Blog by Al Jones

I thought that I was done buying pipes for 2014 but this Comoy’s Tradition 440 popped up on Ebay and I couldn’t resist.  This shape is similar to the 498 Extraordinaire that I own, but slightly smaller.  It also has an attractive fish-tail style button that I prefer.

The stamping of “Comoy’s” with the slightly larger “C” and the apostrophe was started in the 1950′s and the round “Made In London” with England below was also used in that era. The pipe could have been made from the 1950′s to the end of the Cadogan era in 1982 (give or take!).

Despite a massive, overflowing cake, the pipe appeared to be in very good condition.  The stem was heavily oxdized but the nomenclature was strong and the stem free of any visible dents (sometimes they hide under the oxidation).  The 3 piece “C” stem logo was intact, but cracked a bit, which is not unusual.    When it arrived, there were no surprises.  The stem fitment was very good as well.  I was hopeful the bowl rim would be undamaged under the cake, which is also often the case.

I put a dab of grease on the stem and soaked in a mild Oxy-Clean solution.

Using my smallest Castleford reamer bit, I started removing the cake.  The bowl was in very good condition.  Using spit and a rag, I slowly removed the cake from the bowl top.  Once most of the build-up was removed, I used a worn piece of 8000 grit paper to lessen the rim darkening.  That worked very well on this pipe.   The bowl was then soaked with alcohol and Sea salt.

I started on the stem with 800 grit wet paper, progressing thru 1000, 1500 and 2000 grades.   8000 and 12000 grade micromesh sheets were used next.  I followed this with a light buff with White Diamond and then the super-fine Red Jewelers rouge.  Some stems really respond to the Red rouge, but care is needed not to get it on the white stem logo.  The stem was now in near mint condition.

I buffed the bowl lightly with White Diamond and then with several coats of Carnuba Wax.

I’m very pleased to add this one to my small collection of Comoy’s pipes.   The last two shots show the comparison to the 440’s big brother, a 498 Extraordinaire.