Very Old Pipe, Curved Stem, No Pipe Cleaners. How Do I Clean It?

[radoslav]

The pipe in question is my grandpa's and is, obviously, an exalted heirloom and trying to clean it has been to no avail:
1) When I take a toke, its very hard to pull in air
2) When the embers are lower in the bowl and hotter, when i suck in, its almost like the noise you hear when someones down to end of their drink with a straw and is sucking loudly. I have a hunch its the boiling tar.
So, any ideas on how to clean a curve-stemmed pipe without using pipe cleaners?
Edited by jvnshr: Title capitalization.

 

[papipeguy]

Welcome to the forum. The first question is why won't/can't you use pipe cleansers? The gurgling you hear is condeensation. Perhaps an alcohol/salt solution in the bowl would clean it and maybe blowing some vodka or Everclear through the stem would help. Good luck with it.

 

[voorhees]

Pictures of said pipe would be nice.

 

[metarzan]

Search out one on the many videos on "estate pipe cleaning".

 

[joshwolftree]

Have you considered a multiday soak in isopropol. It may break up enough of the congestion to get a pipe cleaner down the stem and get it cleaned out the rest of the way...also I'fe been know to use a rifle cleaning trick involving thread and a small buffer cloth for longer reaches than i pipe cleaner will make...though I haven't tried it on any pipes as all of mine are reachable with at most a churchwarden pipe cleaner

 

[tbradsim1]

If you can"t get pipe cleaners, soak a string in alcohol, with a very thin flexable wire thread stringing stem , then work back and forth, The old cajun

 

[cortezattic]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV-blwz7wKE

 

[taerin]

You really need pipe cleaners, you can find them at just about every smoke shop even if they do not have pipes. If you can't get a pipe cleaner through it, I would soak it for a little while in alcohol and then try it like others have said. I don't know about multi-day soaking like that though (vulcanite stems may not like it). What I actually did when one of mine couldn't pass a pipe cleaner (new estate pipe), I just soaked a shank brush in alcohol and worked it in over and over until it could clear a pipe cleaner.
You should never toke from a pipe which has a bad draw, it just makes the problem worse, clean first, smoke later.

 

[nsfisher]

If it is too tight to take a traditional pipe cleaner, go to a craft store and get some that they use in making Crafts. They are much thinner and will allow you to pass it tru gently. Dip it in Alochol first, ease it tru the stem, and gently work it back and forth, then let it sit awhile.

 

[kcghost]

You may feel more comfortable sending it to be refurbished by an experienced refurbisher.

 

[bigvan]

One does not "toke" on a tobacco pipe.

 

[hans]

Also, lets get serious here. Pipe cleaners are 49 cents! You can get them almost anywhere. Supermarkets, convenience store, Tobacco shop, head shop, arts and craft stores, the internet. There's NO EXCUSE to not be able to get them.

 

[shaintiques]

Maybe he lives in a country that doesn't sell them. There are prob such places in the world. I've lived in some

 

[nsfisher]

Me thinks we need a bit more info mate.

 

[cortezattic]

1. I think Radoslav may be living in a country where pipe cleaners may not be as accessible, or

2. The pipe stem may be thoroughly clogged with hard tars and resins, and pipe cleaners just can't pass through, or

3. The pipe stem may have a peculiar shape that isn't easily negotiated by a pipe cleaner.

 

[joshwolftree]

That has got to be the coolest smoke ever. although with the difficulty cleaning it, it has to be a display piece.

 

[cortezattic]

I never had anything like this, but I think you can force water through it to clean it out. I've heard that clays can be

cleaned by oven baking them.

 

[taerin]

Hot water should do it, oven baking will make a clay go all the way white again and completely remove the tars from what I have heard. That pipe made me laugh so hard when you talked about the negotiation of the pipe cleaner, well done! I don't see why you would want to oven bake a clay though, I thought part of smoking it was to get it that color! I knew a guy who colored them as a hobby, so he oven baked them white every time they got fully colored so he could do it all over again. :crazy:

 

[campbell]

I came across this page when faced with the same problem recently.

The solution - a hairpin.