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+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...

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.
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I wouldn't use mentholated anything, as it might leave that flavour in the pipe. I use 99% isopropyl alcohol in my pipes and so far, everything is fine and I don't have any further brain damage.

There are two things here: sterilizing and polishing.

As mentioned, bleach is not recommended because of the aluminum tenon, though I did a couple of aluminum tenon pipes with a 50/50 bleach/water...