Clean Before Smoking

[Briar Lee]

Today I got in the mail both the cleanest estate pipe and the highest grade of briar and construction of any pipe I’ve ever seen, much less called mine, a very early WDC Milano Extra.




It was utterly spotless on the outside.

My first smoke of Capstan Gold-

Was a bitter disappointment. The best grade pipe I own had a ghost of old, sour Bull Durham, or so I thought.

I took my bottle of 190 proof Everclear and pipe cleaners and discovered the shank and stem were filthy. The shank took five pipe cleaners before one came out white and the stem three.

Now my Milano Extra smokes as beautiful as it looks.

Clean every one, inside and out.

It saves a heartbreak, you know?

 

[anotherbob]

I am starting to think your pipe collection will make your offspring a pretty penny when you pass even if they sell them as briar mulch. How many pipes do you have. It's starting to feel like you buy at least one per day.
My point this is the first time I am thinking I should have taken that constant advice to go to law school. Usually based off the times I've convinced people of things they never thought they'd be convinced of. (secret don't try to convince them, just try to get them to see why you don't agree with them).

 

[sablebrush52]

5 pipe cleaners? Wow! Was that pipe clean! I had one estate that took over 120 pipe cleaners of various descriptions to clean, and that was after the seller gave up trying to get it clean, with a total of 200 pipe cleaners at his end.

It is by multiples the most stubborn to clean pipe I have ever experienced. It's the product of a famous high end Italian artisan carver, very unique in design, and an indifferent smoker.

 

[Briar Lee]

I am starting to think your pipe collection will make your offspring a pretty penny when you pass even if they sell them as briar mulch. How many pipes do you have. It's starting to feel like you buy at least one per day.
My point this is the first time I am thinking I should have taken that constant advice to go to law school. Usually based off the times I've convinced people of things they never thought they'd be convinced of. (secret don't try to convince them, just try to get them to see why you don't agree with them).

Best guess.

About ten dozen Lees at $30 each average.

Two dozen Kaywoodies at $30 each, average.

And maybe another ten or twelve dozen pipes, none junk, at $30 average.

24 dozen is danged nearly three hundred.

I sold about 150 three years ago, and they are all back.

Let’s say I’ve spent ten thousand dollars over many years on nice pipes.

To clean out this fence row for a mile cost more.



I’ll be buried at Plum Grove Cemetery two miles due east of that picture.

Let those kids not keep that fence row up looking like that, and I’ll come back, you know?.

A nice hoard of good briar pipes, accumulated over many years, never loses value, they don’t wear out, don’t eat anything, and you can sell good quality thirty dollar pipes as fast as you can post them on eBay.

 

[Zeno Marx]

a tube brush, dishwashing soap, and warm running water are fantastic at eliminating ghosts

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

5 pipe cleaners? Wow! Was that pipe clean! I had one estate that took over 120 pipe cleaners of various descriptions to clean, and that was after the seller gave up trying to get it clean, with a total of 200 pipe cleaners at his end.

It is by multiples the most stubborn to clean pipe I have ever experienced. It's the product of a famous high end Italian artisan carver, very unique in design, and an indifferent smoker.

Thanks! I feel better. I have an estate Pete that took two salt and alcohol treatments and then a bag of pipe cleaners - almost all shank and mortise before they were spotless!

 

[ADKPiper]

Treating as a statistical exercise...
How many people are out there selling estate pipes?
500? 1000? 10,000?
At what point does it become a near certainty that the number includes at least one a hole who thinks "wouldn't it be funny if...."
Bottom line, you don't know where it's been. The take away? Scrub that thing like it is a surgical instrument.
Of course it depends on the source. A reputable shop selling estate pipes is probably fine. But ebay or etsy? Assume it's been used as a sex toy.

 

[Hunter1]

I got my Estate pipe today from Smoking pipes. It was as clean as a pin, just the way they described it. But I did a quick clean on her anyway. Even cleaned the new cob.

 

[bullet08]

Well. If it's estate pipe, I would hope you clean it before touching your lips with it. Hell, i clean all my pipes before smoking and they are new when I got 'em.

 

[ADKPiper]

I got my Estate pipe today from Smoking pipes. It was as clean as a pin, just the way they described it. But I did a quick clean on her anyway. Even cleaned the new cob.

Yes smoking pipes is very good. The ones I've bought there have been immaculate.

 

[OzPiper]

I have received estate pipes that looked pristine on the outside but it was impossible to pass pipe cleaner through their gunked up shanks/mortises.

I inspect the airways of every pipe I receive and clean with alcohol soaked cleaners these days.
Even if they look pristine.

There are a few vendors I respect and trust.
But I retain a healthy dose of scepticsm for the rest.

 

[Briar Lee]

If I live to a hundred and buy a thousand more pipes from an estate pipe seller I’ll never get one slicker and cleaner on the outside, than my Milano Extra.

It is impossible to clean and shine up a century old vulcanite stem as somebody did to this WDC, without using magic. There’s not a ripple, wave, or tiny spot on an ebony black stem that if it didn’t have an original WDC (ivory?) raised triangle and a slight ding in the button slot I’d swear it was black lucite.

