My affection for vintage Brigham pipes is evident to anyone browsing this blog. Many of my restored Brighams have been showcased on the site, and I own more Brigham pipes than any other brand (currently 15 of the 55 or so pipes in my man-cave), ranging from run-of-the-mill 1-Dot Standards through to top-of-the-line Presidential Freehands. There is, however, a gap in my collection at the top end, specifically the 5 through 7-Dot range of what Brigham Pipes now calls the Classic pipes. My aim with this blog post is to narrow the gap slightly with the restoration of this Brigham 565, my first 5-Dot (500 Series) pipe.

I spotted this example of Brigham’s Special Grain line on eBay a few weeks ago, and was lucky enough to snag it just two days before my birthday, and three days before I took off with the family for a bit of vacation…