Alcohol Treatment

[Ajsnow93]

The bowl or chamber? If the tobacco chamber, not at all.

Yeap, my fault. I mean the chamber. So, nothing to worry about?

 

[OzPiper]

I've been told that it draws out the natural oils in the wood and weakens it, making it more susceptible to cracking.

I have wondered about that.
Only pipe that ever cracked on me was an estate with extremely clogged mortise which I had to treat extensively with alcohol soaked cleaners and swabs. It developed a crack all along the shank on the first smoke.
What really hurt was not so much that it was a 1922 Loewe, but the 3-4 days it took me to clean it out. ?

 

[oldgeezersmoker]

It's interesting to hear the S/A method referred to as "drastic". When i was getting into buying estates it was just one of the things we did with an estate pipe that had excessive mustiness or a pronounced ghost. It does an OK job of removing rancid oils, though not as much as a boiling alcohol retort flush.

I've done both of these a number of times with newly acquired estates. The retort flush is more drastic, but it really cleans out rancid oils all throughout the chamber and airway. Also, there are other methods, like packing the chamber with charcoal and baking the stummel, or sending the pipe out for an ozone treatment.

Unless the wood on a pipe is very dried out, the S/A treatment shouldn't cause any issues, but it can crack a very dried out old pipe.

I only use these treatments when I'm first cleaning up an old estate that I've just bought, or occasionally neutralizing a pipe that I'm going to sell or gift. Otherwise I use standard cleaning methods.

This. The salt alcohol treatment is very benign. On rare occasions I have had to do it as many as three times. I don’t advise the alcohol retort treatment unless you are very sure you can do It safely. I have done it with no issues, but always with some trepidation, since I am a klutz.

 

[renfield]

Also if it gets on the finish it’s not the end of the world. That’s another myth to keep pipe smokers on the edge of their seat.

Not a myth. Speaking from personal experience. Fortunately the damage was minimal.

The dyes/pigments commonly used in staining pipes are alcohol soluble. They remain soluble after application.

A coat of wax on the pipe will protect from brief, incidental contact but it is best to simply avoid the problem by exercising a bit of care.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I have wondered about that.
Only pipe that ever cracked on me was an estate with extremely clogged mortise which I had to treat extensively with alcohol soaked cleaners and swabs. It developed a crack all along the shank on the first smoke.
What really hurt was not so much that it was a 1922 Loewe, but the 3-4 days it took me to clean it out. ?

Could've just been the age. I had an unsmoked 1912 KB&B shank split on the first smoke, no alcohol involved.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I've been told that it draws out the natural oils in the wood and weakens it, making it more susceptible to cracking.

Been using alcohol for three decades with no issue. A burning ember is going to do more damage to wood than alcohol.

 

[craig61a]

I've been told that it draws out the natural oils in the wood

A mere fraction of what boiling the briar blocks for several days would - which is how they are processed at the mill...

 

[solideogloria86]

I know a guy who went to alcohol treatment. That helped him get his drivers license back. Didn't help with the alcohol though.

 

[Kottan]

Some time ago I had a crack in a shank of an estate after cleaning it with alcohol (iso) when reassembling the stem and the stummel because I forgot to put graphite (‘pencil') on the tenon. The reason is that alcohol is hygroscopic and after it evaporates the shank becomes still more dry as it was before and shrinks. The tenon doesn't change its size at all. Just in the moment I heard the knack I was reminded of this. Sure, the shank could be repaired with a band but for me the pipe wouldn't be an original no more, part of the nomenclature would be covered.

 

[jewman22]

I do the alcohol treatment to every estate pipe I buy, I must have done it over 20 times now, never had an issue.
Although I started using natural cotton balls instead of salt and noticed it is a lot less messy and seems to work faster. Anyone else try this?

 

[AttermaLim]

Didn't try it, but it sounds very good. I imagine it could work better actually.

 

[Bob the bear]

It does work, but I’ve also seen it damage the finish on the outsid of a bowl if any of the mixture happens to get on it.

 

[PipeIT]

I used cotton balls soaked with 151 Everclear in the chamber once instead of salt, worked great, so I’ll be sticking to cotton balls, should I ever do this again.

 

[hyperstar]

I always stuff makeup cotton and 95% alcohol in pipe bowl for 4 hours.
Never use salt and 75% alcohol. Cause they can infiltrate into pipe bowl and mess up the taste of your next round tobacco.

 

[jpmcwjr]

There is seldom a real need to use alcohol to clean a pipe.

For a ghost, the first thing to try is a hot water flush. If no joy, fill the chamber with used coffee grounds and let dry over several days. If still ghosted, cotton or salt and hi proof alcohol, followed by a flush, should do it. If still stuck, send it to someone with a retort. Or gift it to someone who doesn't know what a ghost is.

 

[orlandofurioso]

Being not particularly fond of spooks and ghosts I always go for the "drastic" approach.
My routine : Clog the mortice with a cotton swab and stuff the chamber with cotton balls . Seturate it with iso alcohol. Give it quiet for 48 hrs. and then clean it out. Wipe the chamber with a paper towel and food grade alcohol. If nead be repeat with activated charcoal pellets in stead of cotton. When evaporated the djinni is in the charcoal and the chamber smells sweet as pie.
Salt gives a mess and overhere the coarse , " koosjer " kind is hard to come by.

 

[orlandofurioso]

The idea of using an alcohol retort spooks me out ?

 

[AJL67]

The idea of using an alcohol retort spooks me out ?

Don’t be retorted.

Great thread so now i don’t have to ask about running a pipe cleaner dipped in everclear through the stem to clean out whatever crap is in the “cleaned and sanitized” estate pipes i get.

 

[edger]

As regards cracked stems, don’t forget to take your local levels of humidity into account. I live in dry Arizona and my pipes are used to it. A pipe from Alabama shipped to a very dry location should probably sit for a month or so before any aggressive alcohol treatment.

 

[JOHN72]

As some colleagues have said, alcohol melts the oils and other dirt embedded in the interior. It gives me excellent results in my corn pipes. But I will do the same technique with my only two briar pipes, before the cake ruins the bowl. However, I have not used salt, as my briar pipes are new. But at the moment I am not convinced by the cleanliness of the salt/alcohol mixture.