Loading ...One of our pipe club members was good enough to write an article about cleaning the “sour” out of an estate pipe, or one that’s gone sour on you. The “salt and alcohol” method is described step by step, and has been used by our members with much success.
While clicking around on the web as we sometimes do, I found a couple of other articles on different methods of cleaning pipes as well. I wouldn’t have thought of “baking” a briar in an oven, as described in the first article, found on the G. L. Pease site… nor had I ever heard of the “retort method”, as described in an article posted by the Seattle Pipe Club.
While the members of our site do enjoy buying new pipes, what pipe smoker doesn’t revel in the excitement of finding that rare gem of an estate pipe? In my experience, pipe smokers (for the most part) are also collectors, and serious collectors aren’t about to allow a little “sour” to turn them off of a pipe that they must have in their collection. These restoration methods are priceless to the collector that enjoys using the object of their affections… a clean smoke out of a rare find estate pipe is a beautiful thing!
Dedicated pipe smokers may find a pipe of theirs has “soured” from use, or they may decide that a pipe previously dedicated to a particular blend may have become too saturated with the “taste” of that blend to be used for smoking any other tobacco. The methods described in these articles will help pipe smokers gain a fresh start with their pipes, regardless of the reason for needing one.
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