Stanwell De Luxe just arrived (pics)

[mrmachado]

Here are some pics.
Comparing to my other pipes (Savinelli and Bazzanelli)

Alone

Smoking it

Unfortunately it came with a prominent ghosting. Does anyone know how long many times should I smoke it to get rid of it?

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

Unfortunately it came with a prominent ghosting. Does anyone know how long many times should I smoke it to get rid of it?

It's hard to be certain from the photos, but it looks unsmoked and with a precarbed chamber. If so, you may just be tasting the precarb, and any flavor it imparts should disappear rather quickly with just a few smokes. Other ghosting, depending on if it was smoked, depends on what tobacco is haunting it. It could be a few smokes, it could be ten... it could need an exorcism. But before you find a catholic priest, look into running alcohol on a pipe cleaner through the shank a few times. If that doesn't do it, you may need the salt and alcohol (or cotton balls and alcohol) treatment. You should be very careful not to get any alcohol on the outside finish of the pipe as it could remove stain.
It's a lovely Stanwell, by the way. Enjoy the heck out of it! :clap:

 

[mso489]

Great pipe. Years of good service in that. Smoke a few bowls and the ghost will be exorcised I believe. Can't beat a straight billiard with a tapered stem.

 

[timt]

I like that little Stanwell billiard. Good choice.

 

[Civil War]

Nice pipe!

 

[olkofri]

Yeah, if it's brand new the 'ghost' is the coating. I've seen coatings do worse things, like coat your tongue black on the inaugural smoke. It goes away over time. Is it a filtered pipe? Some filters can add a plasticky taste.

 

[woodsroad]

The pre-carbonized coating can be removed with sandpaper.

 

[macaroon]

Looks like a win! Nice choice

 

[mrmachado]

It is not pre-smoked. By the fourth bowl, the ghosting seems to be fading away.
I've never tasted such a cool smoke, pipes seem to be built very differently after all. The bowl also doesn't seem to get incredibly hot no matter how fast I smoke.

 

[olkofri]

Yeah, that pipe has nice thick walls. I like it that said walls are not tapered towards the top: I have a volcano pipe with tapered, thinning walls and the top gets quite hot.
Now I want a Stanwell billiard. ::

 

[ashdigger]

I can't do this anymore. Good luck fellow pipers.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

I have the very same Stanwell pot model as Yours,loving the versatile chamber size of this very 45

 

[seldom]

I can't do this anymore. Good luck fellow pipers.

I'm with you Ash.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

This is a language and vocabulary thing, me thinks. Ghosting refers to the tastes left behind by some tobaccos that permanently set deep into the briar. It is a rare thing for a tobacco to ghost, and this is not to be confused with just a residual taste left behind by a tobacco that will obviously quickly fade.
What you are getting is just that new pipe taste. I have several Stannies and none came with ghost nor a bad pre-carb taste. But, beauty and ugly is in the eye of the beholder. The worst tasting pipes that I have ever had was the first smoke in a Ferndown and one particular Pete that I no longer have. The Ferndown recovered quickly after being swabbed out with alcohol a few times. And, the Pete turned out to have a green briar taste of uncured new briar, which did not suit me nor my patience. Having been bit a few times by Petes, I no longer even consider those pipes. I shun them like rattlesnakes, once bitten... and all that.

 

[lawdawg]

If you leave it out for your maid to clean it, perhaps the ghosting will go away

 

[mrmachado]

@Cosmic: So I guess it just needs to be "broken in", right?
The initial bad taste is gone but is still smokes very poorly.
I must admit I wasn't used to this harshness. My other pipes are very sweet. I hope it doesn't last so long.