GBD New Standard 9488 pot

[SpeedyPete]

This is one beautiful old pipe which disappointed me to the point where I felt like breaking it's neck. Got it off eBay at a fair price and in excellent condition. But it smoked like crap.:evil: 

I did everything I could think off and everything others had thought of but to no avail. I even filled it with baking soda and added vinegar to "boil" it, did this to both bowl and shank. I scrubed the bowl with a toothbrush and boiling water. No go.

Eventually I put it aside and tried to forget about it, left it alone for a couple of months. Took it up again a while ago and charged it with Presbyterian Blend. And there it was performing like a champ!!! :shock: 

Now, my brothers, how is this possible? This pipe can only be enjoyed with latakia blends? Anything else tastes like pure crap (never smoked pure crap but I imagine that's what it will taste like).

Any of the brothers experienced something like this?  :?: 

 

[Fr_Tom]

I have never resorted to anything like boiling water or vinegar/baking soda. I pretty much clean the stem/shank with pga and use multiple bristle cleaners in the shank until everything is as clean as I can get it inside. I ream almost all of the cake out and smoke it into submission. Sometimes this process is a little slower than other times, but they come around pretty quickly...

 

[riff raff]

I never heard of baking soda and vinegar either, but hey, if it worked!
I do also have a GBD pot that isn't a great smoker, maybe I'll try that combo!

 

[ftrplt]

Nothing personal, but I think I'll stick with rock salt and alcohol when needed!!! I typically clean mine with a mixture of pipe sweetener and Everclear. Usually does the trick. I will say that I have a few briars that are Latweed-only. Nothing else smokes/tastes right in them.. FWIW FTRPLT

 

[AJ]

The problem was the horse urine Latakia :lol: A well made English pipe, such as a GBD, requires some sweet Va.'s or Lakeland tobacco.  :twisted: :twisted: 

AJ

 

[SpeedyPete]

The reason why I eventually used baking soda and vinegar was because NOTHING else solved the problem. I reckoned if I should ruin the pipe completely, so be it because I could not smoke it in any case.:twisted: 

The problem was in the second half of the bowl. As soon as I was halfway through a bowl, the smoked started to taste bitter. I reamed the bowl until I could see raw briar. No good.

I will now continue smoking latakia blends (maybe some neat lat as well) only in this pipe. It seems to be improving all the time. I have enough pipes for VA's and Vapers.

But I'm still wondering why it likes lats only  :?:  Oh, and I have a Davidoff Dublin with the same "problem" !

 

[monbla256]

The reason why I eventually used baking soda and vinegar was because NOTHING else solved the problem.   I reckoned if I should ruin the pipe completely, so be it because I could not smoke it in any case.:twisted: 

The problem was in the second half of the bowl.  As soon as I was halfway through a bowl, the smoked started to taste bitter. I reamed the bowl until I could see raw briar. No good.

I will now continue smoking latakia blends (maybe some neat lat as well) only in this pipe. It seems to be improving all the time.  I have enough pipes for VA's and Vapers.

But I'm still wondering why it likes lats only  :?:  Oh, and I have a Davidoff Dublin with the same "problem" !

It's an older Brit pipe and older Brits smoked Latakia heavy blends !! They were MADE for each other !! I'll bet some 965 will just SING in that pipe !  :twisted: :twisted: 

 

[SpeedyPete]

[

It's an older Brit pipe and older Brits smoked Latakia heavy blends !! They were MADE for each other !! I'll bet some 965 will just SING in that pipe !  :twisted: :twisted: 

This pipe took me back to the English blends. I have some Presbyterian blend, Pete's Old Dublin plus my "private blend" called JockLat (a mixture of Jock and pure Latakia).

 

[plumbernater]

151 RUM does pretty good for cleaning.

 

[Anonymous]

I used to clean my pipes twice a year, but the last time I did so I decided, the significant amount of gunk I had removed notwithstanding, they didn't need cleaning so often. I've been amassing the members of a pipe rotation this past year, and I begin to feel the pipes' call to be cleaned. Oh! the pain of it!

 

[SpeedyPete]

I used to clean my pipes twice a year, but the last time I did so I decided, the significant amount of gunk I had removed notwithstanding, they didn't need cleaning so often. I've been amassing the members of a pipe rotation this past year, and I begin to feel the pipes' call to be cleaned. Oh! the pain of it!

I left my 48 briars for more than a year without cleaning except for a brush or two with a pipe cleaner. About a month ago I started cleaning all of them thoroughly, reaming, steel shank brush, the whole lot. Will NEVER again let it go so far.