How to Exorcise an Entrenched Ghost

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briarbuck

Lifer
Nov 24, 2015
2,287
5,492
I purchased a lightly used Meer. The problem is that whoever handled it liked to bathe in Old Spice. It's going away slowly, but it's taken over a year to get the funk out.
 

hauntedmyst

Lifer
Feb 1, 2010
4,006
20,750
Chicago
Take the pipe, drop it inside some tupperware and fill with rubbing alcohol. Let it bathe for half a day to a day. Remove the pipe and let it dry. Then, since the alcohol will have destroyed the finish, restain with Fiebings Oxblood. This may or may not ruin your nomenclature but it will leach out whatever is in there.
 
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Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,345
Just don't bake it for very long.

bc3fb6c4cfb597bbc6aa42bdde8f3e50.jpg
 

davidsaulmarshall

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jun 18, 2019
103
528
Cambridge, MA
Maybe it is the one kind of ghost that has left the pipe only to benefit from being dedicated to Ennerdale for a while. puffy

I am curious about this perfume smell. I know that some lakelands do use a lot of rose geranium, which gives the ghost a rose fragrance... ::gag::

And, maybe someone is such a "head" that they would pack a huge tobacco pipe full of dope and smoke it... but to then just spray a perfume on it? Is it like a women's or men's "perfume"? Are we talking Channel #5 or Drakkar Noir? English Leather?

I know that Rattray's Bagpipers Dream is Cognac topped, but the combined aroma of the tobacco and the liquor reminds me more of a men's cologne than Cognac. It has left a little of the fragrance behind, but I usually enjoy it.

If we are talking a fragrance has been sprayed on it, you might just use some dish soap and water to try to remove it, then use the coffee grounds and retorts all over again. Just use some small paint brushes or old toothbrushes to scrub it real good.
It's really hard to explain what's in this pipe. It's vaguely perfumed, but it isn't rose. It's more dull than that. Definitely a woman's fragrance though.
 

seanv

Lifer
Mar 22, 2018
2,958
10,405
Canada
I’ve encountered something similar a few times. The good news for me is that I smoked my way through it and it was t that bad. Good call on the coffee grounds, it is always smart to use the most mild method first. As they dry out you can tamp them and add more
 

davek

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 20, 2014
685
952
Always strange to see the coffee ground treatment. I've used to use them fairly regularly as a hand cleaner when I got greasy, dried out, cracked, hands at work. It's weird scrubbing your hands with coffee grounds, but when they are all rinsed off, your hands are clean and there seems to be some kind of moisturizer in there too.
 
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AlabamaDan

Can't Leave
Dec 24, 2019
309
487
Alabama
I've got a pipe that was extremely smelly, not sure what was in it. I cleaned it and gave it three salt baths and finally coffee grounds. Now it just has a normal pipe smell and isn't bad. See the thread about the Ruff-Tone Restoration.
 
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davidsaulmarshall

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jun 18, 2019
103
528
Cambridge, MA
Just to cap off this thread, I decided after a couple coffee ground soakings that I'd bite the bullet and send this Red Bark off to Walker Pipe Repair for Ozone treatment and a full restoration rather than try a retort, which likely isn't a viable option in my college dorm room.
 

Papamique

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 11, 2020
789
3,953
Just to cap off this thread, I decided after a couple coffee ground soakings that I'd bite the bullet and send this Red Bark off to Walker Pipe Repair for Ozone treatment and a full restoration rather than try a retort, which likely isn't a viable option in my college dorm room.

Did you get the pipe back? How did it work? Do you have any pictures of the restoration? I just sent mine out and am not wondering what to expect. This will be my first pipe I have ever had professionally restored.
 

mingc

Lifer
Jun 20, 2019
3,976
11,065
The Big Rock Candy Mountains
Have you tried washing the stummel in hot water? Basically, run hot water from the tap into the bowl and scrub the insides with a brush. I use a toothbrush and a little shank brush.
 
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