Blog by Steve Laug

Going through the box of pipes to refurbish I came across this interestingly shaped pipe. I would describe it as a Dublin but the rounded bottom extending below the bottom of the shank gives it a very unique look. It is a tall pipe with a sandblast finish. The sandblast is not deep and craggy but it is shallow and lot of swirls. The finish was dirty and lots of dust was in the grooves of the finish. The rim was dirty with a build up on the inner bevel of the rim. The outer edge was in pretty good shape with a light rustication. The bowl was lightly caked and there was some dried white wax in the bowl from whoever had given the pipe a buff before selling it on Ebay. There was a silver band on the shank for decorative purposes. It is stamped with an EP in a diamond. The EP stands for Electro Plated. On the underside of the shank there is a smooth un-sandblasted portion that is stamped GENUINE SANDBLASTED over SILVERKNIGHT. At the end of the shank it is stamped Italy. The brand is not one that I have seen before and I could not find it in any of my usual sources. The stem was oxidized and had some tooth marks and chatter on the top and bottom sides. The button was worn on both the top and the bottom. It had an interesting dot on the stem that looked like a white spot. The closer I looked I could see that it was a pale yellow spot. I took some close-up photos of the rim and the bowl to show the interior of the bowl and the rim condition. There was some tar and oil build up on the top of the rim.The next two photos show the tooth marks on the stem.I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to take the cake back to bare briar. I wanted to remove the white material in the bowl. Once I had it on the reamer it was clear that it was wax. I used a brass tire brush to scrub the top of the rim and the inner bevel. The brass bristles do not scratch the finish but they loosen the tars and oils on the rim.I scrubbed out the interior of the mortise and airway into the shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. I scrubbed until the cleaners came out white.I worked on the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth marks and tooth chatter. I sanded the whole stem to remove the oxidation on the surface of the stem.I cleaned out the airway on the stem with pipe cleaners – both regular and bristle ones – and alcohol. Once they came out clean the stem interior was finished.I redefined the button on the top and bottom sides of the stem with a needle files to give it a sharper more distinct edge.I sanded the file marks with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the file marks.I sanded the stem with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to minimize the scratches.I wetsanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding disks to begin the process of polishing it. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil and then dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit pads. I gave it another coat of oil and then finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of the oil and let it dry. I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel. I lightly buffed the bowl and gave the stem a bit more pressure. I gave the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the bowl and the stem with a clean buff. I brought it back to the work table and gave the bowl a light coat of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a shoe brush. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is cleaned and ready to smoke.

Do any of you have any idea who may have made this pipe? It is light weight and well made. The draught on it is perfect and the conical bowl is in really good shape. Thanks for looking.