I finished up refurbishing this large Weingott Billiard that was a part of the threesome I picked up on EBay. All three were huge pipes and were ones that I would definitely recycle to someone else once they were refurbished. The Weingott is a BIG piece of briar – the pipe has a length of 8 inches, height 2 1/2 inches, the bowl inside diameter is 7/8 inches, outside diameter 1 1/2 inches. I took a picture of it next to a Dunhill group 4 to show the size of this big fellow in a picture.

The overall condition of this pipe was poor. Obviously it was a much loved pipe as it had been smoked hard. I had to ream and clean it – the bowl was very caked and the shank and stem almost clogged with a goopy tar substance. The finish was blackened on both sides of the bowl and the rim was caked and dented. The dents and scratches were deep and the surface was rough from knocking the pipe out on something hard. The stem had a very deep oxidation and was greenish brown. There were not tooth marks on the stem – at least the pipe had that going for it.

I reamed the bowl and cleaned out the shank. That took some work to unclog the airway. I ended up using a piece of wire to break through the accumulated tars and residue. I then used a drill bit and turned it into the shank until the airway was clean and open. Then I used a shank brush and many pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol to clean out the remaining residue. I packed the bowl with cotton bolls and used an ear syringe to fill the bowl with alcohol so that I could leach out the tars and oils in the bowl. I put a cork in the shank and set the pipe aside overnight.

The oxidation on the stem took a lot of work as it was deep. I quickly buffed the stem with Tripoli to remove the surface oxidation and see how deep it went. The first coat of greenish brown seemed to be untouched by the Tripoli. It was hard and it smelled bad! I then sanded it with emery clot (fine grit) to break the surface of the oxidation. From there I sanded with 240 grit for a long time until I finally got the stem to the point that it was just a brown haze in the stem. I then put the stem in a soak of Oxyclean overnight to let it soften and draw out the remaining oxidation.

In the morning I took the cotton bolls out of the bowl and dumped them in the rubbish bin. They were dark brown and in places almost black. I let the bowl dry out and had a coffee. Then I topped the bowl to remove the damage that was on it. Once it was smooth and clean I put it in the alcohol bath to soak in order to remove the finish and the grime on the surface. It sat for about an hour and ½ before I took it out of the bath and dried it off. I sanded it with micromesh pads 2400-6000 grit and then restained it with a cherry stain.

I removed the stem from the Oxyclean soak and dried it off. I buffed it again with Tripoli and then sanded it with 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. Then I polished it with micromesh pads 1500-6000 grit to bring the stem back to black. Once finished I put it back on the pipe and buffed the whole pipe with White Diamond and several coats of carnauba. The pipe is now finished and ready for the new owner!