Right, so I'm trying to rid my Dunhill of the latakia ghosting, and...well, it's still there after three rounds of the ol' salt-&-alcohol treatments. I've reamed it pretty close to the wood before the last round of salt-&-alcohol, as well as giving it a good 20 minute session of cleaning out the shank with a brush and PGA.

Do I just need to smoke a dozen or so bowls of some Virginia to finally rid the pipe of its ghost?

Yes. Just start smoking whatever you prefer.

Or walk away from the Dunhill...lord knows the british can be stubborn old mules. I'm sure a fellow brother can take him off your hands.

It can be difficult to make something do something it doesn't want to do. (That's a poorly worded and confusing sentence...) I wouldn't run the risk over over cleaning it. You may end up cleaning away all it's character. Maybe just let it be.

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[quote="MisterE"]

dougc905 wrote:

Also consider pipe dedication.

Well, it was going to be my latakia dedicated pipe before I came down with a strong antipathy to latakia.

They're joking with you.

Just keep smoking Virginias until it finally subsides, or send it to LL for a detox. The wait on the detox will be no short one, as he's busy as heck and has a long queue. Probably about the same time for the same result either way.

I kind of enjoy those "crossover smokes" as Greg puts it. Lat ghosting with Va or Vapers is actually quite nice for me personally.

The only thing recently that was a turnoff was the ghosting from some GH Black Irish X last summer. That´s strong stuff, and I can still perceive it once in a while (8 months later) in the Sav I smoked it in.

With apologies in advance to those who like them, some tobaccos are just the pipe-equivalents of social diseases. They should at least come with warning labels.

I've had good luck using a retort I got on eBay (search for "pipe retort") for $12. You put a cotton ball inside the bowl, put some alcohol in the retort, and connect the retort to the stem, then heat the retort over a candle. The alcohol boils up into the pipe, leeching the fluids from it, and condenses back into the retort. Repeat a couple of times, refreshing the alcohol when it becomes too filthy. I do this to all my estates after the s/a treatment, and I've found its great for cleaning he shank, where the s/a is much less effective than the bowl.

Cheers!

Juan M. Villaveces