Estate pipe cleaning.....

[Hendu3270]

Just received a Dr. Grabow Viscount poker shaped pipe off Ebay. It's the first used pipe I've bought out of 8 pipes. I'm in the process of giving it the salt treatment. My question is this: When you guys clean an estate pipe do you actually ream the entire old cake out, down to bare wood?

[Hermit]

Originally Posted by Hendu3270

Just received a Dr. Grabow Viscount poker shaped pipe off Ebay. It's the first used pipe I've bought out of 8 pipes. I'm in the process of giving it the salt treatment. My question is this: When you guys clean an estate pipe do you actually ream the entire old cake out, down to bare wood?

Depends.
If it's ghosted, it gets the full monty.

[Hendu3270]

Originally Posted by Hermit

Depends.
If it's ghosted, it gets the full monty.

It does not appear as if this pipe saw any aromatics. It had a strong, heavy tobacco, ashy smell to it, (if that makes any sense), that you could smell just holding it in your hand. Hell I could smell it when I had the envelope in my hand and had not even opened it yet. Anyway, I have that heavy smell gone and only a hint of it now. Smells like a typical tobacco smell now and not so over-powering. I guess there's no reason to think of a cake in someone elses pipe to be unsanitary? I mean it's just carbon deposits from the same process in my pipes.

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by Hendu3270

... I guess there's no reason to think of a cake in someone elses pipe to be unsanitary? I mean it's just carbon deposits from the same process in my pipes.

Now that we learn of complex flora/fauna communities living in cold, dark, deep saltwater slathered with 400* hydrogen sulfide injections... well. I just don't know what might live in someone elses pipes bowl. Not that I'd worry about it but a liquor/salt or liquor/cottonball soak kills all but college fraternity brothers.