The last of the lot of six pipes I picked up in Washington was an apple shaped pipe. It was stamped Brentwood in script over SUPREME on the left side of the shank and London over England over 335 on the right side of the shank. The stem had a cursive letter ‘B’ on the left side. The finish was in good condition with a few small dings and dents in the briar. It had a thick coat of grime and grease on the briar. The rim was clean with no dents. It had a build up tars but was quite clean underneath. The stem was oxidized but there were no bite marks or dents. The stamping of the ‘B’ on the stem was in great condition and appears to have a gold colour stamped into the vulcanite. The overall look of the pipe looked familiar to me. I was not sure of the maker of the pipe but there was something about it that I remembered. Because of the sense that I had seen it before I decided to take it home, clean it up and see if I could dig up any information on the brand. I paid the $10 that the antique dealer had put on the pipe.

I examined the pipe and catalogued in my head what needed to be done to clean it up. I always do that to get some idea of what lies ahead for me. The bowl inside had an uneven cake on it. There were remnants of tobacco in the bowl. When I removed the stem the inside of the shank/mortise was clean and had some of the reddish brown stain inside from the bowl. There was no tar or build up in the shank. The inside of the stem had some tars and buildup that came out with the pipe cleaners and alcohol. I am not sure how that is possible that the shank was clean with the buildup and tobacco remnants in the bowl and the tars in the stem but that is the way it was. I may never know what the pipe went through.

I compared the pipe to an older GBD apple that I have here at home. It had the same shape number stamp on it. Both were stamped 335. Both were apple shaped pipes. Both were stamped on the right side of the shank – LONDON, ENGLAND. The parallels made me go to the internet to see if I could find any information on the brand. I looked at Pipephil’s stamping and logo website (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b7.html) and found the Brentwood stamping. The second pipe shown in the photo on the site had the same shape number as the one I had found. I have included the photo below as well as three other photos of the stamping on the briar and on the stem. The stamping shown in the second photo is the same on the left side of the pipe – the cursive Brentwood stamping. It is missing the Supreme stamping. The stamping on the other side of the shank – ‘MADE IN ENGLAND’ is different from mine but both the shape number and the position of that stamping is the same. The stamping on the pipe in the third photo shows the same stamping as the pipe I have – ‘LONDON, ENGLAND. The fourth photo shows the cursive ‘B’ on the side of the stem as the pipe I found.

Underneath the photo of the stamping on the Pipephil site read as follows: “Brentwood seems to be a GBD second for following reasons:
– 335 is a GBD shape number for an apple shape like the pipe above.
– 9518 (first pipe (not shown)) is a four digit shape number as used by GBD (ie: 9534, 9553, 9557, 9567…)”

The pipe I have that is a GBD with the same shape number and overall look, the same style saddle bit, the LONDON, ENGLAND stamping confirm the fact that the Brentwood pipe that I found is indeed a GDB second.

Armed with that information I went to work on the pipe to clean it up and refurbish it. The apple shape is one of my favourites so this was going to be a pipe that I would enjoy. I worked on the inside of the bowl and shank. The first photo below shows the condition of the bowl interior before reaming. The second photo shows the reaming process with a PipNet reamer. Once I reamed the bowl I scrubbed out the stain in the shank and the leftovers in the bowl with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol.

I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with Murphy’s Oil Soap on cotton pads. I wiped off the soap and residue and hand dried the bowl. The soap removed the grime and grease that was thick on the bowl. I always scrub with undiluted soap as I have found that it leaves the finish more intact than using the soap mixed with water.

I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and medium and fine grit sanding sponges to remove some the buildup and slight oxidation on the stem. I then sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and when it had dried I buffed the stem with White Diamond.

I buffed the stem and bowl with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buffing pad. The finished pipe is shown below. The interesting grain is highlighted by the stain and the finish of the pipe. All that is left to do is to choose a tobacco to smoke in it for its inaugural smoke.