Just won a few pipes from Epay, now what?

[Ranger_B]

Nice looking pipe. Cake(yes that is what some people call it) or not I would still ream/scrape most of that off and do a salt treatment. get some strong liquor and soak some pipe cleaners and then run them through the stem. The ghost (old tobacco flavor) is actually absorbed into the briar and not in the cake so a good bowl cleaning will help with that. As MJ said I would grab a corn cob with the tobacco to get some immediate satisfaction while you are cleaning the pipes you just got. This way you know if you like the baccy you choose and it is not influenced by the tobacco that was previously smoked in the pipe. You will get some old flavors but after the cleaning and a few bowls of your choice the flavor will go away.