catalytic Pipe’ and the Chester hallmark is 1918 with the initials ‘H.M’. I found one reference: Pipedia. There is very little additional information other than it was lined and patented and was apparently a big hit back in the day since it appeared on the Jeantet/St Claude letter heads and in-factory posters. No explanation as to the ‘catalytic’ properties however.
The silver mark belonged to a Henry Mayer who was a pipe importer and merchant registered in 1899 and again in 1905 who, I assume, was the distributor for the UK. The patent application is dated 1908. As is typical, the patent documents are really just a proof of concept, but fascinating and explained why this pipe is indeed a ‘catalytic’ pipe.
capture-514x600.jpg

The first page is the diagram above. The lining is a sleeve that lined the walls of the chamber, but stopped mid-way down. The second page (which I have not attached since it is text) details the chemistry, which I shall summarise (url to patent docs at the end).
The lining material, in testing at least, was retort-charcoal and fits the description of the lining in my pipe. The sleeve was ‘treated with a catalytic agent by being immersed, for instance, in a solution of platinum chlorid and exposed to a reducing flame. During the smoking of the pipe, a high temperature is produced in the bowl and thus produces small quantities of formyl which neutralises the nicotine and acrid properties of the tobacco’.
It continues to state that good results have been obtained by using various sleeve materials, including ‘graphite, meerschaum, asbestos and even stone-ware’, and effective catalytic agents are perchlorid of platinum, and salts of copper, nickel, palladium, and iridium. So all good wholesome stuff.
So there it is – the catalytic pipe – a thoughtful, innovative, and quite possibly lethal, invention. I’m no chemist but I doubt that in the 100 years since it was made there is any active chemistry left in it and so, without further fuss, I filled the pipe and smoked it. It’s an unusually large pipe for that era, but it smokes extremely well, is beautifully made, and has a wonderful back story. And, apart from minor fluorescence, I’m still here to tell the tale (for now, at least).
Incidentally, when I listed the pipe on ebay, a gentleman enquired after the patent docs. His was the pipe that is displayed on Pipedia and mine the only other he has ever encountered. A thoroughly enjoyable project.
The patent docs are here:

 

osiris01

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 21, 2017
146
31
Thanks Davet, it is an interesting old pipe. Probably seen more as a curiosity now but by all accounts it was quite the thing back then. And it did clean up well. I don't see many straight grained oldies (I guess I'm not looking in the right places since it wasn't as if they chucked the straight grain blocks out), but this one has been well looked after.

 

mikethompson

Lifer
Jun 26, 2016
11,292
23,327
Near Toronto, Ontario, Canada
What an interesting pipe with a great backstory. You've done an excellent job cleaning it up as well. It's interesting to see what things were added to pipes back in the day, from linings like this to stingers and condensers.

 
Jun 27, 2016
1,273
117
Sounds like they're lining the pipe with Platinum Black or Platinum Sponge, which will catalyze certain gases. I only know this because I have a few antique catalytic lighters that use the same method. New Method was probably the most popular brand back in the day. If you find a good pic of one, you'll see a wand with a ball of Pl Black suspended using very thin Pl wire. This would be dipped into a wick-lined tube soaked with methanol alcohol (has to be methanol, I use Heet in the yellow bottle to run mine as a novelty). Dip the wand into the tube & the Pl Black & wires start catalyzing something jn the methanol, maybe Hydrogen but I forget, & the surface of the ball & wire start to glow, & then the methanol-soaked wick will light off & that's what you use as a lighter. It would be interesting to know if the pipe lining has or had the same properties.

 
Jun 27, 2016
1,273
117
^^^ I meant Pt not Pl. =). Also thinking about it, the reaction would probably be similar to what happens in automobile catalytic converters.

 

osiris01

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 21, 2017
146
31
Thanks for your comments folks. Regarding the chemistry, I'm no help. Whatsoever, in fact. But nicotine is very specific. As far as I know, catalytic converters work by modifying the molecular bonding (for example, adding oxygen atoms) much in the same way as aerated water replaces dissolved CO2 with dissolved O2. Just adding or removing an atom changes a molecule quite dramatically - take hydrogen peroxide for example - it is just H2O with a extra oxygen atom, but you wouldn't want to drink it.
I'm in danger of trying to pass myself off as a chem boffin, which couldn't be further from the truth, but I guess my point is that a minor tweak to the nicotine molecule could make it biologically unavailable preventing it from being absorbed. Quite how a platinum salt does that is way, way beyond me.
However, it's good to be reminded that marketing is not a recent invention.

 
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