Monthly Archives: February 2020

A Complimentary Alfred Dunhill of London Snuff Sampler

Blog by Steve Laug

Irene and I were visiting with my brother and his wife on the Oregon Coast this past week and we had a great time together pipe hunting, trying out restaurants and going through the goodie bags he brought for me. He had cleaned up a good batch of nice pipes for me and brought them along to look at. There are some amazing pipes in the lot – but enough of that as you will see them in the days ahead. He also brought along some other interesting things that he had picked up in some of the estates that we had purchased. One of them was this Bamboo covered box. It had a hinged lid that was stamped “With the Compliments of Alfred Dunhill of London. It was narrow and a bit heavy. I opened the lid to have a look at what it contained and saw the six small jars with black lids and labels. There was also a small booklet in the inside of the cover that read Alfred Dunhill Special Snuff. Snuff is not something I have tried or even wanted to try out as the idea of inhaling powder up my nose is not of interest to me. But this setup was quite interesting and was the first Complimentary package of tobacciana that I had seen.I took the small jars out of the box and took several pictures of them. They had an ivory colored label with black images and lettering on them. There were six different snuffs in the box. These included Menthus, Menthus Plus, Aperitif, French Carotte, Carnation and Oriental. These different varieties were described in the booklet that came with the snuffs. I have included photos of the booklet below.The pamphlet had a cover with two figures on each side of an oval sign that read Alfred Dunhill Special Snuff and was written by Richard Dunhill. The backside read Dunhill with a crest that read By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen (over) Suppliers of Smoking Requisites (over) Alfred Dunhill London. Inside was an interesting article written by Richard Dunhill himself. On one side it gave a series of paragraphs including Snuff Making and Grinding, Why is Snuff Taken, How to Take Snuff, Happy Snuffing. The other side had a Description of the Snuffs included in the sampler and a brief History of Snuff. I have included the pages below for your reading pleasure. Richard Dunhill had a way with words as both his book and this pamphlet show. Each of the bottles of snuff was described clearly in the pamphlet. Those descriptions are interesting so I have included them here.

Menthus – a medicated snuff. Its medications include Menthol from Brazil, Formosa and Japan, Camphor distilled from laurel leaves from Formosa, Japan and the Far East, and Eucalyptus from Australia and the neighbouring islands.

Menthus Plus – a finer-ground derivative of Dunhill’s Menthus Snuff, somewhat stronger but a truly remarkable snuff, wonderful for clearing a stuffy head.

Aperitif – a refreshing, stimulating snuff, developed from an 18^th Century recipe, it is a good example of the supreme quality of British snuff.

French Carotte – a traditional 18^th Century French snuff containing a mixture and fine perfumes. This snuff is a true classic

Carnation – a delicate fine-ground snuff always popular, scented exquisitely with distilled essence of carnation. Truly a classic snuff.

Oriental – a delightful Oriental blend which includes essential oils of Bergamot, Lavender, Calamus, Sandlewood and Rose.

The descriptions almost have an aroma.

Breathing Life into a Patent Era Brigham Executive 632 Billiard

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

Not too long ago I received an email from a fellow in Kitchener, Ontario regarding some pipes he needed cleaned up. He had been referred to me by my local pipe and cigar shop. While I am not currently adding more pipes to my queue of repairs I have made a commitment to the shop to work on pipes for their customers. Generally they have one or two pipes that need a bit of work. This fellow sent me the following email:

I just came across my smoking pipes that I’ve had in storage for about 40 years. I’m wondering what you’d charge to have them refurbished. There are 17 in total (11 are Brighams and 6 are various).

It turns out he said he had 17 pipes. That was certainly more than I expected but I communicated that there was a large queue ahead of him and I would have to fit them in as I could. He was fine with whatever time it took. He sent me the following photos of his collection that he wanted restored. The first photo shows his eleven Brigham pipes – all very interesting shapes. The second photo shows the six various pipes in the collection – A Republic Era Peterson’s System 1312 (Canadian Import), A Bjarne Hand Carved Freehand, a Comoy’s Everyman London smooth billiard, a GBD Popular Dublin 12, an English made Kaywoodie Rustica 72B, a Kriswill Bernadotte 60 with a broken tenon. When the box arrived there were two additional pipes included for a total of 19 – a Ropp 803 Deluxe Cherrywood Poker and a Comoy’s Sandblast Everyman Canadian 296. It was a lot of pipes! I have been randomly choosing the next pipe to work on and chose the Brigham that I have drawn a red box around in the first photo below. When I unwrapped it the pipe it was a Brigham Billiard. It was stamped on the heel 632 which is the shape number. That is followed by Can Pat. 372982 then Brigham in a script. It had a rusticated lower half of the bowl and shank with a smooth top half. The rim top had a lava overflow from the thick cake in the bowl and some darkening around the top and edges of the bowl. The inner edge of the bowl was out of round. It was a dirty pipe but appeared to be in okay condition under the grime. There was a shiny finish that was spotty around the smooth portions of the bowl. The 3 Vertical Dot saddle stem was oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter near the button on both sides. There was also some calcification for about an inch up the stem. I took close up photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the bowl and rim as well as the thick cake and lava overflowing onto the rim top. I also took close up photos of the stem to show its condition as mentioned above. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank to show what I was speaking about above. It is very clear and readable. It reads 632 followed by Can. Pat. stamp 372982 then Brigham in script.I removed the stem from the shank to reveal the aluminum tube/tenon that held the Rock Maple Distillator. The distillator was was missing in this pipe so I would need to replace it with a new one once I had cleaned it.

