By Al Jones

I’m almost embarrassed to call this a restoration, as the pipe was in very good condition.  I’ve never seen this Shape 364 before but find one example in an old Ebay ad (a Blue Riband sold by the late Tony Soderman).  This example is in Tradition finish.  Pipepedia has the shape number on their Comoys’ list and calls it a Bullcap.  Tony titled his pipe a Prince.  I did find the shape in a 1964 catalog, that shows the shape with bowl rings.  A similar shape without rings is listed as a 364P (for Prince?).

The round COM and 3 piece, drilled C stem logo indicate the pipe was made between the late 1940’s and the merger point in 1981.

The pipe had just a slight layer of oxidation on stem.  The stem had a softee tip on it, so the famous Comoy’s button was pristine.  There were a few handling marks around the bowl, with very little cake.

I used a piece of 800 grit paper to remove the slight cake.  The bowl was then soaked with alcohol and sea salt.  Once the bowl soak was completed, I cleaned the shank with a soft bristle brush dipped in alcohol and paper towels scrunched into the shank.

The stem was mounted and oxidation removed with 800, 1,500, 2,000 wet paper, followed by 8,000 and 12,000 micromesh. The stem was then polished with White Diamond and Meguiars Plastic Polish.

I was able to steam out some of the marks around the bowl, with an electric iron and wet cloth. The bowl was then buffed with White Diamond and several coats of Carnuba wax.

Below is the completed pipe.  I would call this pipe a Group 2 in size and it weighs a scant 25 grams.