Blog by Steve Laug

I picked up this old Dunhill Prince from an antique mall here in the Vancouver area. It was an “expensive” pipe in that it set me back $25. The bowl had been topped – badly – by someone. The shape of the bowl was affected by the work on the rim. This is an interesting pipe in that it is impossible to date. The stampings are very clear but the markings do not have date identifiable features. The other unique thing about this pipe is that somewhere in its life it was repaired on the shank. It appears to have been done by the factory in that the stamping is over the shank splice. The stem was dirty when I picked up the pipe but not too badly oxidized. The bowl had been reamed and was out of round as can be seen in the photos below. The rim was very wide and flattened out and there were scratches on it from the sanding.

After smoking it for awhile in this state and looking at other Dunhill princes online and in person I decided to reshape the bowl and correct the wide rim. I stripped the bowl with acetone and then used 240 grit sandpaper (this seems to be my go to grit with sanding as it leaves smaller scratches that need to be sanded later) to begin to reshape the bowl and rim. The first picture below shows the new shape that is emerging from the briar. I was aiming for the look of the standard Dunhill prince. I had pictures that I constantly cross checked as I worked on this one. The second and third pictures show the shape of the bowl in profile. The second picture is after the work with the 240 grit sandpaper. I wanted the slope on the front to be more rounded and the back slope more round as well. I also wanted the rim to be less wide. The third picture shows the pipe when I had finished the sanding and shaping of the bowl. When I laid it on top of the printed photo of the prince shape it was as perfect a match as I was going to get with this one.

Now I need to restain the pipe to match the previous colour of the stain. I was careful in removing the finish on the bowl to leave the shank colour original. I used a medium brown aniline stain that I thinned with isopropyl alcohol to get the stain to match the shank colour. I restained the bowl and flamed it to set the stain. I took it to the buffer and buffed the bowl with White Diamond, being careful to not buff the nomenclature on the pipe. In the next three pictures you can see the new shape and the staining. I think the match is very good.

The last two photos show the pipe in a rest and the shape is exactly what I was looking for. The colour in the photos above is a little redder than the colour of the pipe. The two pictures below are correct in terms of colour. It is a nice warm medium brown colour with the grain showing through. I waxed the pipe with several coats of carnauba. It is a great smoking pipe.