I got some pipes from my dad this past weekend. He had them from my great grandfather. How would I go about cleaning these and finding out what they are?

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I am going to buy some tobacco here soon as I get them ready to use. They have not been used in at least 20 years.
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Awesome keepsakes! Wish I had some kind of heirloom to hang onto.
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I am stoked. Since I have an interest in them or other things related to them.
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Wipe the rims clean with paper towels/spit.

Gently unscrew the stems; if they don't come out pretty easily, do not force anything - it's easy to snap a shank or stem on an old dry pipe. Cloverleaf logo says Kaywoodie - those stems should unscrew counterclockwise. If stuck, call us back.

Clean out (black) inside of stems with bristle pipecleaners dipped in highest proof booze. Everclear is nice but 100proof anything will work. Scour til clean, swab out with fluffy pipecleaner. If stingers (funny aluminum crap on the stem) clean with a toothbrush if grungy.

Lots of ways to clean grunge off the bits. Light rubbing with superfine steel wool works but may need follow-up fine sanding. Stay off of the logos - they'll strip if you abuse them with wool or sandpaper. MircroMesh wet-sanding and polishing cloths (1200-12000) are best if you want to buy a sample set. They clean, polish anything, btw. Finish the outside with a wipe of olive oil, about 1 drop or less per stem.

Get a pipe tool and scrape the bowls clean of obvious grunge; scour out with a looped bristle pipecleaner. Mind not to scrape off the finish on the outside. Booze also removes stink and tar from inside bowl but that gets a little more involved to make sure you don't ruin the finish. Cross that bridge later.

Nice gift, the old mans pipes.
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I'd love to add something, but as usual, Moo said it all. I have a couple old Kaywoodies that are great smokers. Enjoy!
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I will work on them this weekend. I want to have them on display as well as use them from time to time.
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I am a little nervous to clean them.. I do not want to break them.

I hope my local sh!t hole has some cleaning tools and what not.
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Go slow and never force anything.
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Attempted to clean, no clue what I was doing. Stopped.
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Nice Gary...all u need is salt and some rum...lots of info here fill pipe with salt and and place a few pipe cleaners in the stem all the way in to the bowl ...add a few drops of rum...or about a tablespoon in the salt ...let sit for 8hrs and repeat till the salt absorbs all the gunk out of the pipe bowl...a reamer may help after a few applications ...if no rum whiskey will for the trick....leave the stem in....if not the steam will not fit as the briar will expand from the alcohol treatment
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I just scared to to clean them and ruin them, Since they were a hand me down. I may be better off just buying a new one and trying that.

I actually have no issues with smoking them the way they are in order not to ruin the pipes.

One stem got semi discolored, Started to turn a yellow-ish.
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Thats just oxidation Garry, nothing to worry about. Get some fine grit sand paper and polish that bad boy off and it'll be right back to what it was. :-)
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Can I use something like steel wool?

I figured I will not mess with these anymore. I do not want to ruin them.

I will go out and buy one to try to pipe scene..
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Please for the love of god don't use steel wool. Some tobacco shops carry a solution they use to clean pipes and get rid of old tobacco (the black stuff) forgot the name of it in the pipes. They also sell replacement stems which can be had fairly cheap.
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Glad I asked.
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Cake is the word you're lookin for :-)

Also, I severely doubt any shops sell replacement stems save for cobs. For a briar, each stem is unique, as long as its not a screw in stem, and even then it varies from company to company what the size is used, and even different lines require different size threads.

Best bet for fixing the stem is heading over to Home Depot/Lowes/etc. and grabbing some of the highest grit sand paper you can find and a nontoxic polishing kit and putting some elbow grease into it. Shouldn't take a whole lot of work, but will require some.

Google turned me to this:
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/de-oxidize-a-stem
Those guys are probably a bit more knowledgeable than me on the whole stem repair
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Thanks. I am going to try some things I read in that tomorrow.. I also may buy a corn cob.. Maybe a mini just to see if I do like it.
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