Manzanita post drying curing

[monkeykoder]

I have access to a large area of land that has hundreds of dead manzanita bushes that are around 18 years old (fire 18 years ago) obviously most of it is cracked beyond use but I've found a few pieces that are semi usable but have had complaints as far as taste what methods can be used to cure already dried wood without having to re-dry?

[Mike Messer]

You might try soaking it in pure ethyl (drinkable) alcohol which would dry quickly. Wood is porous like a sponge, contains sap and resins which can be dissolved and rinsed out by soaking. They boil briar blocks 8 to 12 hours in water. Then slow dry for about 8 months, no sunlight, no air movement so they won't crack, but the sap in your wood could be different. Will it dissolve in water, alcohol? Don't know?
Is it toxic? Don't know? You don't want to use a solvent like mineral spirits that leaves a residue in the wood, tastes bad and probably toxic, too.
Just some ideas.

[monkeykoder]

I looked up the toxicity of the wood here and multiple other places (I'm not one to trust single sources). Just hoping to clear the taste of the pitch from the wood.

[KurtHuhn]

Briar mills boil the burls for hours on end to remove the nasties.

[monkeykoder]

I guess my main question is is there a way to avoid the year of re-drying. In all honesty manzanita is a wonderful wood to work but I've had complaints as far as the flavor when first smoked (the complaints were not as bad as the complaints when I handed them a cheap store-bought but that's another story...). If the year of re-drying is necessary I'll probably just end up cutting some new stuff to avoid working around the huge amount of cracking. Manzanita is a weed where I get it and there is literally tons of it that is going to be cut down anyways. I just like finding a use for the odds and ends woods. Thanks for the replies and sorry for my inefficient communication. I'm actually kind of excited that I got replies at this juncture as I just got word that I'm getting a benchtop bandsaw for Christmas and I'll have all the convenience tools for pipemaking (Bandsaw, Drill Press, Dremel).

[KurtHuhn]

I would suggest that you treat the burls the same way the briar mills do - harvest it, keep it from drying out too much, cut it into blocks, boil it, then let it dry *SLOWLY*. I'm not aware of any way to shortcut that at all.

Congrats on the Christmas gift!

[monkeykoder]

That was what I got from the replies thank you. Just hoping that being dry already would make a difference but I'll go with the long route and see if I can order some briar to play with.

[Matt]

dont even dry it, just find a living manzanita and cut off a branch with good curved growths and drill along the length of the pieces of the branch you want, then smoke out of it as soon as possible.
ive done that and none of the pipes ive made have ever cracked.