Salt and Alcohol Treatment on an Unsmoked Cherywood Pipe that Smells Musty?

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Feb 4, 2023
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Title was corrected -Rule #9, Title Capitalization
I recently bought an unsmoked Ropp Cherrywood pipe and it has a really strong musty/damp smell. Like it had been sitting in an old basement for years.

Can you and would it make sense to do a salt and alcohol treatment to remove the smell? Or is this reserved for already smoked pipes with cake buildup/ estate pipes?

Also, how else would you go about removing the musty smell besides this treatment?

Thanks!
 
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cosmicfolklore

Moderator
Staff member
Aug 9, 2013
36,362
88,359
Between the Heart of Alabama and Hot Springs NC
You may certainly do a salt treatment. It is your pipe... and, it may fix your smelly problem, but it is probably overkill. Try something less evasive first, like a water rinse, or an alcohol rinse first. Then see if that fixes it. And, move from there.

A salt treatment is really to preserve the cake while you try to remove the ghost. It would be a bit of an overkill for an unsmoked pipe.
 

didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
11,028
39,211
SE WI
You may certainly do a salt treatment. It is your pipe... and, it may fix your smelly problem, but it is probably overkill. Try something less evasive first, like a water rinse, or an alcohol rinse first. Then see if that fixes it. And, move from there.

A salt treatment is really to preserve the cake while you try to remove the ghost. It would be a bit of an overkill for an unsmoked pipe.
Somehow, this is the first time I've ever heard this before. Back in my estate days (which was a Tuesday and Wednesday btw) I always wondered why the salt didn't remove more of the cake.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
6,593
22,712
Humansville Missouri
Well youngins were known to smoke roaches when we were too poor to buy .....😂😂😂

If I make it past heaven’s gate, I want to be a kid again outside the Grade A milk barn and listen to those stories.

The very, very best ones were second hand from veterans of the Great Rebellion who rode for Governor Gamble and Father Abraham on dark horses steady to shell and shot. Actual uniformed Confederates were respected adversaries, but not Bushwhackers, Jayhawkers, and Arkansawyers out to rape and pillage.

And there was a drought in 1901 where some poor folks actually starved to death, too proud to ask for food. They’d have us kids stand over old sand rocks in cemeteries, and tell the sad stories of excessive pride.

Besides coffee, sage grass, mullein, corn silks and grapevines are decent tobacco substitutes, but they’d caution me never to smoke Indian tobacco.

 
Aug 11, 2022
2,887
22,646
Cedar Rapids, IA
I recently bought an unsmoked Ropp Cherrywood pipe and it has a really strong musty/damp smell. Like it had been sitting in an old basement for years.

Can you and would it make sense to do a salt and alcohol treatment to remove the smell? Or is this reserved for already smoked pipes with cake buildup/ estate pipes?

Also, how else would you go about removing the musty smell besides this treatment?

Thanks!
Once something gets moldy/musty, it's hard to kill it off (the mold) so it won't return. Salt and alcohol, especially in the shank, is a good idea, but then make sure it gets good and dry soon after that. You might consider putting the pipe out in the sunlight, too.
 

ChubbyOldHiker

Might Stick Around
Jan 29, 2025
58
141
Kenner, LA
If the smell is strong, and especially if you see mold or whitish powder anywhere on the wood, definitely do not smoke it. The musty odor was almost certainly caused by mold or yeast, both of which can make musty odors even when microscopic. It is also possible that the basement or other storage area was musty, and the porous wood simply absorbed the odor. While smoking it will definitely raise the temperature and thus the volatility of the chemicals causing the odor, and this process will eventually pull all the volatiles out of the wood, you will be taking those volatiles into your mouth with the smoke, and some of those volatiles could be way worse than just about anything you'd find in tobacco smoke (I know, sounds crazy, but true). Anyway, alcohol should dissolve most of them, and will definitely kill any mold or yeast that might be making them. I'd recommend skipping the kosher salt and using cotton wool the way Charles Lemon at Dadspipes.com does it. Let the pipe get good and dry for a day or two afterward and then give it another whiff. Repeat as necessary.

The sun treatment and simple waiting will work too, but they'll probably take a lot longer. In theory, if you can smell a material, it is evaporating into the air, and eventually the smell will dissipate on its own that way. But the chemicals causing musty odors are detectable by our noses at very low concentrations (likely because they indicate spoilage) and that means they may not be super volatile, which means they could take a very long time to get to non-detectable concentrations.