Salt & Alcohol Treatment Question

newfie · Oct 2, 2015

It's pretty well a general consensus that after the treatment, the pipes should be left to rest for several days
Now, while I'm not one to disagree with that piece of advice, I do need to ask why?
People seem to agree the alcohol will mostly all evaporate overnight and then the next day you can dump the salt and swab out the pipe. Steve Laug even notes he can't get the pipe to flame, indicating no alcohol is present.
So since there's no alcohol left, possibly just a slight aroma which should dissipate in a few more hours, why the requirement to rest the pipe for that extended period?

gloucesterman · Oct 2, 2015

Salt and alcohol desolve and absorb much of the oil and tars that have accumulated in the pipe. The alcohol might have evaporated but the moisture leaves the grain ends open. Giving the pipe several days allows those channels to close up again. Although briar doesn't absorb a lot of moisture it does expand when fluid is available and usually takes some time to shrink back to its usual size. It's the same action that causes stems to loosen in high humidity.

newfie · Oct 3, 2015

Thank you.

blackbeard · Oct 4, 2015

Mortons Coarse Kosher salt worked best for me. Make sure you stuff pipe cleaners in to keep salt from sneaking in the draft hole. I wouldn't leave over 24 hours myself; have read it can get stuck on the walls and be harder to clean up. I may be wrong but I personally filled the bowl half way, put a small amount of alcohol in, salt almost to the top and a little more alcohol. I let it sit for 8 hours, added a little more, 8 hours a little more, then I woke up and dumped it out. I let it sit for 48 hours and couldn't smell anything. A week later a once sour pipe smoked nicely. Hope it helps, it intimidated me a little at first, especially with mixed ideals on process.

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