Sour smell

[NvilleDave]

I have several blocks that I bought from Peter Matzhold--he said he cured it for 3 to 4 years--I've had it on my shelf for over a year so it's been sitting for 4 to 5 years.

I drilled one of the blocks today and the chamber has a notable sour smell, almost like vinegar. Any of you guys ever had a block do that? I've used a couple of these blocks before and none of them had this kind of smell. :dunno: Even if I let it rest for a couple of days and the smell goes away, isn't there a pretty good chance it'll come right back once someone starts smoking it?

[Nick]

Yuck! You may have gotten a bad block. No fun!

[bluesmk]

I think the harvester's burrow hit that one...if you know what I mean.
Dan
Gabrieli Pipes

[NvilleDave]

I think the harvester's burrow hit that one...if you know what I mean.
Dan
Gabrieli Pipes

I was thinking maybe the bush grew at the edge of an animal's territory and was "watered" frequently... oh well, I think I'll use it to practice blasting on or something.

[LexKY_Pipe]

I have gotten hold of some really nasty briar that just stinks and tastes aweful when smoked. I've tried every cure method possible. I guess I'll just fill this one with lead and make a paper weight out of it, unless someone has a cure for nasty smelling/tasting briar.

[marks]

One thing you can try is letting the block sit for a period of time after drilling to let it further dry (a long time).

Another thing is to fill the bowl with cotton balls and soak the cotton balls with everclear, then let the thing dry out well (at least a week). Make sure to keep the block tipped up so the everclear does not run out of the shank. If the block has tannins in it, the cotton balls will turn reddish-pink as they absorb the tannins to replace the alcohol as it evaporates. One thing, though, let the pipe dry out for at least a week before fitting a tenon into the mortise as the wood will get saturated with everclear, and the tenon will swell (even though you keep the liquid from running out of the shank). It will go back to it's original size when good and dry. You can repeat this procedure if needed.

I have used this method on a couple of blocks that had tannins left in the wood. (when I sanded them on the disk sander a reddish liquid bubbled to the surface, and I figured these were tannins). One of these pipes I kept for myself, and the other the customer liked so much he wrote me to tell me about it (Doug H comment posted in the customer comments section of my site). The pipe I kept for myself smoked great from the start, with no residual tannin taste.

Although these blocks did not smell like vinegar, this method may or may not work for your block. It may be worth experimenting, though.

[LexKY_Pipe]

Mark

Thanks for your input. In place of Everclear, can you use vodka?

[KurtHuhn]

If your vodka is 200 proof.

The secret is to use pure edible alcohol. The pure alcohol disolves the residual tannins, and it leaves no residual odor or flavor from the denaturing agents.

You can also use that method to clean up old, stinky, nasty pipes from eBay. Though I typically use kosher salt instead of cotton balls - just a personal preference.

[NvilleDave]

Great tips to try out. Thanks all.

Dave

[pipeman]

For a sour smell you should use a little heat to accerate evaporation - acetic acid is quite volatile. Any less volatie acids will oxidize. I don't sujest a lot of heat - no more than 180, and you many need to kiln it more than once, but it will od a good job of blowing off the excess acids. Burley would be your top choice for breaking the pipe in.

kl