Smelly Pipe

[Sitka]

Hello I am new to the forum and have a question about a pipe. I bought a meerschaum from ebay and it smells. It smells like baby powder. The only nomenclature is on the case, which says Ben Sim. It was an estate though hardly smoked (guess I know why?). It smokes good but the smell is strong enough I think I may taste it. I checked Google but didn't come up with anything relevant. So I am asking the experts their opinion. It is a carved head but not sure if it is block meerschaum or not. I want to say it is but not 100% sure. The case also smells like baby powder so I leave it out of the case for now. What would cause this and will it go away? Is there any way I could hasten the departure of the offending smell or is it a lost cause?

 

[BROBS]

Probably febreze or some other type of air freshener. Somebody thought it stank so they put it in a closet with an air freshener or a tote etc.

you can wash the whole pipe with water without harm. I would run warm water all over it and through it to see if you can wash off any of the scent. Do this somewhat quickly.

I had a meer that was unsmoked but must have been stored with febreze or something. I washed it with warm water... then just smoked it as normal after it dried. Yes it tasted weird at first but went away and is now normal.

after dry you can try smoking the pipe, putting it in a mixing bowl, blowing the bowl full of smoke, and covering it and let it sit until you see the smoke is gone. Not only will this color your meer it will scent it with tobacco.

 

[gervais]

Maybe the previous owner doused the pipe and case in baby powder to mask the smoke smell? I havnt a clue how to get rid of it ?

 

[mikethompson]

Well my first guess is that it is ghosted (lingering smells) from some previous blend smoked in there. But you said it was lightly smoked.

If it was a briar pipe, I would just do a good alcohol/salt soak but I wouldn't recommend that for a meer. I think you should try some moist coffee grounds in there and see if that clears it up.

 

[boston]

Possible it's ghosted by ennerdale? It's a 'flowery' ghost... perhaps that's what you smell.

 

[scloyd]

I think BROBS has the right idea. I would try wiping out the chamber with wet paper towels.

If it is ghosted (I didn't think you could ghost a meer) I don't think that's a bad thing...I really like Ennerdale.

 

[Mr.Mike]

I'm of the opinion the best way to get rid of any type of ghost is to smoke through it.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I use pretty hot water from the tap to freshen up my meers. As Brobs said, inside and out. 10-30 seconds should do the trick. If it's still ghosted, add the coffee grounds, wet, and let dry for a couple of days.

BTW, after the hot water flush, you can smoke the pipe soon after.

 

[BROBS]

I forgot I did use hot water and in your case I would wipe the chamber with paper towels as you do it to remove any and all cake. This is the febreze meer. No hint of scent now.

 

[subsalac]

When I first encountered a lakeland ghost in a pipe I couldn't believe it wasn't simply cleaned with some floral soap. It's very likely that the smell comes from that type of tobacco. As to cleaning it, if you have some fine sandpaper, see if you can carefully get rid of just the black layer of the inside of the bowl. This is where a some of the floral stuff will be. Also boil up some water and take some non bristle cleaners and scrub the inside of the shank. That's what I would do. Beyond that, I haven't tried this so it's up to you if you want to experiment, but since the salt/alcohol treatment is not available for meers, you could try activated charcoil? Warm the pipe up a bit first and fill it with charcoal. You can play it by ear, smoke a partial bowl, see if the ghost is bad, get the pipe nice and warm, dump the tobacco and fill with activated charcoal and let it rest like that for a few days. Someone more knowledgeable than me will have to chime in if they know if charcoal is safe for the inside of meer bowls. The only thing I can think of is if you get it on the outside it may dirty the meer which could be undesirable.

 

[mso489]

If you are right that the pipe is lightly smoked, neither a ghost from a previously smoked blend nor fabreze should be persistent. Cake in briar pipes makes ghosting more persistent, but that shouldn't count here. Once you clean or smoke away the baby powder scent, a Meer should provide outstanding clarity of flavors. You'll enjoy that.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I've seen meers used for marijuana and their owners filled the chambers with potpourri to mask the smell.

