Rancid Residue Caked in the Shank

[Briar Lee]

Each day I seem to discover something new about about pipes and tobacco, and I’ve been smoking since 1972.

My latest used Lee Three Star Lovat came earlier this week, and using a very sharp pocket knife I was able to scrape all the cake from the chamber leaving nothing but brown briar.

I dipped a few pipe cleaners in 190 proof Everclear and cleaned the shank and the stem, twisted a paper towel and cleaned the chamber, and fired it up.

The first few bowls tasted off, not good at all.

Sometimes a pipe will need the sea salt and Everclear treatment, but I hate doing that. You can crack a good pipe, and I seem to be able to taste salt for long time afterwards.

In preparation to give my new Lovat the salt treatment I dipped a pipe cleaner in Everclear and when I put it in the shank it came out dark black. I’ve used almost a full sleeve of pipe cleaners and the cleaners still don’t come out white, but tinted brown.

My pipe had formed a cake of rancid carbon inside the shank. Smoking it and letting the alcohol soak freed that rancid cake up, and now I’m removing it.

When you see lava all over the top rim of a pipe that was caused just by smoke. Nobody burns tobacco on the rim of their pipe. They might scorch the rim, but not form a cake on top by contact with burning tobacco.

That same cake, caused only by smoke, forms inside the air chamber of the shank.

There is a night and dad improvement in the taste of my Lovat after cleaning the shank, and I’m not done yet.

A pipe needs smoked some, to free up the cake inside the shank.

It’s obvious, after you think about it.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Sometimes a pipe will need the sea salt and Everclear treatment, but I hate doing that. You can crack a good pipe, and I seem to be able to taste salt for long afterwards.

Use cotton balls instead.

A pipe needs smoked some, to free up the cake inside the shank.

You can clear that with a drill bit.

 

[Briar Lee]

Use cotton balls instead.



You can clear that with a drill bit.

With a Lee (or Kaywoodie) there is a duralumin mortise with soft threads to worry about if drilling the shank.

That is my next step, although I ruined a beautiful Lee Omm Paul trying a drill a month or so ago. I’ve got a hundred other Lees, but stupid hurts.

Soaking the chamber in Everclear soaked cotton balls does sound like a plan. Thanks.

 

[Chasing Embers]

With a Lee (or Kaywoodie) there is a duralumin mortise with soft threads to worry about if drilling the shank.

Just use the bit with a T handle.

 

[canucklehead]

When you see lava all over the top rim of a pipe that was caused just by smoke. Nobody burns tobacco on the rim of their pipe. They might scorch the rim, but not form a cake on top by contact with burning tobacco.

@didimauw

 

[jpmcwjr]

Crikey, mate! You could have saved hours of work and dozens of pipe cleaners by flushing well with hot water. And have alcohol left over.

Sounds as if the mortise was chock full of funk.

 

[cigrmaster]

To get rid of a nasty ghost I have had good luck with moist coffee grounds. I jam them into the bowl and shank for a couple of days then see where I am. I only use Everclear on the stems. I also use Everclear when doing a deep clean in the shank and mortise. This works well on pipes that just need a good cleaning.

Ghost busting is another issue, especially when it is a Lakeland ghost. I had a ghost so bad I used Cult Blood Red Moon to get rid of one figuring I can get rid of an aromatic ghost easier than a Lakeland. It actually worked, I was surprised.

 

[mingc]

With a Lee (or Kaywoodie) there is a duralumin mortise with soft threads to worry about if drilling the shank.

That is my next step, although I ruined a beautiful Lee Omm Paul trying a drill a month or so ago. I’ve got a hundred other Lees, but stupid hurts.

Soaking the chamber in Everclear soaked cotton balls does sound like a plan. Thanks.

