Thread: cleaning pipes

bought some vintage pipes off ebay. should i clean them before smoking or does it matter. seached the forum for cleaning advise but did not find any. thanks dave

I use alcohol on pipe cleaners for most of it. Be careful not to get any on the exterior finish. I remove the stem and take a small flat straight slot screw driver into the mortise (where the stem goes) and do a twirling, scraping motion to get tar out of there where it collects.

Dip a pipe cleaner (Long's are the best I've found) in alcohol and run it in and out of the stem and mortise. The best thing I've found for removing tar from the top of a pipe is saliva. Spit on your fingertip and apply saliva to the top of the bowl. Wait a minute, don't let it dry, and wipe vigorously with a soft cloth. Old t-shirts work well. This will remove the tar without removing the finish.

For extreme cases of a pipe being foul or having the residual aroma of the previous blends impregnated in it you can use "the Professor's Pipe Sweetening Treatment" seen here. This needs to be followed closely as there have been cracked bowls resulting from misreading the instructions so proceed with caution.

Buckeye,

You have to clean and disinfect all estate pipes you buy, which involves the use of alcohol and salt packing treatment.

There are some good videos on youtube to show you how to do this and the correct alcohols to use. Usually grain alcohol like Everclear is used.

The pipe bowl is packed with salt and drops of alcohol are added. Over a day or two, the salt leaches out all of the old resins. Watch you don't get alcohol on the finish of the bowl - it can destroy the old finish.

The stem is soaked in alcohol and cleaned separately, which can also cause the vulcanite to go from shiny to matt in color. If this happens the stem can be rebuffed. I have the equipment to do this and would do it for you for the cost of shipping.


David

Originally Posted by Alembic

Buckeye,

You have to clean and disinfect all estate pipes you buy, which involves the use of alcohol and salt packing treatment.

There are some good videos on youtube to show you how to do this and the correct alcohols to use. Usually grain alcohol like Everclear is used.

The pipe bowl is packed with salt and drops of alcohol are added. Over a day or two, the salt leaches out all of the old resins. Watch you don't get alcohol on the finish of the bowl - it can destroy the old finish.

The stem is soaked in alcohol and cleaned separately, which can also cause the vulcanite to go from shiny to matt in color. If this happens the stem can be rebuffed. I have the equipment to do this and would do it for you for the cost of shipping.


David

thanks david. i have not received them yet but may take you up on it. dave

There are already so many good hints to clean vintage pipes so i do not have much to add.
If the stem has gone matt or changed its color (that happens sometimes) quick help is to wipe it with olive oil.
There are two schools on this but i would say that never take the stem away while the pipe is still warm.

Alembic,

I've heard of the salt/everclear treatment for a pipe, but I heard it as an alternative to pipe sweetener to fix a pipe that has gone sour. I just mentionin it as a side note, but I'd still use on any estate pipe either way.

Originally Posted by nickedNsliced

Alembic,

I've heard of the salt/everclear treatment for a pipe, but I heard it as an alternative to pipe sweetener to fix a pipe that has gone sour. I just mentionin it as a side note, but I'd still use on any estate pipe either way.

nickedNsliced,

Good question.

Think of pipe sweetener as a solvent to remove gunk from the interior of the bowl, shank and stem that is adding a bad taste (sourness) to the smoke.

The salt treatment partially serves the same purpose, but what it also does is leach out whatever has soaked into the bowl and shank, which is where you use salt treatment.

Salt treatment is a deep cleaning where sweetener is more on the surface.

BTW, I use rum for my sweetener - works great. But you could also use bourbon or vodka as well.

Hope that helps.

David

i used the alcohol and salt to deep clean 10 estate pipes so far. seems to work great. the pipes smoke good. i will be cleaning more this week end.

Group,

Here is one of the best sets of videos on pipe cleaning by dubinthedam.

These take you from a simple after a smoke cleaning all the way through when and how to do the salt cake treatment.

Pipes are a lot like straight razors - treat them well, they will reward you with a pleasurable experience.

David

YouTube - dubinthedam's Channel

YouTube - dubinthedam's Channel

YouTube - dubinthedam's Channel

YouTube - dubinthedam's Channel

YouTube - dubinthedam's Channel

Originally Posted by buckeye

i used the alcohol and salt to deep clean 10 estate pipes so far. seems to work great. the pipes smoke good. i will be cleaning more this week end.

Hmmm - 10 pipes? That officially diagnoses you with PAD