Makes senseAll pipes can ghost regardless of how clean you keep them, and countless members here have proven that cake is unnecessary in any pipe. My point was just that going by estate pieces, cake doesn't prevent meerschaum coloring.
Makes senseAll pipes can ghost regardless of how clean you keep them, and countless members here have proven that cake is unnecessary in any pipe. My point was just that going by estate pieces, cake doesn't prevent meerschaum coloring.
An update:
I worked on cleaning the stem and the mouthpiece polished up nicely. I re-weighed the pipe and found that I did indeed clean almost 4 grams of grime out of the pipe!
It looked great!
...
Now I'm supposed to add some line like, "I retired to the terrace whereupon I enjoyed a sumptuous smoke of Wessex Goldbrick whilst reading Tennyson, sipping cognac and taking in the breath-taking vista of the lake... an exquisite reward for my labor..."
But it was not too be... first of all, I don't have any of those things except the view of the lake, but I did pack my pipe with PS Navy Flake and sit down with high hopes. The first puff hit me hard. Sour. I soldiered on for a couple minutes, but it was foul, absolutely foul. Tragedy. Just to make sure it wasn't the tobacco, I pulled it out and repacked it in another pipe and it was fine... so, sadly, so far the pipe is unsmokeable. I'm not sure why this is but here are the ideas:
1. Polishing compound residue on the buffer is the source of the gross flavour.
2. The pits and imperfections in the meerschaum, or the meerschaum itself, holds the old flavors ghosting it throughout the pipe despite the cleaning.
3. The demons of this pipe cannot be exorcized by sandpaper and pipe- cleaners... maybe I should consider blasting caps...
Any ideas?
Thanks.
Yeah it is small. My unprofessional way of measuring pipe is which fiber fits in the bowl. MM cobs fits my middle finger; my Svendborg fits my thumb, but Kikos are small-- mostly pinkies. ?What a bit of work!
The pipe is pretty small, no? I had a billiard with the leather that looks the same as this pipe, and the chamber was small.
Hmm... good to know. I don't have Carter Hall...I do have Half and Half which is 50% Burley... should I try that?I would not want to encourage you to do anything dangerous like smoke a polishing compound that is somehow infused into the pipe, but I can say that I have successfully smoked out a number of tenacious old ghosts with Carter Hall. Burley blends are well-known for their usefulness in exorcising ghosts.
Hmm... good to know. I don't have Carter Hall...I do have Half and Half which is 50% Burley... should I try that?
Ok, let me try that. I'll let you know.If you are satisfied that you aren't smoking toxic chemicals, then I would say that Half and Half is probably just as good as any other Burley in getting rid of a ghost. It might take quite a few bowls before you notice any substantial improvement.
I would generally recommend a few rounds of the alcohol and salt (or cotton ball) treatment prior to trying to smoke that ghost out, but I'm not sure whether or not that would be a good idea for the meerschaum lining.
How hot? Like straight out of the kettle?Before you go to that extreme, I suggest a very hot water flush through the chamber and out the airway. The pipe will dry within hours, not days.