My father died in an accident back in 1975 when my brothers and I were just kids. He was a pipe smoker, with a modest collection started with a humble One-Dot Brigham billiard back in the late 1950’s. He must have liked it well enough, because by the early 1970’s the bulk of his pipes were Brighams, interspersed with a few meers. When we got old enough, my mother split up the pipe collection among the five of us boys, though the lion’s share of the pipes seems to have come to me. Indeed, it became the heart of my collection, the starting point of my pipe restoration journey, and the inspiration for this blog.

So when offered the chance to work on another of Dad’s pipes, I jumped at the opportunity. One of my brothers was visiting and saw my collection of refurbished estate pipes. He said he thought…