-
This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.
Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades -
Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.
We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.
Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103
Cleaning a pipe
- Thread starter spudnut
- Start date
Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:
Yes I've done it. You want very hot coals, not flames, and you'll need a pair of tongs.
The pipe must be dry, so can't have been smoked in the past 12-24 hours. Otherwise any moisture will turn to steam and shatter the pipe.
Lay the pipe on the coals, probably with the tongs, as the heat coming off the hardwood coals will be pretty intense. Let the ceramic in an all clay pipe start to glow, then remove with the tongs and gently set aside to air cool, thus curing the pipe of residual nicotine and tar.
As for the clay with the reed stem, they can be thicker and pigmented, so I'm not sure about getting them to glow..., but about ten minutes, and you might have to flip them over for an additional ten minutes, then remove with the tongs and allow to air cool.
BEWARE you must baby-sit the pipe as it cools, for it will look "cool" to others in the camp while it's still very hot.
Don't leave the pipe in the coals overnight, though some might say this is the procedure. If you forget you have a pipe in the ashes the following morning, OR if a different person makes up the fire the next morning, you will have a cured, broken pipe...
LD
The pipe must be dry, so can't have been smoked in the past 12-24 hours. Otherwise any moisture will turn to steam and shatter the pipe.
Lay the pipe on the coals, probably with the tongs, as the heat coming off the hardwood coals will be pretty intense. Let the ceramic in an all clay pipe start to glow, then remove with the tongs and gently set aside to air cool, thus curing the pipe of residual nicotine and tar.
As for the clay with the reed stem, they can be thicker and pigmented, so I'm not sure about getting them to glow..., but about ten minutes, and you might have to flip them over for an additional ten minutes, then remove with the tongs and allow to air cool.
BEWARE you must baby-sit the pipe as it cools, for it will look "cool" to others in the camp while it's still very hot.
Don't leave the pipe in the coals overnight, though some might say this is the procedure. If you forget you have a pipe in the ashes the following morning, OR if a different person makes up the fire the next morning, you will have a cured, broken pipe...
LD
Thanks Dave,I've done white Clay's this way for years, but my stemmed pipe from Turkey foot traders is mighty foul!I thought about soaking it in hot water and running it through the dishwasher.I love the way white Clay's come out looking brand new,
Black Hand
Cannon
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2005
- Messages
- 9,348
- Reaction score
- 893
If glazed inside and out, you could clean with Pinesol, Simple Green or other non-toxic cleaner. Soak, scrub with an old toothbrush, rinse well, allow to dry and insert stem.
Full disclosure - I have not done this with a glazed pipe. I quit smoking 15 years ago and haven't needed to clean a pipe...
Full disclosure - I have not done this with a glazed pipe. I quit smoking 15 years ago and haven't needed to clean a pipe...
Never even cleaned mine... Like a coffee cup, you never wash it! Lol
Interesting post.
Interesting post.
:barf:
LD
Crewdawg445 said:
Same here. I gave up the pipe more than 30 years ago. But, before that, never took extraordinary measures to clean them. Smoke, tap out and maybe scrape. That's it.
Cruzatte
50 Cal.
I must be a really sloppy pipe smoker. After a while, they get really sour, and the tongue bite is intolerable. The outside of the bowl near the heel and the shank get pretty oily and gummy. When that happens, it's time to let them dry out, and into the hot coals they go to burn out all the crud.
:thumbsup:
LD
LD
IS the interior glazed as well?
Did the residual tar and other stuff penetrate the clay?
IF the interior isn't glazed, or wasn't fully sealed when glazed, then you should give the fire a try.
IF it is fully glazed and nothing has gone into the ceramic, then try soaking it in some 190 proof grain alcohol, and wipe it with a clean cloth, then let it air dry a day or two.
LD
Did the residual tar and other stuff penetrate the clay?
IF the interior isn't glazed, or wasn't fully sealed when glazed, then you should give the fire a try.
IF it is fully glazed and nothing has gone into the ceramic, then try soaking it in some 190 proof grain alcohol, and wipe it with a clean cloth, then let it air dry a day or two.
LD
Lol, never really thought about seeing if it was glazed inside.I just started smoking it,I bought this one from Turkey foot traders,the elbow seems to really collect resins I pull the stem out once or so a day and it's fairly dripping with black goo...lol. gonna just try scraping it and scrubbing it with hot water.It smokes sweet first thing in the morning,but gets sour after two or three smokes.
Huzzah! 
atriot:
LD
atriot: LD
I've never boiled them. In fact Sunday at an event I cured four pipes on the coals at the hearth cooking demo.
LD
LD
i am in my late 70's and in the 1940's my grand father smoked a TD clay pipe, witch by the way he told me stood for TRAMPS DELIGHT! and i remember that his not having any teeth would rap a goodly amount of linen thread around the steam to get a bite on it with his gums and keep it from rolling/ turning over in his mouth and dumping the hot coals on his bib overalls and burning them.
Similar threads
