By Al Jones
I love the tapered Rhodesian shape and have been keeping an eye out for a Kaywoodie 5183B. The four digit Kaywoodies with “Drinkless” stamped stingers were made in the 1930’s.
I found this one on Ebay last week. It was sold by Dave Whitney. Dave is the contributor to “The Pipe Collector” (NASPC newsletter) and has written a book on estate pipe restoration called “Old Briar”.
Dave has this pipe listed as being made in 1938. From my research, and comments from other collectors, it seems a 1937-1938 is correct. The pipe is stamped “Imported Briar”.
The pipe was in overall excellent condition. Dave tells he found it in a box lot and the tobacco chamber was completely with cake build-up. The screw-in stem has the four-hole stinger intact. The beading on the bowl is degraded somewhat. There was one dent on the bowl top, which had colored darker than the rest of the briar. I was able to steam that dent out. I heat the tip of an old kitchen knife (OK, don’t tell my wife, it’s not that old..) with a propane torch and use a wet piece of cotton cloth. I double the cloth over as not to scorch the wood. The steam generated by the wet cloth causes the wood to rise to its original position. After the wood has been steamed, I buff the area with white diamond to bring back the shine and then with several coats of carnuba wax to protect it.
Here are some other pictures of the pipe. This is my first vintage Kaywoodie (I have a 2005 POY Rhodesian) and only “stinger” pipe in my collection. I smoked it today and found it smokes quite well. The bowl requires a light pack and the draw doesn’t feel restricted in any way. It does seem to like a slow puffing cadence. This is a rather large pipe, weighing approximately 60 grams and very close in size to the GBD 9438
rebornpipes 
That k wood turned out great
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I think I saw this one for bid but didn’t pull the trigger. Probably because I tend to get Peterson shapes, of which I have a bunch, just found an Irish Whiskey 999 on my front porch this morning. Postman must have brought it LATE Saturday. Poor thing spent a cold lonely night outside!
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I’m sure you’ll warm her up soon! I’m also a fan of the 999 shape, particularly the older “chubbier” models. Steve recently restored and restemmed an older 999, a lovely pipe.
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WOW! Fat Bull Dogs, and Rhodesians are my favorites, so what can I say. In my book this is a winner. The pipe looks great. I have heard of steaming out dents, but have yet to try it since I was not sure exactly how it was done. Thanks for the instruction, and for sharing this project.
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I also use the gas range to heat the butter knife. I just wait until she’s not home!
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The torch is a little bit of a hassle, but it keeps the knife in the garage and out of the wife’s eagle eye….
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Nice addition Al. That old butter knife trick is slick isn’t it? I do the same thing but heat the blade over the gas range.
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