Before starting my clean up work on the pipe I turned to a chart that Charles Lemon of Dad’s Pipes sent to me on the patent era Brighams. There were made from 1938-1980. As the pipe I am working on is a Patent pipes, it’s more accurate to refer to its grade by name (the post 1980 grading scheme refers to Dots). Here is the chart that Charles sent me. The pipe I am working on is thus a Brigham Executive with the brass pins arranged vertically. The pipe I have in hand has three brass pins with a larger center pin. It has a 6XX shape number.It is helpful having this chart and getting a quick picture of where the pipe fits in the Brigham line. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the second and third cutting head to take the cake back to bare briar so I could inspect the walls. I cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper on a piece of dowel to smooth them out and further examine them. I was happy that the walls looked very good. I used the Savinelli Fitsall knife to scrape off the heavy lava coat on the rim top. I cleaned out the mortise area and airway to the bowl and the interior of the metal tube and airway in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. The aluminum tube was really dirty since it had been smoked frequently without the distillator in place. It took a lot of work to clean out all of the grit and tars. I scrubbed the surface of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit as well as the remnants of the shiny finish on the smooth portions of the bowl. I worked on the darkening on the rim top and the rough inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the darkening and smooth out the inner edge of the bowl.I wet sanded the rim top and the smooth portions on the bowl sides with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl surface down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding dust. Once I finished the bowl looked good. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. Mark Hoover’s Balm is a product that I have come to appreciate and one I use on every pipe I have been working on. It really makes the grain stand out on this pipe. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. When I was in the US visiting Jeff and his wife I picked up some Soft Scrub. Jeff swears by this stuff as the first tool to use to remove a lot of the oxidation on the stem. I rubbed it on with a cotton pad and sure enough it removed the oxidation and the calcification build up. It looked a lot better.I painted the tooth marks on the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift them as much as possible. It removed several on each side. There were three left on the top side and one on the underside that did not lift much. I cleaned out the marks with alcohol and a cotton swab. I filled them in with clear super glue and set the stem aside to cure. I smoothed out the repairs and sanded out the remaining oxidation with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I rubbed down the stem with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish and a cotton pad to remove the remnants of oxidation and to blend in the sanding. The stem is starting to show promise at this point in the process. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with a cotton pad to remove the sanding debris. Before I finished the last polishing touches on the stem I decided to fit it with a new Rock Maple Distillator. I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both fine and extra fine. I finished by wiping it down with Briarville’s No Oxy Oil and buffing it to a shine. I always look forward to this part of the restoration when all the pieces are put back together. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the smooth portion and the rusticated portion contrasting well and added to that the polished black vulcanite stem with the shining brass pins. This Brigham Executive 632 Billiard is nice looking and feels great in my hand. The pipe is one that is light enough that it could be clenched and smoked while doing other things as it is very light weight and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This is the fourth of the pipes sent to me from Eastern Canada for restoration. Once again I am looking forward to what the pipeman who sent it thinks of this restoration. Lots more to do in this lot! Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.

Breathing Fresh Life into a French Longchamp Leather Clad Billiard

2 Replies

Blog by Dal Stanton

I saw this leather wrapped Longchamp on the eBay auction block from a seller in the USA state of Indiana. Up to that point in time, a leather clad pipe was not part of my collection and the price was right when the final minutes ticked off the clock my bid weathered any challengers. The black leather drew my attention with the potential of cleaning the rim for a nice contrast with briar. Here’s the Longchamp that got my attention. I brought the pipe back to Bulgaria and put it in the For “Pipe Dreamers” Only! online collection and this is where Jason saw the Longchamp. Jason sent me an email and commissioned the Longchamp and expressed satisfaction in being able to help support the work we do here in Bulgaria with the Daughters of Bulgaria. He also said that he heard about The Pipe Steward for the first time when I was interviewed by Brian Levine. Last year, I had a great time being interviewed by Brian Levine of the Pipes Magazine Radio Show! I told the story of how I began restoring pipes as The Pipe Steward and how this intersects with the efforts here in Bulgaria working with the Daughters of Bulgaria. Jason also commissioned a very nice Altinay Tear Drop Lattice Meerschaum which is next on the worktable.After getting the Longchamp to Bulgaria, I took more pictures to get a closer look. The nomenclature is stamped into the leather on the left flank of the shank. It reads, LONGCHAMP [over] FRANCE. There is also a stamp of what looks like a horse in motion on the stem.The practice of wrapping briar bowls with leather started in France as a creative and economically savvy way to sell sub-par bowls that were part and parcel of France’s austerity measures during WWII. Pipedia’s article uncovers this bit of pipe history in the article devoted to Longchamp:

In 1948 Jean Cassegrain inherited a small shop near the French Theater on the Boulevard Poissonnière in Paris, called “Au Sultan”. Articles for smokers and fountain pens were offered there. Now, the absolute bulk of the pipes Cassegrain found in the inventory was from war-time production and due to the sharp restrictions on pipe production the French government had enforced in 1940, these pipes were of very poor quality and showed large fills. Strictly speaking, they were not marketable now that the French pipe industry produced pipes of pre-war standards again. In this situation Cassegrain had the probably most enlightened moment in his life: he took some of these pipes to a leather worker who clad bowls and shanks in leather. Only the rims of the bowls and the shanks’ faces remained blank.

E voila – the pipes looked pretty good now and were eye-catching enough to become an instant success in sale. Above all among the thousands of Allied soldiers who populated Paris in those days. The thing worked well, and even unexperienced pipesters liked the covered pipes very much for they did not transmit the heat to the hand. Very soon Cassegrain had sold the old stock of pipes, and the leather-clad pipes became his only product. He began to place orders with renowned firms like Ropp or Butz-Choquin.

