PAS Dept: My new Calabash

Post by **Capn Jimbo** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 10:53 am

This one...

. . . . . . .

Just received this yesterday from Viking Pipe Club, as pictured and described. As mentioned elsewhere, although the vendor makes little mention of his process, it's clear that his is a kind of "quickie" process. The meer bowl was decently reamed, the gourd was in good condition and lightly polished.

But the Vulcanite stem? Although the pic doesn't show it, the stem is quite brown near the tenon. It will need a good soak in Oxy, a Magic eraser, micro-mesh finish, and final polish. The bowl rim could use a bit of careful work, and I plan to give the interior a bit of an alcohol soak. All considered, and considering the price ($28), a very satisfying purchase.

Here's the surprising part...

The size. During this acquisition and discussion of this Calabash - and looking at many posts and pics of them - you are left with the distinct impression that a Calabash - particularly the removable mushroom bowl type - that these are rather massive pipes. And a few of those really are.

But not this one. To the contrary it is much smaller, lighter and even more graceful than I'd expected (pics to be posted). This to me was quite beautiful and attractive in the sense that smoking it will not be intimidating in the least.
And when considering its very full bend, clenching seems entirely possible.

Stay tuned for pics...

Post by **Capn Jimbo** » Thu Jul 24, 2014 1:09 pm

Another thanks to da'Rum...

da'Rum had speculated that if this Calabash - as one of the the rare sunken bowl style - couldn't be cleaned, I was in for a nasty smoke. After TONS of research by the both of us, it turns out that the sunken bowl type - although it can't be removed - is thus cleaned via the small (ferrule) end.

Well, today I decided to give this a go, and did the usual refurb stuff: soak the stem in an Oxyclean solution just to loosen things. Although the stem had been lightly polished, the air hole was on the nasty side and had not been cleaned.

As for the gourd itself, nasty would not even begin to describe it. After filling the gourd with some Everclear, leaving it for a 5 minute soak, then scrubbing the interior with a standard pipe cleaner, the result: a nasty brown/black liquid came pouring back out. I repeated this process three times - soak, scrub, pour out residue, rinse and I'm still getting some tar. Fortunately, each round is better but I have to guess this particular Calabash had never been cleaned.

The color of the gourd was still on the orange side - so even though this pipe was not smoked excessively, even a modest amount of smoking had produced accumulated a real load of tar. At least it seems that way to moi.

The Lesson

First, that this vendor - unlike Marty Pulver - did the minimal amount of work on the pipe, limited to just a quick ream, and just enough polishing to spiff up the stem and stummel. Don't get me wrong - all estate pipes should be cleaned before smoking, regardless of who sold and refurbed it.

But this vendor - the Viking Pipe Club - decided an outside visual polish - for looks and for sale only - was quite enough. Now for the price - $28 - I can hardly complain as this pipe is a hard to find and stylish looker, and certainly worth the time and effort to finish the work and give it a serious polish.

Live and learn.

Dai · Post by **Dai** » Thu Jul 24, 2014 1:58 pm

I hope it all turns out well and ends up being a great smoke.

da'rum · Post by **da'rum** » Thu Jul 24, 2014 2:01 pm

Leaving aside all the what's and ifs, at the end of the day the most important question and the only one that really matters is- how does it smoke?

Post by **Capn Jimbo** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 12:54 pm

Finally...

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. . . . . . .

It polished up very nicely, and it's close to being as clean as I can get it. The bowl's rim came almost completely clean and shows a well done meer boal - this is a very nicely made piece. In finishing up, I may try two more Everclear soaks. My goal was/is to remove all the excess tar, but I'm going to guess that gourds absorb a goodly amount of tar (that adds to its coloration changes in time) and that this absorbed tar doesn't have to be removed. I'm soaked it perhaps 3 or 4 times - the first couple were stomach turning: black and very dark brown, the latter soaks more a medium to light brown.

I'll try a couple more soaks but I think its going to be a judgment call as to determining when enough is enough. d..., any ideas?

da'rum · Post by **da'rum** » Sat Jul 26, 2014 6:45 am

It sounds like you've given it a good go. You could give it the salt treatment but I'd only do that after you've given it a smoke. If it tastes sour or 'funny' then give the salt treatment a go. Be careful though as it has some dangers. You could try cotton balls and some overproof rum as pipe sweetner before the last resort of salt treatment.

Basically. ..
1-smoke it
1a-tastes bad 1b-tastes fine (neutral)
1a.1- cotton ball treatment 1b.1- do nothing, enjoy.

2-smoke it
2a.1- still tastes bad 2a.2- tastes fine
2a.1a- salt treatment 2a.2a- enjoy

3-smoke it
3a.1- tastes bad 3a.2-tastes fine
3a.1a- throw it as far as you can off a bridge. 3a.2a- enjoy

Post by **Capn Jimbo** » Sat Oct 25, 2014 5:28 pm

It was about fackin time...

...that after all the research, purchase, clean-up, polish et al, that I'd finally try a bowl full with this lovely Calabash. I'm honestly not sure why it took so long - perhaps some ridiculous fear that it'd be nasty and that I really owned a display pipe. So finally this am, I thought I'd try a mild aromatic - Middleton's Cherry Blend (the tobacco that got me into pipes some 35 years ago), and check it out.

My impressions: the bowl is about average, and I did a simple scoop and gravity pack, with just a little tamping with my forefinger. The light was quick, simple and lasting. Nice draw, nice burn, just a few light tamps here and there. I was not particularly careful about sipping and simply had at it. The result?

Lovely. This is perhaps the coolest, easy smoking pipe I've smoked so far. All they say about the Calabash is apparently true, what with all that open space below the bowl to cool the smoke, not to mention that long and winding road on the way up to the bit. Now of course the classic Sherlock, wide-lipped, massive removeable bowl looks unwieldy, but this inserted bowl is much smaller, more graceful, and super-light.

The pipe is certainly clenchable. The burn was good enough that it didn't require a whole lot of attention to keep it going, thus allowing one to take few nice rich, smokey puffs as desired, with no negative consequence. It's not a pipe you can rest without a stand, though a coffee cup can be made to work. It looked as good in my mouth as it does in the pictures. A completely sweet, cool and pleasant experience...

da'rum · Post by **da'rum** » Sat Oct 25, 2014 6:24 pm

Good to hear. Let it bring you years of enjoyment. On a side note an easy stand can be made from an old belt. Cut a 6 inch length from it and stitch the ends together. Voilà a pocket pipe stand.

Cheers

Dai · Post by **Dai** » Sun Oct 26, 2014 2:48 pm

tidy, glad it all worked out ok