Hello everyone, Today I finally picked up a pipe, a Medico Varsity briar to be exact, so it's rather cheap. When I returned home with it I noticed the stem had a sticky substance left over from a price tag, so I took some rubbing alcohol and rubbed it off. I proceeded to then rub the entire stem in an attempt to clean it up, but there was a tan stain color on the cloth I used. I thought nothing of it until I placed the pipe in my mouth and recieved a strong chemical type taste, after which my pipe literally began turning colors; into a greenish-yellow hue. I'm not sure what this means. I tried to do a search, and the only thing I came up with was that the stem may be a vulcanized stem, but i'm not even sure if this particular stem is vulcanized, or if the company even uses the vulcanized rubber type stems that are vulnerable to oxidation. After I cleaned it up, I smoke my first bowl of tobacco, but I noticed that near the head of the stem that was placed in my mouth had those colors again. Is this normal, or is the stem hazardous? I'm totally freaked out.
Weird taste, smell, and color on my stem
- Thread starter prefontaine
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You made the classic faux pa never wipe a stem with alcohol!!!!!!
The vucanized rubber reacts with the alcohol causeing discoloration especially with less expensive stems. If its a small area it can be buffed out if its all over you will have to soak it in bleach for a couple hours and the buff back to shine Hope this helps. Bob Clark
The vucanized rubber reacts with the alcohol causeing discoloration especially with less expensive stems. If its a small area it can be buffed out if its all over you will have to soak it in bleach for a couple hours and the buff back to shine Hope this helps. Bob Clark
You could also use some stem polish on it. I find that Denicare Stem Polish works great. You can get it here:
http://www.4noggins.com/denicaremouthpiecestempolish16g.aspx
http://www.4noggins.com/denicaremouthpiecestempolish16g.aspx
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