Cleaning my Great Grandpa's Peterson Pocket Pipe

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dublinpiper90

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 31, 2023
679
9,171
North Carolina
I recently received some family pipes 1 being a older peterson short pocket pipe From what I can tell it’s from the 40s or 50s it has alot of build up from who’s knows what type of tobacco, I wonder if I should let it be or clean it up and smoke it from time to time.
 
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OzPiper

Lifer
Nov 30, 2020
6,864
37,049
72
Sydney, Australia
If the pipe is in good shape ie no cracks or burnouts, it should be fine once you clean it up
Sounds like the chamber needs to be reamed and given an alcohol soak
Dismantle the pipe and give the shank&mortise + the stem a good clean with alcohol dipped cleaners/ear buds

If you have not done this before, there are lots of threads on how to...........
Rebornpipes is an invaluable trove of information, replete with before and after photos

Go for it puffy
 

verporchting

Lifer
Dec 30, 2018
3,004
9,289
I had one of those older Sports with a p-lip stem. Great little pocket pipe but I just never got along with the p-lip so I traded it away. In hindsight I kinda wish I’d kept it and had a fishtail stem fitted. Definitely worth cleaning up and smoking it!!!
 

Sobrbiker

Lifer
Jan 7, 2023
4,181
54,767
Casa Grande, AZ
Dec 3, 2021
5,539
48,074
Pennsylvania & New York
My opinion may be in the minority, but there's something to be said for preserving the pipe "as is" the way your great grandfather left it. Once you clean up the pipe, all that history that you have preserved in the form of gunk and build up that was uniquely your great grandfather's will be gone. There's nothing wrong with cleaning up the pipe and smoking it; it's still your great grandfather's pipe.

My late father's pipes are in storage and I'm on the fence about leaving them as he left them or cleaning them up and smoking them. I lean towards the sentimental and might leave them the way he left them. Tough call.
 

OzPiper

Lifer
Nov 30, 2020
6,864
37,049
72
Sydney, Australia
My late father's pipes are in storage and I'm on the fence about leaving them as he left them or cleaning them up and smoking them. I lean towards the sentimental and might leave them the way he left them. Tough call.
I’m on the “meant to be used/smoked” side

Neither of my grandpas nor did my dad smoke pipes.
However I have a few from dad’s birth year (1922) which I think is very cool.
Every I smoke one of them, it makes me think of Dad

Makes me wish I had pipes from my Grandfathers birth years
 

AroEnglish

Rehabilitant
Jan 7, 2020
5,177
15,231
#62
My late father's pipes are in storage and I'm on the fence about leaving them as he left them or cleaning them up and smoking them. I lean towards the sentimental and might leave them the way he left them. Tough call.
Are they in unsmokable condition?
 

dublinpiper90

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 31, 2023
679
9,171
North Carolina
My opinion may be in the minority, but there's something to be said for preserving the pipe "as is" the way your great grandfather left it. Once you clean up the pipe, all that history that you have preserved in the form of gunk and build up that was uniquely your great grandfather's will be gone. There's nothing wrong with cleaning up the pipe and smoking it; it's still your great grandfather's pipe.

My late father's pipes are in storage and I'm on the fence about leaving them as he left them or cleaning them up and smoking them. I lean towards the sentimental and might leave them the way he left them. Tough call.




It is I’m definitely not gonna rush into a decision
 

scloyd

Lifer
May 23, 2018
5,972
12,225
My opinion may be in the minority, but there's something to be said for preserving the pipe "as is" the way your great grandfather left it. Once you clean up the pipe, all that history that you have preserved in the form of gunk and build up that was uniquely your great grandfather's will be gone. There's nothing wrong with cleaning up the pipe and smoking it; it's still your great grandfather's pipe.

My late father's pipes are in storage and I'm on the fence about leaving them as he left them or cleaning them up and smoking them. I lean towards the sentimental and might leave them the way he left them. Tough call.
If I had only one of my grandpa's pipes, I'd leave it as is, the way it was left after his last smoke.

If I had more than one of his pipes, I keep one as is and clean and smoke the others.