Salt Treatment Question

[easterntraveler]

I have read several articles about filling your bowl with salt. Then filling it up with alcohol and letting it sit over night. What is the point of this?

 

[allan]

To add to what Roth said, sometimes a pipe just gets 'sour' due to not having been cleaned well, or some other mysterious factor.
Salt treatment with a through cleaning of the stem can help.
It did for me.

 

[kanaia]

It worked for me also.

 

[drwatson]

And personally I like it better then using the retorts things.

 

[flyguy]

I don't use the salt treatment much anymore since I have enough pipes in my rotation to prevent souring. The last time I used this treatment was after smoking SG 1792. It took 3 treatments to exorcise that demon!

 

[trailspike48]

Nearly all my pipes have been estate purchases. Thanks to the information gleaned here I use a salt/alcohol, retort, stem cleaning and general cleaning and polishing before using an estate pipe. All these steps have been covered in this forum and are simple skills. I do not hesitate to send a pipe to a professional if I don't feel up to the job for any reason.
Once a pipe is cleaned, and dedicated to a blend or type of blend, then the salt treatment is not part of regular maintenance.