Cleaning a Pipe Using a Retort 

Tim, dude! You come up with the most amazing ways to restore pipes. Bravo man! Bravo!

I've never seen that technique for cleaning a stem, but it certainly was effective. What a beautiful pipe. Really nice job on it. MUCH LOVE

Wow, this is some mad scientist stuff! Never even heard of this method. Amazing!

Very interesting video Tim .... first time I've actually seen a retort done.

That’s one I haven’t tried yet. Thanks for showing us.

Very interesting process thanks for sharing.

Pretty cool, never heard of doing that before. Interesting.👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Wow great video thanks for showing haw to retort I appreciate all your pipe restoration videos thanks Tim

Does make you wonder what’s in the dark stem pipes. Really interesting video - thanks. Considering doing this on a couple of pipes that I think are clean then see what comes out after.

Thanks for sharing. I haven't had to retort any finds (yet) so far my process has cleaned up some super dark stuff outta stems/shanks/bowls. Just a few pipettes dipped in bourbon (bulleit) ran and scrubbed until I see a clear pipette then allow it to dry over night. Always careful not to let the spirit touch the exterior...I know it's not grabbing everything but so far always a tasty smoke no mater what I put in & fire up! Rock salt treatment seems to grab the extra stubborn ghost so far (crossing fingers.) Again thank you for sharing. 🙂👍

Great work thanks for sharing..

That was great! And it was good to know it worked! Happy smokes

Breaking Bad cleaning pipes. Brilliant!

I love that pipe! Let me know if you ever want to sell 😏

Tim, most interesting- especially your retort build. I am going to play devil’s advocate. I checked to see if alcohol dissolves oil and carbon which it doesn’t. Heat does soften oil. So I tried hot water and toothpaste/dawn dish detergent on stems (surficant). It seems to do about as good a job as alcohol. I also heat my pipe bowls in my bbq on indirect medium heat and this often seems to release oil for removal with a pipe cleaner and somehow force ghost smells out of the briar. Why this last works? I am not sure.

I was wondering if a hairdryer or other heat source would have similar effects?

Why would you risk a bristled cleaner in a clear stem. Seems like it would scratch the Dickenson out of it and present a closed appearance at least.