Musty Meerschaum

[Jordanson]

Hey everybody, I’ve got a question that I’m sure has been answered here before. I’ve read a bunch of threads but I’m still not sure of myself. I’ve just picked up a few estate Meers that I guess have been stored in an old cardboard box, in a basement, in Atlantis. They’re beautiful pipes with all that green and grey all over them. And the smell is wonderful!
But I digress. I took one and did a thorough rinse with water and toothbrush. Pipe looks good but still smells. I let it soak in white vinegar. Now it smells like moldy vinegar. I’m afraid to do too much more. What can a guy do?

 

[badbeard]

Hey everybody, I’ve got a question that I’m sure has been answered here before. I’ve read a bunch of threads but I’m still not sure of myself. I’ve just picked up a few estate Meers that I guess have been stored in an old cardboard box, in a basement, in Atlantis. They’re beautiful pipes with all that green and grey all over them. And the smell is wonderful!
But I digress. I took one and did a thorough rinse with water and toothbrush. Pipe looks good but still smells. I let it soak in white vinegar. Now it smells like moldy vinegar. I’m afraid to do too much more. What can a guy do?

I will tell you, I had a really stank meerschaum, and following some advice from Paykoc(who was the importer of mine), I baked it in the oven which solved the issue. You are going to have to re-wax it after doing this.
Here is a quote from the old thread:

So, I made a last ditch effort which has eliminated the smell entirely. I removed the screw in mortise liner, and put the bowl in the oven at 170 for a few hours. For about the first 30 minutes in the oven the smell was pretty bad, but it dissipated entirely after that. Following a youtube video on waxing meerschaum by Metalhead Cigarguy(thanks for that!), I snagged some pure beeswax from the craft store and carefully re-waxed it. After a dozen bowls the foul odor has not returned.

Oh and btw.. do not preheat the oven if you do this, put the meer in a cold oven. If you preheat you could crack the bowl.

 

[condorlover1]

Pictures?

 

[anotherbob]

wait are you saying it's grown mold? Or some other organic nastiness?

 

[Chasing Embers]

green and grey

That would've been a red flag for me. I've never seen them turn those colors.

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

I will tell you, I had a really stank meerschaum, and following some advice from Paykoc(who was the importer of mine), I baked it in the oven which solved the issue. You are going to have to re-wax it after doing this.
Here is a quote from the old thread:

Oh and btw.. do not preheat the oven if you do this, put the meer in a cold oven. If you preheat you could crack the bowl.

170F or C?

 

[badbeard]

170F or C?

Sorry, that was 170F. I am sure you could go hotter if the smell is persistent, but I wasn't brave enough to put a delicate latticed meer through that much stress.

 

[anotherbob]

Pictures?

Just informing you that this is perfect for that thread I started a while ago.

 

[warren]

green and grey

???

 

[anotherbob]

???

I've seen that coloration on tiles or clay stored in really damp chill environments. And the messed up thing is I can smell how those smell just by thinking about it, shouldn't have done that during lunch.
Fired clay just to be clear not lumps of premodeled clay.

 

[Jordanson]

Pictures?

 

[Jordanson]

Please don’t Judge me. I like a good deal and I like cheap pipes.

 

[jhowell]

250F (let the strummel heat along with the oven - don't preheat) oven with the door ajar overnight... In the morning turn the oven off and shut the door... By mid afternoon reassemble and enjoy. Remove the stem and any adaptors. Meerschaum is a piece of rock.

 

[warren]

It looks to be simply a dirty pipe. Were it mine, it isn't, I take a damp paper towl to it before any other remedial work was attempted. Also, a clean toothbrush for the nooks and crannies.

 

[mikebjrtx]

You don’t have mold on meerschaum but you may have mold on what’s on your meerschaum. Everclear will clean most stuff off meer. Rinse and let it sit plenty long to completely dry out, slowly heat it up in case you didn’t let it dry completely. Go only as as hot as you know is safe, Teflon resists pretty high temperatures but nylon is limited. Brush it off and relax it.

 

[mikebjrtx]

Rewax it, ducking spellcheck.

 

[mikebjrtx]

Siri thinks I have a fowl mouth

 

[badbeard]

250F (let the strummel heat along with the oven - don't preheat) oven with the door ajar overnight... In the morning turn the oven off and shut the door... By mid afternoon reassemble and enjoy. Remove the stem and any adaptors. Meerschaum is a piece of rock.

I guess I could have pushed the temp.
From what I was told the idea behind doing this is that Meerschaum is obviously highly absorbent. Sitting in a dank basement, it has a tendency to draw in whatever funk is around it until it reaches a point of unity. Putting it in the oven drives out all that funk and moisture, sort of like a "light" version of how you refresh a clay. I was warned that this could have adverse effects on the coloration, but in this situation, I doubt you care.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Please don’t Judge me. I like a good deal and I like cheap pipes.

None implied here, I was afraid it was mold. That one just needs a bit of love.

 

[Jordanson]

It looks to be simply a dirty pipe. Were it mine, it isn't, I take a damp paper towl to it before any other remedial work was attempted. Also, a clean toothbrush for the nooks and crannies.

I cleaned one of the three I purchased like that. Came out looking ok it’s just the lingering smell like old paperbacks That sat in a 1977 Ford maverick in the woods of Oregon for a decade.