This Pre-Republic K&P Dublin 207 Pot is a bit of an old friend as I first restored it for my own rack almost exactly five years ago, back in November of 2017. I enjoyed it for many of those years but, as many pipe smokers do, I found that I reached for other pipes more often. I decided it was time to refresh the pipe and find it a new steward who would enjoy it.

I started by giving the pipe a basic ream, clean and polish to get the briar looking its best, but I had to pause and consider my course of action when it came to the stem. If you’ve had a look through the details of the original restoration, you’ll recall that this pipe dates from 1945-1947 and needed a bit of help to reclaim its past glory. Part of that was a patch on the…