disgusting pipe (yuk! should I toss it out?)

[ButchA]

Does anyone have an old pipe laying around that is just uttery nasty to smoke?

I still have an old Dr. Grabow Royal Duke that has been in my kitchen cupboard for years. I remember buying it at a military PX back around 1981/82, and smoked Capt Black out of it. (But then somehow I switched to cigarettes for decades, then quit. Now I'm back for good, smoking a pipe.)

Aside from my new Sasieni Ruff Root #2 and my Eriksen straight pipe, the old Dr. Grabow was my first ever pipe, like it probably was for many people.

Anyway, out of curiosity, I got it out from the cupboard, ran a pipe cleaner through it, and gently wiped the bowl with a paper towel and my pinky. I filled the bowl with my favorite Buttered Rum tobacco, gently lit it, tamped it down, and relit it again.

About 1/4th of the way though, the whole pipe started tasting disgusting. It was gurgling, wheezing, making all sorts of bizarre noises too. It smoked so wet, it was utterly gross. http://www.clubstogie.com/vb/images_cs3/icons/kotzen1.gif

My new Sasieni pipe and my Eriksen pipe don't smoke wet or nasty or anything. They both are rock solid and excellent pipes. What should I do with the old nasty Dr. Grabow? Toss it? Give it to someone on this board? It is worth trying to clean up, fix or restore?

[kjjm4]

You can try cleaning it by putting a cotton ball soaked with alcohol in the bowl and letting it soak overnight. You can also use a paste made of salt and alcohol. Try searching the forums, I think there have been several threads about cleaning/restoration on here.

[Cheeto]

It really doesn't take much to try to clean it. What works for me is some rock salt, a little bit of rum, and about half a day/a day to sit. There are a lot of cleaning and restoring methods out there, I'd give one a shot just for the learning experience.

[Alyks]

I have a Dr. Grabow Royal Duke as well and my experience has been the same. It smokes fine for the first quarter, but everything after that is sour and gross. I don't think its just your pipe in particular, but Dr Grabow in general.

[ButchA]

Thanks... I might try cleaning it with some rubbing alcohol and let it sit for a week or so. I think something is wrong with it, where the stem doesn't fit right anymore and it gets an air leak. Or like Alyks said, maybe it's just the quality of Dr. Grabow.

[Joan]

Wish I knew where my college Grabow got to!

The $20 bin at my local B&M has kept my nascent pipe collection going the past year, but I'd sure toss a bitter one like that, or at least remove it from the rotation. Make a plaque out of it! :D Life is just too short for nasty smoke!

[SUOrangeGuy]

If you're a sentimental guy find some fun way to keep it around otherwise you can chuck it out.

[tecnorobo]

Dr grabows are greg's favorite pipes :tu

joking aside, I'd say toss that bad boy and try gettings yourself a "higher quality" pipe. You'll be rewarded if you do so :)

[livwire68]

If you really wanted to keep it, I would recommend getting a pipe retort. This also helps in the restoration of estate pipes or just cleaning a bad pipe. They can only be found on ebay last I checked, for around $20. I believe most of the money went to a animal foundation. If you are really interested I will research my old archives and locate a direct phone # or email for the people!

[Mad Hatter]

Maybe that was why you switched to cigarettes in the first place :)

I had one like that. I smoked it every day, several times. Finally it got a bad taste..... salty and bitter. An old timer told me about salt and everclear which I did twice for a week at a time and that only had limited success on both occasions. I joined CS for this reason and asked the guys here and they said to ream it, so I did... still with limited success. Finally I got agrravated one day and plugged the airway and filled the bowl with alcohol. A day later I shook it around, dumped it out, did a "paper towel" ream and it has smoked like a new one ever since. Recommended only as a last resort.

Matter of fact I actually had to do this with every one of my first three pipes and now all are as good as ever.

[pierredekat]

http://www.thetrashcan.org/trashcan.jpg

[Big T]

Yeah, give it the salt/alcohol treatment, which is in the stickies. Also make sure to clean the inside of the stem and the shank with q-tips soaked in alcohol. You'd be surprised how well it'll clean up.

[IHT]

Maybe that was why you switched to cigarettes in the first place :)

I had one like that. I smoked it every day, several times. Finally it got a bad taste..... salty and bitter. An old timer told me about salt and everclear which I did twice for a week at a time and that only had limited success on both occasions. I joined CS for this reason and asked the guys here and they said to ream it, so I did... still with limited success. Finally I got agrravated one day and plugged the airway and filled the bowl with alcohol. A day later I shook it around, dumped it out, did a "paper towel" ream and it has smoked like a new one ever since. Recommended only as a last resort.

Matter of fact I actually had to do this with every one of my first three pipes and now all are as good as ever.

i read someplace else, maybe here, that some ppl will fill the bowl up with whatever alcohol of their choosing, let it sit for 2 days, then dump it out...
then they let it dry for a good while (maybe a week or more, can't remember).

i got an estate nording off ebay (i sent it to cquon later on), but it had a great smell to the bowl, and whenever you took a draw without 'baccy in there. like a nice sweet rum... maybe that guy did the same.

[ButchA]

Yeah, give it the salt/alcohol treatment, which is in the stickies. Also make sure to clean the inside of the stem and the shank with q-tips soaked in alcohol. You'd be surprised how well it'll clean up.
That's what I am doing. I am soaking it as I write this. If the old worn out Dr. Grabow Royal Duke still has "issues", then I will send it to a user on here who PM'd me.

[Mister Moo]

I have a $9.00 GBD zulu that came from ebay, gommed up the ying-yang with thick, aromatic glue in the bowl and stem. The pipe had been smoked to exhaustion, never reamed out, the stem was brownish-yellow and maybe never swabbed with a pipe cleaner. It smelled rotten and looked awful.

Some careful reaming, booze and salt in the bowl, olive oil for the stem, half a roll of paper towels, a few dozen pipe cleaners and weeks to dry was followed by a little wax and some hand buffing. It looks lovely, smokes cool - ash to the bottom, and is one of my favorite pipes.

Have hope. Consider it a learning opportunity. The restoration process is easy and rewarding.

[Mad Hatter]

i read someplace else, maybe here, that some ppl will fill the bowl up with whatever alcohol of their choosing, let it sit for 2 days, then dump it out...
then they let it dry for a good while (maybe a week or more, can't remember).

i got an estate nording off ebay (i sent it to cquon later on), but it had a great smell to the bowl, and whenever you took a draw without 'baccy in there. like a nice sweet rum... maybe that guy did the same.


I used rubbing alcohol. I know I got this idea from somewhere, probably here or P&T. I can't remember what was going on a week ago. Doesn't matter. It worked.