Pipe cleaning -salt / ETOH - pics

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portascat

Lifer
Jan 24, 2011
1,057
3
Happy Hunting Grounds
Been getting a whole series of bad/sour smokes lately. The last couple days. Multiple pipes. Figure it is my palate that needs a rest. Smoked the hell out of latakia the last week or two, and everything just has a bad taste now.
So, figured now is as good a time as any to sweeten the pipes. Took the ones I smoke the most often, elaving about 6 in the rack, and did the salt and booze treatment. With the pics below you can really see what is what with these pipes...
Plugged the shank with gun cleaning cotton patches.
Filled the bowl with sea salt, and then dribbled in Everclear. Will likely top off the everclear here in a bit (it has been about an hour, less than two, when these pics were taken). Then let it them all sit for a day or two and then empty them, let them air dry for a day or two, and then maybe hit the rest of them.
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imag1293.jpg

this is my Dottore G Grande Duca. man, that is some nasty crap seeping out onto that cotton. It is my most heavily smoked pipe, at least by me.
imag1294.jpg

Briarcraft. And I cleaned this one up before smoking it, and it hasn't been smoked that much by me. It is probably a good policy to salt and booze them when they come in used like that. Even if the seller says he had already done something similar.
imag1295.jpg

Sir Hubert doesn't look too bad....But, he shit all over the workbench.
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An Uncle Arthur Ward Cleaver on the left, and a Mitchell Thomas/Thomas Mitchell on the right. Uncle Arthur's pipe likely didn't need the treatment, as it is pretty new. But, it won't hurt it, either. The Thomas Mitchell is not too bad looking, either.

 

hauntedmyst

Lifer
Feb 1, 2010
4,006
20,751
Chicago
Good work.
A couple of tips, next time use cotton swabs to clog the stem. You'll find they won't gunk up like it has in the second pic since the paper tube will draw the junk. If those are that dirty after an hour, you may want to empty the salt after 24 hours and refill and start again. Also, you may find it helpful to drill out the airway very lightly before you salt - find a drill bit that just barely won't fit. The drill bit will remove a lot of gunk and then the sale/Al can draw out the residual tars. You are right about doing the salt treatment after getting an estate - I do it every time.

 

portascat

Lifer
Jan 24, 2011
1,057
3
Happy Hunting Grounds
I have used the q-tips before, and your right as the shaft of them gets black. The cotton cloth is stuffed pretty good up the shank, using a nail. If you are not familiar with cleaning cloths for guns, it is about the same texture as a t-shirt. I am giving it a try and seeing how it works.

 

portascat

Lifer
Jan 24, 2011
1,057
3
Happy Hunting Grounds
The two pipes in the bottom picture are so awesome, port incontinent Sir Hubert, it's not his fault, he's old!
That Mitchell Thomas/Thomas Mitchell is the one I picked up at Ft. Worth Head Shop. It has really grown on me. It is a fantastic smoker. I thought I had broken it once, cracked the bowl. But I was wrong.

 

strave19

Starting to Get Obsessed
Aug 13, 2011
249
324
Do you have to be careful about getting the ethanol on the briar? Will it damage or alter the stain?

 

hauntedmyst

Lifer
Feb 1, 2010
4,006
20,751
Chicago
Yes, it can if its left on but if you spill and then clean it up right away, then no. I always clean the outside of the bowl and then polish it before I do the SA treatment so it has a thin layer of protection.

 

portascat

Lifer
Jan 24, 2011
1,057
3
Happy Hunting Grounds
I have used a veterinary syringe, minus the "needle" and an ear syringe, both with success, for introducing the alcohol into the bowls. Much better than pouring it in somehow. If a bit dribbles onto the pipe, just quickly wipe it off with a towel. It happened this go around, and the last, so if it happens to you it has happened to me.

 

jasongone

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 23, 2011
511
0
i use a small plastic syringe as well to introduce the everclear in such cases. works pretty well but i could definitely go for some good old glass medicine droppers.

 

hauntedmyst

Lifer
Feb 1, 2010
4,006
20,751
Chicago
after this is done does it remove all the cake in the bowl and you have to re-establish a good cake?
Personally, I am in favor of removing the cake before doing this procedure. You want to get the tars out of the wood and its better to do that with little or no cake. The great thing about cake is it can always be rebuilt.

 

juni

Lifer
Mar 9, 2010
1,184
11
Wow, that is one dirty pipe. I stopped using salt myself since people say there is a (small) possibility that it could break a pipe. I just use cotton balls with alcohol now and they work just as well.

 
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