jim h

I just smoked the Savanelli that I used the salt and ethanol treatment on.
I was ready to toss the pipe and thought I'd give this a try. The results
were to me unbelievable. The pipe tastes great! Makes my $20 pipe seem
like a great deal. Thanks to James Beard on pipes.org for this procedure!

Cheers,
Jim

gene

I'm really confused. Isn't ethanol toxic? Oh ya - where can I get it? Can't
get everclear in MN, have to wait until someone goes through Iowa.

'Gene

I just smoked the Savanelli that I used the salt and ethanol treatment on.
I was ready to toss the pipe and thought I'd give this a try. The results
were to me unbelievable. The pipe tastes great! Makes my $20 pipe seem
like a great deal. Thanks to James Beard on pipes.org for this procedure!

Cheers,
Jim

robert grizzard

Yeah it is. That is the root of the word "intoxicated". OTOH, if you
drink a beer before dinner or a glass of wine with it you won't get
enough ethanol in your system to kill you. And yes, it is the same
alcohol (though obviously at a much lower concentration in the wine than in Everclear).

For my nickel, the highest proof grain neutral spirits available is the
preferred pipe-cleaning solvent. "Everclear" is merely the brand name
of one such. Some like brandy, rum, whiskey, or other distilled
beverage alcohol for this purpose, but I prefer to taste the tobacco's
interaction with the briar rather than its interaction with the briar
and the part of the booze that doesn't evaporate. YMMV.

randall

Hey, I was going to make a post just like this today, after treating
my pipe last night, so I guess I'll just tack onto this thread.

I was really afraid that I'd ruined my one and only pipe, a mini
corncob, after letting it sit for 3 weeks while I was sick. First
smoke out of it a couple days ago was HORRIBLE! "Ewww" just doesn't
cover it, man... :/ We're both out of work and the unemployment
just ran out, so I didn't feel I could justify the selfishness of
replacing the pipe, not when we have pets to feed.

I tried the treatment, hoping to save it. The stink of the crap that
came out of there was just unbelieveable. My first smoke out of the
cleaned pipe, which I just finished, while not back to 100%, was soooo
much improved! It's probably back up to 90% of the former taste, and
I'm hoping that smoking another couple of bowls will bring it all the
way back.

So that's another thanks to pipes.org for saving my pipe! It's
cheesy, but it's all I got...

See ya,

Kristen