Stains on the tobacco pipe, on average, are the external symptom of a burn that has occurred in the stove.
The less thick the walls of the stove, the more intense the color of the stain will be and the faster it will form.
This means that it is not possible to remove stains from the tobacco pipe because, by seeping the surface, you end up removing the underlying layers of the tobacco pipe, which will already be compromised.
Therefore, the solution is not to remove the stains, but to match the rest of the stove to the color of the stain itself.
In this article we will look at two types of stains and how to get rid of them permanently.
How to remove simple stains from the pipe
Let's start with simple stains.
First, we take the mouthpiece out of the shank and cuttle the entire tobacco pipe (excluding the stain area) with “500” sandpaper so that the color is completely removed.
Once you have bared the natural color of the briar, you should carefully observe the color of the stain, perhaps under sunlight.
At this point you take a basic walnut alcohol stain, and then add to it a little ebony black, again diluted in alcohol in small doses.
At this stage it is important to stir the solution continuously so that it does mix well.
When you have obtained a stain-like tint, you can spread it over the entire tobacco pipe, except for the area of the stain.
Next, you wait an hour or so and repeat the operation 3-4 times until the color around the stain becomes slightly darker than the stain.
Having done this, you let the tobacco pipe dry for a full day and observe it again in sunlight.
If the stain is indeed slightly lighter than the surrounding surface, you can proceed to bury the entire tobacco pipe, again avoiding the area of the stain.
You can use “800” sandpaper and insist until the surface is lightened enough to even out the color with the stain.
To give shine, we recommend rubbing polishing paste over the entire surface of the tobacco pipe, including the stain. To achieve an even more pronounced shine, it is helpful to wipe on some carnauba wax, followed by another rub down.
Clearly, this process only affects the outside of the stain, but repair is also needed on the inside.
How to remove stains with depression from the pipe
In this case, the stain manifests a far more burnt stove than in the previous case.
This is the last stage in which it is still possible to remedy the stain.
Before camouflaging the stain, it should be carefully examined in sunlight for cracks.
If so, we do not recommend this remedy.
After you have made sure of this, you can follow the same procedure as in the previous case, but with the difference that the sepping will not just remove the color evenly, but will affect the briar more noticeably.
In fact, you will have to do an even removal of material around the stove until you even out the plane passing through the bottom of the depression.
The difficulty of this operation lies in removing symmetrically and in a nuanced manner all around the stove, not just on the side where the reentrant is present. There must never be any dissymmetry in the shape of the stove.
This operation will require continuous checking of the tobacco pipe against the light to verify its success.
Start by sepping with “300” paper, so as to intervene more incisively, and then switch to “500” paper until the reentrant disappears, blurring the surface of the stove.
From here on, the procedure follows that carried out in the previous case.