This is the third of the four pipes I recently refurbished for a friend in Ohio.  This is another very large pipe and a  bit of a mystery.  The pipe is just under 7″ long and weighs approximately 95 grams.  Another hefty hunk of briar from this four pipe estate.  It is stamped simply, “Made In London England”.  The rest of the polished nomenclature area is left blank.  It sure does have a Charatan feel and I wonder if it was a reject or a second?  The detail of the stem tip is almost identical to the Charatan.  Someone on the SmokersForums.uk once told me to “read the pipe, not the stamping”, but this is just a hunch.

The bowl top was pretty beat up and had a heavy tar buildup.

The tenon has the same features as the Charatan Select pipe from the four pipe estate.

When I removed the heavy layer of tar, it lightened the stain a bit.   So it became necessary to restain the bowl.  I soaked it for several hours in an alcohol bath and using a brass bristle brush to get stain out of the blast.  With  the stain removed, the bowl top was so rough, I decided to sand it smooth.  I’m glad that I did and think it looks smashing with a smooth, polished top.  I used a series of 800-1500-2000 than the last two Micromesh grades for sanding with the paper on a flat workbench surface.

I used a very light mixture Fieberlings “Medium Brown” stain, thinned with alcohol.  I put on two coats of stain, with each one set with a flame (I’ve perfected this process, so it no longer frightens me).  I use a 6″ socket extension to hold the bowl during application of the stain and the flame setting.  This shows the bowl stripped of finish and ready for the first coat of stain.

The bowl then was buffed lightly with white diamond and finally several applications of carnuba wax.

The stem was soaked in oxyclean during the briar work and was polished with 1500>2000 grit wet paper, than the last three grades of micromesh (up to 12,000).  I then buffed the stem with White Diamond and a final buff with automotive plastic polish.

Thanks for reading, smoke safe!

Al Jones