Blog by Steve Laug
I was sorting through another one of the boxes of pipes that my brother Jeff sent me and found another B.P. Jum pipe. In a previous blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2018/06/02/breathing-new-life-into-a-b-p-jum-war-club/) I had restored one that was very similar. I had called it a war club because of the size and heft of the pipe. This B.P. Jum was also a large, hefty carved pipe. It too had the shape and a carved finish that was similar to the Custombilt pipes such as the ones that I have worked on lately. It is the same size as the previous Jum that I had worked on – 5 ½ inches long, 1 ½ inches tall, outside wall diameter 2 inches and the chamber diameter 1 inch. The shank diameter is 7/8 inches. The stem is 2 ¼ inches long. The briar was very dirty with grit and grime in the depths of the carvings. The rim top had a thick coat of lava and tars in the carving of the rim. There was a thick cake built up on the walls of the bowl. Interestingly this pipe did not have any visible fills that I have come to expect on the B.P. Jum line. The stem was oxidized and dirty and there were no tooth marks or chatter on either side of the stem. The internals of the both the airway in the stem and shank and the mortise were very dirty with tars and oils. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work on it.
Jeff took a photo of the rim top and inside of the bowl to show the condition. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the heavy lava overflowing over the surface of the rim top. He also took a photo the underside of the bowl and shank. I have included it here as well.
There was a smooth portion of briar on the underside of the shank that was stamped BP JUM over IMPORTED BRIAR. You can see that the pipe has some interesting grain even on the shank.
He took photos of the stem to show the oxidation and calcification on the stem. Surprisingly there were no tooth marks or chatter on the surface.
When I worked on the previous B.P. Jum I did some research to try to find out information on the brand. There was a lot of conjecture as to whether the brand was made by Tracy Mincer of Custombilt fame. There is no definitive proof other than the common shapes, sizes and look of the pipes. Bill Unger, of Custombilt fame and author of a history of the brand, mentions BP Jum but cannot definitively connect the two. So the maker remains a mystery that is still unsolved. Do any of you reading this have information on the brand? Send me a message or an email if you can help. Thanks ahead of time.
Jeff had reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the bowl, rim and shank. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. The lava mess on the rim was thoroughly removed without harming the finish underneath it. Without the grime the finish looked good. The inner edge of the bowl showed some burn damage and was out of round. The stem was actually in pretty good condition and would only need to be polished. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it.
I took close up photos of the rim top that shows the clean bowl and the burn damage around the inner edge of the bowl. The stem was clean and Jeff had used Before & After Deoxidizer to soak and remove much of the oxidation. He rinsed out the inside of the stem and rinsed off the exterior as well. The photos of the stem show how good the stem actually looked after this treatment.
The BP JUM stamp is very clean and readable. You can see from the photo that there are no visible fills in the shank or the portion of the bowl showing. The rest of the bowl is clean in the same way – no fills in the briar. That is a first for the B.P. Jum pipes that I have worked on.
There was a small nick in the edge of the rim that I filled in with clear super glue. Once the glue dried I scraped away the excess with a pen knife and then used a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the grooves in the rim.
I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the burn damage and nicks in the inner edge of the rim. I gave the inner edge a slight bevel to mask the damage.
I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the briar and particularly the sanded areas. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers and wiped it off with a soft cloth. I buffed the bowl with a horsehair shoe brush to polish it. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration.
I waxed the cleaned and polished bowl with Conservator’s Wax and worked it into the rusticated finish. I buffed it with a shoe brush and a soft cloth. The bowl is finished other than the final buffing that I will do once the stem is finished.
I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. Since the stem was in such good condition and there was no oxidation or tooth marks I could immediately turn polishing it with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I used the Before & After Pipe Polish to remove the small minute scratches left in the vulcanite. I finished by wiping the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.
I polished the stem and bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is an interesting looking pipe that may have been carved by Tracy Mincer. It certainly bears a lot of resemblance to Custombilt/Custom-Bilt pipes. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 1/2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store shortly. If you are interested in adding it to your collection email me at slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message on Facebook. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this B.P. Jum.