Alcohol cleaning???

[Hendu3270]

I guess I'm progressing pretty well in my pipe smoking life since I'm approaching the need for a more thorough cleaning of them.

I've read several different methods that people use to do this but my question is this.

When I read that someone is using alcohol to aid in the cleaning of their pipes and to sweeten them. Is this always and only a type of alcohol that you could drink and not rubbing alcohol? Would rubbing alcohol work or would it mess up the pipe? And what types of "beverage" alcohol do some of you reccomend?

Thanks guys,

By the way....I'm up to four pipes now...you bastards! LOL and I've actually built my own rack for three of them.

Chris

[Dedalus]

You want to use alcohol that you could drink. Many will suggest vodka because it isn't flavored. Many like to use rum because it tends to pair well with the baccy. Still others (me included) enjoy a good Irish whiskey. Look for anything 80 proof or above, get some bristled cleaners and have at it. Make sure to only use a very small amount, and don't let the alcohol get on the outside of the pipe.

Check out Dubinthedam's Youtube cleaning videos, they're great. I think alcohol cleaning is Cleaning Video #3.

[Dedalus]

It's actually Dub's video #2a and #2b. Here's a link:

YouTube - pipe cleaning 2 (A)

[Hendu3270]

I actualy found the videos a few minutes after your first post by searching that name on Youtube. Great info. Thanks for the heads up. Another reason to buy booze! Is this a great habit or what...

[Mister Moo]

I use an eyedropper to dribble Everclear into a bowl already filled with kosher salt. It'll take any stink/ghost out of a pipe. Before salting the bowl I remove the stem and insert a fluffy pipe cleaner. The pipe cleaner will wick out grunge and alcohol pretty fast. They need replacing several times in the course of destinkification. Some use whiskey etc. to remove on flavor and impart another (bourbon, scotch). Other wise persons eschew salt in favor of cotton balls. It has been said that salt+alcohol can crack a bowl. It might but, using Everclear, I haven't been stung.

91% rubbing alcohol is said to work fine. The 70%, I would think, has too much water and would soak a bowl to sogginess. All that water in conjunction with salt might cause a bowl to crack... that could make sense.

Alcohol will strip finish on contact. I locate the pipe in a pipe rest with the pipe cleaner sticking up in the air and keeping the shank opening even with the rim of the bowl. Fill with caution. Don't keep dripping booze into the pipe and fail to notice it's pouring out the shank opening. Well, you CAN do that but you will feel really stupid. I certainly did.

[Vox3l]

I like the alcohol cleaning method. Being only 19 makes it hard for me to obtain the favored types (whiskey, everclear etc.) but I find that rubbing alcohol does a decent job. A while back I made a thread about some 100% alcohol I got from work. It was Kosher, so I used it on an ebay estate pipe that had a terrible flavor. That alcohol knocked the taste right out of the pipe!

[brianwalden]

If you don't want to invest in an eyedropper you can use an ordinary drinking straw and put your finger over the top.

[SmokinJohnny]

Got the Everclear, sea salt, and other stuff. How long do I soak?

[Hendu3270]

Thanks for the replys guys. Got me pointed in the right direction.

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by SmokinJohnny

Got the Everclear, sea salt, and other stuff. How long do I soak?

I leave a fluffy pipe cleaner in the shank, with stem removed, terminating inside the bowl. With the whole mess sitting on a pipe stand at a suitable angle* the booze and the crud wick up the pipe cleaner. You will see it show "wet" and, after a while and you'll see grunge migrating up the cotton. When it looks brown where it's sticking out of the shank, gently remove and replace. The booze in the bowl evaporates after a while (Everclear faster than 80-proof whiskey) - refill carefully as required. If your pipe came from Totallyscuzzyville the salt (or cotton ball) will show brown soon enough; when it's well dried out, replace it the salt/cotton and pipe cleaner and repeat the procedure until the pipe cleaner stays clean and/or the stuff in the bowl looks OK. If your nickname is Shotrod Tinkerfinger you can fiddle with it all evening and end up with a pretty clean pipe; if you're disengaged, leave it all sitting overnight you can clean/repeat in the morning - maybe repeat a couple of times. You'll know when it's clean.

* thanks for image, MarsCigars

The angle in this photo is not good for de-stinkification; you want to get the opening of the shank at least as high as the opening in the bowl. This way, as the bowl shows it's near-enough filled with booze it will not already be dribbling out the shank. Hope this is clear. if not, rethink - or you'll be stripping the finish from your pipe. I advise spending the $0.79 for an eyedropper over at Walgreens and you'll never accidentally drip alcohol on a nice (or not so nice) pipe when you're destinkifying.

[SmokinJohnny]

Thanks Mr Moo. Got the eye dropper too. $1.99 for a 2 pack at Wally World.