salt alcohol treatment

[mike t]

i plan on doing this to some of my pipes. my question is does it hurt the briar i know to keep the alcohol [190 everclear] right off the finish and use kosher salt.any help would be greatly appreciated thanks mike

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by mike t

i plan on doing this to some of my pipes. my question is does it hurt the briar i know to keep the alcohol [190 everclear] right off the finish and use kosher salt.any help would be greatly appreciated thanks mike

Any contact with alcohol on the outer surface of the pipe will strip the finish in 1-nanosecond. Use care in introducing it (I use an eyedropper) and make sure the pipe is correctly tipped and secure so alcohol going into the bowl isn't dribbling out the shank. Work slowly and carefully.

[The Pirate]

Many like this method. I prefer a retort. They are available on ebay. Salt has been known to crack the bowl in some instances.
Ken

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[Mad Hatter]

I prefer to use cotton balls because there is less mess and no salt left to clean up afterwards.

[mclayton]

The salt-alcohol treatment scares the death out of me because it has been rumored to crack the bowl. After sanding out the coating of my Tsuge, I simply wiped it down with some rubbing alcohol (prolly terrible, but hey, it's got a very high percentage and it's not that diluted crap) and am letting it sit for a day. I figure that there's no way that a lot of crap got into it since I've had it (~2 weeks), thus that sweetening treatment is prolly not needed right now.

[Quick_nick]

I just used the cotton ball and alcohol treatment and it worked just as well as salt with no possibility of a cracked bowl. it is also much easier to clean up.

[Mister Moo]

Buncha chickens. I salt my fries. I salt my watermelon. If I smoked cigarettes I'd salt them, too. I salt my pipes and nary cracked a one.

Who knows about a cracked, salt-treated pipe firsthand?

And what's the cleanup problem all y'alls talking about? When I empty a salted pipe tye next morning, 95% falls out and rest brushes off with a pipe cleaner in 2-seconds.

This is starting to sound like some kind of urban myth thingie. Who has the facts? No heresay.

[DubintheDam]

I'm with Mr.M on this one....don't worry there's no need...should you be, just use Cotton balls.

[Blaylock]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

This is starting to sound like some kind of urban myth thingie. Who has the facts? No heresay.

I always thought Nooner knew a thing or two about this salt "thingie" (Pipe FAQs). That's why I've done it several times with no worries.

[Mad Hatter]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

Buncha chickens. I salt my fries. I salt my watermelon. If I smoked cigarettes I'd salt them, too. I salt my pipes and nary cracked a one.

Who knows about a cracked, salt-treated pipe firsthand?

And what's the cleanup problem all y'alls talking about? When I empty a salted pipe tye next morning, 95% falls out and rest brushes off with a pipe cleaner in 2-seconds.

This is starting to sound like some kind of urban myth thingie. Who has the facts? No heresay.

I don't have any worries about cracking my bowl for cripes sake, but cotton balls are just easier unless of course you're biased against cotton balls

[paperairplane]

"Salt can crack the bowl" - is this from the same pipe authorities who assure you that an extra 0.00572mm of cake will smash a briar to smithereens...

I am willing to bet if I took the stem out of my GBD bulldog and tossed the bowl out the second floor window of my house, it would suffer exactly 0 structural damage.

I smoke the hell out of my pipes. When they get too dirty, I scrape them with an ordinary pocket knife. I salt and booze them about once a quarter. Typically Smirnoff, but bourbon works just fine. Sure it may ghost whiskey for a few hours, but so do I most days. After the salt sits for a day, I rinse the whole affair off in the sink - with *gasp* water. Then I dry it off, magic eraser the stem, smack it with olive oil and maybe, buff the bowl with a paper towel.

It's a pipe fer crissakes - just smoke the damn thing. The only real damage I can see you doing is using a big ham-fist with the lighter and scorching the rim.

I am certain that I can continue on in the above fashion for at least another 5 years, and still get $30 bucks out of a Savinelli on Ebay. (However, in my world - pipes, guns and knives are only bought or gifted. Never sold.)

[letsgomountaineers]

what about salt in meerschaums?

[paperairplane]

I am no authority, but I would think not due to the porosity of meer. I think your best bet with a meer is to clean it after each use and allow a minimal cake to develop.

Think of it as a pipe made of chalk... actually, I think chalk may rank slightly harder on the Mohs scale than meer....

[mclayton]

Again, no authority (especially since I listen to most old wives tales; being Italian and Catholic, there is a lot to this! ), but don't you want as little cake as possible in a meer, so it allows for further coloring?

[Blaylock]

Originally Posted by mclayton

Again, no authority (especially since I listen to most old wives tales; being Italian and Catholic, there is a lot to this! ), but don't you want as little cake as possible in a meer, so it allows for further coloring?

You really don't want to allow cake to form in your meerchaum pipes. 'Cake can actually slow down the coloring process and may cause the Meers. pipe to crack'. As was mentioned already, keep the bowl as clean as possible after each smoke. I use a bristle brush for this.

A little more on the topic: http://www.smokingpipes.com/informat...meerschaum.cfm