I love stories of innovation like the story of Jean Cassegrain and the creation of the Longchamp name which came from the name of a horse racing park near Paris. Pipedia concludes the article with this comment:

After 1970 the interest in leather-clad pipes slowly diminished. The Longchamp pipes were offered for the last time in the 1978 catalog though previously placed orders were delivered until 1980.

The splendid success inspired many other renowned producers to offer their own lines Ropp, Butz-Choquin, Gubbels, GBD… Maybe Savinelli was the very last producing them for the label of the famous designer Etienne Aigner.

The dating of the pipe on my table would be no older than 1978. The article also gave sense to the horse stamped on the stem. I found more about this in the Longchamp panel provided on Pipephil.eu. The panel shows the different versions of the very thin, ghosted horse stamping on the Longchamp matches the example on the lower right with the caption stating that this logo was on the more recent stems – so dating is for this pipe is most likely in the 70s.With this knowledge increasing my appreciation of the Longchamp story, I take a closer look at the Longchamp on my worktable. The general condition of the leather appears to be very good. I see no tears. The chamber of the Billiard shape has some cake build up but not bad. The rim is caked with lava flow, but it should clean up nicely revealing the briar beneath. The stem has oxidation and light tooth chatter, but nothing serious. I begin the refreshing of this French Leather Clad Longchamp by addressing the oxidation in the stem. I first clean the airway with pipe cleaners wetted with isopropyl 95%.To break up the thick oxidation, 000 steel wool is applied to the stem. I’m careful to avoid the thin Longchamp stamping. I have found that this helps give the oxidation removal a head start before putting the stem into the soak with Before & After Deoxidizer.Next into the Before & After Deoxidizer with other stems of pipes in the queue. I leave it in the soak for about 4 hours.When I fish the stem out of the Deoxidizer, I drain and squeegee the liquid off with my fingers. I then put another pipe cleaner wetted with alcohol through the airway to clean it of the Deoxidizer. Then using cotton pads wetted with alcohol, the raised oxidation is wiped off.I like to use paraffin oil to help begin the process of rejuvenating the vulcanite stem. I wipe the oil on with a cotton pad and put the stem aside to absorb the oil.With the stem now on the sideline, I turn to the stummel to begin cleaning out the carbon cake. After putting paper towel down for easier cleanup, I use the Pipnet Reaming Kit to do the job. I take another picture of the chamber to mark the start and I use 2 of the 4 blade heads available. After this, the Savinelli Fitsall tool further scrapes the chamber walls and I finish with sanding the chamber with 240 grade paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen. I then wipe the chamber with a cotton pad and after inspection, determine that there are no heating problems with the chamber briar. Next, cleaning the rim to remove the thick oil and tar crud that has collected will be a job. I do not wish to immerse the leather with Murphy’s, though I don’t think it would be a problem. So, focusing to keep the cleaning only on the rim, I use Murphy’s Oil Soap undiluted and a cotton pad to begin softening the crusted rim. Using a Winchester pocketknife to scrape the rim, I carefully remove more of the crusting. Finally, I use a bristled brass wire brush to work on the rim and then take the stummel to the sink and rinse the soap from the rim.There’s a huge difference on the rim after the cleaning. It appears that there originally was a bevel on the inside lip of the rim.Next, to freshen the lines of the rim and to continue to clean the dark stains off the briar, I use the topping board with 240 grade paper. I only rotate the stummel a few times. A small pit is revealed on the front-left rim after the first round of topping. This will need to be filled.I rotate the inverted stummel several more time after transitioning from 240 grade paper to 600.To clean the internal rim lip as well as to refresh the internal bevel, I tightly wrap a piece 240 paper and shape the bevel. Following this, I use 600 grade to smooth out the bevel.Next, using cotton buds and pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl 95% the internal cleaning commences. A small dental spoon is also used to scrape the internal mortise wall removing tars and oil build up. After the cotton buds begin to emerge lighter, I call it clean at this stage.With the hour being late, I transition to utilizing a kosher salt and alcohol soak through the night to continue the internal cleaning. It is my usual practice to do this to refresh the pipe for the new steward. After creating a ‘wick’ by pulling and twisting a cotton ball, the wick is inserted into the mortise using a stiff wire to help guide it down through the mortise into the airway. The wick helps to draw out the residual tar and oil from the briar. I then fill the bowl with kosher salt which, unlike iodized salt, leaves no aftertaste. After placing the stummel in the egg carton for stability, using a large eye dropper, the bowl is filled with isopropyl 95% until it surfaces over the salt. After a time, the alcohol is drawn into the pipe and after topping off the alcohol, I turn off the lights! The next morning the salt and wick are soiled the brown showing the additional cleaning this process provided. After cleaning the stummel of the expended kosher salt using a paper towel and blowing forcefully through the mortise, I follow with a few additional pipe cleaners and cotton buds to clean the remaining remnants of tar and oils. All is good and I move on.Next, addressing the hole on the rim, I first dig out and clean the pitted area using a sharp dental probe. After wiping the area with alcohol to assure that it is clean, I then spot-drop the hole with regular clear CA glue.After the CA glue cures, a flat needle file is used to file the patch down. Following the filing, 240 and 600 sanding papers smooth the area further.Transitioning then to applying the full regiment of micromesh pads, I wet sand with pads 1500 to 2400 and follow with dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000. The micromesh process brings out the grain nicely. I love the briar/leather contrast created by the rim. Applying Before & After Restoration continues to bring out the more subtle hues of the rim’s briar grain. Applying first the Balm with my fingers and working it into the briar, I then set it aside for a few minutes for the Balm to be absorbed. After about 20 minutes I wipe off the excess Balm and buff the rim with a microfiber cloth.To treat the black leather, I use ‘Weiman Leather Wipes’ to clean and condition the leather. This product works very well. The leather is very attractive with a clean, healthy sheen. I put the stummel aside and transition to the stem, which is not in too bad of shape. There are some tooth chatter and compressions on the upper bit which I first address with the heating method. Using a Bic lighter, the bit is painted with the flame heating and expanding the vulcanite. As the vulcanite is heated it expands to reclaim its original shaping – or closer. The pictures show a before and after comparison. The compressions are still visible but much reduced.I follow by sanding the upper and lower bit using 240 grade paper to erase the residual chatter and what remains of the compressions.I then take the stem to the kitchen sink and wet sand the entire stem using 600 grade paper – careful not to sand the very thin running horse stamping on the stem. Following the 600 grade paper, 000 grade steel wool is applied to smooth further.Next, I transition directly to applying micromesh pads to the stem by wet sanding with pads 1500 to 2400 then dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000. Between each set of 3 pads, Obsidian Oil is applied to rejuvenate the vulcanite as well as helping to prevent oxidation. On the home stretch – after mounting a cotton cloth buffing wheel to the Dremel, with the speed set at about 40% full power, Blue Diamond compound, a fine abrasive, is applied to the stem and briar rim. Following this, after another buffing wheel has been mounted at the same speed, carnauba wax is applied to the stem and briar rim. The restoration is completed with a rigorous hand-buffing to raise the shine of both the stem and briar rim, but also the black leather wrap.This Leather Clad French Longchamp is a nice pipe. The leather gives that comfortable laid-back feel and the contrasting briar rim and white seams of stitching provide a great aesthetic presentation. The classic Billiard workhorse shape has a great feel and balance in the hand – ready for a new steward! Jason has the first opportunity to claim this French Longchamp from The Pipe Steward Store benefiting the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited. Thanks for joining me!

