New Pipe vs Used

[badwhale]

You can pick up used aka estate pipes at a substantial discount if you shop around. Antique Shops and garage sales are a good place to start.

You can clean and sanitize one and get into really good shape and eliminate most ghosting of flavors. There are several methods but the salt treatment is best for cleaning bowls. You fill the bowl with un-iodized salt. You then get an eyedropper and fill it with PGA or vodka. Slowly drop it into the bowl until it is full to the top. Let it sit overnight, empty it and scrub the bowl with a paper towel. Take care to not get any booze on the finish of the pipe. Use baking soda to clean the stem. This usually gets any ghosting out. If there is still ghosting you can smoke a few bowls of burley through it. That eliminates any ghosting...Five Brothers tobacco is recommended for this by many folks I've talked to.

You can buff and wax the outside of the bowl and make it look almost brand new.

Lots of folks use e-bay to buy estate pipes...I'd rather deal with folks I know though.

Right on. The salt method is what I used to re-furb my pipes. I used some shitty moonshine as the alcohol. I understood that is has to be high enough proof to burn to be useable.

The stems, I soaked them for a bit in a 50/50 chlorox / water solution and they cleaned up nice. At first the stems had a bit of a white color to them, but that buffed out.

Will

[Cigarbear]

I used some shitty moonshine as the alcohol

Nice I used 'shine for fire spitting when I was a street performer. It's just as flammable as lighter fluid and doesn't break down the lining of your brain

[Devil Doc]

I personally don't care for estate pipes. I like breaking in my own, quarter bowl by quarter bowl. It's a pain in the ass, but I know I've done it right and I've become closer to my pipe than if someone smoked it before me. Pipes are a personal thing to me. I like to know that no one has been there before me.

Doc.