Remove estate pipe smell HELP PLEASE

snewton · Mar 2, 2012

Hi,

So I just took delivery of a rather nice old and well coloured meerschaum pipe but it smells horrible! sour. It is mainly the stem that is the worst. Iv already ran it through with pipe cleaners and whiskey, wiped it all round and cleaned out the bowl etc but the smell remains. Any tips please?

Thanks

matchstickman · Mar 2, 2012

What kind of smell are we talking here? If it is a smell like old, burnt car tires, you could have a vulcanite stem that has some oxidation buried deep in the stem. Take the stem and look at it under a bright light, like high powered lamp or LED flashlight. What color is it? Is it black, or sort of blackish/muddy brown? If it is a stem made of Lucite, I dont really know what could be causing the smell.

snewton · Mar 2, 2012

Its vulcanite... any ideas?? Many thanks

matchstickman · Mar 2, 2012

You said you already tried pipe cleaners and whisky. Did the pipe cleaner come out clean when you ran it through with whiskey? If it is still a little brown, try running a few more through until they come out clean both with the alcohol dip and the same with a dry cleaner. If the smell is in fact oxidation of your stem, I will direct you to this article, which I hope will help you.
Restoring a pipe stem with no power tools

snewton · Mar 2, 2012

It came out perfectly clean so it is oxidisation. I will take a good look at that article.

Cheers

matchstickman · Mar 2, 2012

The major step is the oxyclean soak. The oxyclean will draw all the oxidation to the surface, so if you soak your stem, take it out, and dry it off, oxidation will show up as either brown fuzz, or in the case of the Wellington I did in the article, green or damn near khaki color. If you soak it, dry it, and it comes out still black, then I wouldn't think oxidation would be the issue. Let me know how it works for you either way.
EDIT: I should also mention that if your stem has an aluminum attachment, as the stem on my only meer does, if you are going to soak it in oxyclean, youll want to cover the aluminum parts with vaseline before you soak it. Oxyclean and aluminum dont really get along all that well.

snewton · Mar 2, 2012

Right im now on phone web, walking to the asda over the road for oxiclean. I feel a commentary coming on!

matchstickman · Mar 2, 2012

Good luck. You don't have to soak for long. About a half hour should do. I worked on three pipes tonight using this exact method and it is the only thing I swear by. The Obsidian is not necessary but is a great preventative measure. Ill only be up for another hour or so, but let me know how it goes!

snewton · Mar 2, 2012

I could even smell that bloody thing walking to the shop and it wasnt even with me!! horrible. So it is now in the oxiclean for a good hour. Realised on my way home I had missed an opportunity to 'need' to buy more alcohol :P Lets wait and see... BTW what can I use instead of proper stem oil?

snewton · Mar 2, 2012

Correction - half hour. Thanks for the tip! I will indeed let you know how it goes. I have today off so I have nothing better to do

its only 11AM here so plenty time to go

snewton · Mar 2, 2012

Ah. It does have the aluminium. And it is now in soak. OOPS

ichbinmuede · Mar 2, 2012

How do aluminum and oxyclean not get along? Does it just cause it to oxidize?

From what I can recall of the oxidation of aluminum it actually serves to strengthen it in a way and is almost always already oxidized. But heck maybe I'm remembering wrong.

Any engineers or metal workers around to set me straight?

snewton · Mar 2, 2012

Well the oxy has definitely lessened the smell but it isnt gone yet... and also what about cleaning the inside of the bowl? this is my first meer.

ichbinmuede · Mar 2, 2012

Well I can't claim to be an expert on this field of restoration (or any really) but I can tell you what I've done and has worked for me.

If there's cake in the bowl I've gently reamed it out with my castleford reamers (a senior reamer is just too aggressive for me to be comfortable with), rubbed it down a little with some 320 grit sandpaper and if there's still a taste...well I've just smoked it out. I just packed it with some cheap and loved tobacco (PA and the like) and continued until I couldn't taste it. Not in one day mind you but over a few smoking sessions.

I never felt comfortable with the idea of pouring alcohol in a meer with its porous nature that we love it for and just beat the taste back with my stubborn nature to give it new life.

snewton · Mar 2, 2012

Thanks bud, but until this smell is gone its going nowhere near my mouth! sandpaper in bowl sounds good though. il do that now

ichbinmuede · Mar 2, 2012

Just be sure to be gentle and not take off much more than the cake. I wouldn't want you to end up unhappy with what you've done.

Wish I could have my hands on it to really understand what's going on, but alas our technology isn't at that point yet.

Estate meerschaum does seem to have a bit of an issue with taste sometimes I've found. The best way I can reason it is that with its porous nature and the oils it absorbs from smoking that it just stagnates over time with inactivity and giving it a few smokes jogs the memory of it and it goes back to being what it was. That's really just a guess though.

snewton · Mar 2, 2012

The sandpaper has worked lovely in the bowl, didnt take much. Now back to working at the stem with abrasive. Thanks for your help!

ichbinmuede · Mar 2, 2012

No trouble at all! Happy to help another brother of the briar. Maybe a fellow meerschaum monk in this case? A bit of a stretch for synonyms but it does keep the alliteration in tact, haha.

snewton · Mar 2, 2012

Meerschaum monk works for me! This stem is a PITA. Lucite is king...

snewton · Mar 2, 2012

Well after a sanding and then buffing with a buffing wheel and beeswax, the nasty smell is gone !

still a hint of a rubber smell though, is this normal for vulcanite?? i know it is basically made of rubber so i dont know if this would go away

Remove estate pipe smell HELP PLEASE

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