Cleaning up a Japanese Kiseru Pipe

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

Every once in a while Jeff picks up a unique piece. This is one of those it is a Japanese Kiseru. The bowl and stem are brass and the shank is a piece of reed that is fairly long but could easily have been a replacement for a shorter piece. It is similar in size to the Kiseru that I have here but the reed insert doubles the length of mine. I wrote a blog on my own Kiseru and experience smoking it. Here is the link to that blog: https://rebornpipes.com/2012/11/09/kiseru-pipes-a-unique-experience-but-if-you-blink-you-will-miss-it/. I am also including a more recent blog on a long Japanese pipe that I cleaned up and wrote about. Here is the link to that blog if you are interested in having a look https://rebornpipes.com/2019/02/03/i-am-not-sure-what-to-call-this-a-japanese-churchwarden/.

I have included a photo of a trio of Kiseru pipes and the tobacco that is smoked in them to give you an idea of the finely cut Virginia that is used in the pipe.When Jeff received the pipe it was dirty and tarnished looking. The brass bowl and mouth piece were coated with what looked like orange rust. The stippled area on the shank and mouth piece was dirty and the grooves were filled in with grime. The reed shank was dirty and had burn marks on the side where it was laid in an ash tray. The bowl actually had white cobwebs in it from sitting for a long time. Jeff took photos to show the condition of the pipe before he worked on it.He took some close up photos of the bowl to show the dried ash and cobwebs in it when it arrived. He took some photos of the stippled mouthpiece end and the flattened underside there and on the bowl end. You can also see the orange rustlike look of the stem and bowl.Jeff took the pipe apart so you can see the parts that make it up. You can see the wear on the reed and the burn marks mid read. There is definitely some potential in this one!Jeff cleaned the pipe in his usual thorough way – scrubbing the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and Soft Scrub to remove the grime and build up as well as the oxidation. He cleaned out the inside of the pipe with pipe cleaners, cotton swab and alcohol. You can see the brass is looking much better. When it arrived here in Canada it looked pretty good. I took photos of it before I started my part of the work.I took the pipe apart as well to show the ends of the reed shank. While the burn marks were still present the overall appearance of the reed was much better. The brass actually looked “brassy” and the stippling looked three dimensional! Nicely done!I took some close up photos of the bowl to show the condition now that it was clean. I have included photos from all angles. You can see the rust on the right side of the bowl.I polished the brass mouth piece and bowl with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. That was enough to remove the rust and give the brass a shine. Once I had finished the shank tube I would buff it and give it some wax. I polished the reed tube with 1500-12000 girt micromesh sanding pads to raise a shine in the reed and to see if I could minimize the burn marks on the mid reed portion. It actually worked very well and I am happy with the polished reed. Once the parts were finished I buffed each part on the buffing wheel and then buffed the entirety. I first used Blue Diamond with a light touch on the stippled portion. I gave the entirety several coats of carnauba wax, using a light touch on the stippled portions and keeping the wax on the high spots in those areas. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it with a micro fibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 8 inches, Height of the bowl: 5/8 of an inch, Diameter of the bowl: ¾ of an inch, Diameter of the chamber: 3/8 of an inch. This is an interesting piece of pipe history and if you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly. Thanks for taking the time to read this blog!

Selected Straight Grain Author (256) Restoration

Leave a reply

By Al Jones

It’s been several years since I’ve had the opportunity to restore a Selected Straight Grain pipe. Selected Straight Grain pipes were 2nd line offerings from Comoy’s and represent a good value for a pipe that might have a few flaws or fills.

