Ghosted Pipe Recipes

[Old_Newby]

Well I am placing this thread under beginner questions because its my first time experiencing a ghosted pipe. I purchased an eBay estate pipe for $20 and am pretty happy with it. It has the metal filter in it and you screw it together. I removed the metal parts and soaked them in vodka a few days and cleaned the stem and bowl with vodka soaked cleaners. Lots of gunk came out.

Just tried it this morning with Juno Virginia and oh boy I could taste the lakeland. Lakeland is not my jam so i did some research and found that removing lakeland may not be possible, but I will try.

1. Anyone found a good lakeland eliminator recipe?

Second I decided if I cannot remove it I will utilize it. I wont waste straight V’s on it but think I might try some other blends that have latakia or dark fired and use some of my less favorite blends with it to see if I can find a winning combination.

2. Anyone have a lakeland ghosted pipe that worked well with a particular blend?

 

[Sigmund]

My nuclear option which worked was to sand the bowl pretty much down to wood. I put in spent coffee grounds and alcohol. I filled it up INCLUDING the shank where a lot of nasties live. I doused it with alcohol. Then I put it in the sun (not the stem) and let it dry. Once dry I rinsed and cleaned it.

If you try this I suggest letting it dry well before you insert the shank. Its likely to swell from all the added moisture.
I dont smoke lakelands so know if it was lakeland but it sure wasnt latakia. It worked.

 

[Sig]

I have a fool proof method.


Buy a new pipe.

Seriously, just use it for Latakia blends. After a few bowls, you won't taste the Lakeland.

 

[BingBong]

Smoke Ennerdale in it; if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

 

[ThermionicScott]

It's too bad that it's not standard practice to list what tobaccos a person smoked in a pipe they're selling.

 

[Old_Newby]

Smoke Ennerdale in it; if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

I have actually tried Ennerdale and Bosun cut plug and not for me. Too Soapy. I think people like myself who actually had their mouths washed out with a bar of soap (1975) are mentally and emotionally damaged for lakelands.

 

[didimauw]

A few bowls of carter hall may help. Or sometimes when I want to reghost a pipe with a different flavor, I'll prepack the bowl and let it sit for a bit. Then just take a few puffs off it, and let that sit and stew for another day or so before finishing it.

I've never smoked Lakelands, so I'm not sure if this works, but if I want a pipe to taste different, this is what I do.

 

[ofafeather]

A few bowls of carter hall may help

Yeah, a lot of times people will recommend burley blends for that.

Other options include the salt/alcohol treatment and various treatments with activated charcoal or even coffee grounds.

Last resort might be a pipe retort.

 

[abecox]

Ive had moderate success using Burley blends to de-ghost pipes, Haunted Bookshop and Five Brothers tend to work, or anything with Latakia. Big N Burley also comes to mind I've used that as a good de-ghosting blend.

 

[PaulRVA]

Run some 5 Brothers or Carter Hall or do the coffee bath Followed by more 5 Brothers.

 

[Sobrbiker]

I’m hanging out in the peanut gallery…I’ve come into a number of older estates of Irish/UK origin that seem clean and clear, only to exhibit some faint ghosting in the last part of a smoke.
Probably preWWII popularity of Condor and other strongly-scented blends is to blame.

 

[huntertrw]

Clean the pipe thoroughly, fill the bowl to the top with dry baking soda, and leave it that way for a month. This worked for me, and I hope it does for you, too!

 

[sablebrush52]

!. Sand down the cake until there's only a thin veil over the wood.

2. Thoroughly scrub out the airway and take special care to clean out any gunk in the mortise.

3. Try an S/A treatment. If there's still a ghost, do it a second time.

4. If the S/A treatments don't work, use a boiling alcohol retort. That tends to take out everything, but be very careful.

5. Soak the interior of the stem with alcohol if it's a Vulcanite stem, leaving the soaked pipe cleaner inside the airway for an hour before scrubbing it out, and repeat. You will be surprised at the levels of hardened crap that clings to the interior of the stem airway. You might have to do this a number of times before the airway is actually clean. For acrylic stems, try The Pink Stuff, which should be available at your local hardware store.

6. If you're still picking up a faint ghost in the shank airway, place an alcohol soaked fluffy pipe cleaner in the shank airway, hang the pipe shank side down, and leave it overnight so that the alcohol slowly evaporates and sucks some of the embedded oils out of the wood. Do this several times if needed. Use of a hot alcohol retort thoroughly cleans out the airway and negates having to do this. But be careful with the retort. You can damage the finish of the pipe or set yourself on fire. Good times!

7. Greg Pease has a method on his site that involves using activated charcoal and a warm oven. You might want to check that out

8. If this doesn't do the job, either hire an exorcist or give the pipe the toss.

 

[Old_Newby]

Wow thanks to everyone for the feedback. Definitely going to try some of these suggestions. Ream out the cake better and do baking soda soak seems an easy start. Then salt/alcohol soak and then coffee grounds cause I like coffee.
After that just enjoy some strong burley / latakia / or dfk puffs in this pipe.

 

[Zeno Marx]

I feel 95% of a ghost is in the shank draft hole. Dawn dish soap, warm running water, and a small tube brush (and a Scotch scrub pad for the bowl). Scrub, rinse, and repeat until it the brush comes out clean. You can play around for days, or you can take 10 minutes with this method. It works great. Briar is tough stuff. I fixed an awful Stanwell like this, and now I'm a convert and don't mess with wasting pipe cleaners and playing around with ISO. I DO think a salt treatment for the bowl is a good idea once you cut the cake and AFTER you've tube brushed and Scotch padded.

 

[Old_Newby]

I feel 95% of a ghost is in the shank draft hole. Dawn dish soap, warm running water, and a small tube brush (and a Scotch scrub pad for the bowl). Scrub, rinse, and repeat until it the brush comes out clean. You can play around for days, or you can take 10 minutes with this method. It works great. Briar is tough stuff. I fixed an awful Stanwell like this, and now I'm a convert and don't mess with wasting pipe cleaners and playing around with ISO. I DO think a salt treatment for the bowl is a good idea once you cut the cake and AFTER you've tube brushed and Scotch padded.

Thanks. I thought water could damage it. But salt immediately after should draw out moisture.

 

[upnorth1]

A lot of pipe smokers use a hot water wash with no ill effects. I’ve cleaned many of my briars under the hot water tap using thin tube style brushes then letting them air dry. Nothing like a good smoke in a clean pipe!

 

[ofafeather]

A lot of pipe smokers use a hot water wash with no ill effects.

Just a PSA for those that may not know: NEVER use hot water on vulcanite stems. It’s worse than getting gremlins wet AND feeding them after midnight.

 

[OzPiper]

I feel 95% of a ghost is in the shank draft hole.

NEVER use hot water on vulcanite stems.

^^^^^ GREAT advice

 

[sablebrush52]

Just a PSA for those that may not know: NEVER use hot water on vulcanite stems. It’s worse than getting gremlins wet AND feeding them after midnight.

When I do a water flush I ALWAYS remove the Vulcanite stem, ALWAYS. Warm or hot water will cause the Vulcanite to go gray and it can raise the sulfur content. I clean the stem separately with alcohol. Also, don't clean acrylic stems with alcohol as it can cause tiny fissures in the acrylic. I use water with a little bit of unscented dish soap on a pipe cleaner to scrub out an acrylic stem.