Monthly Archives: June 2022

Restoring and Restemming a Made in Ireland Peterson’s “Sports” 4 Prince

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Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff and I often purchase pipe bowl/stummels of brands that we like and want to restore. These have included a lot of different bowls. If you have followed us for long you know that some of these have included Peterson’s, Dunhill’s, and a wide range of Danish and English pipes. Awhile ago Jeff and I were sorting through the bowls in our collection and pulled out eight Peterson’s bowls that were dirty and stemless. A friend referred us to a contact named Silas Walls, of Walls Pipe Repair in Wallace, Idaho, USA as he seems to have a good supply of original Peterson’s stems. Our friend has had him fit stems for some of his Petes and was very happy with the work. We made contact with him and sent him eight bowls for restemming.

This first of them that we cleaned up before mailing them out was a bowl that we purchased on 05/22/21 from Facebook Marketplace. It came from Fruitland, Idaho. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Peterson’s [over] “SPORTS”. On the right side of the shank there is a number 4 stamped next to the bowl shank junction followed by a circular Made in Ireland stamp with the “in” in the center of the circle mid shank. The bowl was dirty with lava on the rim top and a light cake in the bowl. It had been reamed quite recently and interestingly the bottom half of the bowl showed some raw briar. Jeff took photos of the bowl before he did his cleanup work in preparation for sending them to Walls Pipe Repair for their new stem.The photos of the bowl and rim top show the lava build up and nicks/scratches in the surface and edges. They also show the bowl with the reaming job that had been down before the pipe came to us. It showed a lot of promise.Jeff took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. There is also some great grain around the bowl and shank. I have restored a few Peterson’s “SPORTS” in the past so I turned to my blog to have a look at the background information that I included in those blogs. I found the following link to a similar pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/01/08/restoring-a-republic-era-petersons-sports-4-apple/). It was a bit more round than the one I was working on but stamped similarly. I am including two photos of the finished pipe below for comparison.I remembered that the pipe was generally a “pocket” pipe so it was shorter than normal so I copied the dimensions from the above pipe for comparison of our restemmed one. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 33grams/1.16oz. It is a pretty compact pipe with some great shape and balance.

I also am including the background information I had gathered on the line from the previous blog below. I quote:

I am including the link to the Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Peterson’s Sports. On page 313-314 it had the following information.

“SPORTS” (1947-) A “Sport” is traditionally a compact pipe made for smokers engaged in athletic pursuits, most notably equestrian riders who do not want the bowl to bounce up and down. Six shapes described in 1947 shape chart. Occasional later catalogs show as many as 11 shapes. Last  appeared in shape chart in ’98, but still made in small numbers. Recorded specimens are stamped MADE IN IRELAND (forming a circle) or MADE IN THE over REPUBLIC over OF IRELAND. See Outdoor and Outdoor Sportsman.

The information was very helpful. I have highlighted the pertinent reference to the circular Made in Ireland stamp in the paragraph above. I also knew that my memory of it being a shorter “pocket” pipe was correct.

Now it was time to work on the pipe. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. When the pipes came back to Jeff with their new stems they looked great. When the pipe arrived here this week I took photos of it with its stem so you can see what I see. The stem is a little longer than the 5 inches on the above SPORTS pipe. This stem is 5 ½ inches but it looks good on this little Prince. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top had some scratches and marks on the top and some darkening around the inner edge. It should clean up really well. I also took close up photos of the new stem to show how well it is made! Thanks to Walls Pipe Repair!! I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is clear and readable. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to have a look at the parts and overall look. The new stem looked really good with the bowl.Since the stem was in perfect condition and would not need work I set it aside and turned to work on the bowl. I decided to address the damage to the inner edge of the bowl and the rim top first. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to give the inner edge of the bowl a slight bevel to minimize the darkening and damage and blend it into the surrounding briar.I steamed out the dents on the rim top with a damp cloth and a knife heated over the flame of my stove. I applied the wet cloth to the dents and touched the cloth with the hot knife. The steam generated caused the dents to raise. I used a small folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them out further. I started polishing the top with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad.  The polishing of the rim top brought the rim top colour to match the rest of the bowl. I did not need to stain the rim at all. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. Since the stem was in such new condition the pipe was basically finished. I am excited to put the final touches on this newly restemmed Made in Ireland Peterson’s “Sports” 4 Prince. 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 beautiful mixed grain all around it. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem combined with the bowl and made a stunning pipe. This smooth Classic Older Peterson’s “Sports” 4 Apple is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 39 grams/1.38 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be putting on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection send me an email or a message. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Replacing a broken tenon on a shank extension on a Meerschaum Figural

