The word "ghosting" has taken on all kinds of meanings these days. But for pipe lovers, it refers to a bit of flavor from a previous blend making itself known when you're trying to enjoy a new tobacco. Ghosting can make your pipe feel like it's haunted by past tobacco blends, and it can be stubbornly difficult to remove if you've never done it before. In this post, the team at 710 Pipes look at ghosting and how to resolve this issue so that you can go back to enjoying your tobacco pipes.

Understanding Ghosting

Before we get into how to remove ghosting from your pipes - be they briar pipes or some other type - it's important to understand exactly what ghosting is. All tobacco blends contain oils, tars, and other compounds that seep into the porous walls of your pipe. If you smoke the same blend for some time, these residues accumulate, embedding their essence deep into the wall of the bowl.

The severity of the ghosting will depend on a number of factors, including how often you use your pipe, whether you practice good cleaning habits or let material build up in the bowl, and the material the pipe is made from (briar is more prone to absorbing oils and tars than corn cob or meerschaum pipes).

Also, certain tobaccos are more likely to leave their scent or flavor behind than others. For example, English blends that contain Latakia or Perique. Certain sweet aromatics infused with artificial flavors can also leave behind strong aftertastes that produce ghosting.

Now that we have a better idea of what ghosting is and what causes it, let's look at how to remove it.

Remove Ghosting: Method 1 - Perform a Basic Cleaning

You don't want to bother with deep cleaning methods if you don't have to. So the best thing to do is to start by trying a basic cleaning and see if that alleviates the problem for you. Here's how it's done:

• Empty the pipe and let it cool completely. You don't want to ever try to clean a hot bowl, as you could risk cracking it.
• Once it's cool, remove any loose ash and other debris by tapping the bowl against your palm. This will remove any remaining dottle.
• Using pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol, swab the stem, tenon and airway. Continue this process using as many pipe cleaners as necessary until the pipe cleaners emerge clean.
• Wipe the bowl interior using a paper towel moistened with grain alcohol or vodka. Be careful not to make the paper towel too wet and not to soak the inside of the bowl.
• When finished with all of that, set the pipe aside for at least 24 hours.

In many cases, this type of basic cleaning will eliminate mild ghosting. If it doesn't work in your case, then it's time to try a more intensive type of cleaning.

Remove Ghosting: Method 2 - Salt & Alcohol Cleaning

This is a classic method of cleaning a pipe and removing ghosting. It's been used for decades and remains one of the most reliable anti-ghosting cleaning methods. Here's how to do it:

• Gather together sea salt, grain alcohol (vodka is an acceptable substitute), cotton balls or pipe cleaners and a spoon.
• Clean your pipe as described in method 1.
• Fill the bowl about 3/4 of the way with your sea salt.
• Use your spoon to slowly add the alcohol until the salt is saturated, not inundated.
• At this point, let the pipe sit in a stable, upright position for 12 - 24 hours.
• As the alcohol evaporates, the salt will absorb the oils and tars that had soaked into the bowl.
• After the salt has dried out, it should darken. At that point, discard the salt and wipe out the bowl with a paper towel.
• Use dry pipe cleaners to remove any alcohol in the shank.
• Let the pipe dry for another 24 hours, then inspect. The bowl should smell clean and fresh.

Remove Ghosting: Method 3 - Cotton Balls

For those concerned that filling the bowl with salt might be too harsh a way to clean, there is the cotton ball method. All you're doing with this method is substituting cotton balls for salt, with everything else staying the same. Here's how it works:

• Pack the bowl tightly with cotton balls.
• Saturate them with alcohol, but do not flood the bowl.
• Let them sit overnight.
• Next day, remove and discard the cotton balls.
• Use pipe cleaners to remove any alcohol from the shank.
• Let the bowl dry for 24 hours, after which it should smell fresh and clean.

Remove Ghosting: Method 4 - Reaming and Cake Management

Oftentimes, the oils, tars and aromatic compounds from past tobacco blends do not end up saturating the wall of the bowl, but the cake. This typically happens when the cake has been allowed to get too thick. By thinning or removing the cake, you may be able to completely eliminate ghosting. Here's how to remove the cake from your bowl:

• Carefully remove the cake using a pipe reamer, but don't remove it all the way down to the bowl wall.
• Leave about 1.5mm - around 1/16 of an inch - of cake to avoid exposing the raw briar.
• Smooth out the surface of the cake that is left using fine sandpaper.
• If you want to ensure maximum freshness, you can follow up with the cotton ball and alcohol method described above.

Keeping Your Pipe Fresh

Now that you've eliminated ghosting from your pipe, you'll want to ensure it stays fresh and that the ghosting doesn't reappear. Here are some ways you can do that:

• If, like most pipe smokers, you have more than 1 pipe, rotate your use of them. By giving your pipes some time off, it allows the oils and other materials to evaporate.
• Reserve different pipes for different blends. Keep separate pipes for Virginias, English blends and aromatics so that you don't have to worry about ghosting.
• Set up a regular cleaning schedule for your pipe. It can be as simple as running a pipe cleaner through the stem and wiping out the bowl after every smoke.
• Try to avoid tobaccos that use heavy flavoring agents.

A light, consistent maintenance routine almost always prevents the kind of heavy ghosting that demands aggressive cleaning later on.

Paykoc Pipes - Your Source for Wholesale Tobacco Pipes

If you're looking for a source for wholesale tobacco pipes including meerschaum pipes, briar pipes, or other types of tobacco pipes, get in touch with Paykoc Pipes by calling us at (888) 313-7137. Or fill out our wholesale application form: https://paykocpipes.com/wholesale/