Reclaiming Oil Saturated Briars
- Thread starter Briar Lee
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I give it 3 stars
Clearly, this thread hasn't just gone fishing, it's gone trolling. Which is sad.
Here's a simple challenge @Briar Lee , Take the stain off the part of the pipe that seems most damaged and take it down to bare briar. My guess is you will see virgin briar rather quickly. You can easily re stain that part of the pipe. Send a picture of the stain removal. Please don't send a story about cow barns, cow floors, or boots and suits.
Everyone here would be interested to see for themselves the damage years of oil and tar can do to a pipe. So far, the actual physical evidence provided by @Chasing Embers points to dirt, grime, and environmental contaminants darkening the finish. But please peel back a bit more stain and we will see.
This picture seems to indicate the damage is from the surface, not the other way around.
Here's a simple challenge @Briar Lee , Take the stain off the part of the pipe that seems most damaged and take it down to bare briar. My guess is you will see virgin briar rather quickly. You can easily re stain that part of the pipe. Send a picture of the stain removal. Please don't send a story about cow barns, cow floors, or boots and suits.
Everyone here would be interested to see for themselves the damage years of oil and tar can do to a pipe. So far, the actual physical evidence provided by @Chasing Embers points to dirt, grime, and environmental contaminants darkening the finish. But please peel back a bit more stain and we will see.
This picture seems to indicate the damage is from the surface, not the other way around.
Autopsies Performed On Several Old Pipes :: General Pipe Smoking Discussion
mid 17th century (in the sense 'personal observation'): from French autopsie or modern Latin autopsia, from Greek, from autoptēs 'eyewitness', from autos 'self' + optos 'seen'. αὐτοψία (autopsía, “seeing with one's own eyes”). Original document seen here...
pipesmagazine.com
I would absolutely love to see that shank sanded. I feel like it would clean up much faster from the outside.
I’m glad that you found some pipes that make you happy ?
I actually hope that I’m wrong about it being mildew because if it is it’s not likely that you will get the taste out of it.
All I about pipes, I had to learn on my own, and with help from my friends.
We know from books, that many years ago a Heath shrub sprouted on rocky hills of the rim of Mediterranean, and in time the roots of this shrub grew a sort of carbuncle on it’s roots, and then, probably a kid that had nothing better to do, dug up the root and chopped off strange growth on the root, just to look at the thing.
Today the kid would spray that brush with modern herbicides, so we pipe smokers are fortunate it happened long ago and far away.
But the kid took this wet, green growth he found on the shrub of the Heath tree to a local wood carver, a skilled artificer of pretty things, who likely paid the kid something one pays kids for curious objects, and the carver threw it in drawer.
Later, we cannot know how much later, the carver found the briar and it had dried. On a whim he carved some bauble with it, and may have stained it, and found it beautiful.
Some old dusty book I read claimed a visiting nobleman broke his meerschaum, and by chance went into the carver’s shop for a repair, and walked out instead with the first briar pipe.
The first few smokes through a briar pipe that’s not been cured, only dried, must have tasted like azz.
But, if the nobleman lived long enough, and smoked the new briar until it was just as colored as his busted meerschaum, here’s what he had:
The oil has swollen the stem on this Lee Pot so much it’s cracked.
This was the second worst oil soaked pile of the three. It’s been washed in soap and water, and had two salt treatments.
I own so many Lees I usually have an almost new one for reference.
Note the wonderful condition of the bit on both the new (less than 20 smokes) Lee Pot and the one that was smoked a zillion times.
But the test is smoking the pipes.
The new Lee Pot still has residuals of Lee’s oil cure and PS LNF tastes and smells so good you want to sprinkle it on ice cream.
That $3 an ounce tobacco is wasted on the worn out Lee Pot. It’s not bad anymore, after partial reclaiming, but it’s not that good, either.
I doubt it ever will be, an excellent smoker again.
There’s some hope for the Lee Apple from the same seller though.
But look how green and nasty it looks.
But the grain, is peeping through.
When it was new, this was a straight grain natural or tan 7 pointed star Three Star.
And it still smokes,,,,decently.
I need to scrub this thing again another half hour with Crest toothpaste.
Maybe listen to some music while I work.
We know from books, that many years ago a Heath shrub sprouted on rocky hills of the rim of Mediterranean, and in time the roots of this shrub grew a sort of carbuncle on it’s roots, and then, probably a kid that had nothing better to do, dug up the root and chopped off strange growth on the root, just to look at the thing.
