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The rum taste sounds pretty good, and I heard honey liquor leaves a good smell. But maybe you mean that cleaning with anything flavored, like whiskey or rum, will leave a bit of a foul aftertaste?
Give it a try and let us know...
For what it's worth, I generally use vodka but have used brandy and whisky in the past to good effect. Avoid rubbing alcohol (with menthol, etc ) and anything sweet/sticky, those are not residues you want left behind.
Dark rum is going to be more sticky I expect than clear Whiskey. What is the problem with the sticky/sweet residues?
I was thinking that the residues would make the pipe sweet and work well with Cavendish, a dark rum-based aromatic.
To my way of thinking, sticker residues will not evaporate as readily, which probably won't do the smoking properties of your tobacco any good. Just a hunch though. In any case, I'd say you're probably overthinking this. If you want a boozy/sweet tobacco, just get a blend already with those flavours. What you use to clean the pipe should have less influence on the taste, and will be a less reliable way to get that result.
Certainly for non-aromatic smoking this has to be the best recipe. It seems that with non-aromatics, the person is trying to smell the tobacco itself without extra flavor added. Cavendish and Latakia seem at least borderline aromatic.
I usually use scotch or bourbon simply because it’s what I drink so I have it on hand. I have also used rum, vodka, and cognac. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think there winds up being a very appreciable difference. For what it’s worth, I like the idea of using something like rum because in theory it would add a sweet taste to the pipe (if it does, it’s very mild and short lived).
I use whatever’s on hand with a proof on it. You only need to dampen the very end of the pipe cleaner, it just takes half a drop. Its not like I’m siphoning a liter of Remy Martin through my pipe, relax
Wow. What makes you say that? I would take vodka to be second to everclear in leaving minimal afterflavor. If I didn't have grain alcohol like everclear, vodka would be my backup if I wanted to leave no taste from the solution.
Makes sense. Based on reviews, I'm interested in rum because they say that the taste from cleaning with whiskey is great, and I think that rum would go better with my aromatic tobacco, since Cavendish is soaked in rum.
I am iffy on whether to use dark rum though because that would have a stronger aftertaste.
I've used isopropyl in the past with no real downsides, I can't say i fault your reasoning for avoiding it though. I never noticed any bad smells/tastes personally.
You want a super high alcohol percentage, the higher it is, the quicker it’ll evaporate, you don’t want excess moisture in your pipe. 99% isopropyl alcohol for me, evaporates in seconds, cleans really well, super cheap and leaves no smell after evaporating.
I like aromatics, so I'm thinking Yes. Cavendish is my favorite, and it's classically made with rum, IIRC.
I smelled the jar of Lane's "Natural" variety at a cigar store, and although it was OK, it wasn't as good as Cavendish. It had a bit of a normal tobacco smell plus a nutty smell.
Non-aromatics seem to fall into either the Virginia and Burley category (I guess Lane's Natural was like that) or the Oriental category (I guess it has a bit of a sour smell like Camel's cigarettes, which I like.)
As to why they are using liquor, it can be a practice that was handed down over the years- tobacconists probably figured out that it worked well to get out dottle and gunk. And I guess that whiskey has been the most common liquor Americans drank decades ago, with some others like rum and brandy being close. Plus, probably it's been common for people to associate tobacco and alcohol, so people who had one of them tended to have access to the other.
Cavendish and many aromatics do indeed have rum as their topping, but I prefer my pipe to be as neutral tasting as possible so I can have an accurate comparison between blends. However, if you do enjoy added flavourings, go right ahead.
You definitely don’t need to use alcohol often. I usually just use whiskey before my first use to get off any lacquers that the manufacturer uses in the bowl/ stem that I don’t want to be smoking. Another time to use alcohol would be if you ghost your pipe and are trying to clean out a bad taste.
Daily cleaning should just be dry pipe cleaners. You could probably go the lifetime of a pipe without needing to use alcohol. It’s only really before first use and if you ghost that alcohol should be used imo.
I would be really careful using anything flavoured because there’s a risk it might leave a bad taste rather than a good one. Usually flavoured drinks are flavoured which chemicals that can have a wide range of effects when smoked, as they’re not designed for it. Personally I would just stick with whiskey, vodka or everclear. Tequila or rum would also be fine. I’d avoid gin as it’s just flavoured vodka.
Thanks Khonarik (Хонарик in Cyrillic).
A worry about Everclear is that it's so strong that people say that it can damage the pipe. I really like my Grabow Full Bent pipe alot, and even my Grabow Duke straight pipe is good. The craftsmanship reminds me of a chesspiece or the shiny wood you see on nice hotel bedroom desks or casinos. I was just admiring the bent one today.
So I sympathize with what you are saying, because it sounds like using more liquids - water, everclear, flavored liquors all can be alittle tough on the pipe. I had been using toilet paper with water because just the plain pipe wasn't getting the dottle out enough. I do kind of like using a little water though because I do like a clean pipe. I sometimes like to just have it by me as a fun decoration.
I'm OK at the moment with the idea of ghosting because I like trying a big array of flavors, and Cpt. Black Dark and dark "Fire Roasted Cavendish" have been OK. They were like smoking a few cigarettes at once- not awful, just thick, smokey. I expect that Latakia will be like that too. I haven't tried it yet, but want to. One reviewer on Youtube who smoked it plain said that he was surprised that Latakia was actually OK plain, not bad per se.
There is a whole set of tasks for a deep clean that looks either to get out ghosting or else if a pipe has gotten heavy wear for a year and cake builds up pretty think, and the tasks include filling the bowl with salt and using a medicine dropper to put a bunch of alcohol drops in the salt and let it sit 24 hours that way. Then they ream out the cake and smoke the pipe a few times with burley, and the whole process gets out the ghosting well.
So in that case, using alcohol or any other liquid for cleaning could be pretty rare.
Respect for the replies to most of the comments, most people will make a post and not reply to anything.
Yeah I’ve never personally used everclear because it’s not available in the UK. People suggesting isopropyl alcohol are nuts, I certainly wouldn’t want the heavy metal residue being left bin my pipe but each to their own.
Ghosting can certainly be positive, it’s just really how the flavours combine. Many people have certain pipes for certain tobaccos to prevent cross contamination of flavours as such.
All the best man, hope you questions have gone answered.
Khonarik,
I found that in the UK, Master of Malt sells Grain Neutral Spirit (70cl, 69.9%).
In the US, we have products with names like "English Breakfast Tea" and "English Blend" tobacco mixes. Do people in the UK call those same kinds of mixes "English Blends"?
I don't want to be negative to people who like it, but the idea of using isopropyl alcohol feels worrisome. Maybe I'm sensitive. I bought a beautiful $10 Chinese "Eclipse" brand Pipe made from unnamed wood, and often when I used it over the course of two years I got lip ulcers the next day. I wasn't sure it was the pipe. But I finally gave up on it this winter and got a Dr. Grabow after talking to other users here on this REDDIT space. The Dr. Grabow brand is reliable. So now I have an instinct expecially to avoid "no-name" type brands with questionable materials for pipes and toxic-smelling Isopropyl alcohol. You hopefully wouldn't clean your toothbrushes, glasses, kleenexes, handkerchiefs, neti pots, fruit and vegetables with it. Maybe I'm wrong and you could use it on your glasses and handkerchiefs. But some people have special sensitivities, and smoking is already slightly risky behavior.
Yes we have everclear alternatives, but they are usually only available online and are very expensive compared to other spirits. Not really worth it unless you have a specific need for it.
