welcome!
Yixing
Yeah, good point. I've been doing this with stray tea I don't care about for tea caddies that have scents.
I got some bamboo charcoal to check its effect on water with my latest KingTeaMall order. Having it in the kettle didn't work out for me, as I don't have any plastic mesh in there and I was getting charcoal bits in the water (of course). Anyway, I had some bamboo charcoal around and decided to pop some charcoal into one of my tea caddies that have a bad smell, and it seemed to work quite well. I remember hearing about active charcoal being used to reduce odours in news paper printing houses, so thought it would be worth a try.
The amount of crocks/tea caddies/jars I've purchased over the years, both new and second hand, clay and porcelain, that have had strong odours that are hard to impossible to get rid off is astounding. Worst offender in the modern tea caddies seem to be the glue used for attaching tin foil or cloth on the inside of the lid. Anyway, a bit off-topic
Ah, that's the main reason I picked up this pot, it has a nice gradient of reduction effect along the lid from the wood firing.
(thanks @pedant for the help with the image size issues)
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Last edited by steanze on Fri Mar 26, 2021 3:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.
@steanze: that's a very interesting pot... Thanks for posting those photos, greatly appreciated.
Are the darker areas on the base something in the nature of 'carbon point', or is it something more specific to dragon kilns or wood firing?
Andrew
Are the darker areas on the base something in the nature of 'carbon point', or is it something more specific to dragon kilns or wood firing?
Andrew
Yes, it's an interesting one. It also looks like there are crushed prefired clay bits mixed into the body, that was sometimes done to reduce contraction during firing and lower the chance of cracking. The darker parts on the base are just tea stains
While we’re on it, might as well... my contribution of a LQER Hongni. One of two that have crossed my hands so far, they are really sort of Yixing unicorns.
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This is getting fun..... might as well.... here's my tiny baby.....
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some gorgeous pots here 
as for odors I've been working against them a lot lately too. in fact one pot I think is maybe the same in the background being greatly overshadowed by the nicer Yixing @OCTO just posted. is that one of those big honker bamboo shape nixings?
this is all still speculation on my part but some pots I've picked up recently that are older seem maybe under-fired or at least way more porous on the interior. some of it is the smell of the clay is rougher and thats that, but theres also definite household odors or packing odors that are really hard to get rid of. I think especially if the pot wasn't really used but was more someone's deco/vitrine ware that means it was probably sitting in a stuffy house near other "nice" smelling things or packed away in musty newspaper and cardboard for decades. The more open the clay is the more it seems to absorb these smells but still also doesn't really want to give them up. If it was unused for actual brewing then whatever smells made its way into the inside of the pot have been sitting in there for a loooong time. I've done hot rinses followed by simmer, by baking soda with hot water, more simmer, simmering and sitting overnight in tea... still some in there. what actually seems to have helped the most of anything so far was actually to simmer the pot or give it a long rinse from the kettle so its nice and hot, take it out and stick it to dry opened up on a radiator (still kinda chilly here) in a sunny window and leave it for about a week. sitting open with the initial evaporation combined with the UV seems to have done more than anything else has.
as for odors I've been working against them a lot lately too. in fact one pot I think is maybe the same in the background being greatly overshadowed by the nicer Yixing @OCTO just posted. is that one of those big honker bamboo shape nixings?
this is all still speculation on my part but some pots I've picked up recently that are older seem maybe under-fired or at least way more porous on the interior. some of it is the smell of the clay is rougher and thats that, but theres also definite household odors or packing odors that are really hard to get rid of. I think especially if the pot wasn't really used but was more someone's deco/vitrine ware that means it was probably sitting in a stuffy house near other "nice" smelling things or packed away in musty newspaper and cardboard for decades. The more open the clay is the more it seems to absorb these smells but still also doesn't really want to give them up. If it was unused for actual brewing then whatever smells made its way into the inside of the pot have been sitting in there for a loooong time. I've done hot rinses followed by simmer, by baking soda with hot water, more simmer, simmering and sitting overnight in tea... still some in there. what actually seems to have helped the most of anything so far was actually to simmer the pot or give it a long rinse from the kettle so its nice and hot, take it out and stick it to dry opened up on a radiator (still kinda chilly here) in a sunny window and leave it for about a week. sitting open with the initial evaporation combined with the UV seems to have done more than anything else has.
@wave_code
You are right, underfired / more porous pots have bigger problems with odors. At least in my experience. The pot in the background looks a bit like this pot (Yixing, probably F1 / green label). I've got two of those and no problem with odors. I think the style was also used before F1.
You are right, underfired / more porous pots have bigger problems with odors. At least in my experience. The pot in the background looks a bit like this pot (Yixing, probably F1 / green label). I've got two of those and no problem with odors. I think the style was also used before F1.
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TeaTotaling
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It's heatin' up in this thread 
I'm seeing red, again! I have enjoyed the eye-candy, and discussion, keep it coming.
I'm seeing red, again! I have enjoyed the eye-candy, and discussion, keep it coming.