Pipepedia describes the line as:

Selected Straight Grain. These were in effect a “Specimen Straight Grain” second that exhibited some small flaw or sand pit. They were listed in the 1965 catalogue at $15 or $17.50 in Extraordinaire size.

This one had a little bit of competition on Ebay, despite somewhat poor photos. It appeared to be in good condition with no visible issues. On arrival, the condition was as expected, but I was somewhat disappointed to not find the shape 256 stamp (indeed, no shape stamp) and the Country of Manufacture stamp was also a bit odd. When I pulled the stem, I was pleased to see the Comoy’s metal reinforcing ring in the shank and in the tenon.

The pipe has some slight build-up on the bowl top, mild cake and a lightly oxidized stem. The button only had mild abrasions. Below is the pipe as it was received.

I used a worn piece of Scotchbrite to remove the black build-up on the bowl top, then 8,000 grit micromesh. The cake was removed with my Pipenet reamer set and a piece of 320 grit sandpaper to finish the interior of the bowl, which was in great shape. The pipe was soaked with alcohol and sea salt.

Following the soak, the stem was mounted. I removed the oxidation with 800, 1500 and 2000 grit wet sandpaper, followed by 8,000 and 12,000 micromesh sheets. The stem was buffed with White Diamond rouge and Meguiars Plastic Polish.

I lightly buffed the bowl with White Diamond and several coats of Carnuba wax. Below is the finished pipe.

Rebirthing another Schoenleber Hand Made – A #5 Dublin

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe in the queue is another pipe from the batch of pipes I am cleaning up for Alex – this one is another Schoenleber Hand Made – a straight shank Dublin with some beautiful grain around what appears to be an oil cured bowl and shank. The entire pipe has some beautiful mixed birdseye, cross and swirled grain around the bowl and shank. But it is under a thick coat of oils, grime and dirt. The carver did a great job utilizing the block of briar to maximize the grain. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank. It reads Schoenleber over Hand Made. On the right side of the shank it is stamped with a number 5 which is either a shape number or size designation. The tapered stem is vulcanite and has a single small blue dot on the top side. I think that this will be another nice looking piece much like many of the pipes Alex is picking up. The bowl is thickly caked with a thick overflow of lava on the rim top. There appears to be some damage on the inner edge but it is hard to know for sure. The exterior of the briar was dirty with grime and dust. The stem is actually quite free of tooth marks but there is tooth chatter on both sides. It is heavily oxidized and has some calcification. The photos below tell the story and give a glimpse of the pipe before clean up.I took a photo of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe before I started my cleanup work. There was a thick cake in the bowl and a thick overflow of lava on the rim top. It was hard to know the condition of the edges of the bowl because of the lava though there appeared to be some damage to the inner edge. The stem was in decent condition. There was also some tooth chatter, oxidation and calcification on the stem surfaces.I also took a photo of right side of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is readable in the photo below and is as noted above – Schoenleber Hand Made. On the opposite side it reads 5 at the shank/bowl junction on the right side.When I worked on a Schoenleber pipe for Alex in the past I had done the research on the brand. I knew that the pipe had been made for a shop in New Jersey but went back and reread the previous blog I had written on the brand. I have included the information from Pipedia that I included before. I quote the article in full (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Schoenleber).

Louis Schoenleber lived in North Arlington N.J. and was an Austrian immigrant and skilled artisan in pipe making. His hand carved pipes were available in his shop, ‘Schoenleber’s Newark Pipe Shop’, at 26 Branford Pl., Newark NJ, thought to open in the 1920’s. Schoenleber’s carried a full line of tobaccos as well as related pipe smoking accessories. It’s thought the shop operated until the late 1960’s, and Louis Schoenleber died in 1976. It’s also fairly certain they may have sold to other brands such as Jelling, also in Newark and are very similar in design and finish.

There was also an advertising card on the site that I have included below. It speaks to my assumptions about the curing process and the finishing process on the pipe. It also connects the pipe to Schoenleber’s Newark Pipe Shop in Newark, N.J. It also has a comment on the fact that pipes were made to order.I started the restoration by working on reaming the thick cake from the bowl. I used a PipNet pipe reamer with the third cutting head to take the cake out of the bowl. It was crumbly and uneven so that was necessary. I followed up by scraping out the remaining cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and finally sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sand paper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I used the sharp edge of the Fitsall knife to scrape away the thick lava coat from the rim top. With the bowl reamed and the rim top scraped clean it was time to scrub the grime and oils off the outside of the bowl. I used undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to scrub the briar. I rinsed off the grime that the soap removes with warm running water. I dried it off with a cotton cloth and took photos of the pipe at this point. With the externals clean it was time to clean out the internals. I scraped the inside of the mortise walls with a pen knife to remove the thick tarry buildup. I scrubbed the mortise and airway in the shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until they were clean. I cleaned up the damages to the inner edge of the rim with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. When I finished the rim was once again clean and round.I turned to polishing the bowl and rim with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and tooth chatter on both sides of the stem. I started the polishing of the surface with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth after each pad. I further polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped it down with a coat of Briarville’s No Oxy Oil and set it aside to dry. With both parts of the pipe finished, I polished the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I 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 rich oil cured finish and the grain came alive with the buffing. The finish on the briar works well with the polished black vulcanite stem. The finished pipe is a well-proportioned, nicely grained Dublin. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 1/2 inches, Height: 1 7/8 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/4 inches, Chamber diameter: 3/4 of an inch. This Schoenleber Hand Made Dublin will be going back to Alex soon to join his growing collection of American made pipes. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on another of Alex’s pipes.