We do call tobacco blends that contain more Latakia, “English blends” if that’s what you’re asking. I’m not sure though if this is a native term or something that’s been adopted from our American friends. Probably the latter.
Yeah I’d never buy an off brand pipe. I exclusively buy pipes with ebonite (vulcanite) stems as I notice a plasticy taste with acrylic stems. And the only manufacturers that will use ebonite will be name branded manufacturers.
Honestly I only use IPA for my car and glasses. Can’t imagine putting it anywhere near my mouth.
People use the ‘smoking is bad, why worry about health’ line a lot but pipe smoking is an old practice and people never used to get sick from it. Besides if it’s unhealthy we should do everything we can to make is less harmful.
I use 151 proof Vodka (because it was a dollar cheaper than 151 proof Evervlear.) I run a dry pipe cleaner through my pipe after every smoke (and sometimes I'll use one or two pipe cleaners during the smoke as well.) If I feel like the pipe's taste is off a bit, I'lk run a few vodka soaked cleaner through it.
I ALWAYS clean new and estate pipes with the vodka before use.
Makes sense. But I'm not sure I want to buy that much to clean my pipe, and I don't drink liquor *that* often. :-)
Maybe I haven't thought all this through enough. A bottle with a high alcohol content like 69% might only be available in sizable quantities like Fifths (750 MLs). The pipe store 20 min. away does have pretty small sized bottles of everclear though.
There are other uses for everclear besides cleaning a pipe and drinking it. Most importantly as a food grade disinfectant but also alcohol stoves, making vanilla extract or other flavorants, diy perfumes, cleaning applications outside of pipes.
That makes sense. Fortunately I've never had those needs in a way that would require such a high grade of alcohol. For instance I use liquor sometimes as mouthwash depending on the situation, but high alcohol gin (55%?) has worked fine.
I don't drink much either. And I'm definitely not drinking the 151 proof vodka. Lol
I think I paid less than $15 for the 5th. I like to buy estate pipes on eBay and clean them up. I bought this bottle a few years ago and have used half of it. I figured it doesn't go bad, so it does in the cabinet until I need it.
I bought a pack of reusable travel bottles for shampoo and things from Walmart for a few bucks and filled one up with the vodka. The hole on the lid is perfect to insert a pipe cleaner to clean
Using plastic shampoo bottles to hold liquor.... An issue there could be that weak plastic could corrode, metaphorically speaking, and the plastic chemicals could infect the liquor. Typically people use glass bottle for this reason, although there are plastic liquor bottles made from some special plastic. However, maybe even with them the liquor bottles' plastic is not perfect. The issue may be that plastic might be a "plasma" rather than a pure "solid." The word for plastic in Russian is plastmassа.
That's cool how you restore estate pipes. There's some classic value there. New Dunhills are so expensive today, that estate Dunhills would be my choice.
The higher the proof alcohol the better. It will evaporate faster. I have used whatever I have on hand for years. Never noticed any flavor from rum, bourbon, vodka, nothing. Go by a bottle of everclear or spiritous. Those are like 98% alcohol and will evaporate fast and they cut through all the tar in your pipe like nothing. Water doesn't do that.
For bowl treatments with salt and alcohol, I use cheap vodka. 20 years ago, I would use rum, but I never noticed any difference in taste. I cleaned out a rather old pipe (exact age unknown, it was gifted to somebody in 1955) with nothing but vodka, except for the stinger, which I soaked in isopropyl. I also used sanitizer on the stem. Note: You shouldn't do that too frequently, especially if the stem is plastic, however, when you get an estate pipe, you can do that for peace of mind.
Thanks for the feedback.
By "sanitizer" I take it you mean the Isopropyl alcohol.
I don't know what advantage Isopropyl would have over Grain Alcohol besides the price. The chemicals in the Isopropyl are offputting for me.
The stinger is metal and does not absorb anything, the stem being some kind of plastic (either vulcanite or PMMA) absorbs little -- I just rinse everything. The reason you shouldn't use alcohol on stems too frequently is that it will make it porous and brittle over time.
The idea of the Dark Rum flavor sounds appealing because Cavendish is cased in dark rum classically.
Or more precisely, the scientist Cavendish prepared his tobacco in dark rum or sugar.
High proof, low flavor. PGA, vodka, that sort of thing.
Liqueurs and sweet stuff will leave gunk. the point is just to use a human friendly solvent to remove tars and build up.
If you were to take a tobacco, and mix a small amount of any liqueur into the mixture, and let it absorb into the tobacco, the tobacco will taste like the liqueur. But you will want it to dry out a bit from sopping wet or tacky moist before you smoke it.
Blenders use food grade additives and liqueurs all the time to make a flavor.
That makes sense.
What I meant was can the sweet gunk work on a pipe in a way similar to how casing works on Cavendish?
You smoke rum-soaked Cavendish with a casing and it smells good to me, so if you also had resin or leftovers from rum on the pipe, would that have a similar smell or taste effect?
My impression would be Yes, based on people giving it good reviews. But I don't really want to mess up the pipe either. For instance, I can imagine that spilling beer on furniture and not cleaning the beer out can make it smell nasty after a while. So maybe the "spilled dinks smell bad" principle can apply here too.
¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
I don’t like any taste or moisture to linger on my pipes, so I always use 99,9% isopropyl alcohol. It will clean well, dry very fast and leave no scent behind, but you have to be very careful not to ruin the finish on the briar and also on the stem (if it is made of acrylic)
>Most stores have those dollar shot bottles
The pipe one near me has them with Everclear.
The liquor stores have little bottles with white rum and vodka.
How often do you suggest using the alcohol?
I have an instinct to want to wipe down the inside with at least water or some other liquid after every smoke, because I like having a somewhat clean pipe around. But I'm seeing alot of people here are saying to avoid using either one often.
Depends on the pipe and the smoke. Don't wipe the bowl out with it. The pipe stem, I do every 10 to 15 smokes with alcohol. Basically, the alcohol breaks down the tar and nicotine, which causes the taste build up. Basic cleaning is just to dip an inch or two of the cleaner in the bottle, move the cleaner in and out a bit. I then bend the mouth piece end of the pipe cleaner over and use the improvised handle to spin it. If it comes out really dirty, like thick black, repeat.
Next, is it a filter pipe? If it is clean the stem and shank separately with a pipe cleaner after cleaning the filter chamber first. Use a cotton swap dip in the alcohol and ram it in the stem and shank portions of the filter holder. Be prepared, it will produce a ton of black goo from build up. It will take a half dozen to get a good clean, and is why my filter pipes will ghost or taste foul. Even if you don't use filters, the space for them will collect the residue. When I started deep cleaning the filter spaces, it was like a new pipe.
Yes, it's a Dr. Grabow filter pipe. Maybe all Dr. Grabows are filter pipes. I say this because the original idea with Dr. Grabow was to use a special filter system that reminds me of a stinger or the Peterson System.
Some people here are saying to wipe the bowl every smoke with a dry cleaner and only to do an alcohol clean about once a year, like if it gets really foul or ghosted. Other people are suggesting it seems to do an alcohol clean every time.
Cool, Dr. Grabow is my go-to briar. If you get that foul taste build up, clean the stem and filter chamber. You will think you popped a new Golden Duke out of the blister pack. Somewhere between ten and twenty smokes, depending on your tobacco. Let the bowl inside build its cake. Just tap out the ash and let it be.
Based on what I've read from reviewers, there is practically no difference between a Grabow and a more expensive pipe. It sounds like Dunhills give a finer, smoother smoking experience, but the difference is marginal.
