Ok I did it. I took an older Brian Ruthenberg Billiard and hit it with real hot water. Every house or condo I have ever owned I jacked up the hot water heater to high as I like hot showers. I used this pipe as I haven't done a alcohol clean on it for over a year. My after smoke regiment keeps them pretty darn clean. I ran a couple of cleaners into the stem after the water and they were clean.
I had to hold the pipe with tongs as the water is so hot. I didn't see much dirt at all come out through the bowl or the shank. I used a fluffy cleaner on the mortise and it was perfectly clean. That is nothing new as I always clean the mortise after a smoke. I used a paper towel and then fluffy cleaners on the bowl and paper towel seemed to get a good amount of dirt. When I switched to pipe cleaners they came out looking pretty normal. If this pipe doesn't taste any different after all this work I will not be happy. I will announce my presence to the forum as the water police and will denounce the practice as snake oil perpetuated by the Bard of Barling no less. Be ready Jesse. lol
So how many days do I let it dry. Hours, minutes and seconds will do.
You get points for trying.
Question. Did you just douse the pipe in hot water, or did you drizzle hot water through the stummel at a rate that it filled the bowl while pouring out the end of the shank, and kept it like that for a good minute? Did you then take a wad of paper toweling to the chamber walls and some bristles and fluffies to the airway?
Did you reattach the stem?
You should be good to go in about an hour, unless it starts to grow branches and/or leaves.
J
