Pipe retort

[Piping Abe]

Heres a good video on a pipe retort:

[Mr Beardsley]

I got a kit off Ebay and it works fine. I was using an alcohol burner with it but I switched to boiling water on an induction hotplate for safety sake. I am through buying very dirty estate pipes and my pipes don't get much use individual so I probably won't be using it again. You need to thoroughly clean the pipes before you use the retort.

You mean ream it and get the bulk of the junk out of the shank? I thought a retort was for getting the rest of the crap out to save work

Yeah, do a normal cleaning to get at least the top layers out. The retort will take much longer to get bulk tars out. During this process you will be holding hot parts of boiling alcohol and it gets tiring. If you have a full laboratory and you can clamp all the parts in place, well go ahead. Try it and you'll see.

I have neither a laboratory nor anything for clamping smaller stuff. Maybe one day...

[Ronv69]

Heres a good video on a pipe retort:

This article that accompanied the video is pertinent I think.
https://canerodpipes.wordpress.com/2019 ... he-retort/

[Ronv69]

I watched the video and I was surprised to see that I have a very similar setup. I bought a laboratory stand for a setup for louching absinthe. I just used the clamp for my flask. The kit recommended using a candle but that is pretty hard in practice. I got a cheap alcohol lamp from eBay. But it's really a great video.

[Nhsmoker]

What I normally hear is you do a deep clean first. Ream the bowl salt and alcohol treatment and pipe cleaners with alcohol. Then do the retort. It is a bit of work but supposedly it gets far more gunk out then what is achievable without it. Maybe it is unecessary but I may still buy one if I can find one

[Ronv69]

What I normally hear is you do a deep clean first. Ream the bowl salt and alcohol treatment and pipe cleaners with alcohol. Then do the retort. It is a bit of work but supposedly it gets far more gunk out then what is achievable without it. Maybe it is unecessary but I may still buy one if I can find one

You have it right. You can get all the pieces from eBay and put it together as in the video.

[Ruffinogold]

I mean , ive cleaned some pipes in my day , some really bad , and I got them good and clean . I dont see a purpose to getting them any cleaner , for me . Really , I could give it a clean and sand the chamber back to fresh wood in no time .. would that be cleaner yet ?
I get that the steam does a job on the carbon and whatnot and that its a good way to clean a pipe for sure . Im sure once youre set up it becomes quicker and easier . Its the same with anything shop related . Same goes with building your own pipe making equipment .. it looks like a big deal but it reallly isnt . Once youre done , you have a system and its fun to do . I bet the same with the retort. Go for it , man

[Ruffinogold]

Someone here should make a good video of the retort . Its hard to make a good video so maybe make a " meh " video . Hell , I suck at taking pictures even

[Citizen B]

What PSF needs is a revival of this whole pipe retort discussion. Here! Here!!

[GatorGirl]

For my information... https://rebornpipes.com/2012/10/17/what ... t-is-used/

Looks like fun doesn't it?

No. It does not look like fun. It looks like something I do not need to know about.

I'm out.

Ditto!!