Blog by Steve Laug

Yesterday afternoon I took my wife and daughter to Walmart – the only thing that makes going to Walmart even remotely interesting is that across the street is a shop that sells movie props and also consignments. I have had good luck with finding old pipes just about every time I go there. This time was no different. I came across a rusticated full bent pipe that was in pretty good nick. The bowl was in great shape – actually barely smoked. The stem was oxidized and had some minor tooth chatter on the top and underside of the stem near the button. The top of the rim is smooth as is the patch on the underside where it is stamped.

The stamping reads:
Old Port
“Avant – Garde”
London/St. Claude
783

The stamping on this one was a mystery. I could find nothing on it identifying it with any maker. There was no OLD PORT brand listed in any of my reference books or the sites that I check. The London/St. Claude stamping makes me think it might be a company with both French and British connections. I did some digging on the shape number on the Comoy’s shape number sites on the web and could find nothing even close to that number. I decided to check on the French side of their operation and found some similar shapes and three digit numbers on the Chacom site. Still nothing that identified the pipe definitively though. The top of the rim had some damage that came from tapping out the bowl. There was also some rim darkening.

The step down tenon is characteristic type of English and French made pipes. The fit in the shank is snug and clean.

I scrubbed the rusticated finish with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a soft bristle tooth brush to remove the dirt and wax build-up in the finish. I rinsed it down with water under the tap, keeping my thumb in the bowl to prevent water from getting into the bowl. I dried off the pipe bowl with a soft cloth and set it aside to dry. I took the next four photos to show what the pipe looked like after I dried it out with the cloth.

Once the pipe dried I rubbed down the finish with a light coat of olive oil. I buffed it by hand with a shoe brush.

I put a plastic washer on the tenon and sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and then with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to break up the oxidation. I ran a few pipe cleaners through the airway to clean up the sanding dust and freshen it. I finished by sanding the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads.

I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the wheel and then gave the bowl a coat of Halcyon II wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buffing pad. I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba and then buffed it with the flannel buff as well. The finished pipe is shown below. I was able to finish it in time to put it in my pipe bag for my upcoming trip this afternoon. I am looking forward to firing up a bowl and enjoying it in the week ahead. (Under the bright light of the flash more oxidation showed up. I will need to take care of that when I return from my trip.)