Can you do a salt treatment on pipes with salt and pipe refresher, or does it have to be salt and alcohol? Also, how often does this need to be done? I have read that it is mainly done with estate pipes, but is there any recommended time to do it, or is it a just-wait-until-the-pipe-starts-to-taste-funny-kind of thing?
Salt treatment: some questions
- Thread starter meerschaummatt
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I suppose you could use pipe refresher but straight alcohol is just as effective and much cheaper. And no a salt/alcohol treatment is not a regular maintenance item. It's needful only if a pipe starts to really taste or smell bad and normal cleaning and/or merely letting it rest doesn't help. It is also useful if you have a pipe that is "ghosted" badly with a tobacco taste and smell you don't like as is the case with many poorly maintained estate pipes or a pipe in which you've smoked something that you do not wish to taste or smell again. Sometimes ghosting can be smoked out with a few bowls but in some cases sterner measures may be required.
+1 Darwin. You nailed it. For me, the S&A treatment is a necessary part of sanitizing estate pipes, or trying to reduce or remove ghosts.
One thing we don't talk about often is how hard this treatment can be on briar... If you think about it, we're creating a pretty intensely active leaching process and are pulling moisture, and the gunk that comes with it, straight out of the briar. This isn't a process I would do with any regularity, and when I have to do multiple treatments (like when I'm trying to bust a Lakeland ghost), I let the bowl stand for at least 24 hours between treatments.
I'd always recommend 99% isopropyl alcohol for this work, it is highly evaporative (meaning it doesn't remain in the briar), has very few impurities and a low water content, and is flavour neutral.
-- Pat
One thing we don't talk about often is how hard this treatment can be on briar... If you think about it, we're creating a pretty intensely active leaching process and are pulling moisture, and the gunk that comes with it, straight out of the briar. This isn't a process I would do with any regularity, and when I have to do multiple treatments (like when I'm trying to bust a Lakeland ghost), I let the bowl stand for at least 24 hours between treatments.
I'd always recommend 99% isopropyl alcohol for this work, it is highly evaporative (meaning it doesn't remain in the briar), has very few impurities and a low water content, and is flavour neutral.
-- Pat
Like Pruss, I also use 99% isopropyl alcohol (usually from Walmart). I can't notice a difference between that and the more costly Everclear. I only do this on estates that are new to me.
Dealing with salt is a big PITA. If you feel you must subject the pipe to a soaking of some kind, I recommend cotton balls.
If, as your avatar name suggests, you're considering doing this to a meerschaum, be advised that it will probably ruin the patina.
If, as your avatar name suggests, you're considering doing this to a meerschaum, be advised that it will probably ruin the patina.
Okay great...thanks for the information. The only pipe right now that I have that is an estate is an older pipe that my dad gave me when he found out I was getting into pipes, and it seemed to respond well to pipe refresher, pipe cleaners, and a shank brush so no further cleaning seems to be necessary. This particular pipe is a briar. I'm careful of what I do to my meerschaum and already got some tips about it in the meerschaum forum. Looks like I will be having to do something with it soon though because there is a bit of cake starting to form in it, so I need to take care of that.
^And yeah, if I ever do an alcohol treatment I would probably do cottonballs instead of salt. Looks like it would be a lot simpler.
^And yeah, if I ever do an alcohol treatment I would probably do cottonballs instead of salt. Looks like it would be a lot simpler.
Just get a decent reamer for the cake and you will be OK. I ideally, you do not want a thickness of more than a dime or so but some folks keep is smaller than that. If you pipe responded well to the cleaning you gave it, no need to worry about the salt and alcohol.
Like cortez mentioned, cotton balls work better imo. Just stuff the dry ball into the bowl and then use an eye dropper or something to saturate it with. Be very careful about getting any alcohol on the outside of the pipe as it will remove the stain.
Like cortez mentioned, cotton balls work better imo. Just stuff the dry ball into the bowl and then use an eye dropper or something to saturate it with. Be very careful about getting any alcohol on the outside of the pipe as it will remove the stain.