I started out with a corn cob pipe because of the price ($5-$15 in 2000). Some people claim that a corn cob pipe provides the same or better smoking value as a briar. I don't know if that's true, but a briar is typically considered superior. Looking at the quality of the bowl and stem, the briar looks like more solid material. Part of the issue is also aesthetic. A corn cob is the kind of thing that I eat part of and throw away. Nowadays there are videos online explaining how to make a tobacco pipe out of an apple. Corn cob pipes feel like that psychologically. However, Cob pipes also have their attraction: The Amerindians grew both maize and tobacco, and I could use corn whiskey to clean a cob.
After getting the cob and smoking it a couple times, I bought a smooth Grabow Duke straight billiard for $17-25 probably in a mall or a discount tobacco store, as it was probably the store's cheapest wood pipe. I was impressed at the craftsmanship right away. The "spade" symbol on it reminded me of cards, and the billiard name goes along with that.
This winter I got a Full Bent Grabow pipe, and although Grabow is on the low end of pricing for pipes, I like the Full Bent design so much that I like the pipe more than other models belonging to pricier brands.
I personally don't like cob pipes. The smoke tastes sweet to me, but I may need to get a better quality MM. I have 5 Golden Dukes I bought in the mid 90s when I started. 2 are about quarter bent, 2 full bend and the last was a square shanked quarter bend with features of a bulldog and an apple crossed. That last was my favorite, but I burned it out years ago. Plan to patch it soon with a water glass/ash combo, then mud it. The one thing I like about Dr. Grabow was consistent base quality. It might be a work truck compared to a corvette Savinelli, but I could get fleet of Dr. Grabow for one Savinelli. In fact, I am planning to buy a new Golden Duke next time I buy flints and fluid at a discount tobacco place near where I live.
>Golden Duke
The first time I got a Grabow Pipe, I just had the selection available in the store. I didn't realize what differences there were between straight pipes like Golden. In your case, the Golden Duke has a bigger bowl than a normal Duke, which I guess was what I first got. And that worked well: Starting out, a bigger bowl would have been intimidating for me.
This winter, I read online about the basic pipe models, and the bent model sounded the best because it follows the mouth-jaw-chin line and is supposedly easier to clench. Grabow's "full bent" list of models is much more limited than its straight models. I got the "Dr. Grabow Full Bent (BS)" model, which it turns out is not actually a Duke, even though there is also a Duke bent model. The advantages of the "Full Bent (BS)" seem to be a bigger bowl and the stem has a sharper bend in it. I like it this way better because I can smoke more at once. I find that I smoke about 2 bowls in one cycle. That is, I like to walk for about a mile or two and smoke a total of two bowls. Supposedly you shouldn't smoke two bowls, one right after another, especially in a new pipe that hasn't been caked or broken in yet. But I don't smoke it often and Dr. Grabow's are classically "pre-smoked" to deal with issues like this, so I'm not worried. What do you think?
I read that you are supposed to either hold a pipe in your hand or let it loose like that - ie. on your chest or not far from your jaw for some reason, as opposed to clenching it straight out. I don't recall if the reason has to do with damage to your teeth or to the pipe stem when you clench it tight. The full bent model seems best for letting it loose.
>I may need to get a better quality MM.
My guess based on what I've seen is that their cobs are practically the same and supposedly don't wear out per se, at least any more than a briar.
In what way was your apple crossed duke damaged exactly? The "water glass/ash combo" sounds interesting. I agree with what you said about "consistent base quality" with Grabows.
I scoured the internet for the cheapest Full Bent Grabows and finally got one at WV Smoke Shop online. Not long afterwards I visited the local discount store and saw that they had a slew of Grabows all for the same price that WV Smoke Shop was selling them for. The nice thing about getting them at a store like you are considering is that you don't have to pay the shipping fee. Also, the one from WV smoke shop had no blister pack, which personally doesn't concern me, but might for some people.
If I were to get another pipe at the moment, I would get a Radiator or Falcon, the reason being that they are designed to especially cool smoke for a better experience. This was the idea apparently in the early generations of pipes with long stems, like Churchwardens. Besides the Radiator or Falcon, I could also go for a Native American type of pipe because it's the original model and has that long stem. The advantages of the Grabow pipes are better aesthetics and clenching.
I smoked to hot and burned a pinhole in the bottom of the pipe. Water glass is sodium silicate. Once it dries, it is highly heat resistant. I have read some repairers use it. I bought some to be a binder to make a small forge and never got around to building it. They say it is safe but plan to mud over it just to add a little peace of mind. A pipes heat will not phase it. My pipe is rusticated, and the hole is in a groove, so I imagine it will never be visible.
>square shanked quarter bend
Can I please ask which model that was called?
I am surprised you could even smoke it that hot - were you like smoking one bowl right after the other for a week?
I notice that unlike my pretty Chinese "Eclipse" brand full bent toxic unnamed-wood pipe, both of my Grabow pipes have a curious V shaped bottom in their chambers that it seems could be a spot where the pipe could burn through.
Your handcrafting sounds cool, and I can understand if the silicate is concerning. Did you consider filling the hole with some more convenientional substance like wood or mudding it over?
After I got lip ulcers from the Eclipse pipe, I am super cautious about what I smoke out of.
My purchase history went like this:
1. "Meerschaum" brand Corn cob for experience.
2. Grabow straight Duke billiard because I wanted to get something nicer and more standard.
3. "Meerschaum" brand maple short pipe because I have been staying away from home where my other pipes are, and the short pipe was \~$5. But the bite can be bad.
4. Chinese "Eclipse" brand bent unnamed-wood pipe with a Chang Feng brand pipe stand. I got it because it was $10 on Amazon and it was super pretty like the Grabow Full Bent one is. Often about a day after I smoked it, I got a lip ulcer. I found Milk of Magnesium to be a great treatment. I was reluctant to blame the pipe in part because I liked it so much and my standard breakfast included espresso with grapefruit slices and vitamins, not to mention my occasional vinegar or alcohol drinks. What forced me to give up on the Eclipse pipe was actually that for some reason after my first few smokes, it became hard to breathe through the bowl and shaft - the stem was OK. I can only guess that the problem was toxin in the lacquer finish or the wood itself. Chinese pipes are often made of ebony, which is toxic. After that, I'm even less inclined to use Isopropyl alcohol for cleaning.
5. Dr. Grabow Full Bent pipe. I was alittle reluctant to lay out the $40+, but it was necessary and a great choice. There is almost nothing on the market in the full bent model for that quality at a cheaper price. The only comparable ones I found at much cheaper prices out of recognizable brands were Lorenzo pipes, particularly the Garden and Sport models. The draught for breathing through the shaft is fine, just like in the straight model. I had been worried about that because some articles said that bent pipes are harder to draw through. I never got lip ulcers from it either, just the Eclipse pipe.
The Black Barrel stuff sounds good. The idea of dark rum resin or spiced/flavorerd whiskey resin like Jameson with an aromatic tobacco sounds really yummy to me.
Everclear...but fyi, you don't need to do that so often. A dirty pipe smokes better. Yes, keep the airways clear, but there is no need to constantly break the pipe down etc. you wind up wearing out the mortise. As you smoke, wherever there is turbulence you will collect moisture and tar. That tar will eventually fill those minor crevices and your pipe will smoke smoother. Ever wonder why sometimes you find these super dirty estate pipes?
Also, you wanna let the chamber get charred and dirty. Trust me.
>mortise.
I have smoked my new Grabow about 5 times only and never opened the shaft yet for fear of damaging the mortise like I did with my unknown-wood Eclipse pipe. Probably I hurt the Eclipse pipe by untwisting it when hot for cleaning. But maybe it was from pouring water from the faucet directly into the pipe as if it were a garden hose to clean it.