Renewing one of Alex’s first pipes – a Lorenzetti Lovat

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

Alex has been an ongoing source of restoration projects for me for a few years now. I actually have a box of Alex’s pipes that he drops by periodically and adds new ones to. It has been fun to see him pick up the restoration hobby himself lately. He leaves the harder ones to me to work on – whether harder in terms of issues or harder in terms of cleaning. I have quite a few of his to work on so I spread them among the others that I am working on. This next pipe is an interesting Lorenzetti Lovat that was one of his first pipes. It has some issues with the finish that will need to be addressed. The pipe is stamped Lorenzetti over Italy on the left side of the shank and Avitus 03 on the right side. It has been in the box for quite a while now so I took it to the work table. The finish is a combination of reddish browns and dark brown in streaks on the bowl sides. It almost appears that it was to make it look like grain. There were some spots around the heel and sides of the bowl where it looked like the shellac coat was peeling off the bowl. The rim top had an inward bevel that had some darkening to the inner edge on the back of the bowl. There were some nicks around the outer edge toward the front. The stem was lightly oxidized with calcification around the button. It has the cursive Lorenzetti “L” on the left of the saddle stem. There were tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. I took some photos of the pipe as I received it. I took a close up photo of the rim top. It shows some darkening on the back of the inward beveled top. The outer edges were nicked and damaged on the right side. The photos of the stem show tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The stem is also quite oxidized.I took photos of the stamping on both sides of the shank. You can see that it reads as noted above. I also took a photo of the stamping on the side of the saddle stem.I took photos of the bubbled finish around the sides of the bowl. It looked to me that the bubbled portions were over putty fills in the briar. Time would tell! I don’t believe I have worked on this brand before so I turned to Pipephil to get a quick overview of the brand (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-l6.html). I have included a screen capture of the information on that site for quick reference. I learned that the brand was created in 1934 by Otello Lorenzetti. As of (2009) the company was managed by Alessandro Lorenzetti.I then turned to Pipedia and found a great historical survey of the founder Otello Lorenzetti. It is a great read regarding the history of the brand and its development from small beginnings with Otello selling pipes from his bicycle around his community to a brand that is available around the world today. (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzetti).

This is a thick shank classic looking Lovat with a briar insert in the vulcanite stem. The staining would have originally hidden the fills very well. The stain gives the appearance of cross grain around the bowl when in reality the pipe is a mix of grains. I wiped the bowl down with a cotton pad and alcohol to remove the shiny, spotty top coat of the finish. The combination of brown stains on the finish makes it interesting. Now it was time to work on Alex’s pipe. I started the work by reaming the bowl and cleaning out the shank. The pipe was amazingly clean so it did not take too much to clean it.I polished the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The polishing gave the bowl a rich shine. After polishing the rim it was slightly lighter than the other smooth portions of the bowl. I used a Maple Stain Pen to match the colour of the rest of the bowl and blend the new finished rim into the surrounding pipe. I rubbed it down with Before and After Restoration Balm. It is a product developed by Mark Hoover to clean, enliven and protect briar. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. I let it sit for about 10 minutes and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. You can see the results in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the light tooth marks, chatter and gouges on the stem surface. I sanded both the top and underside of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damages to the vulcanite. Fortunately they were not too deep so they came out fairly quickly. I also did a quick sanding to remove the oxidation on the stem.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with a damp cotton pad to remove the dust. I polished it with Before and After Pipe Polish – both fine and extra fine. I finished by wiping the stem down with some No Oxy Oil that received from Briarville Pipe Repair to try out and get a sense of its value to me and others. Once I finished I put the stem back on the shank and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond polish briar and vulcanite. I gave the stem a vigorous polish being careful around the white spot. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This Lorenzetti Lovat is a great piece of Alex’s personal pipe history and looks better than when I began the process. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 4 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outer Bowl Diameter: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber Diameter: ¾ of an inch. The pipe will soon be heading back to Alex so he can continue to enjoy it. I have told him that if he ever wants to part with it I get the right of first refusal. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration.

