SP estate pipes; ghosting is to be expected?

jravenwood · Sep 24, 2018

I recently bought a Ser Jacopo from SP.com, and this is about my 7-8th estate pipe from them. I shop SP for estate pipes because of the excellence in customer service, the pipes are always just as pictured and described, and clean. Yeah sometimes you may pay a bit more but Im ok with it.

The pipe arrived and as always looked spot on to the pics etc etc. However this pipe had a pretty hefty ghost in it. I could smell it coming out of the box. I emailed CS and asked about it and was told

"it is very common that the pipes will have some ghosting which is going to be noticeable in most estate pipes. This is not something that we offer in the description.

I had never heard this nor experienced this with estate pipes from them, or anyone really, that sells refurb estates. Its one of the reasons I shop with SP because there are never any surprises with their estates. Is this the norm? Any estates Ive purchased from others have come fully cleaned up and ready to go, no ghosts. The CS rep then suggested I "scrape out the bowl", then fill the bowl with "high octane booze" and blow through the stem to bubble the booze. This pipe wasnt cheap and im not about to risk getting alcohol on the finish! Im too clumsy for that!
I do 50% of my shopping with SP and will continue to do so, this isnt meant to bash in any way, just asking opinions. Should I be expecting ghosting or heavy ghosting on estate pipes? Ive been pretty lucky with estates thus far if this is the case...

jpmcwjr · Sep 24, 2018

Some do some don't. Of the two dozen estate pipes I bought in the last two years, one had a ghost.
I'd fill the chamber with damp coffee grounds, wait till it's dry, then flush out the bowl and airway with hot water. Dry another day, and fire her up.

eaglewriter1 · Sep 24, 2018

My two cents: If I buy a Pipe that is sold as refurbished, that should include removing any ghosting as far as possible. But sometimes there are ghosts that just stick and you cant get 100% rid of , maybe thats what happened here. But especialy with more high grade pipes like Ser Jacopo I would expect some more care been taken to get them as close to new as possible before selling, regardless of seller.

If it bothers you an you fear damaging the pipe, maybe give it to a profesional refurbisher to go over it again.

I have no personal experience with Smokingpipes itself but have bougth a few Estates that were sold as refurbished that still had some ghosting but nothing excessive as you describe it here as being able to smell it befor eopening the box. Mostly the remaining Ghost was gone after a few smokes, overlayed by the recent tobacco that had been put through it.

josephcross · Sep 24, 2018

Ive bought several pipes from SPC over the years and didnt have any ghosts till the last one. It was a scrappy little meer, and looking back on it I should have realized from the pictures that it was going to be haunted. It was a bit disappointing at first but Im thankful that I didnt spend more money on the pipe. If anything it has taught me to be a little bit more cautious when jumping into buying an estate.

Im sorry that you had a bad experience. I like Jacopo's too and would be sad to bring home one with a ghost. Can you tell what kind of ghost it is? Latakia, Lakeland?

sablebrush52 · Sep 24, 2018

You've bought 7 pipes from SP and other estates from other sources and you haven't experienced this kind of ghosting before so, normal? No. But it happens and John's suggestion of using coffee grounds may do the trick, or at least enough of a trick that further smoking of the pipe will overpower the ghost.
If you don't want to deal with this, return the pipe.

jravenwood · Sep 24, 2018

Ive heard good things about the coffee ground method, so take fresh coffee grounds and saturate, or use "used" coffee grounds?
Eagle, yes thats my thought a bit as well, this pipe was not cheap and although its an estate I thought it would have been good to go. Its a beaut otherwise though and very unique.

josephcross · Sep 24, 2018

Sable's right, if your not happy with it, send it back.

jravenwood · Sep 24, 2018

THanks Sable, looks like Ill try the coffee grounds this coming weekend. I do like it, and dont want to return it, so I guess ill have to deal with it!

jravenwood · Sep 24, 2018

Joseph thanks for the reply, you know, I cant really tell what manner of ghost it is...my guess is heavy perique. Its not lakeland, aromatic or latakia...

seanv · Sep 25, 2018

Use your coffee grounds from this morning. Pack it tight but not too tight as the coffee grounds will dehydrate and sink. It worked for me. I left it for 24 hours or so and it made a difference. I would suggest leaving them in for about two days