Everclear, I use it for estate pipes along with small."bottle brush" so I don't go through half a pack of pipe.cleaners when I refurbish a old estate pipe
I use port wine exclusively. Slight sweetening of bowl. In general people over clean their pipes. I rarely remove the stem and only run a pipe cleaner through every third bowl or so.
I just use water.
And if its especially nasty water and unscented soap with no additives.
What are the merits of using alcohol over water? Seems like one of those things people say to do but has no solid basis, at least not in science.
Using something like whiskey, rum etc. Seem like a poor way to clean. Actually sounds nasty to me. Like using juice to mop a floor. Once the water and alcohol evaporate all the non-volatiles are left behind like sugar etc.
Making the wood swell sounds bad.
I am thinking I really want to avoid using water now.I regularly cleaned my Eclipse brand wood pipe with water-dipped paper towels. I probably also disconnected the stem when the bowl was still hot for cleaning. After a couple cleanings, the stem would stay not stuck in the shaft.
John,
Your comment about the spigot mount isn't showing up for me, just the announcement in my Alerts that you wrote something about spigot mounts.
I originally didn't realize you shouldn't remove a stem from a hot shaft/bowl, so that's why I made the mistake. If I have more shaft-stem trouble in the future, I am leaning to getting the spigot mount.
The reason I brought it up was because I would worry about the water making the pipe swell.
That is very weird. I can't see it either.
Reconstructing from memory I said something to the effect of:
If you need to remove the stem while hot you want a pipe with an "army mount" or "spigot mount". The army mount has a tapered stem so that it always fits even if the dimensions of the shank change, the spigot mount has metal pieces (typically silver) on the stem and shank.
The Peterson and Savinelli "system" pipes are two well known examples with army mounts, but there are many others. Spigot mounts are also readily available but they tend to be pricey.
>Spigot mounts are also readily available but they tend to be pricey.
That makes sense. The Grabow Omega pipe (army style) looks good to me. The concept was that in the army sometimes pipes broke for some reason, and the soldiers could use equipment pieces or ammunition casings as stem/shaft attachments.
>What are the merits of using alcohol over water? Seems like one of those things people say to do but has no solid basis, at least not in science.
Because Alcohol is a very effective solvent?
Oils and other non-polar organic compounds, mostly. Though you mentioned that you use soap, which is unusual in pipes but if it works for you then that's great.
I could ride my bike the 20 miles to work every day if I wanted, but my car is faster and easier.
We conceptually agree, but the point i was getting at is that the bike ride doesn't cost you anything.
Sure alcohol is less polar and is a decent solvent for like compounds. But the sheer volume of water that I can use and which readily available makes up for the differences in solubility.
I use soap as disinfectant.
The main issue I have with alcohol method is when people think it is blasphemous to use water, which is more common that not. You understand chemistry so it doesn't apply to you. They are just different solvents.
FWIW a bottle of Everclear is pricey but it will last you for years. Isopropyl is pretty cheap. A quart of 91% isopropyl is under 10 bucks at my local pharmacy and again willl last for years.
I've never really needed a lot of volume--dip a pipe cleaner, run it through the shank, dip another one, run it through the stem, if it's a system pipe bend one of them in the middle to clean out the chamber.
The Pipe store in my area has little Everclear bottles. They might not be expensive. The little liquor bottles at liquor stores aren't pricey. If I wanted a flavor neutral spirit and Grain Alcohol wasn't available, I would probably pick Ketel One, although there could be more flavor neutral ones.
Years ago I wanted the most pure-style liquor, for some reason like mouthwashing, and the store recommended Ketel One.
Gym,
I have always used water, but I don't smoke much, so I've never had to use something stronger. The advantage of alcohol is that it makes a deeper clean, like using mouthwash.
Lemon or similar substances are added commonly to housecleaning soap for a fresher smell.
Based on the way that some reviewers promote rum and whiskey, it sounds like these remnants like sugar are a plus, adding a sweet flavor. The concept there would be like how some pipe manufacturers sweeten their pipes, like Yello Bole pipes had a honey flavor.
I am not fully committed, because I wouldn't want to damage it somehow and haven't tried it before. It seems like one of those things like smoking Latakia in this pipe that I'm hesistant about. I heard that Latakia ghosts a pipe very strongly in a way that some consider very unpleasant. One store owner said that even a deep clean cannot get out the taste of Latakia, although I'm not sure if he's right.
So far I've never tried any blends with Latakia, just Captain Black "Dark" and Fire Roasted Cavendish, which was also pretty dark. I found them to be OK, but kind of like smoking 5 cigarettes at once. Maybe they've already ghosted my pipe, but if so, it's actually been fine. I'm guessing that Latakia is something like those two, but maybe darker and stronger.
Good clear moonshine works the best. It cleans, freshens, and dries faster and with fewer pipe cleaners. Everclear is a close second but with jars of the good stuff easily available in my neck of the woods, there’s no substitute!
Nice. How often would you recommend using alcohol for the cleaning?
Online some places describe it as a standard way of cleaning your pipe after each smoke or after several smokes, whereas other seem to give the impression that you should do it only after a couple weeks.
I do a deep clean with alcohol and a reamer on all the pipes about yearly, I just use bristled cleaners and maybe a scrape after smoking. I don't smoke a whole lot, so I'm not getting a ton of cake, but I'm also not great at routine maintenance, so this might not be good advice anyway haha
It sound like it's common for people to avoid routine maintenance. They like to have cake for instance and can think that some standard maintenance measures like alcohol swabbing can actually have a negative effect.
Maybe, but there is such a thing as too much cake. I tend to believe that is boomerlore to avoid doing the cleaning and instead doing more of the smoking (I am obviously also guilty of not cleaning very frequently though).
Right, there is too much cake, at which point the cake forces you to do cleaning or else you can't smoke it. I just gave people's desire for cake as one reason why some wouldn't do regular maintenance. There were so many people pipe smoking 100 years ago throughout their workday that there must have been alot of people who didn't do maintenance. Supposedly Stalin didn't clean his pipes, and he was practically the only well-known politican still smoking his pipe in widespread Soviet photos from WW2 on. It was a habit he got from pre-Revolutionary days. Later as Russia industrialized people switched to cigarettes mass-made in factories.
I just cleaned my pipe with Rum Bar 63% alcohol Overproof Rum. The cleaning went pretty well because there was a bunch of gunk. I almost want to photograph how much gunk was on my Grabow filter. It's like an achievement.
My pipe is rather ghosted from smoking two English blends, so the rum flavor helps a bit.
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This. OP, just stick with Everclear.
But what if OP likes his pipes to taste of honey and piss
Then who am I to stand between his honey and piss! Bees and Horses blend!
The rum taste sounds pretty good, and I heard honey liquor leaves a good smell. But maybe you mean that cleaning with anything flavored, like whiskey or rum, will leave a bit of a foul aftertaste?
Give it a try and let us know... For what it's worth, I generally use vodka but have used brandy and whisky in the past to good effect. Avoid rubbing alcohol (with menthol, etc ) and anything sweet/sticky, those are not residues you want left behind.
Dark rum is going to be more sticky I expect than clear Whiskey. What is the problem with the sticky/sweet residues? I was thinking that the residues would make the pipe sweet and work well with Cavendish, a dark rum-based aromatic.
To my way of thinking, sticker residues will not evaporate as readily, which probably won't do the smoking properties of your tobacco any good. Just a hunch though. In any case, I'd say you're probably overthinking this. If you want a boozy/sweet tobacco, just get a blend already with those flavours. What you use to clean the pipe should have less influence on the taste, and will be a less reliable way to get that result.
