How to Keep Pipe Rim from Darkening?

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Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
8,964
38,006
RTP, NC. USA
Learn to light your pipe. And try not let smoke drift near your face. But sometimes, it can't be helped. Learn to spit and shine the ream.
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,489
109,643
I am not responsible for what others hear or retain. Or where and how they are educated. Or that some have a proclivity to be contentious.
I'm actually interested, I thought it may be a geographic or generation specific colloquialism.
 

HawkeyeLinus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2020
5,604
41,090
Iowa
I am not responsible for what others hear or retain. Or where and how they are educated. Or that some have a proclivity to be contentious.
Yep, don’t need four stomachs to have a wide ranging vocabulary.

Admittedly, mine has regressed along with seemingly most of the world’s the past few decades. My wife can attest that many high school kids can’t tell time from the face of a clock - fact.

Read a standard mass market novel from the early to mid-20th century - or any “weightier” one and that will get you to recall words you used to know and shouldn’t be forgetting. “Ruminate” is hardly a rare or challenging word, lol, and fortunately the good counselor has a fine sense of humor.

I need to get back into crosswords!
 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,805
27,451
Carmel Valley, CA
@chasingembers

I guess then it's perhaps regional. I know you are widely read and well educated, so I was surprised you hadn't run across it in a non-bovine context.
 
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burleybreath

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 29, 2019
977
3,390
Finger Lakes area, New York, USA
Patina is where it's at. Guns, knives, pipes. Gives them an anthropomorphic cast, and removes an odd sterility that I find in "new" things. I care about the rim of a pipe about as much as I care about an endangered species of weevil going extinct, or as much as anyone cares about what I care about.

Foul mood this morning, or whatever the hell time it is.
 

FLDRD

Lifer
Oct 13, 2021
1,767
6,647
Arkansas
@chasingembers

I guess then it's perhaps regional. I know you are widely read and well educated, so I was surprised you hadn't run across it in a non-bovine context.
I'm not sure what region it would be, I'm familiar with the word but digging through the memory seems to make me think I've read it more than heard it.....?
 
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HawkeyeLinus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2020
5,604
41,090
Iowa
@chasingembers

I guess then it's perhaps regional. I know you are widely read and well educated, so I was surprised you hadn't run across it in a non-bovine context.
Sometimes situational - if my wife says “ruminate” and I’m there in nine, she’s sound asleep.
 
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Lees65GTO

Starting to Get Obsessed
Nov 29, 2022
261
332
79
Texas
Another vote here for spit and paper towel. Works great. Someone here recommended Ever Clear. Seems like alcohol is a good way to mess up the finish. Bad idea to use solvents. Saliva has enzymes that help to gently remove grime. Art restorers even use it on old oil paintings to remove gunk.

Article from SP.
I use the Everclear if the rim has a build-up of char, at this point the finish is already messed up. If the rim is only darkened as in the OP, spit would be a very good choice. But spit will not remove heavy char (easily anyway).
 

Winnipeger

Lifer
Sep 9, 2022
1,288
9,670
Winnipeg
I use the Everclear if the rim has a build-up of char, at this point the finish is already messed up. If the rim is only darkened as in the OP, spit would be a very good choice. But spit will not remove heavy char (easily anyway).
I guess it depends on how heavy we're talking, but elbow grease and spit will work on just about anything if you keep at it. (Or a blade or sandpaper or micromesh pads on thick cake—staying just shy of the wood, of course, if it's the rim we're talking about.) I just spit on a rag, rub with a twisting motion, and repeat until there's no more goo on the rim. Leaves the finish nicely intact.

We've each got what works for us, but I never put alcohol anywhere on the outside of a stummel. Only on the inside. YMMV
 
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