After A Good Cleaning And Polishing

[durham270]

A pipe from Yesteryear? I've had a few Oldrich Jirsa pipes in the past and all have been excellent as far as smoking quality goes so when I seen this one on eBay with a 'Buy It Now' price tag of $26.00 I knew I would be getting a quality made pipe. The Calabash shape has always been a favorite of mine too. The sellers one image of the pipe was nothing to be desired and you'd almost have to guess as to what condition the pipe was in or what brand for that matter. I took the chance and I'm glad I did!
Here is the sellers one image and description from the listing.

"pipe I bought from boswells. always had a rubber bite holder used just needs to be cleaned. 48 states only please"
Here is the Oldrich Jirsa #14 Calabash pipe I received along with the before and after images.



Some minor scracthes on the briar. The stem was in a good shape with no oxidation present.

Here she is after cleaning, a light sanding with 2200 grit wet sandpaper then a layer of Carnauba Wax followed by a buffing using a Diamond wheel. I do like the somewhat lighter shade of the brair after refinshing. I did not apply any stain to this pipe, only Carnauba Wax.

Before

After

As you can see the pipe had been fairly well smoked with a lot of char around the rim and a heavy cake buildup.
Before

After


After using a reamer and cleaning the pipe I did a 24 hour salt/alchocal treatment method to remove any ghosting.

The stem was in a good condition from the start, only dirty with a few light scratches.
Before

The stem after cleaning and a light sanding followed by a a good buffing and polishing.
After

Before

After

I decided this Jirsa would make a good pipe for smoking aromaticcs. On her maiden voyage with some Mac Baren Halberg Green. Maybe Sherlock Holmes would feel right at home with this pipe?

 

[goldsm]

Well done Durham as usual. Never down my expectation.

That pipe is waitng now for second life. Conglat!!!

 

[tuold]

Very nice. I'm sure you will enjoy that for a long time to come.
You were lucky with the rubber pipe bit. I've found some ....unpleasant conditions after removing some of those.

 

[tslex]

Outstanding work. Really very well done.

 

[brudnod]

Particularly impressed with the work on the rim. VERY well done! Would you describe how you did that?

 

[moonman]

Beautiful Durham...Boy that grain looks great. I also prefer the lighter colors and stains...That is gorgeous, I should be so lucky to find one like that. As always, you do wonderful work.

 

[allan]

Particularly impressed with the work on the rim. VERY well done! Would you describe how you did that?

I'd also like to know

 

[irish]

Very nice Durham . Always a pleasure to see a pipe brought back to life and you always do a great job . Thanks for sharing .

 

[ssjones]

Nice job! I've worked on a few Jirsa's, they are nice pipes.

 

[cortezattic]

Nice job! ...and that's not a bad pipe. I have the same model and it's a good smoker. I did, however greatly improve

the feel of the pipe by reducing the profile of the button with a file. Now, it's also a very comfortable pipe. As for

those deeply bent pipes passing pipe cleaners, just put a slight bend in the tip of the pipe cleaner and it should go in

pretty easily. I hope you get many fine hours of pleasure from yours.

 

[novicemaker]

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/salt-amp-alcohol-treatment-really
i found this post by typing in salt alcohol treatment in google and it linked me back to our forum.

 

[novicemaker]

Basically fill bowl with salt/cotton balls and then any type of alcohol that you might drink. Just not rubbing alcohol basically. Some say brandy, rum, or cognac makes it taste sweeter. But the general idea is a high proof alcohol will draw out the impurities and kill any sourness the bowl has. Salt is just a double dose so to speak, salt is also used in home remidies to raise out your mouth if you have sores. Same idea applies to the bowl, salt and alcohol will draw out the bad stuff that is left in the bowl. Now it is highly noted that this should be done only in a last effort to remove any nasty tastes, you can crack the bowl if you do it to much.
so wrap up..

1. Only use salt/ cotton balls and alcohol if your smoke taste really bad, other wise a good quick clean with some pipe cleaners and reamers will do the trick.

2. As a general tip, use a flavored alcohol of your choice if you want to make your smoke a little sweeter but rest the pipe before use, let it sit with the alcohol over night and then air dry for several days.

3. Most issue with taste can be solved by using a pipe cleaner through the stem and tendon till it comes out clean. Light use of alcohol can help this process.

4. THE biggest point i found is to make sure after you smoke a bowl to give it time to rest afterwards, this is also a major tip for after any alcohol treatment to allow your pipe time to rest and dry.

 

[durham270]

Thanks guys for all the nice comments.

Particularly impressed with the work on the rim. VERY well done! Would you describe how you did that?

First I rub a little alcohol on the rim to soften the char then use 2200 grit sandpaper. That makes it easier to remove all the char. Lay the sandpaper on a flat surface and lightly rub the rim back and forth a few times. The char comes off easy enough.

 

[durham270]

I did, however greatly improve

the feel of the pipe by reducing the profile of the button with a file.

Cortez, That sounds like a great idea, I'd not thought of that. I agree, the button's profile is a little too much. Thanks for the info. I'll do the same with mine! :D

 

[papipeguy]

Very nice job. That baby cleaned up real well.