Bad Taste

[jon39]

I've smoked out of the Georg Jensen fireflame pipe I recently purchased twice now. Both times I've gotten a strange taste and smell. The pipe looked barely used when I got it. I sterilized the stem with alcohol and smoked it. It's tasted and smelled strange so I did the salt and alcohol treatment to the bowl overnight. I smoked it again today and the weird taste and smell is there. I don't know if this is because the pipe is gently used and not broken in or something else is causing it.

 

[pruss]

What does the "bad taste" taste/smell like?
While it's possible that you're smoking the pipe through its break-in period, it is also possible that you're dealing with ghosting.
When you did the salt & alcohol treatment did the salt discolour? If so, how badly? When you completed the S&A did you use bristle cleaners and/or q-tips dipped in alcohol to clean out the shank, paying particular attention to the mortise for the stem? Were you able to scrub clean the airway in the stem? I'd get mercenary with your cleaners and q-tips and really give it a solid clean, until no discolouration occurs. If you have done all that, and it's still delivering a nasty smell/taste, then maybe it's time to send the pipe of to Mike at http://www.walkerpiperepair.com/ for a trip to the ozone chamber.
Good luck, and let us know how it goes!
-- Pat

 

[cortezattic]

If the chamber was not pre-coated with carbon, then the taste of the raw wood could be the source of the problem.

Some varieties of briar produce a vile taste for the first few smokes (as many as ten, in some cases.)

That's the reason I like to swab the bowl of uncoated pipes with honey and let it dry until it is no longer tacky.

Some folks do that to promote the build-up of cake, but it's not the reason I do it.

 

[jon39]

The smell and taste seems slightly soapy. I got a Stanwell 89 at the same time and cleaned out the cake and sterilized the stem and it smokes great. I'll give it another good cleaning and coat the bowl with honey and see if that helps.

 

[pylorns]

Sounds like ghosting from a lakeland.

 

[pruss]

Sounds like ghosting from a lakeland.

+1
If this is the case, then building up fresh cake using the method Cortez describes will help minimize ghosting from the bowl, but any ghost built up in the shank will still be present. I'd opt for the ozone treatment if further cleaning doesn't get rid of the smell/taste you dislike.
Good luck!
-- Pat

 

[cortezattic]

You might want want to pack the stem (and bowl, for that matter) with baking soda -- dry. Let it sit for a few days.

I'm not sure if making a paste of it with water would be of any help. Maybe someone else has an opinion on that.

 

[pruss]

You might want want to pack the stem (and bowl, for that matter) with baking soda -- dry. Let it sit for a few days.

I'm not sure if making a paste of it with water would be of any help.

I like your thinking Cortez! That's an interesting idea. I'd go with dry, so as not to run the risk of water being absorbed into the wood from the paste, and to encourage the opposite (moisture to be leached from the wood of the stem/shank into the baking soda). But then again, I'm a coffee guy, not a chemist... so this is just one man's opinion.
-- Pat

 

[allan]

Jon
I think that Pat and Cortez covered all of the bases. If that doesn't work, off to Mike for ozone treatment. Very inexpensive to do and it does work, IMHO.