My First Girly Pipe

[misu]

My first brand new/used girly pipe arrived today. It's a tulip meerschaum. I bought it as a "vintage" While the bowl looks clean, the outside looks handled. I'm about to go to the liquor store and buy some 198 proof grain alcohol to clean the stem with. Can I clean the bowl with it too?
The image comes out way too big and upside down

 

[buster]

I'm no expert on meershaum but I would just clean the stem with the alcohol. Not the meerschaum. If you have isopropyl alcohol around the house that would do. I'm sure some one could tell you how to properly clean the bowl.
I see you are a gardener from the seed starters in the back ground?

 

[misu]

 

[maduroman]

i have a cao that is simular to that... it's a bent though.
like your picture, btw.

 

[misu]

I see you are a gardener from the seed starters in the back ground?

Yes!! I'm growing vegetables, flowers for their herbal properties, herbs and tobacco

I've been learning about herbs and I started with the idea of growing tobacco because I can control how it's processed.

 

[topd]

It wont hurt to clean the meerschaum with pure alcohol (Everclear or nothing). and don't soak it...

Let it set and evaporate for a while after cleaning. Go easy and slow... Don't want to lite it

on fire Huh!
And welcome to the forum! We love women here....

 

[buster]

I see you are a gardener from the seed starters in the back ground?
Yes!! I'm growing vegetables, flowers for their herbal properties, herbs and tobacco

I've been learning about herbs and I started with the idea of growing tobacco because I can control how it's processed.
I have thought of growing tobacco but my veggies take up a lot of space. I have 8 raised beds at the moment. All my heirloom tomato seeds sprouted and I am very excited to get them in the ground.
Any ways welcome to the forum and that meer is a nice looking pipe.

 

[misu]

It wont hurt to clean the meerschaum with pure alcohol.... just don't soak it... Let it set

and evaporate for a while after cleaning. Go easy and slow... Don't want to lite it on fire Huh!

Good to know! I'll let it dry thoroughly. Maybe I'll just do the stem an outside. The inside should get sterile because of the heat.

And welcome to the forum! We love women here.... []

Thank you

I should have made the picture not as small.

 

[topd]

Oh HaHaaaa Ummmmm Larger photo's are welcome too! My Goodness!

 

[tennsmoker]

I have several meers. Two things I never do: 1) send a pipe cleaner with any kind of alcohol or any other so-called pipe cleaning product into my pipes; 2) I never take the stem off at all. Ever!
I clean my meers by use of a clean pipe cleaner. That's it.
I fear if you put alcohol of any kind on the outside of the meer, it could damage it. You want the meer to natually color over time from the tobaccos that migrate to the surface of the pipe.
I'd be very, very careful about cleaning and what you use on the meer. Check out a story on PM by Fred Bass. He's the master of meers.

 

[john218]

Welcome to the forum and enjoy your meerschaum.
I have never used alcohol on my meerschaums. I've come across too many warnings that it could dissolve the beeswax.
One of mine has gotten a little dirty on the outside and I just let it be. I figure that as it darkens with age, the dirty spots won't be as noticeable.

 

[rmbittner]

I'll just echo those who would NEVER get a liquid of any kind on the bowl of a meerschaum pipe.
If you're not familiar with meerschaum, one of its unique -- and really enjoyable -- traits is its ability to color over time as you smoke it. Anything liquid added will just get soaked up by the mineral and will not only affect its ability to color, I think it'll seriously affect the taste. (Never mind that liquid could, over time, actually cause the pipe to disintegrate.)
Bob

 

[topd]

If you'll refamiliarize yourself with misu's original post, she said her meerschaum was 'well handled'!

I've had experience with cleaning up a soiled pipe.... people that handled it, having no idea what

meerschaum was and screwed it all up with dirty hands. Everclear is the best clean-up for a screwed-up

pipe in this case. After it's cleaned up, a new bee's wax treatment may be in order....
(Restoration... not periodic cleaning)

 

[misu]

Thank you for all of the good advice. I will have to get some Everclear. Is a 198 proof grain alcohol the same sort of thing? I'm not going to go nuts with the grain alcohol, I was planning on buying some anyway to extract the essential oils out of my herbs, but I don't want to buy two products that do the same thing. I will, if I have to, I just don't want to have to. For now, I'll just wipe down the stem and bit. I'm chomping at the bit to use it :D

 

[topd]

Tell Ya what.... I have a bottle I bought several years ago, and just use little bits at a time. I think

my bottle will last my family about 150 years, so the best thing is getting up with someone that has some.

 

[misu]

okay

 

[judcole]

Nice looking pipe. Enjoy it!

 

[peckinpahhombre]

nice looking pipe - congrats Misu

 

[misu]

Thank you. Sorry I was so short, I was out the door. Hubby was ready to go running around. Sometimes he works 3 jobs so when he says "lets go", I go. Our first stop was the liquor store. I didn't get the Everclear - sorry Top D. I kept seeing your post in my head - I went with Spirytus from Poland. (I was feelin' my heritage ) And it had 2 more proof than Everclear. They were side by each on the shelf. I have other purposes for the alcohol. When the herbs grow, I want to extract the essential oils out of them. One way to do it is to steep them in grain alcohol. It's especially good with citrus oils. I cleaned the outside of the pipe, more the stem and bit than anything else. I did twist the stem clockwise, I know, I know, but the Infection Control RN in me took over! I was compelled to clean it. I saw, written in pencil, a teeny-tiny 103 written on the inside of the meerschaum part of the shank face (?). Are they usually numbered?

The we went to the Res to visit our favorite smoke shop. Hubby bought cigars and I found out that they do sell pipe tobacco. Nothing schwanky. Mostly the stuff that I used to see in the drug stores back in the day. I bought Velvet, Captain Black Cherry (I'm still waiting for the white) and Middleton's Cherry. Can you tell I was reading the Cherry thread? I tried the Velvet when I got home. It was my first burley and first non-aromatic. I liked it. It started to get bite-y toward the end. I think because it's 35° and a little breezy on the back porch in beautiful B~loNY. Not exactly pipe enjoying weather. I had to keep lighting it.

I didn't use my meerschaum yet because I like my face unburnt I will tomorrow. I can't wait.

Thank you for the advice. This forum is a really cool place to come to. I'm learning so much.

 

[chopz]

there must not have been enough warnings against cherry in that thread. i guess i should have chimed in.
a person whose opinion is very important to me said "i love the smell of cherry tobacco," so i got some. i never smoked much of it. too play-do-ish. anyway, i think a lot of people think they're smelling cherry, when in reality it's something else. kinda like amaretto - kinda cherry flavored, right? but there's no cherries harmed in the making of it.
oh and go easy on the alcohol. just enough to dampen a pipe cleaner. never use on the outside of a pipe. don't do it more than a few times a year.
for sterilizing the stem you can soak it in a mixture of 1 part chlorox to 8 parts water for 10 minutes or so. rinse well afterward.
i think you won't be able to clean the outside of the meershaum easily, because meerschaums discolor by absorbing stuff. hope someone else here with more knowledge will correct me if i'm wrong.