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marcel

Might Stick Around
Feb 25, 2015
72
0
I don't have a lot of experience with estate pipes but recently bought an unsmoked Stanwell Danish made 51 Mat. Great smoker and light as a feather but I noticed the vulcanite stem tends to oxidize very easily. I suspect the older the vulcanite the more tendency there is to oxidize or maybe it's just the kind of vulcanite used. I have a little bottle of Obsidian oil but it really doesn't help much or for very long.
I've decide to let the stem oxidize and just enjoy smoking the pipe. I wonder how many others on this forum have made a similar decision and let their old pipes be old.

 

framitz

Can't Leave
Oct 25, 2013
314
0
Don"t let it get green that is sulphur tastes awful follow threads to clean or get help buffing hand or machine. Or get walkers stem polish. Shel

 

marcel

Might Stick Around
Feb 25, 2015
72
0
Thanks Shel!
I didn't know oxidation of vulcanite effected the taste. I thought it was just an esthetic thing.

Ordered the Walkers Stem polish kit.
This forum is a great resource!

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,623
44,833
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Obsidian Oil doesn't remove oxidation. It will protect against further oxidation. But you really want to remove the existing oxidation to the extent that you can. The Walker kit should do the job pretty well. After that use the obsidian oil, or use Paragon or Halcyon wax to protect the stem from the air. Most importantly, keep you pipe out of sunlight, the great destroyer of Vulcanite.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Take heart. As you may have seen on some Forums posts, pipe restorers both professional and amateur regularly take a grisly, gray green ugliness of a stem and find under all that a sleek shiny black stem prettier than new. Apparently some carefully done sanding and polishing, done the right way, can transform a stem. A polishing cloth will get you most of the way there, but may not be quite as transformative as you like.

 

jefff

Lifer
May 28, 2015
1,915
6
Chicago
+1 on Walkers stem treatment. It takes about 15 min of rubbing on a heavily oxidized stem but it works without needing a buffer and there is no chance of over buffing and burning the stem.
After that Obsidian oil keeps them nice.

 

tims

Lurker
Feb 8, 2016
16
0
Turns out I have a collection of estate pipes... Mine, I purchased most of my pipes between 1978 and 1980 , I often stop smoking them for sometimes years , then get them out again . I find a tooth brush and baking soda (or some times tooth paste) brings the stems back nicely .

Now when I pack them away they go into their original boxes , and I have never had a green stem ... really brown , yes . Toothpaste is more abrasive then I would have thought pre-pipe experience .

 

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
Alcohol is very bad on vulcanite. I brought home a newly purchased Leonessa, and wanted to pass an alcohol-moistened cleaner down the stem to get rid of any residual dust. While dipping the cleaner into a miniature of vodka, I dropped it, splashing vodka onto the pipe stem. In good light, those spots are visible to this day.

 
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