First Sour Pipe

[AJL67]

Wow there should be some kind of warning! Last night i was all set to enjoy some nice Virginia in a new to me pipe, don’t know what i was thinking, usually i give all estate pipes a thorough cleaning and for whatever reason it was like a “shower that didn’t take” for this one.

I wasn’t sure at first the tobacco didn’t taste right, when you are expecting a nice subtle sweetness and get something completely different, now in the future i know not to keep smoking it, from what i have read here the end came when the bowl heated up enough to release the foul spirits in the wood.

Not only was it a disgusting sour taste that brushing my teeth and rinsing with mouthwash barely dented i ended up with a little tongue bite out of it for my trouble.

Thanks to the threads here I figured it out fairly fast and ended up running a brush and several pipe cleaners with a little 151 on them through the stem till they came out clean and packing the chamber with alcohol and cotton balls. Hopefully this fixes the issue.

I the shocking part was how bad it was and how it ruined smoking for the rest of the night. I thought a sour bowl would be “oh this sucks let me just grab another pipe” not the case at all. Hopefully the 151 and cotton balls takes care of it.

As a newish smoker i had no idea what to expect, hopefully this helps some other new people.

 

[SBC]

Wow, in almost 14 years of pipe smoking, I've never experienced this. Sounds dreadful.

Last year, I dedicated a brand new pipe to Ennerdale, and after a few months, it took on an increasingly strange note... never nearly as disagreeable as you describe here, but still weird. I finally did the salt/alcohol thing on it (I've since learned that cotton balls are better), and the issue disappeared and has never come back.

But what you describe here is gross.

 

[AJL67]

Wow, in almost 14 years of pipe smoking, I've never experienced this. Sounds dreadful.

Last year, I dedicated a brand new pipe to Ennerdale, and after a few months, it took on an increasingly strange note... never nearly as disagreeable as you describe here, but still weird. I finally did the salt/alcohol thing on it (I've since learned that cotton balls are better), and the issue disappeared and has never come back.

But what you describe here is gross.

Valuable lessons learned ?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Being a Virginia blend, you could've also gotten it too hot.

 

[AJL67]

Being a Virginia blend, you could've also gotten it too hot.

I’ve been very good about drying, loading the pipe, slow smoking, sipping the pipe and things like that. This just was bleh ?

 

[kcghost]

Sour pipe is unpleasant but fairly easily dealt with.

 

[AJL67]

Sour pipe is unpleasant but fairly easily dealt with.

It’s being taken care of at this very moment.

 

[mso489]

Cleaning up a pipe extra thoroughly, an estate or just your regular herd, always pays. Sometimes it seems a little overdone or repetitious, but it always pays. I rationalize having "too many pipes" because they all get weeks of rest between smokes, so once cleaned, they become completely dry.

 

[bullet08]

Add honey to it and now you have sweet and sour pipe!

 

[helistone]

One of the reasons I joined this forum was because I read of the blasphemy of cleaning a pipe after smoking with














a flush of hot tap water????

somebody warned me to mention it, but I practice it since good 3 years?.
It allways works for me and is my routine since then.

?????

 

[AJL67]

Add honey to it and now you have sweet and sour pipe!

Only if it comes with fried rice and egg roll.

 

[AJL67]

Cleaning up a pipe extra thoroughly, an estate or just your regular herd, always pays. Sometimes it seems a little overdone or repetitious, but it always pays. I rationalize having "too many pipes" because they all get weeks of rest between smokes, so once cleaned, they become completely dry.

I actually enjoy cleaning them, 151 and cotton balls, spit shine the rim and I’m loving the Paragon wax, it’s the loving car that makes it special, but seriously it’s another dimension and plus to smoking a pipe, really a hobby not an addiction … or not only an addiction. I also like reading up on pipes, markers, styles, history, I’ve gotten a few really good deals on auction sites by learning about the pipe and then deciding if i want it and what it’s worth to me.

 

[OzPiper]

Not only was it a disgusting sour taste that brushing my teeth and rinsing with mouthwash barely dented i ended up with a little tongue bite out of it for my trouble.

Thanks to the threads here I figured it out fairly fast and ended up running a brush and several pipe cleaners with a little 151 on them through the stem till they came out clean and packing the chamber with alcohol and cotton balls. Hopefully this fixes the issue.

Almost always a dirty shank/mortise or stem. A thorough clean will fix that.

Occasionally a vulcanite stem may be horribly oxidised, as happened once to me. I had a new acrylic stem made as no amount of cleaning
(alcohol, liquid soap, hot water) got rid of that horrid sour, sulphurous taste.

 

[AJL67]

Almost always a dirty shank/mortise or stem. A thorough clean will fix that.

Occasionally a vulcanite stem may be horribly oxidised, as happened once to me. I had a new acrylic stem made as no amount of cleaning
(alcohol, liquid soap, hot water) got rid of that horrid sour, sulphurous taste.

Stem is good no chatter even, just some goop in it that took about 7 pipe cleaners, a small bottle brush and some 151 to get clean the mortis and tendon got a good cleaning and so did the bowl, better safe than sour *. It might be awhile before i can purge the memory of it to try it again but going to let it sit and dry out for awhile, might be a long while, the benefit of having PAD ?