Chasing Embers · Sep 25, 2018

I've noticed quite a bit of ghosting in recent estate buys and stem oxidation. I just smoke out the ghost and rub off the oxidation with a lighter and a wet paper towel.

pianopuffer · Sep 25, 2018

Have you looked into this? I’ve heard it works great, especially if you wanna keepnthe pipe...
Ozone Treatment

lordofthepiperings · Sep 25, 2018

this pipe was not cheap

It's always interesting when someone says that. To me a "not cheap pipe" would be around $500 or more, but some people buy a $100 pipe and say that wasn't cheap. As I'm not a fan of Ser Jacopo pipes and not knowing the going market for Jacopo estates this is just a generalization.
As for the ghosting, I've bought a number of estates from SP and most of the time the ghost is pretty much if not completely gone. It all depends on what the previous owner did with it. If they smoked three bowls a day of a Lat bomb or Lakeland bomb then you probably won't get the ghost out of it with three or four salt treatments. You're likely going to have to take a heavy aromatic or VaPer and grin 'n bear it for a few dozen bowls until that new ghost overrides the old one.
I will say it's been pretty obvious from the estates I've bought from SP that they've gone through and reamed the cake back a bit and done the salt treatment on it as well as de-oxidizing and polishing the stem as well as buffing the bowl.

dochudson · Sep 25, 2018

Simple..

If the pipe is not to your standards RETURN IT!

If you decide to so I guess ill have to deal with it! then why beat down SP?

mso489 · Sep 25, 2018

Can you discern what ghost it is? Are we talking the Lakelands aromatic floral/soapy ghost? Or just the usual Latakia ghost? Or something else. Latakia is so omnipresent that people who are sensitive to it perhaps should not rely on estate pipes, or at least should expect the problem. On the other hand, Lakeland ghosts are so notorious, even SP should make note of it in pipe descriptions since Lakeland aromatic ghosts don't exorcise, or at least not easily or well. I think ghosting is part of pipe smoking and should be dealt with, not just ignored at the Lakelands level. Or is this something else that we haven't discussed? Is there a Va/Per or burley ghost?

crashthegrey · Sep 25, 2018

I'm amazed they are letting their customer service recommend blowing in an alcohol filled bowl. That is my biggest concern here.

jravenwood · Sep 25, 2018

again I’m merely posing a question here, I’m not upset at all with SP.
Dochudson clearly you didn’t read my first post entirely so I’m not going to respond to your ignorant comment further than this.
Mso- it’s honestly kind of peppery , so maybe a lot of straight perique?? I chuckled at your exorcist comment haha , I don’t know maybe it was just overlooked with this pipe.
Crash - yes me too, no way am I going to start messing around with alcohol here , the response was also poorly written somewhat so maybe the guy was new ?
Lord - yes no ghosts in any other pipes I’ve bought either . Just an oversight perhaps ...
Guess I’ll jusy start smoking it and power through , if it sticks I’ll try coffee grounds !

Chasing Embers · Sep 25, 2018

Lakeland ghosts are so notorious, even SP should make note of it in pipe descriptions since Lakeland aromatic ghosts don't exorcise

I've never ran across an estate with one, and in my own pipes after a couple of bowls of a heavy Latakia blend they are gone.

cosmicfolklore · Sep 25, 2018

I picked up a Hilson Chimney pipe from Ebay, and it was ghosted so strong with lakelands, that after scraping, soaking, retorts, coffee beans, putting in the oven over night, and scraping the chamber back to bare wood... and further, I ended up just crushing the damned thing under the heal of my boot. I couldn't stand to smoke it, and I couldn't inflict it back upon the world by selling it. It did split and crush with a satisfying collapse under foot.
I just tried to imagine what sort of human being would fill a four inch topper with Errendale or Grousmore... I mean, I can understand filling a normal pipe, but a stacked chimney? ...to smoke that stuff for hours on end? It's like setting next to someone on the bus, knowing that they cannibalized their family to survive a harsh winter. Sometimes it's better to have died painfully, than to live with whatever it is you've done.

peckinpahhombre · Sep 25, 2018

I have only ever had two issues with ghosting - one was an incredibly powerful lakeland scent that multiple salt and alcohol treatments could not exorcise; the other was a deer tongue infestation. Both those pipes were given away or sold. Any other ghost has gone away in a few smokes. I wouldn't worry about perique, speaking personally, but it's your call of course.

SP estate pipes; ghosting is to be expected?

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