Smashing Success with Salt Cleaning

[rmcnabb]

I bought a lovely Bjarne Brebbia 925 off of ebay but it stunk to high heaven with some kind of incense essense. It wasn't Lakeland, I don't know what it was, but it was intolerable. So I tenatively decided to clean it with the salt and alcohol treatment you see advised. It worked perfectly.

Removed the stem, clogged the tenon with saran wrap, packed the bowl with Kosher salt (must be Kosher I'm told) and carefully poured in PGA "Golden Grain" pure alcohol until it was a risky looking sloppy mess. Nothing much happened but the next morning it was a disgusting brown. I scraped out all the salt, rinsed it with more alcohol (which didn't rinse the salt very well - I blame chemistry) then rinsed it lightly with water. Set it aside and let it fully dry for 2 days.

If I had the tongues of men and of angels I couldn't begin to tell you how much this helped. I'm smoking my favorite home blend in it now and I feel like I'm tasting the tobacco for the first time - layers of flavor and complexities I never knew were there.

TLDR: If you're on the fence about this, if you've scored some pretty but stinky estates and are wondering whether they'll ever taste right, don't hesitate. Just do this, and you'll be SO glad you did.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Ask the seller if it had been used as a weed pipe.

 

[rmcnabb]

I hate to think it was but after my years following the Grateful Dead that's an essence I am EXTREMELY familiar with.

 

[OzPiper]

Use a cleaner in the shank and cotton balls instead of salt - less mess.

 

[rmcnabb]

So the salt doesn't really do anything, huh? It's all the alcohol?

 

[sardonicus87]

So the salt doesn't really do anything, huh? It's all the alcohol?

Yes and no.

Alcohol does the cleaning yes, salt doesn't do the cleaning... salt is just there to absorb the alcohol and whatever nastiness the alcohol leeches out. Cotton balls achieve the same effect.

Gives the nasty a place to go as well has holding the alcohol in place. Without a medium to catch it, the nasty would just come to the surface and sit on top of the wood as the alcohol evaporates.

 

[Sobrbiker]

After trying both, I prefer salt to cotton. I’m sure the difference is all in my head.
However I did note that after cutting up plugs with my 1095 Carbon tobacco chopper, it had residue on the blade that no scrubbing with Everclear would take off, yet hot water almost rinsed it off effortlessly.
My next funky estate may get a hot water rinse, then alcohol treatment to thoroughly dry and defunk.

 

[AJL67]

So the salt doesn't really do anything, huh? It's all the alcohol?

I do alcohol and cotton balls because it’s easier to clean up than salt or it’s just as well.

 

[lraisch]

After trying both, I prefer salt to cotton. I’m sure the difference is all in my head.
However I did note that after cutting up plugs with my 1095 Carbon tobacco chopper, it had residue on the blade that no scrubbing with Everclear would take off, yet hot water almost rinsed it off effortlessly.
My next funky estate may get a hot water rinse, then alcohol treatment to thoroughly dry and defunk.

I finally decided to try a water flush on an estate Caminetto. It instantly removed all of the stain, except in the deeply carved areas. Looked like it had some horrible disease. I sent it out to be re-stained and ozone cleaned and now it looks fine and smokes great.

 

[tanless1]

Kosher salt, or popcorn salt as I recall. Has more to do with the lack of iodine.
....I could be wrong.

Be sure to leave a pipe cleaner in the stem so the salt doesn't get down there.

 

[Bourbonandcigars]

Everclear works great for me

 

[kcghost]

Glad everything worked for you!!

 

[Sig]

Ive tried every method under the sun.
They all seem to work to different levels.
I still use salt on the REALLY bad ones from ebay.
If for nothing else than helping the alcohol kill the hepatitis and herpes!

 

[denholrl]

Next time, use pipe cleaners to block the entire shank . . . potentially, to save yourself a cracked shank end!

 

[ThermionicScott]

I've used regular iodized salt in the past, and it worked fine, too. Not sure where the insistence on using kosher salt came from.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Next time, use pipe cleaners to block the entire shank . . . potentially, to save yourself a cracked shank end!

I've usually done it with the stem in place. Never a hint of a problem. A quick flush with hot water, and the gunk is really gone, and the pipe is fresh smelling and smoking. [Well, after the mortise is cleaned.]

 

[grimpeur]

I've usually done it with the stem in place. Never a hint of a problem. A quick flush with hot water, and the gunk is really gone, and the pipe is fresh smelling and smoking. [Well, after the mortise is cleaned.]

I'm a fan of leaving the stem in too, with a pipe cleaner inserted acting on the mortise and stem the same as the salt or cotton acts on the bowl: giving the nasty stuff a place to go.

My theory, based on mostly smoking Falcons, is that a good bit of ghosting is caused by the mortise area in a briar soaking up condensate over time; that's a hard area to get really clean.

With a Falcon, the aluminum tube cleans out quickly, the underside of the bowl can be cleaned in a few minutes; minimal ghosting. The mortise area in briars, I've found needs a good scrubbing, and sometimes drilling through to clean wood to really get rid of old flavours. The actual tobacco chamber, once reamed to wood, is rarely an issue.

 

[craig61a]

Ask the seller if it had been used as a weed pipe.

Yeah, that dank smell of kush…

Cotton balls and vinegar will remove funk as well.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Yeah, that dank smell of kush…

Cotton balls and vinegar will remove funk as well.

Many times they'll use cologne or perfume to cover it up, even alcohol wouldn't remove that from briar. I've had to toss several pipes contaminated like that.

 

[LeafErikson]

Yeah, that dank smell of kush…

Cotton balls and vinegar will remove funk as well.

And we smoke that kush,
And we ball like swoosh.