pipe cleaning. help needed...

[ben88]

I picked up 5 pipes at local fleemarket. Started cleaning process with stems. Soaked them in alcohol, cleaned them out untill pipe cleaners stayed white. Well.... here is the thing - stems look like crap now. They changed color.

 

[maxx]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe alcohol is bad for the exterior of the stem. I've been wondering if cold coffee would work or be detrimental. It cleans the lip and doesn't seem to discolor it.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

Get a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and scrub the bejesus out of them. All that brown oxidation will come off. Then you can buff with wax or I've used one of those four-sided nail buff jobbers to polish a bit.

 

[xrundog]

Alcohol really brings out the oxidation on a vulcanite stem. Magic Erasers and Soft Scrub will take it off. Then you will have to polish them. A site search will no doubt reveal many threads with other techniques.

 

[huntertrw]

ben88:
Welcome aboard, Sir!
That yellow-brown color which you are seeing is a combination of tobacco tar and sulfur, the latter which is a component of Vulcanite, and which rises to the surface as it oxidizes. I scrub such stems with Bon Ami cleanser applied to a piece of paper towling moistened with warm water, and use an old toothbrush to work it it into the nooks and crannies, especially around the lips, and any tooth indentations.
Once the stems are thoroughly clean inside and out, I use micro-mesh pads moistened with warm water to progressively polish them to shiny blackness. Even the most badly oxidized Vulcanite stem can be restored in this manner.
Good luck!
p.s.:
"pipe cleaning. help needed..."
Thread-title capitalization needed, see Forum Rules sticky, Ref. Rule No. 9!

 

[sablebrush52]

Alcohol on the stem exterior = bad. Besides the methods mentioned above, buy yourself a set of micromesh pads and work your way through the set, starting with the coarse grades to remove stubborn crud and working up to the polishing grades. Done properly you will end up with a glass-like surface.
Keep in mind that lower grade pipes usually are stems made from lower grade vulcanite. These have more of a tendency to get cloudy when hit with alcohol or hot water.

 

[shikano53]

I am not sure if this will help, I watched a video on using a product called Obsidian Oil on Smoking Pipes Blog for cleaning Vulcanite stems.
http://www.smokingpipes.com/smokingpipesblog/single.cfm/post/how-use-obsidian-oil

 

[shikano53]

And another good link
http://www.smokingpipes.com/smokingpipesblog/single.cfm/post/how-care-for-vulcanite-stems

 

[matchstickman]

I seem to recall a certain dastardly individual who posts on a certain magnificent pipe forum who wrote a certain marvelous article on how you can get those stems to a certain amazing shine without the use of power tools, a few simple items and a lot of elbow grease...
Yeah, it was me. I am that guy. So yeah. That happened. Here you go.
Guide to Pipe Stem Restoration
The fact that you have already soaked them in alcohol really shouldn't matter. In fact, alcohol will sterilize the stems and kill off any residual nasties that may be living there. In all honesty, you may be able to skip the oxyclean soak since you have already done that with alcohol and move on to the magic eraser and micro mesh. If you want to still try the oxyclean, however, it probably wouldn't hurt any. Let me know if you need any other help on how to get those pipes back into shape.