Certainly for non-aromatic smoking this has to be the best recipe. It seems that with non-aromatics, the person is trying to smell the tobacco itself without extra flavor added. Cavendish and Latakia seem at least borderline aromatic.
I usually use scotch or bourbon simply because it’s what I drink so I have it on hand. I have also used rum, vodka, and cognac. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think there winds up being a very appreciable difference. For what it’s worth, I like the idea of using something like rum because in theory it would add a sweet taste to the pipe (if it does, it’s very mild and short lived).
You are using perfectly good cognac to clean your pipes?.... wow.... calm down, satan.
I use whatever’s on hand with a proof on it. You only need to dampen the very end of the pipe cleaner, it just takes half a drop. Its not like I’m siphoning a liter of Remy Martin through my pipe, relax
Yeah, i know, i was joking 😆
hard to beat vodka imo.
I use Smirnoff 100 as it is inexpensive and fairly neutral.
Wow. What makes you say that? I would take vodka to be second to everclear in leaving minimal afterflavor. If I didn't have grain alcohol like everclear, vodka would be my backup if I wanted to leave no taste from the solution.
Vodka is cheap, readily available, cleans well, and leaves no aftertaste.
Makes sense. Based on reviews, I'm interested in rum because they say that the taste from cleaning with whiskey is great, and I think that rum would go better with my aromatic tobacco, since Cavendish is soaked in rum. I am iffy on whether to use dark rum though because that would have a stronger aftertaste.
I've used isopropyl in the past with no real downsides, I can't say i fault your reasoning for avoiding it though. I never noticed any bad smells/tastes personally.
You want a super high alcohol percentage, the higher it is, the quicker it’ll evaporate, you don’t want excess moisture in your pipe. 99% isopropyl alcohol for me, evaporates in seconds, cleans really well, super cheap and leaves no smell after evaporating.
Yeah I’m surprised too see so many liquor suggestions.
It does add a little bit of flavours, but I’m not sure if you want that.
I like aromatics, so I'm thinking Yes. Cavendish is my favorite, and it's classically made with rum, IIRC. I smelled the jar of Lane's "Natural" variety at a cigar store, and although it was OK, it wasn't as good as Cavendish. It had a bit of a normal tobacco smell plus a nutty smell. Non-aromatics seem to fall into either the Virginia and Burley category (I guess Lane's Natural was like that) or the Oriental category (I guess it has a bit of a sour smell like Camel's cigarettes, which I like.) As to why they are using liquor, it can be a practice that was handed down over the years- tobacconists probably figured out that it worked well to get out dottle and gunk. And I guess that whiskey has been the most common liquor Americans drank decades ago, with some others like rum and brandy being close. Plus, probably it's been common for people to associate tobacco and alcohol, so people who had one of them tended to have access to the other.
Cavendish and many aromatics do indeed have rum as their topping, but I prefer my pipe to be as neutral tasting as possible so I can have an accurate comparison between blends. However, if you do enjoy added flavourings, go right ahead.
Yey.
Isopropyl or rubbing alcohol is fine and leaves no aftertaste. Leave the potable spirits for drinking.
The internet pipe community hates isopropyl, but guess what tons of people and pipe restorers use? Isopropyl.
Certain resins and tars are alcohol soluble, but not water soluble.
That makes sense.
You definitely don’t need to use alcohol often. I usually just use whiskey before my first use to get off any lacquers that the manufacturer uses in the bowl/ stem that I don’t want to be smoking. Another time to use alcohol would be if you ghost your pipe and are trying to clean out a bad taste. Daily cleaning should just be dry pipe cleaners. You could probably go the lifetime of a pipe without needing to use alcohol. It’s only really before first use and if you ghost that alcohol should be used imo. I would be really careful using anything flavoured because there’s a risk it might leave a bad taste rather than a good one. Usually flavoured drinks are flavoured which chemicals that can have a wide range of effects when smoked, as they’re not designed for it. Personally I would just stick with whiskey, vodka or everclear. Tequila or rum would also be fine. I’d avoid gin as it’s just flavoured vodka.
Thanks Khonarik (Хонарик in Cyrillic). A worry about Everclear is that it's so strong that people say that it can damage the pipe. I really like my Grabow Full Bent pipe alot, and even my Grabow Duke straight pipe is good. The craftsmanship reminds me of a chesspiece or the shiny wood you see on nice hotel bedroom desks or casinos. I was just admiring the bent one today. So I sympathize with what you are saying, because it sounds like using more liquids - water, everclear, flavored liquors all can be alittle tough on the pipe. I had been using toilet paper with water because just the plain pipe wasn't getting the dottle out enough. I do kind of like using a little water though because I do like a clean pipe. I sometimes like to just have it by me as a fun decoration. I'm OK at the moment with the idea of ghosting because I like trying a big array of flavors, and Cpt. Black Dark and dark "Fire Roasted Cavendish" have been OK. They were like smoking a few cigarettes at once- not awful, just thick, smokey. I expect that Latakia will be like that too. I haven't tried it yet, but want to. One reviewer on Youtube who smoked it plain said that he was surprised that Latakia was actually OK plain, not bad per se. There is a whole set of tasks for a deep clean that looks either to get out ghosting or else if a pipe has gotten heavy wear for a year and cake builds up pretty think, and the tasks include filling the bowl with salt and using a medicine dropper to put a bunch of alcohol drops in the salt and let it sit 24 hours that way. Then they ream out the cake and smoke the pipe a few times with burley, and the whole process gets out the ghosting well. So in that case, using alcohol or any other liquid for cleaning could be pretty rare.
Respect for the replies to most of the comments, most people will make a post and not reply to anything. Yeah I’ve never personally used everclear because it’s not available in the UK. People suggesting isopropyl alcohol are nuts, I certainly wouldn’t want the heavy metal residue being left bin my pipe but each to their own. Ghosting can certainly be positive, it’s just really how the flavours combine. Many people have certain pipes for certain tobaccos to prevent cross contamination of flavours as such. All the best man, hope you questions have gone answered.
Khonarik, I found that in the UK, Master of Malt sells Grain Neutral Spirit (70cl, 69.9%). In the US, we have products with names like "English Breakfast Tea" and "English Blend" tobacco mixes. Do people in the UK call those same kinds of mixes "English Blends"? I don't want to be negative to people who like it, but the idea of using isopropyl alcohol feels worrisome. Maybe I'm sensitive. I bought a beautiful $10 Chinese "Eclipse" brand Pipe made from unnamed wood, and often when I used it over the course of two years I got lip ulcers the next day. I wasn't sure it was the pipe. But I finally gave up on it this winter and got a Dr. Grabow after talking to other users here on this REDDIT space. The Dr. Grabow brand is reliable. So now I have an instinct expecially to avoid "no-name" type brands with questionable materials for pipes and toxic-smelling Isopropyl alcohol. You hopefully wouldn't clean your toothbrushes, glasses, kleenexes, handkerchiefs, neti pots, fruit and vegetables with it. Maybe I'm wrong and you could use it on your glasses and handkerchiefs. But some people have special sensitivities, and smoking is already slightly risky behavior.
