ghosts

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Zeno Marx

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Of course, it's more than likely both, but where do you think ghosts primarily hold root? In the bowl or in the shank/airway? I'm leaning towards the shank and airway. In the "what are you smoking?" thread, I mention just doing a fresh soap and running water scrub (with a tube brush) of a Stanwell with a funny taste, and for the most part, it helped a lot.
 
Hmm, whenever I get an estate that has been used to smoke perfumed tobacco, I find I need to ream the cake right back to bare wood as it sticks in there real good as well as a thorough stem/shank cleaning. Will also give the bowl, once reemed, a good old alchol and salt treatment or two which helps.

Funny taste as in what you get when you've been abusing a pipe and smoking it too much without resting it, which I wouldn't call a ghost, or more as what I described above?

Also the good old alcohol retort will tend to render a ghost moot.
 
I do need to get, or to build, a retort. I've wanted one for a long time. The pipe in question doesn't appear to be smoked hard. I've taken it down to bare wood twice with a Sav pipe knife and sandpaper. The first time I cleaned the airway, I used the alcohol and bristled cleaners method. The second time I cleaned the airway, I used the running water, soap, and tube brush method, which worked far better. The bowl has been through two cotton ball and alcohol soaks. I don't care for the salt method.
 
What about corn cob pipes? I have this one that has a terrible stench while smoking. I've scrubbed the stem out, but have
not touched the bowl other than wiping it out. I'm wondering if the cob itself was not old enough to make into a pipe. It kind
of smells like a cob burning on a BBQ grill! Can I do an alcohol wipe on the inside of the bowl?
 
How many smokes have you put through the cob?

They tend to taste like corn for the first few, which I'm sure you know given your username. ;)

Cobs are cheap enough that if one isn't working for you, chuck it or display it and get another.
 
I do need to get, or to build, a retort. I've wanted one for a long time. The pipe in question doesn't appear to be smoked hard. I've taken it down to bare wood twice with a Sav pipe knife and sandpaper. The first time I cleaned the airway, I used the alcohol and bristled cleaners method. The second time I cleaned the airway, I used the running water, soap, and tube brush method, which worked far better. The bowl has been through two cotton ball and alcohol soaks. I don't care for the salt method.
I bought mine off ebay years ago, but can't seem to see any there today. Or elsewhere on the web for that matter.

Should be easy enough to make your own with a test tube and rubber/felxible tubing.
 
I believe I have one in my 120+ y/o house, but not in any of my pipes.
 
Of course, it's more than likely both, but where do you think ghosts primarily hold root? In the bowl or in the shank/airway? I'm leaning towards the shank and airway. In the "what are you smoking?" thread, I mention just doing a fresh soap and running water scrub (with a tube brush) of a Stanwell with a funny taste, and for the most part, it helped a lot.

Just sniff the bowl of a suspect pipe and if it reeks of whatever you think the ghost is…bingo!
 
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