I’ve been working on quite a few old Brigham pipes recently, so this Grabow Golden Duke Author was a welcome respite when I pulled it from my box of pipes waiting refurbishment. It has that classic chubby shape that, at least for me, holds a timeless appeal and the promise of a cool smoke thanks to its thick bowl walls and stout shank.

The pipe was in decent estate condition when it arrived on my worktable. It was dirty, of course; the briar felt oily in the hand, the pipe’s rim was hidden under a crust of lava, and the shank had random dark splotches of some kind of grease or perhaps adhesive residue. The stem was oxidized a very unappealing yellow/brown colour, and the bit showed a small constellation of tooth dents on both top and bottom surfaces.

The pipe is stamped “GOLDEN DUKE” over “DR. GRABOW” on the…