clean & De ghost an estate pipe

[Kevin Keith]

Great , answers and advice . I will look for Everclear at the liquor store. I haven't seen it around in my neighborhood. It sounds dangerous to drink!
What is it like with grapefruit juice? I mean not for the pipe , for a cocktail?? there will be so much left over from bottle . I only have five pipes. I drink an Icelandic vodka but it's only 40 proof.

I'd just stick with the vodka if that's what you like to drink. You might not be able to buy Everclear in NY, so maybe use a 101 proof bourbon. You can use your regular vodka if you want, but the higher proof, the less water and more ethanol. Bourbon leaves a nice smell and taste which will burn off and might help kill the ghost.

I'm going to buy the drill bit. It sounds like an efficient method, turned by hand.I have a British Buttner reamer . it does an ok job what do you use for reaming ? I found a small sharp knife that seamed to help the last reaming experiment I did .
So it doesn't seam the salt treatment is necessary . Is that the case ?

For reaming I have a Kleen Reem. You can find them on ebay, etsy, etc. It does a good job and makes short work of the cake. What you are doing sounds ok to me. I've never seen aneed for the salt treatment and I suspect I never will!

[Kevin Keith]

One more thing, @Alex. Don't use isopropol alcohol. People do use it to sanitize an estate pipe, I have too. But I have come to the conclusion that if I'm going to use alcohol to clean I'll just use something tha humans can (theoretically) drink, i.e., Everclear, ethanol. I don't know that smoking a pipe cleaned with isopropol would hurt you, but I just don't want to take that chance.

[Ruffinogold]

Ream , bristle/regular cleaners with a booze till clean , salt and booze chamber over night , rinse with booze until everything is clean and yummy and let dry ... then Tripoli compound exterior before waxing

Bourbon is aged in wood . Briar is wood . The two go together imho

Depending on how bad it is , ya might not have to go all out

[Fr_Tom]

So, in my humble opinion, Everclear at 190P is more useful as a wood cleaner than a beverage. Can't remember what the drink was called, but had Everclear mixed with grape juice at a party once in the early 90s. *Red Solo cups and wondering if I would make it home alive*

We had a punch called "Black Death" made with Everclear at the fraternity house when I was an undergrad. It was mixed in a trash can, and the last two steps were throwing in a cigarette butt and stirring with a hockey stick.

[Dr Uhaha]

We had a punch called "Black Death" made with Everclear at the fraternity house when I was an undergrad. It was mixed in a trash can, and the last two steps were throwing in a cigarette butt and stirring with a hockey stick.

Sweet lord... Good name for it.

[Alex]

I have never done the salt treatment on a pipe, but I probably could have. I doubt my results would have been any better than how I usually clean and deghost an estate. The most I do with any estate is to sanitize it inside and out and to ream the bowl back to the briar. For my cleaning I like to use Everclear or a high proof bourbon.

If a ghost persists after sanitizing , an old timey Burley is called for. Just load that pipe up with Prince Albert or Carter Hall and smoke it out. Those Burley tobaccos will bring a ghost to its knees after several bowls in my experience.

I’m with these guys who want to get rid of all the old cake. I don’t know what that cake is or what the other guy smoke before but I just don’t want it in there. Ream it back to wood. I clean the internals with the high proof alcohol. For the stem and shank I soak pipe cleaners with the booze and run them through till no color shows up on them. If the shank is really stubborn in coming clean, I’ll use a 4/32 inch drill bit, twisted by hand, and just drill out the shank. I like a 4/32 airway anyway. That gunk can be pretty thick in there and you’ll never clean it out with just pipe cleaners in some pipes.

After reaming the bowl, I just soak soft cloth with the alcohol and swab out the bowl until it’s clean. As far as sterilizing the stem that high proof alcohol takes care of any germs or whatever may be left from the last guy. That’s how I do it anyway.

I believe Bourbon, it will be . It sounds like a nice solution, I should be able to find around where I live. And I can have a little to clean my throat out in, on the way down to my stomach, and up to my head. I think the shank, Can definitely be an issue. What drill bit do you like ?

[Kevin Keith]

@Alex i ream the shank with a 4/32” bit. No brand preference just as long as it is that size. That will clean out any shank since most of them are smaller.

[Lostdog5152]

The drill bit is a great way to freshen up the shank. It will improve the draw on those pipes with a skinny draft hole at the same time and I do this to most of my pipes. Just be careful with any pipe with a bend in the shank, which should go without saying. The bit will follow the path it is started on and could cause problems at the bend.

[Kevin Keith]

The drill bit is a great way to freshen up the shank. It will improve the draw on those pipes with a skinny draft hole at the same time and I do this to most of my pipes. Just be careful with any pipe with a bend in the shank, which should go without saying. The bit will follow the path it is started on and could cause problems at the bend.

Great point! 99% of my pipes are straight and that little fact slipped right by in my explanation.

[Alex]

The drill bit is a great way to freshen up the shank. It will improve the draw on those pipes with a skinny draft hole at the same time and I do this to most of my pipes. Just be careful with any pipe with a bend in the shank, which should go without saying. The bit will follow the path it is started on and could cause problems at the bend.

I see. I would like to use the drill bit method . But I do smoke out of a full bent billiard . A Hardcastle Camden . The Bourbon in Queens New York is 90 proof the highest .I called the best liquor store around here. Of course the people, in Queens New York, are so crazy, they wouldn't dare sell anything higher or stronger. It's not like Texas ,or the south.
would the drill bit method be inadvisable, due to the fact they're full bend's ?
Would you like a picture of the pipe?

Alex