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Blog by Steve Laug

A local friend named Trevor dropped by my porch with a pipe that his boss had given him for his hard work through the years. The pipe had belonged to his boss’s father and he was quite clean to bringing to life so that he could actually smoke it. His boss’s father had never smoke it so it remained an unsmoked Figural Meerschaum in a presentation box. The box had a satin pillow lining and small pillow that sat on top of the pipe. He opened it up and a musty smell emerged from the long unused pipe. In the box sat a carved Meerschaum bowl, a small Meerschaum shank extension and an acrylic stem. The bone tenon in the stem was intact and undamaged. That is not what I was expecting when he had called about a repair on a broken tenon. What had broken was a plastic/nylon tenon that held the shank extension on the bowl and shank of the pipe. A portion of it was stuck in the bowl/shank and a portion of it was in the extension itself. It had snapped off without leaving anything to grab onto to pull it out. The fact that it was a threaded tenon also made this a challenging pipe to work on. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the pipe before I started working on it but I have a picture of the parts. You can see the bowl and extension in the photo below. You can also see the bone tenon at the bottom of the photo that goes in the stem. The broken plastic one is between the shank extension and the short shank.I had run out of bone tenons so I was just going to order some when Jeff called and reminded me that I had boxes of them at his place. I asked him to put together an assortment for me to go through and find the proper one for this pipe. While I waited for them to arrive I put the pipe aside and reflected on how I would remove the broken tenon pieces from the bowl and shank extension. I wrote to Charles Lemon and asked if he had any ideas for a quick and painless removal. Unfortunately he did not. His suggestion was the same as my initial thoughts which was to drill out both portions of the tenon. The threading was problematic if I wanted to keep those parts original but it could be done. However, I was not ready to give up yet on searching for another option.

This week the box of pipes and the bone tenons arrived here in Vancouver. This what he sent me… just a few tenons to choose from. There must be one that would fit in that assortment don’t you think?Now that the replacement tenons were here I had to come to some decisions on removing the broken tenon from the two parts of the pipe. I have often heard people say that they don’t like bone tenons but I have to say this plastic/nylon was far worse than any bone tenon I have worked on in the past.

Yesterday (Friday) I came to a possible solution. I have a set of Spiral                                                 Screw Extractors like those to the right. The idea is to twist them into the head of a damaged screw and then reverse the drill and pull the screw out. I thought possibly I could turn the one that was the same size as the airway in the broken tenon until it bit. Then with a pair of pliers reverse it out. With apprehension about cracking the meerschaum I cast my worries to wind and tried it out. I turned it carefully into the broken tenon in the shank. It bit into the nylon/plastic. I used a pair of pliers and carefully turned the bit to unscrew the broken tenon. It worked very well and within a few minutes the tenon piece was out of the bowl portion of the shank.

I was a little more reticent with the shank extension as it seemed more fragile and there was a small crack on each side of the meer already (at least I am pretty sure it was already there but I cannot be certain as it is certainly there now). I proceeded slowly and carefully with the same procedure and within minutes that piece of the broken tenon was also free of the shank extension. I let out a sigh of relief that it had work and not actually done more damage to the pipe. I took photos of the work and the results and have included them below.I went through the bag of tenons and found the perfect one. I took a photo of the parts of the pipe to show what I was working with. The tenon on the left is the one that joined the shank and shank extension. The one on the right is the one for the stem and shank extension. The smaller end screws into the stem itself.I turned the first tenon into the shank of the bowl to check the fit. The threads fit well but there was a little sloppiness at the shank end that I would need to deal with. You can see how it looks in the photo below.I turned the shank extension on to the tenon and took a photo. You can see the looseness at the joint. If you look closely you can also see the fine hairline crack in the middle of the extension next to the bowl. It is tiny and I repaired it with clear CA glue and clamped it together.I wrapped the bone tenon with some Teflon tape to assure that there was a snug fit in the shank and help tighten it. I taped the shank extension end with a little less of the to align things on the shank and extension and to snug the fit as well. I also wrapped the end of the tenon that fit in the stem end of the extension as well. I turned the stem onto the shank extension and lined it up. It looks good. I screwed parts together and everything lined up very well and the draught on the pipe was clear and unobstructed. I took photos of the pipe at this point in the process. It is a nice looking old pipe that is ready for its initial smoke. The pipe is ready for Trevor to pick up next time he stops by. I want to check with him about the hairline cracks in the shank extension to see if he remembers them or if perhaps it happened while it was in my care. I am hoping all is well. The cracks have sealed and do not seem to be growing at all. It is really a nice looking old pipe. Thanks for reading along as I worked on the process of this repair.

