A few of you may recall my happy post about scoring a Bianca 606 and a Roma 111 a while ago.
You may also recall my lament soon thereafter, discovering the nasty "car air freshener" aroma embedded in each.
Many of you answered my pleas for help and I'm happy to now share that both are functional members of my briar stable.
It took all of the tools you offered to overcome the ghosting and I thought I'd share it here, in case anyone else suffered a similar dilemna.
Step 1: Alcohol & Salt treatment. Swabbed shank out with everclear, plugged hole with cling wrapped cotton swab. Filled bowl with course kosher salt. Carefully filled bowl with everclear. After 30 hours, emptied both pipes, gave hot water rinse, air dried another day.
Step 2: Coffee grounds. Packed briar from both ends with moist coffee grounds left from breakfast. Allowed them to dry another 2 days. Rinsed in hot water and dried yet another 2 days.
Step 3: Burley Bomb. As luck would have it, I had just finished jarring a pound of Old Dark Kentucky and had kept a small pile on the side for immediate use. A bit of a waste to use such a fine product for bombing duty, but it's what I had and turned out well. Smoking a stout leaf like that both masks the nasty remnants from the smoker and works magic in eradicating the last of the evil spirits from the subject pipe.
I've since been able to put some more delicate blends through the two pipes and found little to no interference remaining. Another 10 loads through each and only the fading memory of Casper shall remain.
So, don't give up on those funky acquisitions, even if they seem too far gone. What do you have to lose?
Thanks.
You may also recall my lament soon thereafter, discovering the nasty "car air freshener" aroma embedded in each.
Many of you answered my pleas for help and I'm happy to now share that both are functional members of my briar stable.
It took all of the tools you offered to overcome the ghosting and I thought I'd share it here, in case anyone else suffered a similar dilemna.
Step 1: Alcohol & Salt treatment. Swabbed shank out with everclear, plugged hole with cling wrapped cotton swab. Filled bowl with course kosher salt. Carefully filled bowl with everclear. After 30 hours, emptied both pipes, gave hot water rinse, air dried another day.
Step 2: Coffee grounds. Packed briar from both ends with moist coffee grounds left from breakfast. Allowed them to dry another 2 days. Rinsed in hot water and dried yet another 2 days.
Step 3: Burley Bomb. As luck would have it, I had just finished jarring a pound of Old Dark Kentucky and had kept a small pile on the side for immediate use. A bit of a waste to use such a fine product for bombing duty, but it's what I had and turned out well. Smoking a stout leaf like that both masks the nasty remnants from the smoker and works magic in eradicating the last of the evil spirits from the subject pipe.
I've since been able to put some more delicate blends through the two pipes and found little to no interference remaining. Another 10 loads through each and only the fading memory of Casper shall remain.
So, don't give up on those funky acquisitions, even if they seem too far gone. What do you have to lose?
Thanks.