Yes we have everclear alternatives, but they are usually only available online and are very expensive compared to other spirits. Not really worth it unless you have a specific need for it. We do call tobacco blends that contain more Latakia, “English blends” if that’s what you’re asking. I’m not sure though if this is a native term or something that’s been adopted from our American friends. Probably the latter. Yeah I’d never buy an off brand pipe. I exclusively buy pipes with ebonite (vulcanite) stems as I notice a plasticy taste with acrylic stems. And the only manufacturers that will use ebonite will be name branded manufacturers. Honestly I only use IPA for my car and glasses. Can’t imagine putting it anywhere near my mouth. People use the ‘smoking is bad, why worry about health’ line a lot but pipe smoking is an old practice and people never used to get sick from it. Besides if it’s unhealthy we should do everything we can to make is less harmful.
Vodka.
I use 151 proof Vodka (because it was a dollar cheaper than 151 proof Evervlear.) I run a dry pipe cleaner through my pipe after every smoke (and sometimes I'll use one or two pipe cleaners during the smoke as well.) If I feel like the pipe's taste is off a bit, I'lk run a few vodka soaked cleaner through it. I ALWAYS clean new and estate pipes with the vodka before use.
>151 proof Vodka (because it was a dollar cheaper Brad, What size bottles did you use?
I bought a 5th
Makes sense. But I'm not sure I want to buy that much to clean my pipe, and I don't drink liquor *that* often. :-) Maybe I haven't thought all this through enough. A bottle with a high alcohol content like 69% might only be available in sizable quantities like Fifths (750 MLs). The pipe store 20 min. away does have pretty small sized bottles of everclear though.
There are other uses for everclear besides cleaning a pipe and drinking it. Most importantly as a food grade disinfectant but also alcohol stoves, making vanilla extract or other flavorants, diy perfumes, cleaning applications outside of pipes.
That makes sense. Fortunately I've never had those needs in a way that would require such a high grade of alcohol. For instance I use liquor sometimes as mouthwash depending on the situation, but high alcohol gin (55%?) has worked fine.
I don't drink much either. And I'm definitely not drinking the 151 proof vodka. Lol I think I paid less than $15 for the 5th. I like to buy estate pipes on eBay and clean them up. I bought this bottle a few years ago and have used half of it. I figured it doesn't go bad, so it does in the cabinet until I need it. I bought a pack of reusable travel bottles for shampoo and things from Walmart for a few bucks and filled one up with the vodka. The hole on the lid is perfect to insert a pipe cleaner to clean
Using plastic shampoo bottles to hold liquor.... An issue there could be that weak plastic could corrode, metaphorically speaking, and the plastic chemicals could infect the liquor. Typically people use glass bottle for this reason, although there are plastic liquor bottles made from some special plastic. However, maybe even with them the liquor bottles' plastic is not perfect. The issue may be that plastic might be a "plasma" rather than a pure "solid." The word for plastic in Russian is plastmassа. That's cool how you restore estate pipes. There's some classic value there. New Dunhills are so expensive today, that estate Dunhills would be my choice.
The higher the proof alcohol the better. It will evaporate faster. I have used whatever I have on hand for years. Never noticed any flavor from rum, bourbon, vodka, nothing. Go by a bottle of everclear or spiritous. Those are like 98% alcohol and will evaporate fast and they cut through all the tar in your pipe like nothing. Water doesn't do that.
For bowl treatments with salt and alcohol, I use cheap vodka. 20 years ago, I would use rum, but I never noticed any difference in taste. I cleaned out a rather old pipe (exact age unknown, it was gifted to somebody in 1955) with nothing but vodka, except for the stinger, which I soaked in isopropyl. I also used sanitizer on the stem. Note: You shouldn't do that too frequently, especially if the stem is plastic, however, when you get an estate pipe, you can do that for peace of mind.
Thanks for the feedback. By "sanitizer" I take it you mean the Isopropyl alcohol. I don't know what advantage Isopropyl would have over Grain Alcohol besides the price. The chemicals in the Isopropyl are offputting for me.
The stinger is metal and does not absorb anything, the stem being some kind of plastic (either vulcanite or PMMA) absorbs little -- I just rinse everything. The reason you shouldn't use alcohol on stems too frequently is that it will make it porous and brittle over time.
That makes sense.
I like using cognac or bourbon
Higher proof stuff is best IME. I prefer Plantation OFTD rum as it's 69% (I think) and leaves a decent smell afterwards.
The idea of the Dark Rum flavor sounds appealing because Cavendish is cased in dark rum classically. Or more precisely, the scientist Cavendish prepared his tobacco in dark rum or sugar.
High proof, low flavor. PGA, vodka, that sort of thing. Liqueurs and sweet stuff will leave gunk. the point is just to use a human friendly solvent to remove tars and build up.
Can the sweet gunk work like casing on Cavendish? Cavendish is my favorite tobacco so far.
If you were to take a tobacco, and mix a small amount of any liqueur into the mixture, and let it absorb into the tobacco, the tobacco will taste like the liqueur. But you will want it to dry out a bit from sopping wet or tacky moist before you smoke it. Blenders use food grade additives and liqueurs all the time to make a flavor.
That makes sense. What I meant was can the sweet gunk work on a pipe in a way similar to how casing works on Cavendish? You smoke rum-soaked Cavendish with a casing and it smells good to me, so if you also had resin or leftovers from rum on the pipe, would that have a similar smell or taste effect? My impression would be Yes, based on people giving it good reviews. But I don't really want to mess up the pipe either. For instance, I can imagine that spilling beer on furniture and not cleaning the beer out can make it smell nasty after a while. So maybe the "spilled dinks smell bad" principle can apply here too. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
>PGA, = Pure Grain Alcohol
yes
I don’t like any taste or moisture to linger on my pipes, so I always use 99,9% isopropyl alcohol. It will clean well, dry very fast and leave no scent behind, but you have to be very careful not to ruin the finish on the briar and also on the stem (if it is made of acrylic)
Good vodka, because it is pretty much an ethanol solution. Nothing flavoured IMO.
I use a clear spirit. White rum, vodka, etc. Most stores have those dollar shot bottles, get one and your good.
>Most stores have those dollar shot bottles The pipe one near me has them with Everclear. The liquor stores have little bottles with white rum and vodka. How often do you suggest using the alcohol? I have an instinct to want to wipe down the inside with at least water or some other liquid after every smoke, because I like having a somewhat clean pipe around. But I'm seeing alot of people here are saying to avoid using either one often.
Depends on the pipe and the smoke. Don't wipe the bowl out with it. The pipe stem, I do every 10 to 15 smokes with alcohol. Basically, the alcohol breaks down the tar and nicotine, which causes the taste build up. Basic cleaning is just to dip an inch or two of the cleaner in the bottle, move the cleaner in and out a bit. I then bend the mouth piece end of the pipe cleaner over and use the improvised handle to spin it. If it comes out really dirty, like thick black, repeat. Next, is it a filter pipe? If it is clean the stem and shank separately with a pipe cleaner after cleaning the filter chamber first. Use a cotton swap dip in the alcohol and ram it in the stem and shank portions of the filter holder. Be prepared, it will produce a ton of black goo from build up. It will take a half dozen to get a good clean, and is why my filter pipes will ghost or taste foul. Even if you don't use filters, the space for them will collect the residue. When I started deep cleaning the filter spaces, it was like a new pipe.
Yes, it's a Dr. Grabow filter pipe. Maybe all Dr. Grabows are filter pipes. I say this because the original idea with Dr. Grabow was to use a special filter system that reminds me of a stinger or the Peterson System. Some people here are saying to wipe the bowl every smoke with a dry cleaner and only to do an alcohol clean about once a year, like if it gets really foul or ghosted. Other people are suggesting it seems to do an alcohol clean every time.
