question about sweetening
- Thread starter bambam
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The alcohols you mentioned work with an alcohol content of at least 60% or 120 proof. Obviously EverClear is about 95% which is what I use.
Wine will only have an alcohol content of around 12-14% so while it may add "flavor" it won't do much to keep the pipe clean... At least I wouldn't think so!!
Wine will only have an alcohol content of around 12-14% so while it may add "flavor" it won't do much to keep the pipe clean... At least I wouldn't think so!!
You want to sweeten your pipe? Mix in a couple of packets of Sweet n Low into your tobacco. It will smoke hot but it will be sweet.
While wine may not work, there is no reason a good bottle of V.S.O.P. Cognac wouldn't. Well, other than the price point, of course.
I wonder if anyone has actually followed Haunted's advice...
I wonder if anyone has actually followed Haunted's advice...
Haunted is incorrigible! :rofl:
I think the word "sweetening", as used in pipe lingo, doesn't literally mean that the pipe will taste sweeter.
That should be achieved by one's choice in tobacco blends.
Rather, cleaning with Everclear, for example, sweetens the pipe solely by removing bitter and otherwise unpleasant
tastes from a dirty pipe. That we use other liquors with a sweet residual taste shouldn't cloud the issue.
I think it is a good practice to avoid cleaners with a high water content as moisture is not friendly to wood. To that end, alcohols, which are effective solvents for tars, oils and grime, are also hygroscopic (absorb moisture), and make ideal cleaners.
I think the word "sweetening", as used in pipe lingo, doesn't literally mean that the pipe will taste sweeter.
That should be achieved by one's choice in tobacco blends.
Rather, cleaning with Everclear, for example, sweetens the pipe solely by removing bitter and otherwise unpleasant
tastes from a dirty pipe. That we use other liquors with a sweet residual taste shouldn't cloud the issue.
I think it is a good practice to avoid cleaners with a high water content as moisture is not friendly to wood. To that end, alcohols, which are effective solvents for tars, oils and grime, are also hygroscopic (absorb moisture), and make ideal cleaners.
i am going to ask this again
how often do you need to sweeten your pipe and is it also nessary to do this on a cob?
how often do you need to sweeten your pipe and is it also nessary to do this on a cob?
ok here is another question about "sweetening"/ cleaning is it just for the stem or the bowl as well and will it ruin the cake?
I've had a stem that tasted bad before and dipped it in my glass of wine. It was really tasty. :D Then I went full idiot and accidentally spit some wine down into the bowl, which made the tobacco... interesting. It wasn't bad, just different.
It gurgled a little. It wasn't too much more than normal - the small pipes I normally smoke do tend to gurgle a little more frequently. It just gave the gurgle a nice muscadine flavor. 
When I was a little girl, Dad would spit muscadine seeds against the tree in our front yard as a game. 15 years later that vine is so large that we have to trim it every fall so that it doesn't kill the 30' pine tree. They really are an amazing fruit!
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