 

[condorlover1]

Very occasionally I get the taste of something that a previous owner was smoking about 100 years ago from a couple of my meerschaum pipes. It shows up like a very faint apparition and before I can get a fix on it just vanishes like a fart in the wind. It's almost as if the previous long dead owner has poked his head in from behind that curtain we cannot see beyond just to say hello. In regard to ghosting if you go through a bunch of stronger tobacco's and use a Philtpad any lingering smells like musty meter cupboard or wet raincoat will very quickly disappear. I would avoid putting alcohol into the pipe as it can play havoc with the protective wax coating and cause long term structural weakness particularly with shanks along with the finish leaving you open to finger prints and dirt. Smoke it aggressively and see what happens.

 

[anotherbob]

Very occasionally I get the taste of something that a previous owner was smoking about 100 years ago from a couple of my meerschaum pipes. It shows up like a very faint apparition and before I can get a fix on it just vanishes like a fart in the wind. It's almost as if the previous long dead owner has poked his head in from behind that curtain we cannot see beyond just to say hello. In regard to ghosting if you go through a bunch of stronger tobacco's and use a Philtpad any lingering smells like musty meter cupboard or wet raincoat will very quickly disappear. I would avoid putting alcohol into the pipe as it can play havoc with the protective wax coating and cause long term structural weakness particularly with shanks along with the finish leaving you open to finger prints and dirt. Smoke it aggressively and see what happens.

my meer does that with some blends. Where it just tastes like something I smoked in it ten years ago. Then it's gone.

 

[Sitka]

These are all great suggestions! I am pretty sure it isn't ghosted, it literally smells of baby powder, so much so that the case also smells of it. Not floral or soapy at all. I had never considered actually washing it, or that someone powdered it to cover up the smell. Angry wife perhaps? lol I will try washing it with some hot water and then go the coffee grounds route. I like the activated carbon idea also, it is great for removing smells. It really didn't have much cake in it, and i scraped what was in there out, though not down to bare meerschaum. I may try sanding it clean though if the wash doesn't help. I have been smoking aro's (lane 1-q mixed with 7 seas royal) and balkan/english (balkan supreme and presbyterian) through it thinking it was ghosted and I could burn it out with those to no avail. Thank you everyone for your replies! I will report back after I have tried cleaning it.

 

[mikethompson]

the coffee grounds route

load the bowl and as much of the stummel as you can with warm, damp (not hot and not very wet) grounds. Let it sit for about a day or two, until the grounds are dry. Then just flush the bowl with water and dry.

Good luck!

 

[Sitka]

Washing it really helped. I ran it under hot water and used a soft bristle brush to gently scrub the outside. I kind of screwed up a little by putting it into a baggie with coffee. It was apparently a little wet so now he has some freckles. Ooops lol. I kind of like it though! I could probably remove them with some 600 grit sandpaper, but I think I will keep them. When it colors from smoking it they will probably disappear anyway. It still smelled a little when I pulled it out of the coffee so I stuck it in the toaster oven on 200* for 10 minutes.
Then after it cooled I took it out and smoked it. I could just barely smell the baby powder smell still but it was a lot better than it was before. Smelled mostly of coffee with just a hint of baby powder. It makes me wonder if it was in the wax or if someone just doused it in baby powder. Strange for sure.
If it doesn't go away after aggressively smoking out of it for awhile I will try washing it again and this time coffee grounds on the INSIDE ONLY. Give it some beeswax on the outside after it dries and be good to go!
I can't thank you all enough, I was thinking the pipe was a lost cause and was about ready to pitch it.

 

[scloyd]

Can you post a photo of the pipe?

 

[mikethompson]

time coffee grounds on the INSIDE ONLY

yup

 

[dcicero]

Im new to this too. I can only think, maybe it was a baby's pipe?