This is another pipe I picked up on a recent wander through my local antique mall – a Yello-Bole Duo-Lined in a classic Lumberman shape. It was in relatively good condition on the outside, with a bit of rim tar and a few flakes of original lacquer finish missing. The stem was original and still bore the D in a circle stamping that paired with the “Yello-Bole” over “Duo-Lined” over “Imported Briar” stamped into the left shank. The bowl had some fairly thick, though even, cake. It had obviously been a favourite of the previous owner, who had devoted a decent bit of care to the pipe’s maintenance.

My first action on this refurb was to ream the bowl back to briar and clean the tars off the rim. This led to the discovery of a few decent dents in the rim that had been hiding under the tars, and, more seriously…