stone
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Post by stone on Apr 14, 2019 19:14:00 GMT -5
I picked up some pipes and while there are some decent pipes the guy clearly "NEVER" cleaned anything. Most of the pipes have so much cake nothing bigger than a Q-tip would go in the bowl. Tonight I spent a great deal of time trying to clean up the two meerschaums and their stems. There is so much tar in the stems I cant get a pipe cleaner through.
Can I soak these clear stems in alcohol or will that destroy them?
I read this and the one he did was not bad so he didn't mention much work on the stems but my stem is just like this one.
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Post by trailboss on Apr 14, 2019 19:45:32 GMT -5
The Meerschaum pipe stems may be acrylic based on your description, or amber if they are really old.
Amber can be fragile, and you can destroy a stem if you do not follow proper procedure.
Pipemaker Ryan Alden says:
Always start with a least aggressive approach...you can heat the water to 120-130 degrees in the microwave, set the stem in the soapy water and proceed.
If you think that it is a collectible pipe, it is worthwhile to send it to a pro.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2019 19:46:18 GMT -5
I picked up some pipes and while there are some decent pipes the guy clearly "NEVER" cleaned anything. Most of the pipes have so much cake nothing bigger than a Q-tip would go in the bowl. Tonight I spent a great deal of time trying to clean up the two meerschaums and their stems. There is so much tar in the stems I cant get a pipe cleaner through.
Can I soak these clear stems in alcohol or will that destroy them?
I read this and the one he did was not bad so he didn't mention much work on the stems but my stem is just like this one.
I would not soak any stem in ISO alcohol but, cleaning it with a ISO soaked cleaner would be okay. Those are acrylic stems and are pretty sturdy but, I wouldn't subject them to chemicals that are solvents like that.
Be careful of heating it unless your sure of the temp it reaches because you'll end up straightening it or even deforming it.
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sablebrush52
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Post by sablebrush52 on Apr 14, 2019 20:11:24 GMT -5
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, use alcohol on an acrylic stem!!!
Alcohol reacts with acrylic to create micro-fissures which will lead to eventual cracking and failure of the acrylic. Do a little research and you will find that this is a no no.
Here's a video on the topic. Skip the first 2 minutes to get to the important stuff.
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Post by peteguy on Apr 14, 2019 21:46:22 GMT -5
Warm soapy water should work fine. I don't think they "soaked" the stems in the article you mentioned but ran a pipe cleaner dipped in alcohol.
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sablebrush52
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Post by sablebrush52 on Apr 14, 2019 22:55:39 GMT -5
Warm soapy water should work fine. I don't think they "soaked" the stems in the article you mentioned but ran a pipe cleaner dipped in alcohol. It doesn't matter. The reaction is immediate. The only difference is that the damage is less apparent. The next time the acrylic is exposed to alcohol, the damage becomes a little bit deeper and more extensive, and so on, and so on, until cracks start to form from twisting the tenon in after cleaning. If people want to ruin their pipes that's theirs to do. But they can choose to do so with the knowledge that that's what they have chosen to do. And unless you live in an alternative universe where the molecular make up of acrylic and alcohol are different, this is the reaction that happens on contact. |
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Post by trailboss on Apr 14, 2019 23:32:45 GMT -5
I would think that running some warm water through a pipe dedicated tip with a product like a waterpik might be a good solution to a problem...never thought about it until now....followed by a nylon brush and pipe cleaner if you can get them through.
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stone
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Post by stone on Apr 15, 2019 5:13:47 GMT -5
Boy, am I glad I asked! Thanks!
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stone
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Post by stone on Apr 15, 2019 7:45:00 GMT -5
These are the stems and I had to break down and run pipe cleaners with alcohol, hot soapy water wouldn't do it. There is still so much tar in the stems, I would not smoke the pipe. Any suggestions?
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Post by Cramptholomew on Apr 15, 2019 8:06:59 GMT -5
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stone
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Post by stone on Apr 15, 2019 8:22:20 GMT -5
Those would certainly help if they are thin enough to get in there and strong enough to take some pushing  Do you have any experience with them?
I honestly don't believe that soap and water will ever clean the built up tar. Other than alcohol, is there anything else I could try? OxyClean?
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Post by pepesdad1 on Apr 15, 2019 8:28:00 GMT -5
Mean green or some other type of cleaner that is similar, will dissolve the tar and any other organic matter in the stem,
I use it to clean my plug knife when the "grease" from tobacco builds up on the blade.
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Post by Cramptholomew on Apr 15, 2019 8:39:06 GMT -5
Those would certainly help if they are thin enough to get in there and strong enough to take some pushing Do you have any experience with them?
I honestly don't believe that soap and water will ever clean the built up tar. Other than alcohol, is there anything else I could try? OxyClean?
my wife used to use them to clean baby stuff, and then I absconder with them to clean stems. I did a couple estates with them, and they worked well. |
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Post by Cramptholomew on Apr 15, 2019 8:40:04 GMT -5
Those would certainly help if they are thin enough to get in there and strong enough to take some pushing Do you have any experience with them?
I honestly don't believe that soap and water will ever clean the built up tar. Other than alcohol, is there anything else I could try? OxyClean?
actually scratch that. Those that I linked are a lot bigger than the ones I have. Let me find them and I'll link. |
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Post by Cramptholomew on Apr 15, 2019 9:06:19 GMT -5
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stone
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Post by stone on Apr 15, 2019 9:35:02 GMT -5
Thanks! Simple Green, a few dozen pipe cleaners, and some patience worked real well! |
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stone
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Post by stone on Apr 21, 2019 11:56:19 GMT -5
Those would certainly help if they are thin enough to get in there and strong enough to take some pushing Do you have any experience with them?
I honestly don't believe that soap and water will ever clean the built up tar. Other than alcohol, is there anything else I could try? OxyClean?
actually scratch that. Those that I linked are a lot bigger than the ones I have. Let me find them and I'll link. Thanks for the tip! I bought an assortment of sizes of these brushes and cut the loop off at the end and put it in the chuck of my drill. Dip in alcohol, insert and rotate at high speed, reverse direction, rotate at high speed, rinse, repeat. I eventually got "everything" out of the stems, shanks, and mortises.
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Post by Cramptholomew on Apr 21, 2019 13:32:48 GMT -5
actually scratch that. Those that I linked are a lot bigger than the ones I have. Let me find them and I'll link. Thanks for the tip! I bought an assortment of sizes of these brushes and cut the loop off at the end and put it in the chuck of my drill. Dip in alcohol, insert and rotate at high speed, reverse direction, rotate at high speed, rinse, repeat. I eventually got "everything" out of the stems, shanks, and mortises.
Good deal, man! |
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Do you have any experience with them? 
