Difference Between Vodka/Rubbing Alcohol/Everclear?
- Thread starter mikethompson
- Start date
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
- Status
Is the idea that rubbing alcohol might have some additives in it you might not want in your pipe?
I wouldn't use IPA. I wouldn't use anything that I wouldn't drink. My cleaner is either coffee or honey infusion. Global
99% Isopropyl Alcohol for me. Tried Everclear, booze, never could discern any advantage from that group, it's cheap here in Maryland and readily available, Walmart, etc. I think there's a half-dozen threads on this subject here, over the past 10 years. We never get consensus.
I used Everclear exclusively for decades. Ran out, decided to give IPA a try. No difference that I can tell.
Drug store alcohol is what I use. Works fine, and don’t feel like paying the “alcohol tax” of strong drinkable stuff just to use in cleaning pipes.
There certainly is a cost component which is why I asked. I'm not surprised there are differing opinions on it, this is about pipes after all!
I keep a small bottle of Rum Extract in my pipe kit. Dip the tip of a pipe cleaner and run it through the stem.. Removes tars, and all the sticky gunk that fouls up a pipe....and it smells and tastes good....but the residual taste quickly vanishes when the pipe gets smoked. It's cheap, it works. Second choice: pure, high-proof, grain alcohol that's sold in liquor stores.
The Rum Extract (McCormick's) can be bought in any large food market or where baking products are sold. Don't like Rum?....use Vanilla extract.
The Rum Extract (McCormick's) can be bought in any large food market or where baking products are sold. Don't like Rum?....use Vanilla extract.
Ok I'm about to go on a bit of a tirade, bare with me....there are some functional differences between ethanol and isopropyl alcohol when it acts as a solvent. In ethanol the carbon chain is stright with an alcohol group on it (OH) where as isopropyl is not a straight chain it looks more like the inside of a peace sign with an alcohol group attached to it. However with that said, for the purposes of cleaning out a pipe, atleast in practice they both seem to do fairly well and they act very similar (without knowing the composition of what makes a dirty pipe dirty, I wouldn't know exactly tho) personally I use isopropyl (I try to find as close to 100% as possible) because I know it has a fairly low evaporation point and they usually dont add anything extra in it. I would NEVER use denatured alcohol in my pipe. The whole reason it's called denatured is because that means they have added something to it, like a bittent or other fowl chemical, to make it no longer good for human consumption.... And get some of that "bitter x" in your pipe forget about it. It's so bitter its detectable in concentrations of something like 1 ppb. Might as well toss that one in the fire.
I think the professional cleaner uppers who are members here would be able to offer the best advice regarding the three. I AM NOT one those, for sure. Of the three the OP mentioned, I've only used 190 proof EverClear and have been using it for decades. Works for me is all I know.
Hot running topwater works a treat, and avoids the detrimental effects of alcohol dessicating the wood and removing essential minerals over time. There are a handful of vocal long timers who are afraid to try this, but everyone who's given it a good shot says it works great. Even removes or reduces some ghosts.
- Status