Blog by Al Jones

Recently a friend asked me to restore four pipes that came from the estate of a family friend . This gentleman, from Ohio, had previously gifted me two wonderful GBD’s from this same estate. So, I was more than pleased to restore this quartet for him to enjoy.  From research into this group of pipes and my two, I belive they were purchased from the old Smokers Haven in Ohio.

First up on the bench was this massive Charatan Special billiard. I’ve seen these Specials before, but they almost always have a saddle stem. This one has a lovely tapered stem. The pipe is 7″ long and at exactly 100 grams, a hefty hunk of briar. This one is a shape 44 and has the Lane stamp.

Paired with a 4K Castello to give you a perspective on the size of the pipe:

Each of these four pieces had a heavy layer of grime on them (as did the two GBD’s in my collection) and a very thick layer of tar on the bowl top.  The had some small tooth impressions that lifted out with some heat.

The tars on top came off with some light scrubbing. I soaked the stem in a mild Oxyclean solution to remove some stubborn oxidation. I stayed away from the “CP” stamp. It is light, but visible. I did not soak the bowl on this one, just gave it a light reaming. The owner smoked all of these pipes very hot and did a fair bit of damage to the inside of the bowl.  I was afraid to remove the cake filling that was filling in the crevasses. With a little use, the cake should build over these spots and the pipe should still have a long life, the briar is still very thick all over. There were a few dents on the bottom of the bowl. They lifted out nicely with an old kitchen knife held over a propane torch and a wet cloth.

After soaking the stem, the oxidation was removed with 1500 and then 2000 grit wet paper.  I then moved to using the last three grades of Micromesh sheets (6000>8000>12000).  The stem was then buffed first with Tripoli and then White diamond rouges.  A final buff with Blue Magic Plastic polish was the final step.

The tars on the bowl top were removed with a very mild solution of water and alcohol as I didn’t want to lighten the stain.  As the heavy layer was removed, I switched to plain water on a cloth.  The bowl was buffed with Tripoli, White Diamond and then Carnuba wax.  The briar really cleaned up nicely.

The finished pipe is a very regal looking piece.

I’ll detail the other three pipes from this estate in future essays.

Al Jones, aka Upshallfan