Need a little help

I just picked up a beautiful Meerschaum lined Medico with a white stem and a Whitehall Meerschaum lined pipe both on the bay.
These are my first Meerschaum lined pipes.
For the clean up process can I reem the bowls?
Can i give them the kosher salt soak.
Any advice on cleaning these up would be appreciated. I have read somewhere that the Meer linings can be somewhat delicate.
Thanks!
BK

Do NOT do the S/A soak, it will soften/destroy the meer liner, from what I've read. Be Very,Vewy, Vewy careful (Elmer Fud voice) in reaming as well or bad things will happen. I wouldn't use a Butner tool to ream, perhaps the " spoon" on a 3 in 1 tool, still be careful. Best bet is probably a saliva moistened piece of paper towel.

nortac said:

Do NOT do the S/A soak, it will soften/destroy the meer liner, from what I've read. Be Very,Vewy, Vewy careful (Elmer Fud voice) in reaming as well or bad things will happen. I wouldn't use a Butner tool to ream, perhaps the " spoon" on a 3 in 1 tool, still be careful. Best bet is probably a saliva moistened piece of paper towel.

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+1

Saliva is your best friend when it comes to meerschaums.

Depending in how cakes it is, you might need to remove some cake with a pipe knife but be very gentle! Cut the cake, not the meer. Then, to take the cake down further, use a small bit of scotchbright pad and clean out the bowl very very gently. Again, scraping away the cake, not digging into the meer. You could also use higher grit sandpaper. Then, I'd just swab out he bowl a few times with some paper towels dampened with alcohol. For the shank and stem, clean with lots of alcohol and a shank brush or pipe cleaners.

Thank you kindly gentlemen!

Great advice above! Enjoy!

"..... Cut the cake, not the meer. ..."

Now I've got Average White Band running through my head...

Depending on the thickness of the cake, fine grit sandpaper wrapped around your finger works exceedingly well.

Uncle Jackie said:

Depending on the thickness of the cake, fine grit sandpaper wrapped around your finger works exceedingly well.

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This is what I've always done as well. I wouldn't risk using a pipe knife.

I don't always give my pipes a full after smoke cleaning. Usually just a pipe cleaner down the stem and then bend it in half and go around the inside of the bowl. Recently I noticed one meer was developing some build up on the sidewalls, not necessarily cake but the beginning layers of carbon build up. I just used the tamper portion of a czech tool, and raked it up and down the sides all the way around to scrape the junk off, and then followed with a paper towel reaming.

Post back and include some pics to let us know what U did and how it turns out.

Hirsute said:

Post back and include some pics to let us know what U did and how it turns out.

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I will! I just picked up a meer lined Whitehall, a meer lined medico and a Wally frank briar carved egg in claw.
All estates.
Which to clean up first????

Personally, I'd pick the nastiest of the bunch.

Commander Quan said:

...build up on the sidewalls, not necessarily cake but the beginning layers of carbon build up.

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How do you tell the difference?

Blue_2 said:

Personally, I'd pick the nastiest of the bunch.

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Nah, start with the quickest so you have something new to smoke while working on the others.