I forgot who it was now, but I distinctly remember someone else mentioning their use of an unscented detergent.
Cleaning the Shank
- Thread starter Slow puffer
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I have received pipes so filthy and ghosted beyond belief that I go through stretches of only buying new pipes. I hate cleaned pipes that are totally ghosted especially with Lakeland or Latakia. I know which sellers on ebay who sell filthy pipes but then the prices reflect that. I once bought 2 new pipes from Pipestud. When he says a pipe is practically brand new, I trust him. The last two I bought he said they were like brand new and when I got them they were like brand new. One was a Bruce Weaver Volcano that had a bare bowl, the other was a Ruthenberg XL Caliper grade. I put in a bid at the same price for each pipe. I put in a bid of 297.00 days before the auction ended and I won both pipes at that price and I was amazed that I won both pipes for the exact same price. I was pretty shocked but really happy. I have learned over the years that I win way more than I lose when I bid a few days early. Call me Nostradamus but my system has been working for a few years now. If I don't win, I don't care as I was not supposed to win is all. I really don't care for pipes from Treasurepipes. His pipes are filthy. Great Estates are really clean. I have won a number of pipes from pipestud as people don't want to deal with a dirty pipe. The great thing with pipestud is if you ask him the condition, he will tell you. Briar Blues also knows how to clean a pipe, he is a pro. I am at the stage of my life where if the pipe is not pristine, I have no interest in buying it. I would gladly pay an extra 50-100 bucks it might cost to clean a pipe.
I place a drop of dish soap on my finger while running under warm water. Run my finger in the chamber, then thoroughly rinse.
It rinses away easily. Using water alone you can still smell the foul odor of the pipe. With the dish liquid the pipe smells fresh and the tobacco tastes cleaner - pun intended.
Everclear isn't sold around here, and when I first started reading about it, I swore it was a cleaning product. I can't believe some people drink it.
I’ve successfully cleaned some serious funk out of pipes using two drill bits. Really has made a difference
Surprisingly, Everclear mixed with Diet Pepsi is pretty good. No hangover. I guess there are very little impurity in Everclear.
In my youth my friends and I would sometimes drink some straight Everclear pilfered from our parents, usually on the kind of, “hey, watch this” kind of dare that boys often do and that occasionally ends up with a trip to the hospital or worse.
It was not pleasant.
I believe the intended use was as a concentrated source of alcohol for party punches and such, I can’t imagine drinking it straight for fun. Stuff literally takes your breath away, left you with lips on fire and gasping like a fish out of water.
When I was a teenager we mixed Welch’s Grape Juice with Everclear and called it Purple Jesus Juice.
Yeah. When I was young it was common delinquent behavior to fill up an ice chest with all sorts of fruit, juices, ice, and as much Everclear as said teenagers could scrounge up, let it sit on ice a day or so, then dispense. Everyone called it “Jungle Juice.” I never cared for it.
Vinegar's good. It's inexpensive, is a good general cleaning agent. It's as good on a kitchen floor as a pipe airway. A water flush is a good rinse, and water is used in manufacturing or carving and finishing pipes, so as long as the pipe isn't submerged and soaked, it will do fine. I'm not as fastidious as I might be, but I do like a clean pipe; they just smoke better.
Ditto but mine is a little heavier, and thicker, for the draft hole. I've found that is the key to a good smoking estate. Dip in alcohol, scrub, clean, dip in alcohol and repeat until the paper towel I'm using to clean the brush shows no staining.
I have never seen Everclear. Where do u buy it? I think a great way to freshen a pipe is to use the kosher salt in the bowl treatment. It calls for Everclear. I’ve used vodka.
All you folks doing water flushes.. if that works and keeps you happy then keep on doing it. I can't concede that it "cleans" the shank or any other part of the pipe for that matter. It may remove the liquid build up and some odor causing particulate, but there is plenty of funk left in there.
I did an experiment a while back(posted to this forum in the original water flush thread), smoking three bowls a day and giving this pipe a hot water flush, followed by a pipe cleaner to dry the airway. I smoked it this way for a week, flushing after each bowl was finished.
I don't know about you, but I think that is pretty far from clean. I will say that I didn't really notice a marked decline in flavor due to the above funk, which led me to wonder if a pipe really needs to be so clean. However, trying to say that water is going to clean the oily tar out your pipe after smoking, is like trying to remove oil based paint with a water soaked rag. It's the wrong solvent.
I did an experiment a while back(posted to this forum in the original water flush thread), smoking three bowls a day and giving this pipe a hot water flush, followed by a pipe cleaner to dry the airway. I smoked it this way for a week, flushing after each bowl was finished.
I don't know about you, but I think that is pretty far from clean. I will say that I didn't really notice a marked decline in flavor due to the above funk, which led me to wonder if a pipe really needs to be so clean. However, trying to say that water is going to clean the oily tar out your pipe after smoking, is like trying to remove oil based paint with a water soaked rag. It's the wrong solvent.
Hot water will indeed remove oils! The hotter the better.
But your question of "does a pipe need to be so clean?" is a good one. For me, no. Clean enough is clean enough. I don't generally use a pipe cleaner in the airway after a good hot water flush. Certainly a cleaner would not come out white!
As the pipe is clean enough to give a great smoke, with no ash in the chamber or airway, and with most of the gunk flushed away, I am very happy with the results. YMMV.
But your question of "does a pipe need to be so clean?" is a good one. For me, no. Clean enough is clean enough. I don't generally use a pipe cleaner in the airway after a good hot water flush. Certainly a cleaner would not come out white!
As the pipe is clean enough to give a great smoke, with no ash in the chamber or airway, and with most of the gunk flushed away, I am very happy with the results. YMMV.
I just posted on another topic on the site that I received a Dunhill on eBay with claims that it was cleaned. But, I found it to be filthy. It took about a half hour to clean. I'm going to switch to reputable dealers from now on- what a turn off. So, I will check pipestud or Briarblues OR pay the extra money for a new on!
And, to add, after a whole bunch of pipe cleaners, I did the water solution, as mentioned, and that really helped a filthy shank!
I have two more estates coming and I am wondering what I can expect...
You don't look so old in the photos. You look like a boy of 25............Good, I have 5 dioptrics, sorry..............and something deaf too...........
Yeah, they keep ask me for ID when I buy cigarettes and beer. Then say my ID is fake! lol
The cleanness thing is something I think a lot of people can't handle. I like some tar in the shank personally, think of it like a slurry seal on the shank interior
My main concern with HOT hot water flushes(not boiling, but hot as the sink will allow) - hot enough to actually liquify oils to a point where water flow would carry it away - that is getting hot enough to do things like pop fills, liquify wax coatings, and dull shellac and lacquer finishes(typical of factory pipes). This also increases dangers of raising grain, as wax coatings removed with heat may expose bare wood, which can further dull/roughen a pipe finish. I only mention this as I have had a fill pop out, and had finishes dulled from hot water on pipes. Further, I have had water cause a mortise to expand to a point where the bit will no longer fit - this doesn't take long either.. this is actually a great way to tighten a loose mortise/tenon.
Everything is with some measure of risk, and so I offer some counterpoints against the water-flushinati.