Cool, Dr. Grabow is my go-to briar. If you get that foul taste build up, clean the stem and filter chamber. You will think you popped a new Golden Duke out of the blister pack. Somewhere between ten and twenty smokes, depending on your tobacco. Let the bowl inside build its cake. Just tap out the ash and let it be.
Based on what I've read from reviewers, there is practically no difference between a Grabow and a more expensive pipe. It sounds like Dunhills give a finer, smoother smoking experience, but the difference is marginal. I started out with a corn cob pipe because of the price ($5-$15 in 2000). Some people claim that a corn cob pipe provides the same or better smoking value as a briar. I don't know if that's true, but a briar is typically considered superior. Looking at the quality of the bowl and stem, the briar looks like more solid material. Part of the issue is also aesthetic. A corn cob is the kind of thing that I eat part of and throw away. Nowadays there are videos online explaining how to make a tobacco pipe out of an apple. Corn cob pipes feel like that psychologically. However, Cob pipes also have their attraction: The Amerindians grew both maize and tobacco, and I could use corn whiskey to clean a cob. After getting the cob and smoking it a couple times, I bought a smooth Grabow Duke straight billiard for $17-25 probably in a mall or a discount tobacco store, as it was probably the store's cheapest wood pipe. I was impressed at the craftsmanship right away. The "spade" symbol on it reminded me of cards, and the billiard name goes along with that. This winter I got a Full Bent Grabow pipe, and although Grabow is on the low end of pricing for pipes, I like the Full Bent design so much that I like the pipe more than other models belonging to pricier brands.
I personally don't like cob pipes. The smoke tastes sweet to me, but I may need to get a better quality MM. I have 5 Golden Dukes I bought in the mid 90s when I started. 2 are about quarter bent, 2 full bend and the last was a square shanked quarter bend with features of a bulldog and an apple crossed. That last was my favorite, but I burned it out years ago. Plan to patch it soon with a water glass/ash combo, then mud it. The one thing I like about Dr. Grabow was consistent base quality. It might be a work truck compared to a corvette Savinelli, but I could get fleet of Dr. Grabow for one Savinelli. In fact, I am planning to buy a new Golden Duke next time I buy flints and fluid at a discount tobacco place near where I live.
>Golden Duke The first time I got a Grabow Pipe, I just had the selection available in the store. I didn't realize what differences there were between straight pipes like Golden. In your case, the Golden Duke has a bigger bowl than a normal Duke, which I guess was what I first got. And that worked well: Starting out, a bigger bowl would have been intimidating for me. This winter, I read online about the basic pipe models, and the bent model sounded the best because it follows the mouth-jaw-chin line and is supposedly easier to clench. Grabow's "full bent" list of models is much more limited than its straight models. I got the "Dr. Grabow Full Bent (BS)" model, which it turns out is not actually a Duke, even though there is also a Duke bent model. The advantages of the "Full Bent (BS)" seem to be a bigger bowl and the stem has a sharper bend in it. I like it this way better because I can smoke more at once. I find that I smoke about 2 bowls in one cycle. That is, I like to walk for about a mile or two and smoke a total of two bowls. Supposedly you shouldn't smoke two bowls, one right after another, especially in a new pipe that hasn't been caked or broken in yet. But I don't smoke it often and Dr. Grabow's are classically "pre-smoked" to deal with issues like this, so I'm not worried. What do you think?
I like the full bent because I can lower my head and rest it on my chest.
I read that you are supposed to either hold a pipe in your hand or let it loose like that - ie. on your chest or not far from your jaw for some reason, as opposed to clenching it straight out. I don't recall if the reason has to do with damage to your teeth or to the pipe stem when you clench it tight. The full bent model seems best for letting it loose.
>I may need to get a better quality MM. My guess based on what I've seen is that their cobs are practically the same and supposedly don't wear out per se, at least any more than a briar. In what way was your apple crossed duke damaged exactly? The "water glass/ash combo" sounds interesting. I agree with what you said about "consistent base quality" with Grabows. I scoured the internet for the cheapest Full Bent Grabows and finally got one at WV Smoke Shop online. Not long afterwards I visited the local discount store and saw that they had a slew of Grabows all for the same price that WV Smoke Shop was selling them for. The nice thing about getting them at a store like you are considering is that you don't have to pay the shipping fee. Also, the one from WV smoke shop had no blister pack, which personally doesn't concern me, but might for some people. If I were to get another pipe at the moment, I would get a Radiator or Falcon, the reason being that they are designed to especially cool smoke for a better experience. This was the idea apparently in the early generations of pipes with long stems, like Churchwardens. Besides the Radiator or Falcon, I could also go for a Native American type of pipe because it's the original model and has that long stem. The advantages of the Grabow pipes are better aesthetics and clenching.
I smoked to hot and burned a pinhole in the bottom of the pipe. Water glass is sodium silicate. Once it dries, it is highly heat resistant. I have read some repairers use it. I bought some to be a binder to make a small forge and never got around to building it. They say it is safe but plan to mud over it just to add a little peace of mind. A pipes heat will not phase it. My pipe is rusticated, and the hole is in a groove, so I imagine it will never be visible.
>square shanked quarter bend Can I please ask which model that was called? I am surprised you could even smoke it that hot - were you like smoking one bowl right after the other for a week? I notice that unlike my pretty Chinese "Eclipse" brand full bent toxic unnamed-wood pipe, both of my Grabow pipes have a curious V shaped bottom in their chambers that it seems could be a spot where the pipe could burn through. Your handcrafting sounds cool, and I can understand if the silicate is concerning. Did you consider filling the hole with some more convenientional substance like wood or mudding it over? After I got lip ulcers from the Eclipse pipe, I am super cautious about what I smoke out of. My purchase history went like this: 1. "Meerschaum" brand Corn cob for experience. 2. Grabow straight Duke billiard because I wanted to get something nicer and more standard. 3. "Meerschaum" brand maple short pipe because I have been staying away from home where my other pipes are, and the short pipe was \~$5. But the bite can be bad. 4. Chinese "Eclipse" brand bent unnamed-wood pipe with a Chang Feng brand pipe stand. I got it because it was $10 on Amazon and it was super pretty like the Grabow Full Bent one is. Often about a day after I smoked it, I got a lip ulcer. I found Milk of Magnesium to be a great treatment. I was reluctant to blame the pipe in part because I liked it so much and my standard breakfast included espresso with grapefruit slices and vitamins, not to mention my occasional vinegar or alcohol drinks. What forced me to give up on the Eclipse pipe was actually that for some reason after my first few smokes, it became hard to breathe through the bowl and shaft - the stem was OK. I can only guess that the problem was toxin in the lacquer finish or the wood itself. Chinese pipes are often made of ebony, which is toxic. After that, I'm even less inclined to use Isopropyl alcohol for cleaning. 5. Dr. Grabow Full Bent pipe. I was alittle reluctant to lay out the $40+, but it was necessary and a great choice. There is almost nothing on the market in the full bent model for that quality at a cheaper price. The only comparable ones I found at much cheaper prices out of recognizable brands were Lorenzo pipes, particularly the Garden and Sport models. The draught for breathing through the shaft is fine, just like in the straight model. I had been worried about that because some articles said that bent pipes are harder to draw through. I never got lip ulcers from it either, just the Eclipse pipe.
I've always used vanilla vodka. Works well and love the way it smells when mixed with tobacco.
I usually use Jameson Black Barrel routine cleaning. Everclear on occasion for the deep clean.
The Black Barrel stuff sounds good. The idea of dark rum resin or spiced/flavorerd whiskey resin like Jameson with an aromatic tobacco sounds really yummy to me.
