I’ve put a few too many “bad bowls” (smoked waaay too hot) through my meer and it has this awful tar , creosote, ash, and graphite like taste to it. I’ve been cleaning the inside of the bowl with a wet paper towel and dry it out followed by a wet pipe cleaner through the shank and stem but the taste persists. Any idea how to clean it up?
How to Get a Foul Taste out of Meerschaum?
- Thread starter fishmansf
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Use more water. Wash out the bowl with water. I've even used alcohol too, in the bowl, not outside of it.
Don’t waste the whiskey. That’s just flavored water.
I’m following this thread because In what little experience I have with Meers, I can’t keep a Meers bowl free of a carbon layer either.
My feeling is that once cake is there, does the fact that meer is a porous material even matter?
Yeah but... the cake in a meer for me is a gooey tar. Not like in a briar. After a water flush, and alcohol, the inside of the bowl is still black but the goo is gone and it smokes cleanly.
Don't waste the whiskey...
I just use everclear on a pipe cleaner like any other pipe. Get the gunk from the shank/mortise area well and swab the bowl with it doubled over when done with the 2 ends of the cleaner. Can rinse well with water after. Biggest thing is running a cleaner through it after every smoke to keep it clean to begin with. Works for me.
Using Alcohol and Cotton Balls on Meerschaum :: Pipe Repair and Maintenance
To prevent polluting another thread with progress reports I'll start this one. Too much hearsay turns into the gospel and phobias among pipe smokers. In another thread a while back it was stated as fact that wiping a meerschaum down with alcohol would damage it. I did it to one and it neither...
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Clean the stem with alcohol and inside the shank as I'd wager that's where the odour is not the bowl.
The 3 Meers I smoke every day have a thin layer of cake. I ream them frequently to keep the cake thickness under control. Run hot water through the Meer frequently by holding it under a faucet for a minute or more. Dries very quickly.
Yeah, I'd do this. Then start smoking G&H black rope
Iron bladed knife to scrape the bowl, pipe cleaner down the stem, don't puff like a freight train and smoke a heavy plug or flake slowly. Seems to work for me and the previous owners of my pipes but what do I know!
@Chasing Embers I've tried your method, let it sit in water overnight, flushed it out, brushed it out, and it still smells and tastes horrible. Any other advice?
It's rather extreme, but you might try this as a last resort:
If you haven't already you need to really slow down the pace of smoking. "Learn" how to sip a pipe after it is lit.
Hot water flush. The hotter the water, the more junk it will dissolve and flush away. No need to use alcohol.
If cake is too thick, a after it dries, sandpaper the chamber walls.
If cake is too thick, a after it dries, sandpaper the chamber walls.