I have chatted with Ric from Briarville several times on Skype and not only found him great to talk with and full of ideas but also that we share the same passion for pipe refurbishing and restoration. I visited his website http://www.briarville.com/briarvilleblog.htm and found not only a great service that is offered to those who do not wish to repair or refurbish their own pipes but also much helpful advice in his blog. The following article is reproduced here with Ric’s permission. Thanks Ric for what you provide and for the permission to reprint your blog post here on rebornpipes.

As you probably already know there are two primary materials used for making pipe stems, acrylic and vulcanite. The brand names for these materials are Lucite and Ebonite respectively.

Vulcanite starts as a powdered rubber substance that is vulcanized and molded into rods for hand cutting stems or poured into molds of various stem shapes and sizes to be fitted as replacements when an original stem breaks.

Unlike acrylic, a hard plastic that can be either molded or hand cut into stems, vulcanite oxidizes which causes a bitter taste and changes colors anywhere from white, brown or even green. Consequently vulcanite requires a little maintenance whereas acrylic, not so much.

Nevertheless, because of tradition and a more comfortable smoke, vulcanite is still a favorite for about half of us. I’ve seen many polls and enjoyed many debates about the best pipe stem material and it’s always pretty close with perhaps acrylic gaining very slight favor.

Maintenance before the stem oxidizes is the best way to keep vulcanite from oxidizing at all. Obsidian Oil is the best product I’ve found to prevent oxidation. After smoking, simply wipe a few drops on the stem, let stand for about 30 minutes and buff clean with an old cotton tee shirt. Follow this regiment and your stems will never oxidize.

But what to do with your estate purchases or when some of the stems in your own collection are already oxidized? For the do-it-yourself guys without professional buffing mandrels, tripoli and white diamond, a little elbow-grease and a few easily obtained materials are all that’s needed.

Vulcanite oxidation, like rust to ferrous metals, feeds off the rubber. It grows into the stem and must be removed. You can remove or at least soften the oxidation by soaking your stems in either OxyClean or bleach. I prefer bleach but be aware, bleach will eat away stamping, logo inlays, threaded metal tenons and stingers! I would advise against using bleach with stems fitted with metal parts as are common with Kaywoodie pipes. Stamping and logos can be protected with a dollop of petroleum jelly applied over the top of them.

Let your stems soak overnight and then rinse them with water. They will dry to a pale gray. What has happened is the beach has eaten away the oxidation leaving your stem covered with microscopic peaks and valleys. In fact, under a microscope they’d look like the Himalayas. Those peaks and valleys absorb light and the stem appears dull.

Light being reflected back off the stem is what we perceive as a shine so the peaks and valleys must go. In the shop we use a buffing mandrel with 500 grit tripoli applied to the wheel spinning on the lathe at 1800 RPM to re-smooth the stem and then follow up with white diamond to bring out the glass-like appearance of a new, finely polished stem.

Our buffing process can be reasonably replicated with micro mesh pads, wet and dry sanding pads in various grits. A set of micro mesh pads can be ordered on Amazon or eBay. The grits range is 1500, 1800, 2400, 3200, 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000, 12000. Have a bowl water handy to wet sand the stem through the various grits. The magic comes between 6000 and 12,000 grits.

Once the outside of your stem is to your satisfaction use some pipe cleaners soaked in denatured alcohol or your favorite high proof booze to clean the inside of the oils and gunk the bleach didn’t remove. Finally, apply the Obsidian Oil and buff with a cotton cloth.

While this method won’t bring the stems to “as new”, it will get them close.

Of course, you can save yourself the hassle… (Here comes the shameless plug) …send your pipes for a quick visit to Briarville. Starting February Briarville is an online retailer of Obsidian Oil and all repaired and refurbished pipes with vulcanite stems will leave the shop with an application to retard future oxidation.