I have tried to search through the forums here and elsewhere, and I'm not really finding anything that fits exactly with what I have going on...
My pipe has an ashy stench that is strong enough to fill the 12 ft by 12 ft room I leave the pipe in. I don't know if this is what everyone considers to be a "sour pipe" or not.
The pipe is made by LaRocca, and until I really started looking at pipes I thought it was a pretty respectable quality. The only real problem I've found with it (other than this stench that has developed) is that I cannot run a pipe cleaner all the way down to the bowl without pulling the pipe apart because the holes don't line up enough in the stem. Because of this problem I wait until the pipe has cooled after smoking it before pulling the pipe apart so I can get the pipe cleaner in it. A few times the wait has caused me to forget to clean the pipe. Also, in an attempt to not disrupt the formation of cake I did not do any cleaning of the bowl. Lastly, because I travel a lot, this pipe has had to sit in a small plastic bag for days at a time during travel.
I'm guessing that poor cleaning and allowing the pipe to sit in the bag for days at a time have led to this stench. I did a thorough cleaning of the bowl and stem with alcohol-soaked pipe cleaners and q-tips, and that didn't seem to help much. Yesterday and today I did a salt treatment on the pipe, and so far I'm not seeing any significant improvement from that either. Have a ruined this pipe? Am I being too critical (ie, are pipes supposed to smell like this, and this strongly?) Last piece of info that might be relevant: I don't smoke regularly. I might smoke 3 days in a row, and then not smoke again for over a month, Or I might smoke once every 3-4 days for a month or two straight. There really isn't a set pattern, but my tendency is far from "every day."
Any insight would be appreciated! Thank you!
My pipe has an ashy stench that is strong enough to fill the 12 ft by 12 ft room I leave the pipe in. I don't know if this is what everyone considers to be a "sour pipe" or not.
The pipe is made by LaRocca, and until I really started looking at pipes I thought it was a pretty respectable quality. The only real problem I've found with it (other than this stench that has developed) is that I cannot run a pipe cleaner all the way down to the bowl without pulling the pipe apart because the holes don't line up enough in the stem. Because of this problem I wait until the pipe has cooled after smoking it before pulling the pipe apart so I can get the pipe cleaner in it. A few times the wait has caused me to forget to clean the pipe. Also, in an attempt to not disrupt the formation of cake I did not do any cleaning of the bowl. Lastly, because I travel a lot, this pipe has had to sit in a small plastic bag for days at a time during travel.
I'm guessing that poor cleaning and allowing the pipe to sit in the bag for days at a time have led to this stench. I did a thorough cleaning of the bowl and stem with alcohol-soaked pipe cleaners and q-tips, and that didn't seem to help much. Yesterday and today I did a salt treatment on the pipe, and so far I'm not seeing any significant improvement from that either. Have a ruined this pipe? Am I being too critical (ie, are pipes supposed to smell like this, and this strongly?) Last piece of info that might be relevant: I don't smoke regularly. I might smoke 3 days in a row, and then not smoke again for over a month, Or I might smoke once every 3-4 days for a month or two straight. There really isn't a set pattern, but my tendency is far from "every day."
Any insight would be appreciated! Thank you!