Banishing that Old Tire Smell

[greysmoke]

Title edited for caps. Please read Rule 9!

I have a much beloved Abdulla Dribaccy shark skin (sandblast) pipe that needed some serious restoration. Since I have catcher's mitts for hands, I had a friend of mine do the resto and I'm very happy with the outcome. In particular, while he had to adapt a replacement stem, he was able to supply one from a donor pipe of the same approximate vintage as my Abdulla, which is to say, about a century old.

So, what's the issue? This stem, more than any other, has a keen, sulfurous "old tire" smell. It isn't present when I'm smoking, but putting my nose anywhere near the button when I'm packing or cleaning catches a wafting of what I think of as "old wrecking yard." (If it was more of a new tire smell, I'd be less bothered by it.)

I've tried cleaning, of course, including rubbing and potable alcohols. No go. Open to constructive suggestions....

 

[TheIronMonkey]

With the rubber being that old, I’m not sure you’d be able to get rid of the sulphur smell. You may wish to have your friend fashion a couple of new stems in the same shape from a modern ebonite rod or acrylic.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Soak it in white vinegar for a few days.

 

[mso489]

Vulcanite is rubber, so you are smelling the stem itself, not something else that can be exorcised. I'd keep the old stem to complete the original set and have a new stem made of new Vulcanite or acrylic, for smoking purposes. And/or try Chasing's white vinegar soak.

 

[jhowell]

Polish the interior airway of the stem with some Flitz(tm) on a bristle pipe cleaner That will remove the Sulphur that has migrated to the surface.

 

[kcghost]

Okay, this sounds like "Doc, it hurts when I do such and such".
And the Doc replies "Stop doing that".

 

[OzPiper]

I had that happen with a Stanwell which I bought in the 1970s.
No amount of cleaning helped.
I got it re-stemmed.

 

[Ahi Ka]

Some toothpaste on a pipe cleaner inserted through the stem and attached to a hand drill might help. Use the slowest speed.

 

[didimauw]

Would obsidian oil work for the smell? Or is that just for the shine?

 

[OzPiper]

Would obsidian oil work for the smell? Or is that just for the shine?

Unfortunately Obdidian Oil won't banish the smell, which often is internal.
Need to clean out the inside of the stem.

 

[Streeper541]

Your down under mate, rub some Vegemite on it. Worse comes to worse, try peeing on it... it works on jellyfish stings.

 

[didimauw]

Your down under mate, rub some Vegemite on it. Worse comes to worse, try peeing on it... it works on jellyfish stings.

I took your advice and tried this. And now for some reason I think you were joking....

 

[Streeper541]

I took your advice and tried this. And now for some reason I think you were joking....

It works for getting rid of the smell, but I hear it tastes terrible.

 

[OzPiper]

Your down under mate, rub some Vegemite on it. Worse comes to worse, try peeing on it... it works on jellyfish stings.

Not sure if that's an urban myth or someone having a lend of me, but that was advice given to me the first time I visited a beach in Oz
Thankfully never had to try that but in certain seasons there are thousands of blue bottles (Portugese man of war) littering the beaches.
A chilling sight to warn you against getting in the water.

 

[jhowell]

Not sure if that's an urban myth or someone having a lend of me, but that was advice given to me the first time I visited a beach in Oz
Thankfully never had to try that but in certain seasons there are thousands of blue bottles (Portugese man of war) littering the beaches.
A chilling sight to warn you against getting in the water.

It actually works! Surfers swear by it...

 

[OzPiper]

It actually works! Surfers swear by it...

Good to know.
Just hope I don’t have to try this out