You can also buy little shank brushes to use in lieu of pipe cleaners: https://www.smokingpipes.com/access...aning-supplies/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=212517

 

[sablebrush52]

1. Get yourself some nylon shank brushes to do the heavy lifting instead of boxes of pipe cleaners.
2. A drill bit will clear out surface deposits. I will do nothing for rancid oils that have seeped into the wood
3. Use a boiling alcohol retort flush to really pull out rancid oils and deposits, but be careful not to set yourself on fire.
4. Ask Goergoe Dibos for his method of cleaning out a shank and removing rancid oils and ghosts. It's better that any other method you will learn here.

 

[Briar Lee]

Crikey, mate! You could have saved hours of work and dozens of pipe cleaners by flushing well with hot water. And have alcohol left over.

Sounds as if the mortise was chock full of funk.

I’m such a creature of habit I use 95% straight alcohol, instead of hot water.

That or maybe I’ve sung Thunder Road a thousand times too many, and get caught up in a romantic notion of a valid excuse to use straight alcohol.

But alcohol works, the higher proof the better I think.

Missouri has such low sin taxes a full fifth (750ml) of 190 proof Everclear is only $17.50 and it lasts six months or more.

But we all can see the cake on the inside of the chamber of a used pipe. With a little patience and and the spey blade on a sharp pocketknife you can scrape every atom of an old, rancid cake from a pipe and leave just bare briar. Using paper towels, 4/0 steel wool and Everclear you can get looking new.

But that same rancid carbon is all the way back to the button on the stem, just not as thick.

It’s kind of like cleaning a muzzle loader.

Scrub completely for several days in a row.

 

[didimauw]

@didimauw

 

[Briar Lee]

View attachment 178942View attachment 178943

Yes, there’s some tobacco on top of the rim, but not intentionally and not much.

I’ve owned a few pipes with a loose joint between shank and bit, and if not removed a layer of carbon and goo forms where they leak. Kaywoodie carburetors and Duncan Hill Areospheres also get plugged up where no tobacco burns.

The buildup inside the airway is a hard, resinous buildup, much like the cake inside the chamber.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I’m such a creature of habit I use 95% straight alcohol, instead of hot water.

That or maybe I’ve sung Thunder Road a thousand times too many, and get caught up in a romantic notion of a valid excuse to use straight alcohol.

Hah!

But you're not ossified, are you? Try the 21st Century method!

 

[Briar Lee]

Hah!

But you're not ossified, are you? Try the 21st Century method!

Sitting here just a ruminating on how to improve using straight alcohol, it would need to have a foaming, penetrating soap that wasn’t poisonous.

For muzzleloaders, you can use soap and water, but the modern method is to mix up a pint spray bottle of equal parts high proof rubbing alcohol, Murphy’s Oil Soap and Dawn Dish Soap.

Everclear is cheap enough to substitute for wood alcohol, in the same mix. It only takes a third of a pint. Using 80 proof vodka might be better, to get water in the mix.

Murphy’s and Dawn aren’t poisonous. They could be flushed out with hot water.

I’m going to try it. Have one spray bottle to clean both muzzleloaders and smoking pipes.

 

[brian64]

There sure are a lot of transitioning members on here lately.

 

[Briar Lee]

There sure are a lot of transitioning members on here lately.

Or bragging.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Hand drill the cake/tar out and then Dawn dish soap, a tube brush, and warm running water. I use Bacti-Stat AE soap, but it was gifted. I'd be fine with Dawn. I wouldn't bother watering down the soap, except for getting the brush wet and running water through the shank before the scrub. You can do it until the brush runs clean, and you WILL get to that point. And then I'd imagine a retort would be the next step, or send off for a night in an ozone chamber.

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[instymp]

Just use the bit with a T handle.

Yup, or if you don't have a T handle like me, drill bit in a small pair of vice grips.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Yup, or if you don't have a T handle like me, drill bit in a small pair of vice grips.

The drill bit in the handle of a Senior reamer works well too.

 

[bullet08]

Newbies reading this.. Always clean your mortise! Religiously!!!