I recently returned from a family vacation to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. It was great to see family and friends again and do a bit of “touristing” with the kids before the back-to-school maelstrom hit. My father-in-law helped me track down this pipe at an antique shop not too far from the Confederation Bridge, which links PEI with New Brunswick.

The shop had a few estate pipes on offer, but after sifting through the cracked bowls and gnawed stems, I discovered this little beauty hiding on a shelf among the flotsam and jetsam. The case caught my eye first, and I wondered if there could be a meerschaum pipe inside. Upon opening the case, however, I was presented with a neglected but still elegant looking long-stemmed briar billiard.

The pipe looked to be in ok condition under the dirt, so I looked a little closer for clues to the pipe’s…