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Estate Dr. Grabows
AnantaAndroscoggin
Master
Not having the budget of some folks hereabouts, I've been considering ordering a Dr. Grabow Freehand pipe. Then I saw an eBay item for a pair of estate Freehands in Indiana, and I jumped on them (Don't tell me -- they came from one of you guys?).
They arrived yesterday, and I find that one is Freehand 012 (with oxidized stem and not much cake) and the other one a Freehand 04 (with heavy cake). After a bit of cleaning up and reaming, they both got a tryout bowl later in the day. I may have to try the salt-&-alcohol treatment in the 012, as it still has some (!!!) zippo lighter fuel taste to it, as well as some things I don't have the palate to identify.
All in all, I'm happy with them. All for just under $22.00 including shipping!
They arrived yesterday, and I find that one is Freehand 012 (with oxidized stem and not much cake) and the other one a Freehand 04 (with heavy cake). After a bit of cleaning up and reaming, they both got a tryout bowl later in the day. I may have to try the salt-&-alcohol treatment in the 012, as it still has some (!!!) zippo lighter fuel taste to it, as well as some things I don't have the palate to identify.
All in all, I'm happy with them. All for just under $22.00 including shipping!
Comments
@PappyJoe’s Coffee Treatment
<<It's not something I invented but something I was learned from some older than me pipe smokers 20 or 30 years ago. Its an alternative to packing your bowl with rock salt and filling it with grain alcohol. Instead, you pack the bowl of the pipe you are cleaning with damp used coffee grounds and let it sit for 24 hours. "The PappyJoe (no joy) part is that I found that a used K-cup of unflavored coffee will fill most bowls with just a little left over.)
Not sure about the science behind it, but the theory is that the acid in the coffee ground will soften the cake and then the coffee will absorb the ghost of the old tobacco. It is double effective at sweetening a pipe if you do the salt/alcohol treatment first and then the coffee treatment. After 24 hours, you dump the grounds and wipe out the bowl. I also rinse out the bowl with running tap water and then let it dry for 24 hours. (Briar is wood. It won't absorb the running water and it won't hurt the pipe as long as you are not soaking the pipe in it.)
I have used the coffee grounds in meerschaum pipes also but skip the water rinse.>>