The briar part is as miraculous as the stem. The original Milano Extra stamp and WDC in a triangle are still fresh and readable, yet the briar looks a mile deep under a perfect polish, the rim perfect, the chamber flawless.

This one was sent out to an expert restorer. It’s better than when it was new about 1920.

Five alcohol soaked cleaners in a shank and three in a stem are far from the worst gunked up pipes I’ve found, but removing the tars completely changed the way the pipe smokes. Now it’s excellent.

That gunk inside was fairly fresh gunk, not century old gunk. It dissolved easily. The last actual owner smoked it after it came back from the restorers and never cleaned the airway.

I’m going to rummage around in a box and find some nice old high grade pipes to send out for restoration.

I want more perfectly finished pipes,

 

[sigaholic]

All the ones I bought from Mike at Briar Blues were perfect….

 

[Coreios]

Well. If it's estate pipe, I would hope you clean it before touching your lips with it. Hell, i clean all my pipes before smoking and they are new when I got 'em.

Yep! Covid man! Same here.

 

[Briar Tuck]

I have received estate pipes that looked pristine on the outside but it was impossible to pass pipe cleaner through their gunked up shanks/mortises.

I inspect the airways of every pipe I receive and clean with alcohol soaked cleaners these days.
Even if they look pristine.

There are a few vendors I respect and trust.
But I retain a healthy dose of scepticsm for the rest.

Same here. One of the filthiest estate pipes I've ever had to clean looked immaculate at first glance. It wasn't until I took off the stem and ran a pipe cleaner through the shank that I realized how foul it was. It took loads of alcohol soaked cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to finally get it clean.

Amazingly, my latest batch of estate pipes from eBay is the cleanest I've ever encountered. Aside from some stem oxidation on a few they were all ready to smoke after being sanitized. The previous owner was obviously meticulous about keeping them clean.

 

[OzPiper]

Same here. One of the filthiest estate pipes I've ever had to clean looked immaculate at first glance. It wasn't until I took off the stem and ran a pipe cleaner through the shank that I realized how foul it was. It took loads of alcohol soaked cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to finally get it clean.

Amazingly, my latest batch of estate pipes from eBay is the cleanest I've ever encountered. Aside from some stem oxidation on a few they were all ready to smoke after being sanitized. The previous owner was obviously meticulous about keeping them clean.

To be fair the very 1st time this happened to me I wrote and complained (politely) to the vendor
He immediately offered me a full refund and let me keep the pipe
Hopefully they all do the same. If they are genuine

 

[brown_boogie_snuff]

Best guess.

About ten dozen Lees at $30 each average.

Two dozen Kaywoodies at $30 each, average.

And maybe another ten or twelve dozen pipes, none junk, at $30 average.

24 dozen is danged nearly three hundred.

I sold about 150 three years ago, and they are all back.

Let’s say I’ve spent ten thousand dollars over many years on nice pipes.

To clean out this fence row for a mile cost more.

View attachment 196325

I’ll be buried at Plum Grove Cemetery two miles due east of that picture.

Let those kids not keep that fence row up looking like that, and I’ll come back, you know?.

A nice hoard of good briar pipes, accumulated over many years, never loses value, they don’t wear out, don’t eat anything, and you can sell good quality thirty dollar pipes as fast as you can post them on eBay.

Do you live near Stover MO? I live in Versailles but I'm from KC and drive back and forth a lot, this looks like a place I pass , they just cleared up a lot of trees and brush and put in a nice fence I wonder if that's you? Beautiful pipe by the way

 

[Jacob74]

Same here. One of the filthiest estate pipes I've ever had to clean looked immaculate at first glance. It wasn't until I took off the stem and ran a pipe cleaner through the shank that I realized how foul it was. It took loads of alcohol soaked cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to finally get it clean.

Amazingly, my latest batch of estate pipes from eBay is the cleanest I've ever encountered. Aside from some stem oxidation on a few they were all ready to smoke after being sanitized. The previous owner was obviously meticulous about keeping them clean.

That's how my '74 Travers LaRue was. Gorgeous on the outside, pretty clean looking bowl, but apparently Dr. Golden put it away uncleaned when he quit smoking, and it took quite a bit of elbow grease to get the gunk out.

 

[anotherbob]

Best guess.

About ten dozen Lees at $30 each average.

Two dozen Kaywoodies at $30 each, average.

And maybe another ten or twelve dozen pipes, none junk, at $30 average.

24 dozen is danged nearly three hundred.

I sold about 150 three years ago, and they are all back.

Let’s say I’ve spent ten thousand dollars over many years on nice pipes.

To clean out this fence row for a mile cost more.

View attachment 196325

I’ll be buried at Plum Grove Cemetery two miles due east of that picture.

Let those kids not keep that fence row up looking like that, and I’ll come back, you know?.

A nice hoard of good briar pipes, accumulated over many years, never loses value, they don’t wear out, don’t eat anything, and you can sell good quality thirty dollar pipes as fast as you can post them on eBay.

I just realized if it's that close why not take the picture there? Zombies? It's zombies or ghost! And pipes eat tobacco obviously.

 

[sjohnston0311]

Nothing like that old estate pipe flavor. Every estate I buy gets at least one alcohol treatment before I ever attempt to smoke it.