Thread: Sterilizing the stem of a pipe

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

A friend who is a good hand at restoring stems to black uses tape on the shank of the pipe where it meets the vulcanite. He buffs the stem on the pipe. This way the stem doesn't end up a smaller diameter than the wood. If the stem is buffed separately it is easy to go to far at that point.

Yeah, that's a good point. I know at Walker Briar works, they actually make a little plug for your stem to go into for buffing so that you don't lose the crisp edge fit with your stummel.

No-Scuff Repairs

As it stands right now I think I am planning on using Everclear and pipe cleaners on the stem. I think I will scrape and sweeten the bowl.

Originally Posted by Pyrateknight

As it stands right now I think I am planning on using Everclear and pipe cleaners on the stem. I think I will scrape and sweeten the bowl.

You can also do the salt treatment if the residual aroma is really overpowering. I've done it on a couple of estate pipes that had more of their old aroma than I was comfortable with. It comes with the caveat that some have had bowls crack shortly after smoking following the salt treatment but I've never had an issue.

http://www.pipes.org/Articles/PipeSweet.html

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

You can also do the salt treatment if the residual aroma is really overpowering. I've done it on a couple of estate pipes that had more of their old aroma than I was comfortable with. It comes with the caveat that some have had bowls crack shortly after smoking following the salt treatment but I've never had an issue.

The Professor's Pipe-Sweetening Treatment

+1 on this.

I got a Peterson that had a pretty hefty latakia ghost, even though it was reamed clean and had been cleaned fairly well by the seller. I did a bit more cleaning of the shank and the system well, but what really helped were two salt/alcohol treatments of 24 then 48 hours, each. The ghost was completely gone and now I'm ghosting it back up. With more latakia

Also guys, check out the stem resto kit from Walker (at the link I gave above). It's a great little kit for keeping your stems shiny and clean. I use it every couple of months and my stems are all nice and shiny. It's really best for vulcanite stems, I think.

Salt and Alcohol is the bee's knee's. I've brought back a couple dozen crusty old Kaywoodies using this method. Works like a champ!

Well the stem is clean and the bowl is being sweetened as we speak. The alcohol definitely brought out some oxidation on the stem though. Not really bad. Probably able to take it out with a light sanding if I feel like it.