Peterson Stain??

[Ronv69]

I have had a couple of the newer Petes that had the stain in the bowl. Not much of a problem. I always put a coat of honey mixed with 151 rum in the bowls of new pipes, especially Petersons. To me Peterson pipes take longer to break in than other pipes, but it's well worth it. I have found that Petes continue to improve with every smoke indefinitely. The very old estates are amazing.

You put a coat of honey mixed with rum in the bowl? Could you elaborate please? Would you think any type of rum would work?

Any kind of rum or no rum at all. I just use it to thin out the honey a little so it soaks into the new wood a little. I do it for the first 2 or 3 bowls to get it started. The Peterson will pay you back for the trouble you go through breaking it in. They literally never wear out.

[Ronv69]

You put a coat of honey mixed with rum in the bowl? Could you elaborate please? Would you think any type of rum would work?

I do the same thing, but I omit the rum. I just take a drop of honey on my finger and wipe it around the entire bowl, making sure a good bit gets into the heel. Then I set the pipe aside and let it dry for a day. Then load and smoke as usual. It helps to kickstart the cake process, and it tastes good too!

Is that even something you might do on a pipe that's has been smoked 4 to 6 times?

Yes. I would do it until the flavot gets better, but mostly it's just to form the layer of carbon.

[Ronv69]

Dunno if this will be relevant, but my Sav Bing was dip stained, and I also almost parted with it for the same reason. Each time I smoked it, it tasted like my grandad's workshop smelled: varnish, linseed, etc. Horrible! [mention]Fr_Tom[/mention] advised me to smoke it like the dickens, and I did. It took a while, but now it's a splendid smoker with none of that horrible stain taste. May be different with Pete's, though.

I guess I just have to stick with it until it tastes better. The burned rubber smell from the stem is another thing that sets me off too though

I have been wanting a Deluxe System. PM me when you are ready to through it our. Seriously!

[Bamarick]

Dunno if this will be relevant, but my Sav Bing was dip stained, and I also almost parted with it for the same reason. Each time I smoked it, it tasted like my grandad's workshop smelled: varnish, linseed, etc. Horrible! [mention]Fr_Tom[/mention] advised me to smoke it like the dickens, and I did. It took a while, but now it's a splendid smoker with none of that horrible stain taste. May be different with Pete's, though.

Not too long after I hired on here I came to the board with basically the same problem, except that my pipe was an Italian made that I had bought off the wall at the Gatlin-Burlier. I described the taste as simply being sour. I was advised to ream it out to bare wood if I could, coat the bowl in honey and by Fr_Tom to smoke Burley tobaccos in it. I did and after about 10 bowls of PA & CH it began to turn itself around. It's now a decent smoking pipe without a funky taste. I did not notice a bad taste out of my Peterson when it was new.

[Ronv69]

The stem shouldn't have a bad flavor on a new pipe. Clean it once in a while with whiskey on a pipe cleaner and if it still has the taste, it might need serious attention. Some people always notice a taste from vulcanite, but I rarely do unless its just been sitting in the sun for a long time.

[Houtenziel]

You put a coat of honey mixed with rum in the bowl? Could you elaborate please? Would you think any type of rum would work?

I do the same thing, but I omit the rum. I just take a drop of honey on my finger and wipe it around the entire bowl, making sure a good bit gets into the heel. Then I set the pipe aside and let it dry for a day. Then load and smoke as usual. It helps to kickstart the cake process, and it tastes good too!

Is that even something you might do on a pipe that's has been smoked 4 to 6 times?

Yeah, I do it to both my new and new to me estate pipes after I give them a ream. No problems with a pipe that has been smoked. The goal is to cover up the stuff in the bowl with a coating of carbonized sugars.
For the Pete you have, I would suggest that you clean the well of the pipe(in the shank) out as well as you possibly can with some q-tips and isopropyl alcohol. I suggest using isopropyl over vodka merely because it is very strong and will do a good job stripping the stain out. You can use everclear too if you have that available. In my experience, almost all the lingering chemical taste that hangs around for ages is in the shank, and since that doesn't get purged with fire you have to manually clean that stuff out(or cover it up with tar from smoking).
For ebonite/vulcanite stems, the only way you are going to lessen the outside smell of rubber is with wax. Carnauba on a buffer, or Renaissance / Paragon wax. The other thing I always do after stem restores, which sound strange to some, is coat a pipe cleaner in regular toothpaste and vigorously scrub the airway in the stem. We focus a lot on the outside after doing dips, sanding, etc.. but we forget that the inside airway is probably oxidized too, and the toothpaste does a good job of polishing that out and lessening the funky rubber odor.

[Wilderness Pipe]

The stem shouldn't have a bad flavor on a new pipe. Clean it once in a while with whiskey on a pipe cleaner and if it still has the taste, it might need serious attention. Some people always notice a taste from vulcanite, but I rarely do unless its just been sitting in the sun for a long time.

May be im just real sensitive to it. This Pete is my first Ebonite. All my other pipes are acrylic. Since I like to clench, it was one more reason why I wanted a Pete in my collection. Is it normal that Ebonite sometimes gives off a slight smell of rubber when trying to smell the inside of the stem?

[Houtenziel]

The stem shouldn't have a bad flavor on a new pipe. Clean it once in a while with whiskey on a pipe cleaner and if it still has the taste, it might need serious attention. Some people always notice a taste from vulcanite, but I rarely do unless its just been sitting in the sun for a long time.

May be im just real sensitive to it. This Pete is my first Ebonite. All my other pipes are acrylic. Since I like to clench, it was one more reason why I wanted a Pete in my collection. Is it normal that Ebonite sometimes gives off a slight smell of rubber when trying to smell the inside of the stem?

Old oxidized vulcanite can have this issue. Also the stem will be extra stinky after you dip in bleach or oxyclean because it essentially forces the outer layer of the vulcanite to oxidize(which stinks). Cleaning the oxidation out of the inside of the stem and airway with plain or whitening toothpaste always fixes the issue for me

[Wilderness Pipe]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the time and effort you guys put into explaining and advising a somewhat newbie like me

[Wilderness Pipe]

I do the same thing, but I omit the rum. I just take a drop of honey on my finger and wipe it around the entire bowl, making sure a good bit gets into the heel. Then I set the pipe aside and let it dry for a day. Then load and smoke as usual. It helps to kickstart the cake process, and it tastes good too!

Is that even something you might do on a pipe that's has been smoked 4 to 6 times?

Yeah, I do it to both my new and new to me estate pipes after I give them a ream. No problems with a pipe that has been smoked. The goal is to cover up the stuff in the bowl with a coating of carbonized sugars.
For the Pete you have, I would suggest that you clean the well of the pipe(in the shank) out as well as you possibly can with some q-tips and isopropyl alcohol. I suggest using isopropyl over vodka merely because it is very strong and will do a good job stripping the stain out. You can use everclear too if you have that available. In my experience, almost all the lingering chemical taste that hangs around for ages is in the shank, and since that doesn't get purged with fire you have to manually clean that stuff out(or cover it up with tar from smoking).
For ebonite/vulcanite stems, the only way you are going to lessen the outside smell of rubber is with wax. Carnauba on a buffer, or Renaissance / Paragon wax. The other thing I always do after stem restores, which sound strange to some, is coat a pipe cleaner in regular toothpaste and vigorously scrub the airway in the stem. We focus a lot on the outside after doing dips, sanding, etc.. but we forget that the inside airway is probably oxidized too, and the toothpaste does a good job of polishing that out and lessening the funky rubber odor.

Carnauba wax, as in the car polishing Carnauba wax?