A Sour Pipe

[Piping Abe]

I have a Dr. Grabow Royalton Bulldog pipe that no matter what, the smoke never tastes well. Since i’ve had it, it never has smoke well. Its not wet, it just tastes sour and off. I’ve tried to clean it with pipe sweetener and Alcohol. Nothing ever worked. I don’t know what the deal is. This has never happened with any other pipe i’ve owned. It is a shame since I really like the shape.

Has anyone ever heard of this?

[Citizen B]

I have a Dr. Grabow Royalton Bulldog pipe that no matter what, the smoke never tastes well. Since i’ve had it, it never has smoke well. Its not wet, it just tastes sour and off. I’ve tried to clean it with pipe sweetener and Alcohol. Nothing ever worked. I don’t know what the deal is. This has never happened with any other pipe i’ve owned. It is a shame since I really like the shape.

Has anyone ever heard of this?

What?!!??! A bum Grabow?



Did you get this as an estate or new? More details, please.

[Piping Abe]

I didn’t want to believe it either and i’ve tried smoking it for years but everytime I wish I was smoking a different pipe.

Purchased new from WVSmokeshop in 2016

Everytime I smoke it, the pipe cleaner comes out super dirty. More so than any other pipe I’ve owned. Don’t know if this is an issue. And the pipe cleaner from just the stem after a smoke comes out brown. I’ve never seen this, I run a cleaner through my pipes after every smoke and swab the bowl.

[Fr_Tom]

I have never had one I could not smoke into submission. That said, some pipes just smoke better than others.

I know that something like 5Bros will "smoke out" a ghost pretty effectively for me. I had a used Grabow pot that had the world's most persistent vanilla ghost. 5Bros finally exorcised that pipe.

[ncrobb]

My Devil Anse gave me grief for probably a year. Tsal told me to smoke, smoke smoke it. It finally broke in and is one of my favorite pipes. Sometimes the briar needs to dry out more and I’m guessing the bad taste comes from the moisture and resins in the wood? Maybe?

[MikeDennison]

I have never had one I could not smoke into submission. That said, some pipes just smoke better than others.

I know that something like 5Bros will "smoke out" a ghost pretty effectively for me. I had a used Grabow pot that had the world's most persistent vanilla ghost. 5Bros finally exorcised that pipe.

Smoke out a vanilla ghost? But WHHHYYYYEEEEEEE!?!?

[MikeDennison]

I had a Sav Bing that was funky like that; it smoked like a swamp. Not wet, but everything I put in it tasted like a swamp...a wood-stain flavored swamp. @Fr_Tom advised me to smoke the devil out of it (maybe not in those exact words), and that's just what I did. I smoked that sucker constantly! And eventually, that funkiness was gone.

[Piping Abe]

Smoke it until it submits it seems. But why bother going through that when I have many other pipes? And this one is not enjoyable.

[Kevin Keith]

No documentation because I can’t remember where or when I read it or if I only dreamed it. Anyway, some pieces of briar can just be bad. Bitter, sour, rotten tasting. Just a bad hunk of wood. And that’s hard to tame.

[Mr Beardsley]

That's kind of a head scratcher for sure. Could be just a crappy chunk of briar / wasn't dried well enough / didn't get enough of the tannins cooked out of it. Time and persistence and cake *could* possibly cure it. I'd consider starting from ground zero. Make sure the draft is drilled out large enough (I go 5/32) and that will also make sure there's nothing in the airway like a chunk of finish or some such. Usually I'll prop the pipe in the inner part of a roll of electrical tape and then stuff the draft and rest of the shank with pipe cleaners, fill the bowl with salt and alcohol. The cleaners in the shank will pull all sorts of crap out. I usually have to replace them multiple times per salt fill. When I do I usually top off the chamber with more alcohol too. After you get all the funk drawn out of it and have a sparkly clean chamber maybe consider a bowl coating to provide as much of a neutral start as possible