A New Lease on Life for Alex’s Kaywoodie Hand Made Rhodesian

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

Alex has been an ongoing source of restoration projects for me for a few years now. I actually have a box of pipes that Alex drops by periodically and adds new pipes for work. It has been fun to see him pick up the restoration hobby himself lately. He leaves the harder ones to me to work on – whether harder in terms of issues or harder in terms of cleaning. I have quite a few of his to work on so I spread them among the others that I am working on. This next pipe is an interesting older Kaywoodie Hand Made Rhodesian with an almost Custom Bilt rustication pattern around the bowl. The difference to me is that this beauty has some stunning grain in the smooth portions and the rustication is less random and more methodically chosen to highlight some of the grain features. The pipe is stamped Hand Made over Kaywoodie on a smooth panel on the left side of the shank. On the right side there is a stamp that reads Imported Briar. It has been in the box for quite a while now so this afternoon I took it to the work table. The finish is a combination of reddish browns and dark brown in the rusticated portions. The contrast is quite beautiful though a little dull as it has not been used or cared for in a long time. The rim top had an inward bevel that had some darkening and burn damage to the inner edge on the front right and back of the bowl. The pipe had been reamed before Alex received it and really was quite clean. The push stem was lightly oxidized and had Kaywoodie white logo with a black cloverleaf making it an older pipe. There were hash marks and tooth marks on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. Overall the pipe was in good condition. I took some photos of the pipe as I received it. I took a close up photo of the rim top. It shows some darkening on the right side of the inward beveled top. The outer edges look good. The photos of the stem show hash marks and tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. They are deep scratches/gouges in the vulcanite that have filled in with calcification. The stem is also quite oxidized.I took photos of the stamping on both sides of the shank. You can see that it reads as noted above.I have worked on a few of the Kaywoodie Hand Made over the years and have found in the past that they were listed as Oversize Kaywoodie pipes. I turned to Pipephil’s site to see what information I could gather there on the oversize pipes (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-kaywoodie-2.html#oversizekaywoodie). I have included a screen capture of the information on that site for quick reference. The basic information I gather there was that the pipe had in all probability been noted in the 1947 Kaywoodie Catalogue. It also made it clear that all the Oversize models are stamped Hand Made.I then turned to Pipedia and under the general information did not find much helpful that I did not already know. It is a great read regarding the history of the brand and its development from the older KBB and KB&B brand pipes. However it did have follow up information in the end notes on the page and that took me to a series of Catalogues (1937, 1947 and 1955). The Hand Made line shows up first in the 1947 Catalogue that was included. I read through it and that is where I found some additional information to help me in my quest. Here is a link to the 1947 Catalogue for your reading pleasure (https://pipedia.org/images/6/61/Kaywoodie_1947.pdf). I have included a screen capture of the section in the catalogue about the Oversize Kaywoodies. I have included that below. I have also included two of the Catalogue pages that show the oversize Hand Made pipes. The one I am working on while similar to the Hand Carved Colossus and the Hand Carved John Henry is significantly different. This one is carved with the patterns but has a tapered push stem rather than the typical screw mounted Kaywoodie. This is a beautifully styled and positioned Rhodesian shape has a tapered vulcanite push stem that fits proportionally well. The carved areas or “worm trails” around the bowl are separated by smooth well grained portions of briar that highlight the grain. The combination of brown stains on the finish makes it quite stunning. Now it was time to work on Alex’s pipe. I started the work by addressing the issues with the rim top first. I ran some pipe cleaners through the bowl and stem and it was spotless so I decided to deal with rim top damage. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the beveled rim top to remove the darkening. I sanded the rim top and edges of the bowl with the sandpaper to get rid of the damage. Once I was finished the rim and edges were smooth.I polished the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The polishing gave the bowl a rich shine. After polishing the rim it was slightly lighter than the other smooth portions of the bowl. I used a Maple Stain Pen to match the colour of the rest of the bowl and blend the new finished rim into the surrounding pipe.I rubbed it down with Before and After Restoration Balm. It is a product developed by Mark Hoover to clean, enliven and protect briar. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush. I let it sit for about 10 minutes and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. You can see the results in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the light tooth marks, chatter and gouges on the stem surface. I sanded both the top and underside of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damages to the vulcanite. Fortunately they were not too deep so they came out fairly quickly. I also did a quick sanding to remove the oxidation on the stem.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with a damp cotton pad to remove the dust. I polished it with Before and After Pipe Polish – both fine and extra fine. I finished by wiping the stem down with some No Oxy Oil that received from Briarville Pipe Repair to try out and get a sense of its value to me and others. Once I finished I put the stem back on the shank and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond polish briar and vulcanite. I gave the stem a vigorous polish being careful around the white spot. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This Kaywoodie Hand Made is a great piece of pipe history and looks better than when I began the process. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outer Bowl Diameter: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber Diameter: ¾ of an inch. The pipe will soon be heading back to Alex so he can continue to enjoy it. I have told him that if he ever wants to part with it I get the right of first refusal. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration.

Refreshing a Smelly Mehaffey 9 Canadian for Alex

5 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

E.A. Mehaffey operated a pipe & tobacco shop in Wheaton, Maryland. He used to make pipes for many years but as legend has it, his house tobacco mixtures were much more prestigious than his pipes. Mehaffey was in business up to the 1980’s.

While this statement does not engender enthusiasm for E. A. Mehaffey’s pipe production, the Canadian with a Natural finish is a very nice piece of briar. Both sides of the bowl show a mix of grains. On the front of the bowl there is some nice birdseye and on the back some swirls of grain. This is a beautifully styled and positioned Canadian shape has a tapered vulcanite stem that fits proportionally well. Now it was time to work on Alex’s pipe. I started the work by addressing the issues with the rim top first. I figured I would be generating some sanding dust so I decided to deal with that before cleaning the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to further bevel the inner edge of the rim to remove the burn damage. I sanded the rim top and outer edge of the bowl with the same sandpaper to get rid of the damage. Once I was finished the rim and edges were smooth.I polished the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl and rim down with a damp cloth after each pad. I paused in the polishing of the externals to address the smell of the pipe. I cleaned the airway into the bowl, the mortise and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to remove the surface debris. It was pretty clean. I knew that I would need to do more to get rid of the deep smell.I decided to deep clean the bowl with a cotton ball and alcohol soak. I stuff the bowl with cotton and use an ear syringe to fill the bowl with alcohol. I put a folded pipe cleaner in the shank to wick the oils and tars from the airway and mortise. The alcohol and cotton draws the oils and tars out of the briar. It works in the same manner as salt and alcohol but I like it better as it leaves less mess and the salt does not permeate the briar when cotton is used. I set the bowl aside for several hours while the mixture did its work.I removed the cotton balls and ran a few pipe cleaners and cotton swabs through the shank and mortise to clean up residual debris left behind by the soak. You can see what was absorbed into the cotton in the photos below. The pipe smelled fresh and clean. The mustiness and stench was gone.I picked up the polishing of the bowl again with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 3200-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The polishing gave the bowl a rich shine. I rubbed it down with Before and After Restoration Balm. It is a product developed by Mark Hoover to clean, enliven and protect briar. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. I let it sit for about 10 minutes and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. You can see the results below. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the light tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface. The stem was in excellent condition other than that so it did not take a lot of work. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with a damp cotton pad to remove the dust. I polished it with Before and After Pipe Polish – both fine and extra fine. I finished by wiping the stem down with some No Oxy Oil that received from Briarville Pipe Repair to try out and get a sense of its value to me and others. Once I finished I put the stem back on the shank and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond polish briar and vulcanite. I gave the stem a vigorous polish being careful around the white spot. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a great piece of pipe history and looks better than when I began the process. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 7/8 inches, Outer Bowl Diameter: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber Diameter: ¾ of an inch. The pipe will soon be heading back to Alex so he can continue to enjoy it. I have told him that if he ever wants to part with it I get the right of first refusal. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration.

