Question/Help: Sour taste - Cleaning Estate Pipe Stem - Oxyclean x Bleach

[Briar Lee]

Interesting, had not heard this one before. As a big coffee drinker, will have plenty of that…

The coffee seems to soak up foul odors.

The water evaporates in about a day.

I’d tried Everclear soaked cotton balls to remove a strong ghost of cured hams from storage in a smoke house, but coffee really worked,

 

[rmbittner]

I am more interested in removing the sour taste, which I take is coming from inside the stem. So I understand for what you said that some passes of a few pipe cleaners soaked in alcohol should do the trick! I will also work on the shank, I realized the pipe cleaners are still removing tar and dirt from them…

For the shank, I highly recommend using a pipe brush dipped in high-proof alcohol, followed by bristle pipe cleaners, followed by standard pipe cleaners. Just be very careful not to get the alcohol on the outside of the pipe.

 

[Pipe&Chess]

For the shank, I highly recommend using a pipe brush dipped in high-proof alcohol, followed by bristle pipe cleaners, followed by standard pipe cleaners. Just be very careful not to get the alcohol on the outside of the pipe.

In the process of doing it. Impressed by the amount of stuff still coming out of it

 

[MattRVA]

I’ve heard that hydrogen peroxide will work in place of oxiclean for removing oxidation. Also you might want to try a buffing compound on a pipe cleaner ran through the stem briskly. I hope you figure it out, pipes are naturally dirty, so there is only so much you can do.

 

[sablebrush52]

Walker Pipe Repair summed it up very simply. They had links to cleaning techniques, and one of them led to a page on which was framed, "Bleach destroys Vulcanite". Simple, elegant.
There is no substitute for removing actual oxidized material other than sanding it off and then repolishing. If a stem is really badly deeply oxidized it's better to replace the stem.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

Also be sure to scrape any gunk out of the mortise inside the shank where the stem meets the wood inside. Quite often, this is an overlooked area and is the source of funkiness in a pipe. If there is build up in there, use a dulled blade and scrape as much black crap out first, otherwise you'll be using up Q-tips and pipe cleaners very quickly.

 

[Sobrbiker]

The above advice about abrasives is spot on for stem (get a set of micro mesh pads from Amazon-with elbow grease and going from medium to very fine you can polish nicely to almost machine-buffed finish).
Oxidized vulcanite can taste nasty! For interior I slide a bristled cleaner soaked in alcohol trough stem, clamp one end to bench or vises,pull the anther end taught and work the heck out of stem back and forth under judicious tension multiple times. Doing the same after with a regular cleaner soaked in good old white toothpaste is good, then a heavy water rinse. Mineral or other oil soak on stem for final, then tshirt polish

For the stummel, I ream chamber, maybe sandpaper on a dowel. Shank: clean as much as possible out of mortise gently mechanically, then alcohol/q-tips, folded cleaners, etc). Draft hole gets brush, the bristles then regular cleaners.
Then I do salt/alcohol treatment on bowl (double over or extra fluffy cleaner in shank, then salt in bowl, then alcohol (I like everclear or other very high proof clear liquor).
Polish briar after cleaning w/wax or whatever you feel best with.

 

[Pipe&Chess]

Walker Pipe Repair summed it up very simply. They had links to cleaning techniques, and one of them led to a page on which was framed, "Bleach destroys Vulcanite". Simple, elegant.
There is no substitute for removing actual oxidized material other than sanding it off and then repolishing. If a stem is really badly deeply oxidized it's better to replace the stem.

It is an estate Sasieni, would hate to have to replace the stem, but if push comes to shove… will try the sanding/polishing first.

 

[Pipe&Chess]

Also be sure to scrape any gunk out of the mortise inside the shank where the stem meets the wood inside. Quite often, this is an overlooked area and is the source of funkiness in a pipe. If there is build up in there, use a dulled blade and scrape as much black crap out first, otherwise you'll be using up Q-tips and pipe cleaners very quickly.

Working on that. Realized that just with Q-tips will take forever.

 

[Pipe&Chess]

The above advice about abrasives is spot on for stem (get a set of micro mesh pads from Amazon-with elbow grease and going from medium to very fine you can polish nicely to almost machine-buffed finish).
Oxidized vulcanite can taste nasty! For interior I slide a bristled cleaner soaked in alcohol trough stem, clamp one end to bench or vises,pull the anther end taught and work the heck out of stem back and forth under judicious tension multiple times. Doing the same after with a regular cleaner soaked in good old white toothpaste is good, then a heavy water rinse. Mineral or other oil soak on stem for final, then tshirt polish

For the stummel, I ream chamber, maybe sandpaper on a dowel. Shank: clean as much as possible out of mortise gently mechanically, then alcohol/q-tips, folded cleaners, etc). Draft hole gets brush, the bristles then regular cleaners.
Then I do salt/alcohol treatment on bowl (double over or extra fluffy cleaner in shank, then salt in bowl, then alcohol (I like everclear or other very high proof clear liquor).
Polish briar after cleaning w/wax or whatever you feel best with.

Labor intensive for sure, but worth it. I am actually working on 3 pipes at the same time, one is getting pretty good. Happy about it. Part of the hobby the way I see it, and could be rewarding as well, giving life back to an old warrior…

 

[KaunThePiper]

Hi there... This is what I use with fantastic results:
Briarville Stem Oxidation Remover https://a.co/d/d6HQYD2

 

[Doctor Chopper]

I would think that bleach would ghost a pipe terribly, am I wrong??

 

[Hillcrest]

I just spent 40 minutes (my patience limit) cleaning a new old stock pipe and oxidation on the stem. For the greenish brown stem I used combination of the above methods. First Crest Brialliant toothpaste which is quite abrasive between my thumb and forefinger rubbed all over pipe first with papertowel then fingers.
Then Connoisseur Silver polich cloth to clean and buff. Then the Bic lighter method and papertowel. Then the butcher block oil. Then renaissance wax. Its as black as I care to get it for a smoker (95% better) ... as black as my other pipes. I will do it again in the future but I want to smoke it and its my least expensive pipe so I am done for now. As for cleaning the new pipe ... cleaned a great deal of briar dust out with pipe cleaners and water, then alcohol; then waxed the outside of pipe lightly.

 

[Coreios]

Well, what ever you do, don't boil a Vulcanite stem. I saw a guy here do that to clean his. It will mess it up.