Post by stvalentine on Mar 19, 2017 14:09:34 GMT -5
As a fan on Falcon pipes I always wanted to try one of thosy fance Kirstens but most of the time they went for crazy prices. Lately I was lucky to grab even two for a good price. While they were in the mail I did a bit of researching on the brand and found out that the inventor of Kirsten pipes Prof. Frederick Kirsten was a German and left the country as a cabin boy on a ship from the port of Hamburg, the city I was born in. Well, that makes Kirstens a must I suppose.... 
When they arrived the condition was not that bad but of course the two bottom valves were stuck, the stems had not much of a teeth chatter but were totally oxidized and the bowls were caked. I work in a watch manufactory and instantly though of our professional ultra sonic cleaners. A lot of grime got loose in these very potent devices but at the same time the polished aluminum stem of one of the Kirstens went black!
Back at home everything went into a alcohol bath to remove even more gunk. The stems of Kirstens are notoriously hard to clean and it took me a while to get a pipe cleaner to pass through them. The O-rings were hard and brittle and fell of or snapped.
The cake came out easily from the bowls with the help of a pocket knife but the screws were quite difficult to remove. The weak aluminum of them didn´t help too...
What follwed was a lot of polishing on the bench buffer. Beeing a motorcycle rider helped with the O-rings - I had some in stock! 
I always wondered if they would smoke better than a Falcon but with that many parts to clean I am not sure if I will take the plunge and smoke them....
before:
after:
When they arrived the condition was not that bad but of course the two bottom valves were stuck, the stems had not much of a teeth chatter but were totally oxidized and the bowls were caked. I work in a watch manufactory and instantly though of our professional ultra sonic cleaners. A lot of grime got loose in these very potent devices but at the same time the polished aluminum stem of one of the Kirstens went black!
Back at home everything went into a alcohol bath to remove even more gunk. The stems of Kirstens are notoriously hard to clean and it took me a while to get a pipe cleaner to pass through them. The O-rings were hard and brittle and fell of or snapped. The cake came out easily from the bowls with the help of a pocket knife but the screws were quite difficult to remove. The weak aluminum of them didn´t help too...
What follwed was a lot of polishing on the bench buffer. Beeing a motorcycle rider helped with the O-rings - I had some in stock! 
I always wondered if they would smoke better than a Falcon but with that many parts to clean I am not sure if I will take the plunge and smoke them....
before:
after:
