Peterson Rosslare - Clean Up

[jacko]

I thought I would give a quick synopsis of my recent experience trying to clean up (or clean out) a peterson bowl from carbon and die (excerpts taken from 'peterson aran pipes' post).

First off, Peterson's dip dies their pipe, or at least the Rosslare that I bought, so one would suspect they would do it to others hence the horrendous break in periods. Anyways to the point...

I started with Q-tips and Brebbia Pipe Sweetener Solvent. It took about 20 mins and few dozen Q-tips to get the carbon out of the bowl. If you attempt this be very careful since any solvent that hits outside of the pipe will permanently ruin the finish, even a little drip.

Once I got to the point where very little black carbon and red die was coming off on the q-tips, a quick visual inspection showed there was still quite a lot of residue so I moved to 250 grit sandpaper. I tore pinky finger sized chunks off and jammed my index finder to the bottom and sanded away. It took around 15-20 to get the bowl to the point were it was almost bear wood. It was very obvious inspecting the wood that Peterson's employs a dip die process. Even after excessive sanding there was still red die flowing through the fine grains inside the bowl (but not enough that I felt compelled to keep sanding). Once I got to that point finished off few q-tips worth of port in the pipe let it rest for 24 hrs.

 

[Airborne]

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, that’s a lot of work! Was the pipe new?

I have one Rosslare I bought about four months ago. Just filled it up as usual and got a very good smoke. No particular problems breaking it in. Smoked great from the beginning. Have you had problems breaking in Petersons?

 

[the macdonald]

Peterson makes great pipes but that mouthful of stain for the first 10-20 bowls is too much for me. I bought a "House pipe" with a silver rim that is a thing of beauty, but the stain! What the deuce are they thinking with that?

Good for you for doing it right, I wore it down with Latakia and gin, to overcome the foul taste.

 

[SpeedyPete]

I thought I would give a quick synopsis of my recent experience trying to clean up (or clean out) a peterson bowl from carbon and die (excerpts taken from 'peterson aran pipes' post).

First off, Peterson's dip dies their pipe, or at least the Rosslare that I bought, so one would suspect they would do it to others hence the horrendous break in periods. Anyways to the point...

I started with Q-tips and Brebbia Pipe Sweetener Solvent. It took about 20 mins and few dozen Q-tips to get the carbon out of the bowl. If you attempt this be very careful since any solvent that hits outside of the pipe will permanently ruin the finish, even a little drip.

Once I got to the point where very little black carbon and red die was coming off on the q-tips, a quick visual inspection showed there was still quite a lot of residue so I moved to 250 grit sandpaper. I tore pinky finger sized chunks off and jammed my index finder to the bottom and sanded away. It took around 15-20 to get the bowl to the point were it was almost bear wood. It was very obvious inspecting the wood that Peterson's employs a dip die process. Even after excessive sanding there was still red die flowing through the fine grains inside the bowl (but not enough that I felt compelled to keep sanding). Once I got to that point finished off few q-tips worth of port in the pipe let it rest for 24 hrs.

I'm curious to know whether you are happy with the pipe's perfomance after it's been "treated"? Please let us know.

 

[jacko]

I also have a sandblast Rosslare and attempted the same treatment only this time there wasn't much, if any, die in the bowl. I suspect that bright colors such as red, green and orange have to sit in die for a much longer period of time to penetrate the wood over something like a black or brown which is likely a quick dunk. I'll try it out this weekend an post the results. I'm guessing its going to be a totally different pipe.

On a positive note I was somewhat expecting to find fills and pits hidden under all that coating however I was pleasantly surprised to find out how nice the briar was.

Maybe we should band together and write them a note telling them to fix their process and plug those bowls before dipping!