[QUESTION] Briar and Stem Care
John A. Landry
I read from time to time here in a.s.p about various pipe care products
being used to keep briar pipes and their stems clean and polished, such as
Dunhill wipes, certain sprays, and carnuba waxes.
Can some of you tell me how you keep the exterior of your pipes looking
nice on a day to day basis? I know about polishing vulcanite stems with
buffing compounds to impart a smooth finish, but what is used to retard the
oxidation from coming right back in a short time?
Next, where the heck can I buy these pipe care products? Every tobacconist
I've called or visited in my area either has never heard of these items or
doesn't see the need to carry them. The Dunhill cloths sound nice, but I'd
sure like to know how much they cost and a mail order source to get one.
Where can I get carnuba wax via mail order?
Does anyone know the nature of the canned "Briar Pipe Wipe" that Cornell &
Diehl sells? Is it a spray or what and how well does it work? Can it be
used on the whole pipe including the vulcanite stem?
Thanks a million!
Best regards,
John
Seth A. Anderson
jla...@halcyon.com (John A. Landry) wrote:
I must aplogize, for I got the web address wrong for the Pipes Digest home
page; it is as follows:
http://www.tacoma.net/~pipes/
Sorry about that.
Seth A. Anderson
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. USA
eud...@nwu.edu
Seth A. Anderson
John:
There seem to be three levels of care for the outside of the pipe. The first
is the wax-impregnated cloth, like the one Dunhill makes. This can be used
to buff the pipe and stem after (or before) each smoke. The "Briar Pipe
Wipe" is used in similar fashion: you spray a paper towel with the Pipe Wipe
(the can says that it is a blend of beeswax, woolwax, and carnuba wax
emulsified with mineral oil, lemon oil, and mink oil) and let the towel dry;
then you use the towel like you would use the Dunhill wax-impregnated cloth.
The next level is the stem and pipe polishing compounds sold by Dunhill,
Savinelli, and other companies. It's a bit more trouble, but it seems to
produce a nicer shine.
The final level is the use of pure carnuba wax and an electric buffer. This
does the best job, but you need to be _very_ careful.
I have found that prevention is the best plan for fighting the oxidization
problem: once a stem is oxidized, the Dunhill/Pipe Wipe cloth or the stem
and pipe polishing compounds will get rid of the oxidization, but the minute
I put the stem in my mouth the oxidization returns. Having the stem buffed
or soaking the stem in bleach to remove the oxidization works the best;
thereafter, using polish regularly and the cloth after each smoke seems to
solve the problem.
Warning: soaking the stem in bleach really does the trick, but I have
experienced three problems:
1.The stem doesn't fit the pipe as flush as it did before the bleach
treatment; I can think of no solution for this problem, so I wouldn't
recommend this for a high-grade pipe.
2.Insignia on the stem can fall off in the bleach; this can be countered by
smearing Vaseline over the insignia.
3.The stem can come out somewhat rough. It doesn't bother me too much, but
you could use fine sandpaper or an electric buffer to smooth out the
surface, then polish it for a nice shine.
You could order the Dunhill cloth directly from Dunhill--their address and
phone number are listed in the resource guide. I have also seen the Dunhill
cloth and the Dunhill pipe and stem polishing compounds offered by Smokin'
Joe's. Both the resource guide and the catalog for Smokin' Joe's can be
found at "http://www.tacoma/net/~pipes/"
Michael Gillman
>Greetings...
>
>
>Next, where the heck can I buy these pipe care products? Every tobacconist
>I've called or visited in my area either has never heard of these items or
>doesn't see the need to carry them. The Dunhill cloths sound nice, but I'd
>sure like to know how much they cost and a mail order source to get one.
>Where can I get carnuba wax via mail order?
>
>Does anyone know the nature of the canned "Briar Pipe Wipe" that Cornell &
>Diehl sells? Is it a spray or what and how well does it work? Can it be
>used on the whole pipe including the vulcanite stem?
>
John,
You should be able to get the Dunhill cloth either at Dunhill's in
Seattle, The Tinderbox in Bellevue, or at PipeLane at Northgate or
Bellevue.
Briar Pipe Wipe is a spray which you apply to a handi-wipe, I use baby
wipes, and let dry. You then wipe your pipe and stem with the
handi-wipe. It works well, but you have to keep applying it.
Mike
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tobacco, divine, rare, superexcellent tobacco, which goes far
beyond all the panaceas, potable gold, and philosopher's stones, a
sovereign remedy to all diseases but as it is commonly abused by most
men, which take it as tinkers do ale,'tis a plague, a mischief, a
violent purger of goods, lands, health, hellish, devilish and damned
tobacco, the ruin and overthrow of body and soul
Robert Burton
The Anatomy of Melancholy
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SSmith62
polishing cloth. When the original wax in the cloth dries up (fairly
quickly, in my experience) you can use the cloth with the BPW. It works
great.
Steve Smith
^
~~ ~~ ^
@ ~ @~~ ^
^
\/ ^
~~ ~~ ^
<>-------0
\/
-portrait of the pipe smoker as a young man-
MarkH
This is my program:
1. Clean the stem every time you clean the pipe (in my case, after
every smoke). I use the stem cleaning cloth that comes with the
polishing cloth (a two cloth set). The stem cloth has some type of
waxy substance on it, that removes some of the oxidation, and any
residue from your mouth. I then wipe the pipe and stem with a clean
cloth, and then with a Dunhill wax cloth. (The polishing cloth from
the 2-cloth set is not used - the Dunhill wax cloth is much better
IMO). The entire sequence only takes a few seconds. By keeping up
frequently, the problem never builds up. The wax from the Dunhill
cloth limits the air getting to the pipe stem, and somewhat slows
oxidation.
2. Keep your pipes out of bright light. Sunlight, fluorescent light,
halogen light are all remarkably effective at speeding up the
oxidation process. I have a pipe rack in a walk in closet in my
office/study. This single step greatly reduces the re-occurance of the
problem. If you live in a smoggy/polluted area, this also seems to
speed up the process.
3. Once in a while, I wax pipe and stem, with carnuba wax. I also
occasionally buff the stem on a wheel.
Once there is any serious oxidation, you need to take more serious
steps, of either sanding, or bleaching and then polishing on a buffing
wheel with an abrasive compound.
MH
jla...@halcyon.com (John A. Landry) wrote:
>Greetings...
>
>I read from time to time here in a.s.p about various pipe care products
>being used to keep briar pipes and their stems clean and polished, such as
>Dunhill wipes, certain sprays, and carnuba waxes.
>
>Can some of you tell me how you keep the exterior of your pipes looking
>nice on a day to day basis? I know about polishing vulcanite stems with
>buffing compounds to impart a smooth finish, but what is used to retard the
>oxidation from coming right back in a short time?
>
>Next, where the heck can I buy these pipe care products? Every tobacconist
>I've called or visited in my area either has never heard of these items or
>doesn't see the need to carry them. The Dunhill cloths sound nice, but I'd
>sure like to know how much they cost and a mail order source to get one.
>Where can I get carnuba wax via mail order?
>
>Does anyone know the nature of the canned "Briar Pipe Wipe" that Cornell &
>Diehl sells? Is it a spray or what and how well does it work? Can it be
>used on the whole pipe including the vulcanite stem?
>
>Thanks a million!
>
>Best regards,
>
>John
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