Today the kid would spray that brush with modern herbicides, so we pipe smokers are fortunate it happened long ago and far away.
But the kid took this wet, green growth he found on the shrub of the Heath tree to a local wood carver, a skilled artificer of pretty things, who likely paid the kid something one pays kids for curious objects, and the carver threw it in drawer.
Later, we cannot know how much later, the carver found the briar and it had dried. On a whim he carved some bauble with it, and may have stained it, and found it beautiful.
Some old dusty book I read claimed a visiting nobleman broke his meerschaum, and by chance went into the carver’s shop for a repair, and walked out instead with the first briar pipe.
The first few smokes through a briar pipe that’s not been cured, only dried, must have tasted like azz.
But, if the nobleman lived long enough, and smoked the new briar until it was just as colored as his busted meerschaum, here’s what he had:
The oil has swollen the stem on this Lee Pot so much it’s cracked.
This was the second worst oil soaked pile of the three. It’s been washed in soap and water, and had two salt treatments.
I own so many Lees I usually have an almost new one for reference.Note the wonderful condition of the bit on both the new (less than 20 smokes) Lee Pot and the one that was smoked a zillion times.
But the test is smoking the pipes.
The new Lee Pot still has residuals of Lee’s oil cure and PS LNF tastes and smells so good you want to sprinkle it on ice cream.That $3 an ounce tobacco is wasted on the worn out Lee Pot. It’s not bad anymore, after partial reclaiming, but it’s not that good, either.
I doubt it ever will be, an excellent smoker again.
There’s some hope for the Lee Apple from the same seller though.
But look how green and nasty it looks.
But the grain, is peeping through.When it was new, this was a straight grain natural or tan 7 pointed star Three Star.
And it still smokes,,,,decently.
I need to scrub this thing again another half hour with Crest toothpaste.
Maybe listen to some music while I work.
The good attorney is a master of the art of obfuscation. ?
Which is a shame. I was interested in reading about an obscure pipe line as I have a genuine interest in old American factory pipes.
I found the Lee pipe line to be fairly decent smokes, but not much more so than Marxmans.
I also enjoy Hillbilly musings as my father most likely fell from the same tree as Li'l Abner.
But that said, it may be that Mr. Lee is indeed some manifestation of an AI program written by some midwesterner joker.
I asked Mr. Lee to clarify his position with evidence that Lee pipes were oil cured. I got cow stories and the evidence seemed to be that something about a path being worn in the concrete floor in the barn.
Mr. Lee insists that the tar and oils came from inside the pipe. Maybe it might have - but his evidence is that boots and clothing wear out and so long as they are cleaned, repaired, and replaced, you never really notice.
The bottom line is as so many others have stated - Stay Calm and Move On: Nothing to see here.
Send the pipe in question out for some ozone treatment, allow an expert to clean and refinish it, band it, and then light it up. I recommend Briarworks, but there are other pipe repair places.
If not, go to the band saw and split it wide open.
But please, no more farm stories.
Well, the debate could be solved by sawing the bowl in half, which might be its best and highest purpose.
Seriously, oil saturation through use is not happening. Tobacco tars and oils don't penetrate to any great depth, as has been demonstrated a number of times by sawing bowls in half, bowls with decades of use behind them.
I do admire Briarlee as a spinner of stories. Assuming that he's not an AI experiment, he's provided a colorful pickle barrel full of misinformation and speculation.
Just brought back memories of being in the witness box some years ago.
The question posed by the attorney only required a "Yes or No" answer.
But by the time the attorney had finished his circumlocution, I had lost the gist of the question.
I was saved by the judge who directed the attorney to repeat his question but with far less verbiage ?
The question posed by the attorney only required a "Yes or No" answer.
But by the time the attorney had finished his circumlocution, I had lost the gist of the question.
I was saved by the judge who directed the attorney to repeat his question but with far less verbiage ?
Most likely… I have cut open old pipes that were most likely smoked dozens of times daily for decades, and there was a petrified layer of dark tarry wood paper thin, which was most likely just petrified tar.
Oils, dirt, sweat and smoke that land on the surface of pipes makes more sense… My natural finish Bones pipes are turning brown, but it’s not tobacco oils soaking through. Tobacco oils and byproducts don’t penetrate briar like neutrinos penetrating the earth and being collected in 3000’ deep mines…
I mean hell, it takes decades for Meerschaum to color deeply, and that stuff is considered relatively porous compared to briar….
Well actually it is… dark matter is anything that’s not glowing.
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