Mold Odor in a New Pipe, How to Get Rid Of?

[cosmicfolklore]

Sometimes oxidation on the inside of the stem can have a very strange aroma, like mold mixed with tractor grease. I have had a new pipe that had been in storage for a long while that had this issue. I took it into the Briary and he put one end of a churchwarden pipecleaner into a vice and dipped it into pipe sweetener, and worked the stem on the pipecleaner back and forth for quite a while, rotating it frequently. It went away... for a while, and then returned. I eventually just tossed the pipe. It was beyond being able to tolerate.
Learn some, lose some.

 

[reniaeats]

Cersono, if you're having issues with a pipe you bought from us please give us a call. You don't have to pay for return shipping with a pipe that you feel is defective. We will send you a label to ship it back. Either private message me your contact info or call us at 877-527-0007. We definitely don't want to see you have to go through all that trouble with a new pipe from us.

 

[cersono]

Thank you reniaeats, that looks like a perfect customer service from tobaccopipes.com!

Just sent you a PM.

 

[shutterbugg]

Yeah like I said that's the route I would've taken. Except I would've contacted them privately instead of calling them out on a public forum first.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Eh shutterbug, what fun is that? Welcome to the 21st century, where everyone yelps, google critiques, bashes everything, and has fun doing it. Honestly, when I read a bad review nowadays, I give it absolutely no merit at all, especially with platoons of people out there bashing everything and everyone that doesn't give them something for free. From the news, books, products on Amazon.com, music, businesses, everyone has become critic, and that leaves everyone's critiques as worthless. It's a narcissistic world in which everyone believes that we all want or need "their" opinions.

 

[cersono]

Then contact them privately when you have a similar problem. I'm here for suggestions on eliminating mold and not on when and where I must address my pipe issues. Tobaccopipes are kind and ready to help but I can't get a replace from them because of reasons which aren't anyone's business except mine and theirs, so I still need to fix it myself.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Plus, I didn't take it as you "blaming" them for the problem.
As far as helping you, besides scouring, retorting, ozoning, or vinegaring, I am at a loss. You'll eventually just have to bore out the draft, but that can also turn a perfectly good pipe into a paperweight.

 

[cersono]

After applying ground coffee the smell was gone. Until I smoked the pipe. As soon as it got wet, the smell is there again. Not as much like before, but there again anyway.
Now for peroxide and soda.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Oh, Peterson, no wonder. I must have missed that part.

 

[cersono]

I don't blame them. Initially I thought it was exactly why the pipe was cheaper and didn't mind that. For $25 off I'm fine with that, its not a cracked bowl or a broken shank. Now it comes out it was not a feature but a bug. Well, I can't currently exchange parcels with them because of number of reasons but I can fix it myself with the help of expertise of others. I ve got already a lot of good methods here which will definitely work if I apply them for a longer time.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

guyrox, it's pretty obvious that reniaeats got the "goods" on cersono to where he doesn't want to wag the dog or else reniaeats might spill the beans, leaving cersono up the creek.

 

[cersono]

Well, I can't send it back to them, although they helpfully invited me to do that. I'm abroad right now and gonna long be, the pipe came here in an international mail, there's no way to send it back without spending a small fortune.

Otherwise I wouldn't fiddling with this pipe and bother respected people on this forum with silly questions which have an apparent answer in customer care department.

 

[aldecaker]

@Cersono- Yeah, the drawback to the ground coffee method is that since there is no liquid involved, it tends to take a little longer to absorb the odors fully. (Of course, it's not a guaranteed fix, regardless.) Your question is not silly, and you certainly are not bothering any of the forum members. We just have a few snipers who like to hunker down in their spider holes, all VC-like, and when you least expect it, BLAM! hit you with a shitty comment. It's nothing to worry about.

 

[cersono]

Thanks for understanding.

It's normal for any forum, come with any simple question and you may bet you get some smarta** comments besides the helpful ones.

 

[shutterbugg]

If you can't send it back and none of those other suggestions kill the stench, as a last resort I would smoke a few bowls of a lakeland in it. It will drive out the moldly odor, and its ghost will keep it away forever. The only drawback to this method, and why I would only use it as a last resort, is that you will have to taste the lakeland. But as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

 

[cersono]

I must confess, I actually like lakelands, so it's not as frightening I know, it's frowned upon, and generally I am a straight VA guy, but sometimes... Ennerdale, ummm... lol

 

[cersono]

Yeah, sure, fishy. I've made up a story of a stinky pipe to extort from the pipe store all their stock of Petes for free as a reimbursement. How else would I acquire all the pipes in my collection, indeed?
I don't care much about who feels what. But I do care about the hundred bucks purchase which I can't nor return neither make use of it as intended. Customer service isn't always an option, sometimes one should fix things with his own hands. Thankfully, I got here some ideas on what I can do.

 

[mcitinner1]

See! You guys always keep going until somebody gets offended...f%^**$#!!!!

 

[cersono]

Well, you don't know why you bother but I think I guess why.

You bother to have a precious occasion to scream "WOUH HOUUUUUUH".

Apparently you need such kind of relieve. Who am I to judge other people's personal expressions. Maybe they need that.

And I need to restore my pipe.

Which is making its way through the peroxide-n-soda treatment.

 

[mayfair70]

@Cersono
Welcome to the forum! 8O
You probably know the alcohol or peroxide will damage the finish on the pipe, so be cautious in that regard. If all the other methods outlined fail, there is an activated charcoal approach.
http://glpease.com/BriarAndLeaf/?p=95#more-95
As has been said, smoking latakia or other tobacco will likely do the trick as well. If it were me, and all else fails, I would just lightly sand with a fine grit whatever demon spawn has taken up residence inside your new pipe.
Good Luck !