Well sort of, but who's complaining. We recently moved into a new place back in August and while sweeping underneath a work bench, I ascertained the following:

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I would like to dedicate this pipe to the aromatics and my question is, what is the convenient method for cleaning-up this new found treasure? Is there a basic homebrew recipe? I do have pipe cleaners for a start:-)

Please advise and thanks...


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Nice find there! Can't help you out much with the restoration end, but I would recommend some booze and cleaners.
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1. Remove the stem only by turning it clockwise.
2. Stick a fluffy pipecleaner into the now stemless shank and, thru, into the bowl.
3. Fill the bowl about 85% full of kosher coarse salt. Shalom.
4. Solidly secure the salt-filled, stemless bowl tipped so the shank opening is a bit higher than the rim of the bowl and the pipe cleaner points more-or-less upward.
5. Add Everclear or 91% rubbing alcohol to the bowl with an eyedropper.
6. Stop adding alcohol when you can see it seeping around the top of the salt fill. Do not overfill and don't dribble it on the outside of the bowl - it'll strip finish and leach out woodstain. If the shank opening is higher than the rim of the bowl nothing will be dribbling out when the bowl is 85% full.
7. Let sit for an hour or so. The alcohol will evaporate up the pipecleaner and take grunge and stink and germs with it. Replace pipecleaner and add more Everclear.
8. Repeat until pipecleaner looks clean. Salt may get grungy (or not). If it does, let the bowl dry out for several hours or overnight, dump the salt out and refill with clean salt and booze.
9. Some guys use cottonballs instead of salt.

The treatment leave a pipe clean and fresh smelling.

Clean out the stem with a bristle-type pipecleaners dipped in Everclear until they come out clean. If the stem is not black-black it can sit in bleach for an hour or so (after cleaning the inside) and then be rubbed with a paper towel and a bit of olive oil to make it shiney. Sometimes a good rubbing with toothpaste or a Magic Eraser will take out grunge and small scratches to improve the sheen.

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Excellent! Thanks for the input Dan:-)


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It reads longer than it takes to do. You wekkum.
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Hey, that's a good lookin' pipe you found there. I bet it cleans up real purty. Let us know how it smokes too. :-)
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Skip the salt, use cotton balls instead --- easier on the pipe. You don't have to watch time as closely.
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Grats on the new pipe Mark! Hope she treats ya well.

Chris
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Well, the new found pipe has been cleaned. I decided to go the 'salt' route and 99% isopropyl alcohol this time around. Went through a few pipe cleaners too:-)

Main thing is, the inside chamber, shank, stem, and bit areas have been cleaned and sanitized, and all parts are currently gonna dry out overnight.

We'll give this one a test drive tomorrow AM with some Bear' Blend from Boswell'...



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If you want, you can also use some 600 grit wet/dry on the bit, followed by the olive oil. It will make it look nearly new, all bright and shiny :-)

nice looking pipe by the way :-)
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Helpful information and thank you Robert:-)



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:-) Well, fired-up the reconditioned 'El Morjane' this afternoon and packed the bowl with a healthy dose of Boswell' Bear Blend for the test drive. After burning a couple of matches, the baccy caught and smoked nicely in the pipe. There didn't appear to be any 'ghost notes' that I could detect during this test drive. So, it appears the initial cleaning of this newly found estate pipe was a success.

A big thank you once again to all the Inmates who contributed to this thread...


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