Meerschaum Ghost Removal

[Remorc]

Howdy y’all! I have a meerschaum billiard that I am quite fond of. It’s fairly new (bought it brand new last year). Thinking that’s it’s very difficult to ghost a meerschaum, I decided to try Cult Blood Red Moon out of it. I quickly learned I’m not a fan of the flavor, but had to try it at least once.

Well, as you can easily guess, my meer is now ghosted something awful from a single bowl! I’ve tried cleaning it out with alcohol a couple times, and smoked a couple strong englishes to try getting it out. I’m about to call the ghostbusters!

While reapplying wax today, I noticed the outside of the pipe smells like CBRM way more than the inside. Curious your thoughts on how to evict the free loading ghost and get my pipe back!

 

[seanv]

My advice would be to keep smoking. It will eventually go away

 

[bootlegpipes]

Wow, I've heard that meers can't ghost but BRM is also talked about as legendarily potent (for good or ill).

 

[Remorc]

Wow, I've heard that meers can't ghost but BRM is also talked about as legendarily potent (for good or ill).

Yeah it’s gnarly stuff. One smoke and it’s ghosted pretty good. Both smells and tastes like BRM after about 10. If you go for BRM, either dedicate a pipe, pick up a cheap basket pipe, or get a cob just for it.

 

[Waning Embers]

Wow, I've heard that meers can't ghost but BRM is also talked about as legendarily potent (for good or ill).

It's a marketing myth. Meerschaum is a natural sponge that will soak up anything smoked in it.

Curious your thoughts on how to evict the free loading ghost and get my pipe back!

You're not going to. Just smoke other things until the pipe is saturated with a more desirable taste.

 

[camaguey]

Your main mistake is to try to clean it with alcohol without water. It would made the ghost to be absorbed more and eventually more difficult to neutralize. Your best bet was running water. Try again with running water and after several smokes it may improve.

 

[Remorc]

Your main mistake is to try to clean it with alcohol without water. It would made the ghost to be absorbed more and eventually more difficult to neutralize. Your best bet was running water. Try again with running water and after several smokes it may improve.

Very interesting. I’ll try that. Curious as to why this is though. Thanks for the info!

 

[camaguey]

The alcohol is a strong solvent and would take the Cult residue to be absorbed more than just water. Ounce absorbed , it may be more difficult to eliminate. With water there is less absortion and some cleaning. Just keep on smoking with your new tobacco and continue with the water rinse until the ghost disappear.

 

[Remorc]

The alcohol is a strong solvent and would take the Cult residue to be absorbed more than just water. Ounce absorbed , it may be more difficult to eliminate. With water there is less absortion and some cleaning. Just keep on smoking with your new tobacco and continue with the water rinse until the ghost disappear.

Thank you very much for that info, I truly do appreciate it!

 

[warren]

Meerschaum is designed to ghost for crying out loud! It colors because it's soaking up the "lees" of your blend. You can't clean the wee veins in the mineral, they just let the tars and stuff into the mineral.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Keep smoking, the ghost will diminish. If you had any cake built up, trim it down. That may help. Moving forward, cheap cobs were made for trying out new tobacco blends.

 

[Waning Embers]

With water there is less absortion

Carvers use the water absorbing tendency to soften the block while carving it. Once a scent is in the material, there's no more getting it out than you could if it were stained.

 

[Bassman65]

Smoke another aromatic you like the smell/taste of more a few times. I’ve got a meer I only use for aromatics and another dedicated to non-aros. My aromatic meer changes with the smoke.

 

[Sig]

As others mentioned, smoke it out.
Using a briar pipe would have been better I guess.
After trying a few aromatics recently, I found l liked BRM. But I noticed the taste did carry over into other pipes. I decided to dedicate one pipe to it.
The other 2 pipes I was using both lost the ghost after just a few bowls.

 

[BrightDarkEyes]

One time I smoked a bowl of Lane TK-6 in a Tekin meerschaum. It took a while to get that ghost out of there. All I did was keep smoking it with things I like and normally smoke, so I’d have to agree with that advice.

 

[Remorc]

I appreciate all of the advice! Time to get the meer lit up!