Sorry. I should have added that I remove the stems. It’s such an automatic thing I’ve done so often I neglected to mention it.
Ghosted Pipe Recipes
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Someone on one of these boards did a little test. They ran a bowl through a full cycle in the dishwasher. Then they used a bandsaw to split it in half to see how deeply the water soaked into the wood. After two hours, it was only 1-2mm. That's after two hours, with very hot water, hot steam, and pressure in the enclosed environment. 10 minutes under warm water will not penetrate the briar any deeper than the condensation collecting at the bottom of the bowl after a full smoke. BUT as others have said, and I originally stated, WARM water. Not hot water. Pretend like you're proofing yeast for bread. 105° degrees or so. Then, just let it air dry for 24 hours. I wash vulcanite stems too, but I go into it well aware that I will have to polish the oxidation off. If this is purely a ghost problem, you can avoid washing the stem.
I won't advocate against salt, but I stopped using it. I use cotton balls instead. Cram them down as hard as I can with my thumb, and then saturate them with ISO, which at that stage after a washing, is more to sanitize it than to do anything else. ps-I just realized I said salt in my original post. My mistake. I know when I think "salt treatment", I'm actually thinking cotton balls in my own process.
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yes, good particulars here. with each substance, you work a little differently. Soap for acrylic. ISO for vulcanite (unless you're going to have to polish it anyway. if so, then you might as well soap it too).
Same here.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!
I do have one pipe -- a freebie vintage Ropp an eBay seller threw in with a purchase probably because it was thoroughly haunted by the vengeful ghost of Condor. I tried the salt and alcohol treatment several times but it did not fully exorcise the demon.
I really liked the pipe though. It was pretty much a perfect textbook execution of a classic billiard.
Eventually, thinking, "What the heck, it was free and I tried everything else, if it ruins it, no big deal" I removed the stem and dropped the stummel into a small pot of boiling water for a few minutes.
It really worked. Pipe smokes absolutely fine now. Actually, and somewhat annoyingly, it's probably one of the better smokers I have now. I still have nightmares about the color of the water when I pulled it out of the pot, but I'm coping.
Since I've only done it once, I only mention it as an option, and this should only be taken as information, not a recommendation.
If you are desperate enough to try it, then the caveats would be: 1. Obviously, remove the stem. 2. I definitely wouldn't do this with a pipe that was varnished or painted as I would worry it would dilute the varnish/paint and allow it to settle inside the bowl which would be a worse problem than condor by far. 3. If the pipe has fills, you will definitely find out because they will pop out. So it'll be uglier than it was when it went in. 4. I have an adventurous spirit, but I probably would only try this on a pipe I didn't care that much about.
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Also, maybe worth mentioning, I let the pipe air dry for a full week before I attempted to smoke out of it.
And also, probably goes without saying, but if you're concerned about shine, it'll definitely need a good polish, wax and buff after.
To exercise a ghost: add five brothers, smoke the hell out of it. Repeat ad nausem or until the 5 Brothers makes you nauseous.
Good question. I don’t have a definitive answer other than you tend to know. Maybe someone else can chime in.
There are a variety of stem materials. Vulcanite (hard rubber, Ebonite) is probably the most common on briar pipes. It’s rigid without being super hard. It can discolor from black to grey-ish-green from various causes. Too much sunlight is a common one. Hot water is a definite path to green stems. Has to do with the sulfur from the vulcanization process being pulled to the surface. The only real fix is abrasive polishing. Some stems are more susceptible than others. I think age may be a factor but others with deeper knowledge can chime in.
Many people hate vulcanite stems because of that but many also prefer them because they are a softer feel on the teeth than acrylic.
Butter Side,
Your profile pic really had me worried until I zoomed in to see better.
I do, but I go into it knowing that I'll probably have to do some polishing afterwards. It all depends how much of a bird you are (how fixated you are on shiny things). I use a Durable Magic Eraser (somewhere around the equivalent of 1200 grit micromesh) and then old school toothpaste with a 100% cotton cloth. If I was smart, I'd buy a micromesh set for $15 on ebay, but I haven't. Close enough is good enough is one of those cases here for me, but many aren't that way with their pipes.
I will second (or third) a simple soap and water scrub with a shank brush. I scrub the shank and bowl with lukewarm soapy water any time a pipe starts to get bitter. Works like a charm. I have to thank the pipers here for the idea. Never would have tried it but it makes perfect sense once you think about washing oily hands with water only vs adding a little soap.
I always forget to mention this little tidbit in these conversations, and I did again here. Theoretically, when using running water, temperature being a key variable, it is said that you could make the wood swell and lose some of the depth of the stamping. I've not experienced this, but I DO take the precaution to put a piece of clear packing tape over the stampings for the first of three wash cycles (that's just my process). Before the third washing, which is the quickest, I remove the tape.
well depends on multiple conditions, but peterson pipe notes has an interesting article.
soak it overnight in a jar full of ACETONE.
soak it overnight in a jar full of ACETONE.