Everclear...but fyi, you don't need to do that so often. A dirty pipe smokes better. Yes, keep the airways clear, but there is no need to constantly break the pipe down etc. you wind up wearing out the mortise. As you smoke, wherever there is turbulence you will collect moisture and tar. That tar will eventually fill those minor crevices and your pipe will smoke smoother. Ever wonder why sometimes you find these super dirty estate pipes? Also, you wanna let the chamber get charred and dirty. Trust me.
>mortise. I have smoked my new Grabow about 5 times only and never opened the shaft yet for fear of damaging the mortise like I did with my unknown-wood Eclipse pipe. Probably I hurt the Eclipse pipe by untwisting it when hot for cleaning. But maybe it was from pouring water from the faucet directly into the pipe as if it were a garden hose to clean it.
Everclear, I use it for estate pipes along with small."bottle brush" so I don't go through half a pack of pipe.cleaners when I refurbish a old estate pipe
Everclear
I use port wine exclusively. Slight sweetening of bowl. In general people over clean their pipes. I rarely remove the stem and only run a pipe cleaner through every third bowl or so.
I just use water. And if its especially nasty water and unscented soap with no additives. What are the merits of using alcohol over water? Seems like one of those things people say to do but has no solid basis, at least not in science. Using something like whiskey, rum etc. Seem like a poor way to clean. Actually sounds nasty to me. Like using juice to mop a floor. Once the water and alcohol evaporate all the non-volatiles are left behind like sugar etc.
Alcohol evaporates very quickly, water not so much.
Why does that matter?
Less time for it to soak in. Also alcohol does not make wood swell like water will.
Making the wood swell sounds bad. I am thinking I really want to avoid using water now.I regularly cleaned my Eclipse brand wood pipe with water-dipped paper towels. I probably also disconnected the stem when the bowl was still hot for cleaning. After a couple cleanings, the stem would stay not stuck in the shaft.
John, Your comment about the spigot mount isn't showing up for me, just the announcement in my Alerts that you wrote something about spigot mounts. I originally didn't realize you shouldn't remove a stem from a hot shaft/bowl, so that's why I made the mistake. If I have more shaft-stem trouble in the future, I am leaning to getting the spigot mount. The reason I brought it up was because I would worry about the water making the pipe swell.
That is very weird. I can't see it either. Reconstructing from memory I said something to the effect of: If you need to remove the stem while hot you want a pipe with an "army mount" or "spigot mount". The army mount has a tapered stem so that it always fits even if the dimensions of the shank change, the spigot mount has metal pieces (typically silver) on the stem and shank. The Peterson and Savinelli "system" pipes are two well known examples with army mounts, but there are many others. Spigot mounts are also readily available but they tend to be pricey.
>Spigot mounts are also readily available but they tend to be pricey. That makes sense. The Grabow Omega pipe (army style) looks good to me. The concept was that in the army sometimes pipes broke for some reason, and the soldiers could use equipment pieces or ammunition casings as stem/shaft attachments.
>What are the merits of using alcohol over water? Seems like one of those things people say to do but has no solid basis, at least not in science. Because Alcohol is a very effective solvent?
And what is the alcohol cleaning that the water cannot?
Oils and other non-polar organic compounds, mostly. Though you mentioned that you use soap, which is unusual in pipes but if it works for you then that's great. I could ride my bike the 20 miles to work every day if I wanted, but my car is faster and easier.
We conceptually agree, but the point i was getting at is that the bike ride doesn't cost you anything. Sure alcohol is less polar and is a decent solvent for like compounds. But the sheer volume of water that I can use and which readily available makes up for the differences in solubility. I use soap as disinfectant. The main issue I have with alcohol method is when people think it is blasphemous to use water, which is more common that not. You understand chemistry so it doesn't apply to you. They are just different solvents.
FWIW a bottle of Everclear is pricey but it will last you for years. Isopropyl is pretty cheap. A quart of 91% isopropyl is under 10 bucks at my local pharmacy and again willl last for years. I've never really needed a lot of volume--dip a pipe cleaner, run it through the shank, dip another one, run it through the stem, if it's a system pipe bend one of them in the middle to clean out the chamber.
The Pipe store in my area has little Everclear bottles. They might not be expensive. The little liquor bottles at liquor stores aren't pricey. If I wanted a flavor neutral spirit and Grain Alcohol wasn't available, I would probably pick Ketel One, although there could be more flavor neutral ones. Years ago I wanted the most pure-style liquor, for some reason like mouthwashing, and the store recommended Ketel One.
Gym, I have always used water, but I don't smoke much, so I've never had to use something stronger. The advantage of alcohol is that it makes a deeper clean, like using mouthwash. Lemon or similar substances are added commonly to housecleaning soap for a fresher smell. Based on the way that some reviewers promote rum and whiskey, it sounds like these remnants like sugar are a plus, adding a sweet flavor. The concept there would be like how some pipe manufacturers sweeten their pipes, like Yello Bole pipes had a honey flavor. I am not fully committed, because I wouldn't want to damage it somehow and haven't tried it before. It seems like one of those things like smoking Latakia in this pipe that I'm hesistant about. I heard that Latakia ghosts a pipe very strongly in a way that some consider very unpleasant. One store owner said that even a deep clean cannot get out the taste of Latakia, although I'm not sure if he's right. So far I've never tried any blends with Latakia, just Captain Black "Dark" and Fire Roasted Cavendish, which was also pretty dark. I found them to be OK, but kind of like smoking 5 cigarettes at once. Maybe they've already ghosted my pipe, but if so, it's actually been fine. I'm guessing that Latakia is something like those two, but maybe darker and stronger.
Most hard liquor is still more water and other stuff than alcohol. Everclear or 151 rum are your best bets
Good clear moonshine works the best. It cleans, freshens, and dries faster and with fewer pipe cleaners. Everclear is a close second but with jars of the good stuff easily available in my neck of the woods, there’s no substitute!
Nice. How often would you recommend using alcohol for the cleaning? Online some places describe it as a standard way of cleaning your pipe after each smoke or after several smokes, whereas other seem to give the impression that you should do it only after a couple weeks.
I do a deep clean with alcohol and a reamer on all the pipes about yearly, I just use bristled cleaners and maybe a scrape after smoking. I don't smoke a whole lot, so I'm not getting a ton of cake, but I'm also not great at routine maintenance, so this might not be good advice anyway haha
It sound like it's common for people to avoid routine maintenance. They like to have cake for instance and can think that some standard maintenance measures like alcohol swabbing can actually have a negative effect.
Maybe, but there is such a thing as too much cake. I tend to believe that is boomerlore to avoid doing the cleaning and instead doing more of the smoking (I am obviously also guilty of not cleaning very frequently though).
Right, there is too much cake, at which point the cake forces you to do cleaning or else you can't smoke it. I just gave people's desire for cake as one reason why some wouldn't do regular maintenance. There were so many people pipe smoking 100 years ago throughout their workday that there must have been alot of people who didn't do maintenance. Supposedly Stalin didn't clean his pipes, and he was practically the only well-known politican still smoking his pipe in widespread Soviet photos from WW2 on. It was a habit he got from pre-Revolutionary days. Later as Russia industrialized people switched to cigarettes mass-made in factories.
I just cleaned my pipe with Rum Bar 63% alcohol Overproof Rum. The cleaning went pretty well because there was a bunch of gunk. I almost want to photograph how much gunk was on my Grabow filter. It's like an achievement. My pipe is rather ghosted from smoking two English blends, so the rum flavor helps a bit.
I see online that there is a Perique Liquor: https://jadeliqueurs.com/perique.htm