Meerschaum pipe cleaning

[James Hunsicker]

I got a couple meers one is just meer lined and the other is all meer. I got it on eBay and they both smell like perfume. I tried soaking it in hot water and now have it sealed up in baking soda. Anyone know how I can get that perfume out of it?

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

One suggestion is baking soda, but you already have that covered. Another is activated charcoal inside the pipe. Third is time. A friend left paintbrushes in the freezer and we had to throw all the food out and it took a few months of baking soda and coffee grinds but it eventually cleared up. Fourth suggestion is smoke something in it.

 

[deluxestogie]

Fourth suggestion is smoke something in it.

The perfume smell happens when somebody (read, non-smoker deciding how to get that awful tobacco smell out of the things she wants to sell) sprays the inside of the bowl with Febreze, etc., until she can't smell the tobacco any more.

I purchased a large, Dobie briar pipe at an antique store for $3. That was about 4 or 5 years ago. It required something like 3 years of smoking it to get rid of the Febreze stink.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

The perfume smell happens when somebody (read, non-smoker deciding how to get that awful tobacco smell out of the things she wants to sell) sprays the inside of the bowl with Febreze, etc., until she can't smell the tobacco any more.

I purchased a large, Dobie briar pipe at an antique store for $3. That was about 4 or 5 years ago. It required something like 3 years of smoking it to get rid of the Febreze stink.

Bob

That's horrible.

Out of curiosity, I once smoked Drum in my pipe. It tasted like lemon for a few smokes. Oh, and Gawith Grouse Moor. It's crazy how deeply the stink gets into your pipe. If it lasted a couple years, I wouldn't have bothered

 

[deluxestogie]

I wouldn't have bothered

But...it was a Canadian!

Bob

 

[Death76]

I got a couple meers one is just meer lined and the other is all meer. I got it on eBay and they both smell like perfume. I tried soaking it in hot water and now have it sealed up in baking soda. Anyone know how I can get that perfume out of it?

Pour activated carbon into the bowl, to the top. And put it in the oven heated to 300 ° F, for 1 hour at least. If possible, immerse the entire tube in a container with activated carbon. Be sure to remove the mouthpiece

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Pour activated carbon into the bowl, to the top. And put it in the oven heated to 300 ° F, for 1 hour at least. If possible, immerse the entire tube in a container with activated carbon. Be sure to remove the mouthpiece

Have you put meerschaum in the oven before?

 

[Death76]

Have you put meerschaum in the oven before?

I do not have smoking pipes from meerschaum. I cleaned so briar. I think nothing will happen to meerschaum, unless of course there is a plastic adapter for the mouthpiece.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I suppose the oven is much cooler than the burning tobacco, so it won't be a structural problem.

Meerschaum pipes are smothered in wax.
I'm afraid that the wax will turn brown.

 

[tullius]

Yeah, would not put water soaked meerschaum in a 300 deg F oven: it is an extremely porous material and if there's any differential moisture in the pipes it may easily crack. Can't speak from experience though: I've never had to clean any of mine because I bought mine new. Maybe it would work OK.

If it were me, I would try filling the bowls with activated carbon (or any type of charcoal, really), saturate the carbon with high test potable alcohol for a few days, then knock out, rinse with distilled water, and let dry completely for several months or more.

 

[tullius]

Salt pack and overproof rum at room temp has worked wonders in briars for me, don't see what it would hurt to try in a meer?

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Salt pack and overproof rum at room temp has worked wonders in briars for me, don't see what it would hurt to try in a meer?

I don't know if the salt thing is good or bad in a meerschaum. Wood is stronger, and less chemically reactive than meerschaum so I would do this with caution.

 

[Death76]

I suppose the oven is much cooler than the burning tobacco, so it won't be a structural problem.

Meerschaum pipes are smothered in wax.
I'm afraid that the wax will turn brown.

Temperature is not a problem for wax. Wax darkens with tobacco tar. All my briar pipes are waxed, and nothing happened to them. You need to pour dry activated carbon, after 1 hour turn off the oven and allow to cool, then pull the pipe out of the oven and pour the charcoal.
If the smell has not completely disappeared, repeat the procedure.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I would be somewhat worried about baking a meer in the oven. Additionally meer's have plastic inserts in them for a threaded tenon that the stem screws into. Not sure what 300 degrees would do to that.

 

[Charly]

I think it depends on the type of pipe.
If your pipe has no plastic inside, I think it may not harm it to put it in your oven.
I remember that some meerschaum pipes were burnt on very hot plates (after being soaked in oil) create a nearly black color.
In french, we call them "pipe en écume calcinée", you can see this type of pipes here : http://www.pipegazette.com/2010/10/ecume-calcinee-une-curiosite.html

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I went to Eskisehir and met a couple pipe makers. One of them explained in broken English that they brown the outside of pipes with a torch. This is why I thought the oven treatment might darken the pipe.

I wouldn't necessarily see that as a bad thing. Plastic insert topic aside, I would rather see what baking it for a period of time would do to the smell whilst dry, than to moisten it in any way first. I don't see harm in exercising caution.

 

[James Hunsicker]

Thank you everybody, the baking soda is kinda working. I covered the whole thing and threw it in the fridge. Can still slightly taste it, might try to boil it if it still taste like that after a week or so

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Boiling it will soften it to the consistency of a bar of soap so if you do so, handle it carefully.

 

[James Hunsicker]

No need to boil, think the baking soda did the trick. Washed it off let it dry and smoked it today and can't taste no more perfume. Think I can taste slight burning baking soda but that'll go away quicker then the perfume would have