The only thing that cotton balls don't have going for them is that they don't create the same reaction that salt does, essentially they will leach less ugliness from the briar than salt will. This has been my experience, anyway. I assume that this because the salt and alcohol create such a dry leach field that moisture flees the briar and into the salt. I have never found salt complicated to work with, but agree that a cotton ball is easier to insert and remove.
For reamers, I'd recommend. PipNet Reamer or Castleford Reamer set.. In that order.
--Pat
For reamers, I'd recommend. PipNet Reamer or Castleford Reamer set.. In that order.
--Pat
Damn! Wish I had read this sooner.Cotton balls noted for future cleanings of estates. No ghost in the first smoke bowl was reamed however the shank was gunky as hell upon later inspection. I smoked a bowl straight away because it was an anniversary gift from my lady and the bowl looked clean. The pipe gurgled a lot. Hindsight is always 20/20!
I performed my 2nd ever salt/alcohol treatment on this pipe. I'm using Everclear and Kosher salt. I put some salt and alcohol in the shank also. It's a huge Karl Erik Freehand pipe. Not sure if I was supposed to add salt/alcohol to the shank, I figured aye because it's big.
Is salt/alcohol treatment the best way to make it sanitized? Or will a pipe reamer/brush with alcohol do the trick?
-Donavan
I performed my 2nd ever salt/alcohol treatment on this pipe. I'm using Everclear and Kosher salt. I put some salt and alcohol in the shank also. It's a huge Karl Erik Freehand pipe. Not sure if I was supposed to add salt/alcohol to the shank, I figured aye because it's big.
Is salt/alcohol treatment the best way to make it sanitized? Or will a pipe reamer/brush with alcohol do the trick?
-Donavan
The shank needs just as much, if not more attention than the bowl. All signs of use should be removed. I used a series of bristle brushes dipped in cleaner, ran thru, wiped clean, reinserted in alcohol and repeat until the brushes come out clean.
I'm kinda with Pat on this in liking the salt just alittle more. The estates I have done I actually will just wash the salt out under the tap. I know what your thinking, but after all briar gets wet in the wild. But I have done this with no ill effects at all. But then it does need a good buff.
I agree with everything Al says about shanks; they are vile, nasty places that require much cleaning. I have gone through entire packs of bristle cleaners on messed up shanks. I typically work on shanks prior to doing an S&A treatment and/or retort.
-- Pat
-- Pat
After the S/A treatment on Karl Erik pipe the bowl hardly yielded any purple/brown salt. The shaft however was tough to work a pipe tool through followed by a shank brush. Everything is cleaned know.
The next step is to "pipe mud" the base of the bowl a 1/4" to the draft-hole. I received this pipe from my girlfriend as an Anniversary gift. Do I tell her of the defect or let it slide? Or should I tell her so she knows what to look for in the future? She did know she was getting an estate from the local B&M.
The next step is to "pipe mud" the base of the bowl a 1/4" to the draft-hole. I received this pipe from my girlfriend as an Anniversary gift. Do I tell her of the defect or let it slide? Or should I tell her so she knows what to look for in the future? She did know she was getting an estate from the local B&M.
i would let her know, and say it was great to be able to work on it though. Show her what you found but be positive about it... preferably while you smoke it so she knows it's is still something that you appreciate that she got for you. Because for certain, a woman who is buying you pipe/tobacco goodies is a gem.
I don't know who suggested it - but I've been using tampons to clean my bowl instead of cotton balls. Just dip it in alcohol and stick in the bowl. The great thing there are different sizes for different sizes of bowls. I let it sit for a few hours and turn it now and then in the bowl, and when I pull it out - bowl is clean and ghost free and no cotton ball fluff to deal with.
Sounds more expensive than ordinary cotton balls.
But I guess it's manageable if you only do it periodically.
But I guess it's manageable if you only do it periodically.
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