Did I Over-Sweeten?

[chailover]

I recently followed some online directions for sweetening my pipes. First timer at this. I thought I followed the instructions pretty carefully. Filled my pipes with kosher salt in the bowl and the stem. At several layers of applying the salt I added a few dropper fulls of grain alcohol and let all my boys sit for 24hrs. Cleaned em out real good and left pipe cleaners in them for another day or so. On about the third day after making sure they were good and dry I started the rotation and loaded and filled my first pipe in line. It's like breaking in a brand new pipe! Arrrrgggghhhhh! Is this the way it's supposed to be? I thought that the broken in sweet nutty flavor quality wouldn't be affected. I'd be glad for any thoughts or comments from all the brethren out there. Sisters too.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

The salt'n'liquor technique, at least by my reckon, isn't really for "sweetening" the bowl as it is used often to "de-ghost" a pipe from some horror that might have inhabited it before, perhaps by a former owner.

I do know if done improperly, the technique can actually strip away the cake of a bowl, sometimes too much, and leave one with a pipe practically back to a briar surface again. Especially if the cake was minimal to begin with, say, on a new pipe only smoked for a month. I do know--I've done it once, and had to start all over again.

Was the goal to truly "sweeten" a pipe, or was it to remove a ghost? Are all of your pipes treated in this manner reacting this way?

Did you accidentally fill your mouth with live wasps?

8)

 

[chailover]

Hey Kyle,
The pipes had to me actually started tasting a little funky-from smoking tobacco that I had erroneously rehydrated with a lemon peel and thus an astringent type of flavor. So the purpose of the procedure was to de-ghost them I suppose. The cake was still present after the act and I thought all would be well.

 

[Rob_In_MO]

Your technique sounds correct, and Yes - it's like starting all over with a brand new pipe.

I've only used that method twice, and both times I used it I had similar results. If you don't mind starting over on the break-in process, then this procedure is probably the most thorough way to de-ghost a pipe.


These days, I usually just lightly ream the pipe and then smoke the previous flavor out of them. It takes several bowls, but I ain't afraid of no ghost!

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Okay, I get it. The term "sweetening" a pipe has terrible connotations for me, mostly due to a nice gent at the local Tinder Box offering to "sweeten" my pipe for me (he was just being nice) and I was thinking, "Cool, okay--how kind!" I ended up with a minty, toilet-bowl smelling/tasting experience in the old, trusty pipe for about two weeks. ale:

The de-ghosting salt'n'liquor deal is what needed to be done. What on earth drove you to use lemons in your tobacco? :lol: Live and learn, I guess.

That said, yep, you gotta start over again in that case. In many estate pipes I've picked up, I trim the cake, if any, to just before I reach briar, and then I usually do a couple of salt/alcohol treatments. I usually soak the crap out of the salt myself, let it sit for 24 hours, let the salt turn almost black, and then dry for a couple of days. Repeating of necessary. Because, I'd rather deal with "new pipe" breaking in (which isn't as bad if the pipe really has been smoked in before, regardless) than the demons of someone's poor choice of tobacco.

Good luck.

 

[chailover]

Hey,Thanks to All! If you gotta start over, you gotta start over. I read about the lemon rehydration on another forum that will go unmentioned. As an eager pipe newbie I thought what the heck. Now I think I think what the hell!

 

[Kyle Weiss]

This I wrote about a very simple technique with easy-to-obtain materials to rescue and rehydrate dry tobacco... no lemons involved. 8) There's also some other ideas in there as well if you feel so inclined...

https://www.brothersofbriar.com/t18880-a-tobacco-rehydration-trick?highlight=rehydration

 

[monbla256]

Whenever I feel a pipe has "soured" it's usually because I have not followed my cleaning "ritual" with it and I usually just ream it out to just at or slightly over a dimes thickness of cake, then use this stuff I've used for many decades now, "CLEAN & CURE" by Pipemasters. I take a cleaner dipped in it and coat the freshly reamed bowl and scrubbed airway in the shank & stem with it and put it back in the rack for a few days of airing out then load it up and we go on our way ! I must say that I've not had any "estates" that I had to refurbish ( I've bought only 3 estates and all had been done for me prior to my buying them) so I have only done this on "my" pipes that I have bought new over these years. There are some here who have much more sensative palates who will say don't use this stuff, but I've never found it to leave ANY flavor in my pipe if the pipe is left in the rack to air out for several days. Patience is the first thing you need for any of this and as has been ponted out, most left-over "ghosts" can be smoked out as well JMHO

 

[williamcharles]

The results of pipe sweeteners can be pretty scary.
I just use 2:1 Bacardi 151 and Evan Williams Honey
I just swab the walls of the bowl when I think it needs it...salty or sour...and then run a cleaner moistened in the stuff through the stem to clean it after a smoke/s.

 

[gravel]

I've used the same Monbla with good effect for simple cleaning. Its cheaper than liquor and it works! I do let my pipes rest longer than most, so a sour pipe is rare these days.

 

[Olle0047]

I use the same method with all the estate pipes i buy, and tried it once for de-ghosting a pipe. On some occations it has the mentioned effect of having to break the pipe in again. This only have applied to the pipes i have reamed the cake down too much. Instead of alcohol, wich is infuriatingly expensive here i use Antibac, the kind of alcohol you use on your hands. Does the job very well! I have done it on 30+ pipes with great results.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Though using lemon in your tobacco will "sour" any pipe pretty quick, by my reckon. :lol:

8)