ASK KEL: WHY IS MY PIPE DOING THAT???

[zecrespo]

Beautiful Castellos!

[SmokeRingsPipeDreams]

@zecrespo Thank you!

[ChemicallAli]

Can you do a extensive video on the salt treatment for cleaning a pipe. I remember watching one about your estate pipe that you were cleaning, a red one if i remember correctly (?). I recently havent been smoking my pipe or cleaning it for that matter. And i figured its about time i cleaned it again. I used alcohol and all that jazz, but it still has a strong scent and black color in the bowl.

Think a salt treatment would help this?

[SmokeRingsPipeDreams]

@ChemicallAli Check out my playlists and go to the pipe cleaning one. :)

[ChemicallAli]

@SmokeRingsPipeDreams After dump out the salt and alcohol do you just clean the pipe like you would in a basic alcohol cleaning of a pipe? que-tips and a grain alcohol?

Also just wondering about the procedure in general. Just pack the pipe with salt and add enough alcohol to make it moist and just leave it for a day?

[SmokeRingsPipeDreams]

@ChemicallAli I've left mine even longer. Be careful not to get the salt to moist, and you can do a second treatment if you need to. And yes, just use some alcohol to clean the salt residue out. Not rubbing alcohol.

[SparkysPipes]

Very well done man, your explanation was very well done. I think its awsome you do alot of your videos for guys/gals that have questions.

As always, AWSOME video man!

take care and smoke on

scott

[NorwegianFellah]

Interesting, Kel.

Thanks for sharing!

[dunhillmanuk]

Love the pipes Kel

You own great pipes

Another great video

Keep em smoking

[SmokeRingsPipeDreams]

@dunhillmanuk Thank you Sir, it's taken me years to find a lot of them. (like you)

Cheers,

Kel

[PipeDreamsInc]

How come the tops of your pipes are so pristine as if you have never smoked them? Hard as I try, I can't keep from burnning the edges.

Best,

Bill

[SmokeRingsPipeDreams]

@PipeDreamsInc I never pack them to the top, always at least a quarter to a third below the bowl, sometimes even a half inch for a tall bowl. And I always, always do the top/rim cleaning as I demonstrated in that one video. I hate it when a pipe gets looking bad on the rim etc. It takes a lot of work an vigilance.

[PipeDreamsInc]

@SmokeRingsPipeDreams Thanks. I'll try it. So how come I can't get my tobacco to stay lit? I use half a box of matches on one bowl?

Best,

Bill

[SmokeRingsPipeDreams]

@PipeDreamsInc I will cover some of that in section two of my "how to smoke a pipe" series which should be out by spring. Have you considered useing a 90 degree angle butane lighter like the one I have? It really changed my enjoyment of a pipe for the better when I went away from matches.

[PipeDreamsInc]

@SmokeRingsPipeDreams I have four Zippo pipe lighters that I use, but I have been using matches exclusively for a while.

Best,

Bill

[truckpipe]

The pale virgin finishes seem to change faster than the meerschaum do. thanks, gregg

[popcicleNinja]

very helpful tip, thanks Kel.

[skrullion]

Good vid kel. Love the pipes.

[Miroshinen]

Hey Kel, Im not sure if you answered this or not, but I bought a pipe. Ive had it for about a year now, but about 4 months in, the stem became loose. It spins freely in the pipe, especially when tar collects in it.

[Miroshinen]

@Miroshinen My qustion is why does it do that, if you didn't catch that.

[SmokeRingsPipeDreams]

@Miroshinen Check out my "ask Kel" videos, and also my "how to smoke a pipe" series it's covered there.

[MacNutz2]

I didn't know briar changed colour with smoking but my only briar is rusticated. Although the once red and brown rustication has turned completely black in this older and very used rusticated thing I have.

I've seen colour leeching through my oldest corn cob, also heavily used.

[Humpahna]

I don't know if it is true or not, but I think it is a combination of heat and the oils from your hand. I have a Radice plateau briar freehand, silk cut, with a virgin or pure finish (not sure what Radice calls it, I guess the layman term is No Finish on the briar at all). I have noticed that during the process of breaking this pipe in, it is beginning to transform from sandy blonde to a honey amber, but the coloring is happening on the peaks of the silkcut where I am more apt to touch.

[SmokeRingsPipeDreams]

@Humpahna I think you're right about that, and I was just struck by the thought that maybe the wax used to polish the pipe may too have some role to play.

[legendofwayne]

Is it normal to get a nasty chemical taste in your mouth when smoking aromatics? This happens a lot to me and I haven't figured out if it was the pipes or the tobacco. I clean my pipes, so I didn't think it was because they were dirty. I'm a complete noob to pipe smoking, so I was wondering if you might know why this happens. The taste reminds me of furniture polish or lacquer, or stuff like that. I get it in corn cobs, pear woods, meerschaums etc. All smoking aromatic tobaccos...

[SmokeRingsPipeDreams]

@legendofwayne Gosh, I've never had that happen. Could it be what you are cleaning your pipes with? Or what you are lighting with? Or maybe you just don't like aromatics, I just don't know. I'm sorry.

[legendofwayne]

@SmokeRingsPipeDreams That's alright. It just might be from aromatics. I'll be ordering some English and Latakia blends in a week or two and I'll see what happens with those. It might even just be a normal taste from tobacco that I'm not used to, I dunno. Thanks anyway, Kel.

[SmokeRingsPipeDreams]

@legendofwayne  I am curious, what are you using to clean them?

[legendofwayne]

@SmokeRingsPipeDreams Mostly just with plain pipe cleaners, although I did use rum once on the corn cob to see what happens.

[SmokeRingsPipeDreams]

@legendofwayne I can't imagine rum doing it, but you aught to try Everclear next time, just to be sure. Was it a high alcohol content rum like Bacardi 151?

[legendofwayne]

@SmokeRingsPipeDreams Captain Morgan 37%.  I'll probably get some rubbing alcohol like MacNutz suggested and try that.

[Humpahna]

@legendofwayne It could be what you are using to clean your pipes with or/and what brand of aromatics you are purchasing. Personally, I order my tobaccos from 4noggins online. I have never had a chemical taste from them; however, I purchased an Estate Pipe (awesome pipe btw) that began to taste like detergent even after I cleaned with cognac. After smoking it out for a while, the detergent note has faded away. I think it was from the seller who cleaned the pipe before sale.

[MacNutz2]

@legendofwayne It sounds to me like the aromatics are creating what you taste in all of your pipes. I don't smoke aros much but when I do, I clean the pipe like mad using good old rubbing alcohol from the drug store. It cleans out the tars and oils but doesn't leave any flavour that I can taste.

Give your meershaum a good cleaning and try your English/lat blends in that, to see if the taste you are getting comes back with the English blends. I think it won't.

[legendofwayne]

@MacNutz2 Thank you, I'll give that a shot.