A Blasticated Capri Bent Billiard that came with a story

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

A few days ago I received a call at work from a fellow who was just leaving the local pipe shop in Vancouver that refers people to me for repairs. I have to tell you this guy had a story that I had not heard before. He was driving and chatting at the same time. He said that he had picked up a pipe that fast becoming a favourite of his. He was driving and smoking it when he accidentally dropped it out of the window. It seems like the car was moving – at least slowly in his story. The bowl went one way and the stem took off. He stopped and picked up the bowl and could not find the stem. What was not clear to me was what happened to the stem. He said that there was no broken tenon in the shank. He only had the bowl. He stopped by my house and left the bowl in his Autoplan Car Insurance plastic bag in my mail box. He had his phone number and name on the bag. This morning I called to see what kind of stem he wanted on the pipe and it turns out he is a tugboat captain. He said the stem was tapered and rubber. He would be back to Vancouver in two weeks and would get a hold of me then. So that is the story of this pipe.

I actually had no idea what to expect when I returned to my house. My wife had brought the bag inside when she came home. I asked about the pipe and she handed me the Autoplan bag. I took the pipe out of the bag and took photos. The pipe appeared to have what I call a blasticated finish. It is typically done when someone rusticates a bowl and then sandblasts it afterwards. It gives it a very interesting look. The finish was almost new other than several rough spots of road rash around the rim top, heel and sides. The beauty of this type of finish is that it is very forgiving when it has this kind of damage. I took some photos of the pipe before I did any work on it. You can see it is a bent billiard, it is made by Capri and it is sans stem. I went through my cans of stem options and found only one thick tapered stem that would actually work on this pipe. The tenon was not turned and it was an unused blank that still had some casting marks on the sides and button. I quickly sanded the tenon to see what I was working with. I could see that with a bit of work it would be a good fit for this pipe.I used a wire brush to knock off the loose bits from the road rash and then used a walnut stain pen to touch up the damaged areas on the finish.Now it was time to work on the stem. I set up my cordless drill and put the PIMO tenon turning tool in the chuck. I set the cutting head for the first pass on the tenon and spun the stem on the drill to remove excess rubber.I measured the diameter of the mortise again and reset the cutting head on the PIMO. I spun the stem once more and took it down to a close fit. I filed and sanded it the rest of the way.The shoulders on the cast stem were slightly rounded and the diameter of the stem was a little bigger than the diameter of the shank. I used a rasp to remove the excess material and reduced the stem to a very close fit on the shank.I sanded the file marks out of the stem sides with 220 grit sandpaper. There still needs to be some fine tuning but the stem is beginning to look like a fit. I took photos of the pipe with the new stem at this point to have a look. I worked on the sides of the stem diameter to fine tune it. It was definitely looking better. It was time to bend the stem to fit the flow of the bowl. I set up my heat gun. I put a pipe cleaner in the airway of the stem to keep the airway from crimping. I moved the stem over the heat until the vulcanite softened. I used round handle of a chisel for the shape of the bend and bent the stem until it looked right on the bowl. I always try to bend the stem to get the same angle on the bend as the flat top of the bowl.I put the stem back on the bowl and took photos of the look of the pipe now. I like the look of the stem and the flow of the pipe. I still want to shape the shank stem fit some more so the flow is uninterrupted. I removed the stem and turned my attention to finishing the restoration of the bowl. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect it. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. The contrasts in the layers of stain really made the rustication shimmer and show depth. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The pipe really looks good at this point. I am very happy with the way the pipe is looking at this point in the process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit and 400 grit wet dry sandpaper to smooth out the remaining marks on the stem. I had coated the tenon with a light coat of clear fingernail polish to protect the fit during all of the fiddling and sanding I was doing. I have experienced damaging a tenon because I was careless so I will often do this when restemming a pipe now. I still needed to smooth out the tenon a bit but it was starting to look really good.I polished the stem surface with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both fine and extra fine. I hand buffed it with a cloth. I gave it a coat of Briarville’s No Oxy Oil even though it does not work as well on acrylic as it does on the vulcanite it was designed for. It works to give a top coat to protect and preserve the newly cleaned and polished stem. This was a change of pace to the normal day to day restoration I have been doing. Fitting a stem to a bowl is interesting and it is time consuming. Once I was finished I put the new vulcanite stem back on the bowl and polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservators Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I 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 Capri Bent Billiard with the new stem polished up really well. The polished stem looked very good after the buffing. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions of this pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. For a low cost pipe this little billiard is eye catching. I will be calling the fellow who dropped it off and let him know the pipe is finished. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.