My Neighbor's Guide to Estate Pipe Cleaning
Apr 11, 2019 22:27:53 GMT -5
BrunoT, chasingembers, and 5 more like this
Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2019 22:27:53 GMT -5
So it turns out my neighbor down the road is a pipe smoker of many years (with a phenomenal Peterson collection, by the way). He kindly shared with me his step-by-step method of cleaning estate pipes and gave permission to share it. I know most people here have their own methods, but there were a couple of things I thought were unique and useful. And maybe it'll be a help to beginners, too.
Food for thought, and possible debate anyway!
-------
1. Grind enough salt to fill your bowl down to a fine powder so it will pack into the smallest indentations inside the bowl. Also fine powder will maximize the bowl surface area contacted by salt so most of the foul-tasting tars and impurities can leach out of the wood and into the salt. A coffee grinder works well for this.
2. The salt slurry works best when most or all of the cake is scraped off the inside of the bowl. It's usually best to carefully and evenly trim down to bare wood prior to the salt bath.
3. Pour the powdered salt into the pipe bowl to within about 1/8" of the top. Pour it in stages, tamping down on the salt firmly before adding more salt.
Don't fill the shank or reservoir with salt. No need, since burning tobacco has never touched these locations.
4. Plug the end of the shank with a cork that goes in far enough to prevent the Everclear from running out the shank when you pour, but not so far in that you can't easily pull the cork out later.
5. Carefully drip Everclear into the bowl until the liquid appears above the level of the salt. Add more as necessary until the salt is thoroughly saturated.
Keep the Everclear off the outside surface of the bowl and shank--it will remove the finish.
6. Place the pipe bowl in a safe place where the top of the bowl is level and no Everclear can run out. A portable pipe stand is best for this purpose.
7. Cover the top of the bowl to slow the evaporation of the Everclear. I use a coin. Don't cover using plastic wrap and rubber band, as I once tried--it's so air-tight that the Everclear never evaporates, and the finish on the top of the bowl can be damaged by condensation or Everclear.
8. Check periodically whether the Everclear is evaporating properly. It should take 2-4 days for the salt to completely dry, depending on the interior capacity of the bowl.
9. Pull the cork out of the shank a day or so before you remove the salt from the bowl to accelerate the drying process in the bottom of the bowl.
10. Empty the dry and now brownish salt by breaking through the top crust and pouring out the salt. Get out every single salt grain using a pipe tool and even a pin, if necessary.
11. Use compressed air to make the job of getting the salt out easier after you have removed as much of the salt using tools. All the salt must be removed or residual salt will adversely affect the smoking qualities of the pipe.
12. Once the salt is removed, give the pipe at least another day to thoroughly dry before smoking.
13. Repeat this process as necessary if the pipe still tastes bad.
Good luck!
Food for thought, and possible debate anyway!
-------
1. Grind enough salt to fill your bowl down to a fine powder so it will pack into the smallest indentations inside the bowl. Also fine powder will maximize the bowl surface area contacted by salt so most of the foul-tasting tars and impurities can leach out of the wood and into the salt. A coffee grinder works well for this.
2. The salt slurry works best when most or all of the cake is scraped off the inside of the bowl. It's usually best to carefully and evenly trim down to bare wood prior to the salt bath.
3. Pour the powdered salt into the pipe bowl to within about 1/8" of the top. Pour it in stages, tamping down on the salt firmly before adding more salt.
Don't fill the shank or reservoir with salt. No need, since burning tobacco has never touched these locations.
4. Plug the end of the shank with a cork that goes in far enough to prevent the Everclear from running out the shank when you pour, but not so far in that you can't easily pull the cork out later.
5. Carefully drip Everclear into the bowl until the liquid appears above the level of the salt. Add more as necessary until the salt is thoroughly saturated.
Keep the Everclear off the outside surface of the bowl and shank--it will remove the finish.
6. Place the pipe bowl in a safe place where the top of the bowl is level and no Everclear can run out. A portable pipe stand is best for this purpose.
7. Cover the top of the bowl to slow the evaporation of the Everclear. I use a coin. Don't cover using plastic wrap and rubber band, as I once tried--it's so air-tight that the Everclear never evaporates, and the finish on the top of the bowl can be damaged by condensation or Everclear.
8. Check periodically whether the Everclear is evaporating properly. It should take 2-4 days for the salt to completely dry, depending on the interior capacity of the bowl.
9. Pull the cork out of the shank a day or so before you remove the salt from the bowl to accelerate the drying process in the bottom of the bowl.
10. Empty the dry and now brownish salt by breaking through the top crust and pouring out the salt. Get out every single salt grain using a pipe tool and even a pin, if necessary.
11. Use compressed air to make the job of getting the salt out easier after you have removed as much of the salt using tools. All the salt must be removed or residual salt will adversely affect the smoking qualities of the pipe.
12. Once the salt is removed, give the pipe at least another day to thoroughly dry before smoking.
13. Repeat this process as necessary if the pipe still tastes bad.
Good luck!
