how to clean a cassano mare?

[juanmedusa]

A new pipe smoking friend of mine has posed an interesting question I can't answer. Her pipe is a cassano mare I believe. The bowl is rusticated but unstained and not waxed. She is concerned because although the bowl will darken she managed to rub in a good deal of ash right where her thumb naturally goes. She feels that she kind of tainted it with the ash because although it's darker it will always be of a different color than the rest. She is curious if/how it can be clean. I've been cleaning and even home restoring some pipes recently but have no idea how to clean the exterior of a completely natural rusticated bowl. This rustication has some fairly deep scratch like grooves. Please help. The only thing I could guess to try would be to spray the whole thing with simple green and scrub it with a tooth brush, perhaps not a good idea.

 

[Anonymous]

Whatever she does, it won't stay light. I had one years ago that I recall being 100% natural. I is a strong mahogany today.

 

[KevinM]

Unstained? Unwaxed? I would kinda guess that, over time, the entire pipe will darken up more or less evenly, kinda like a meer. It doesn't sound to me as if the pipe is intended to stay the original color or be cleaned. Maybe it could be stained. Speaking of meers, maybe she could wear a stylish pair of gloves while puffing to avoid smudges.

 

[Mr. Doody]

i have one of these cassano mare pipes as well. it's a very very rough rustication - almost a "pattern of gouging". afaik, there's no finish on the pipe and i know mine is all sorts of ash'd and burned and who knows what. it's just what it is. these aren't pricey pipes.

if she's really concerned, she could take some steel wool to the ash mark and it'll probably come out - but the 'repair' will probably be noticeable too.

imo, it's just the first of many "character marks" the pipe will earn over the years .

doody!

 

[monbla256]

Just SMOKE IT ! Being unstained and all, it's gonna darken as IT wants and this won't even make a dent in how it's gonna color! Load it up and just SMOKE IT :twisted: 

 

[flytyer]

I had good results with everclear on a piece of an old bath towel , just wipe the stained area and let it dry.

 

[juanmedusa]

Thanks all. She's gonna smoke it and not worry about it.

 

[somedumbjerk]

tooth brush and mild detergent. very watered down. like two drops in the bucket. or just smoke it. that seems more logical