Restoring a Previously Repaired Cracked Shank on a Dunhill Shell Briar 40 Lovat

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a Dunhill Group 4S Shell Briar Lovat that caught my eye. It has a two digit the shape number that I will define below. I purchased this pipe from a fellow on Facebook. He said that the shank had been snapped at the bowl and had been well repaired. There was a tube in the shank that joined the two parts. He sent me two photos of the pipe to show the overall look and also the repaired cracked shank. I was interested in adding this shape to my own collection so I was anxious to see it and work on it. This Dunhill Lovat is stamped on the heel of the bowl and underside of the shank. On the heel it reads 40 followed by Dunhill over Shell Briar. Next to that it is stamped Made in England6. A circle 4 followed by S is stamped on the right side next to the bowl/shank junction. The numbers and stamping tell me that the pipe is a Shell Briar (S) and the size is a Group 4. The 2 digit shape number makes it an older pipe. The date stamp 6 follows the “D” of England in the Made in England stamp. The finish was very shiny like it had a shellac coat on it and it seemed to be even over the lava on the rim top. The sandblast was deep and rugged looking. The bowl had a moderate cake in the bowl and lava overflowing onto the sandblast rim top. There was some shellac over the grime. The inner and outer edges of the bowl looked good and the bowl was in round. The shank repair is solid and fairly tight against the bowl. It looks good but with a lens there are gaps in the repair to the crack. The stem was quite clean but had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The button itself appeared to be in good condition. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition. You can see the cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top and edges. The lava is thick and seems to have protected the edges and top. The stem was clean but has tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. You can also see the repaired crack near the heel of the bowl.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to show the overall look of the pipe. The sandblast is very deep and rugged. Now it was time to begin to work on the stamping on the pipe. Because I had just finished working on a few Shell Briar in the past I used the information that I had dug up on that one. I quote below.

Pipedia had some great information on the Root Briar finish and dates and how the finish was made (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Bruyere). The first quote below give the short version of the finish. I quote from both below.

Shell – A deep craggy sandblast with a black stain finish (usually made using Algerian briar) – the color of the stain used has varied over the years. Although there is some doubt as to them being the first to sandblast pipes, Dunhill’s Shell pipes, and the sandblasting techniques developed to create them are considered one of Dunhill’s greatest and most lasting contributions to the art of pipe making.

The documented history of Dunhill’s inception of the Shell is largely limited to patent applications — there are no catalog pages or advertisements promoting blasted pipes at the time. The preliminary work on the English patent (No. 1484/17) was submitted on October 13, 1917. The patent submission was completed half a year later, on April 12, 1918, followed by the granting of the English patent on October 14, 1918. This was less than a month before the end of The Great War on November 11th.

In 1986 Dunhill released a line of premium Shell finish pipes – “RING GRAIN”. These are high-quality straight grain pipes which are sandblasted. Initially only Ring Grain, but now in two different finishes. In 1995 the “Shilling” was introduced with Cumberland finish – it is an extremely rare series. These pipes exhibit a deeper blast characteristic of that of the 1930’s – mid-1960’s (and the limited ‘deep blast’ pipes of the early 1980s) and show a fine graining pattern. These are considered the best new Dunhills by many enthusiasts today and are very rare. The finish is sometimes described as tasting like vanilla at first, with the taste becoming more normal or good as the pipe breaks in.

With that information clear for me I wanted to identify the shape number and try to pin that down (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Shape_Chart). I turned to the section on the older 2 digit Shape Numbers and read it. I quote it below.

Early Days – 2 digits/letters – The original skus/model numbers from the 1920’s until the early 1970’s stood for very specific shapes and bowls. For example, the codes 31, 34, 59, 111, 113, 117, 196, LB, LBS… were all different types of Billiard shaped pipes and there were about 50(!), such codes for the Billiard shape alone. On top of those are a large variety of other shapes.

With the information on the 2 digit stamp not making clear enough the meaning of the number I turned to another link on Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Shapes_List) to a shape list that Eric Boehm put together for Dunhills.

I knew that the pipe shape number locked in a time period between 1920-1970 – a large time span that I needed to narrow down more clearly. I turned to another link on Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Shapes_List) to a shape list that Eric Boehm put together for Dunhills. I copied the four 2 digit numbers on Lovats from the list. The shape 40 was in the list.

Lovats:

37 Lovat, short, thick, saddle 1928 11

38 Lovat, long shank, saddle bit 3 4¾” 1928, 50, 60, 69 11

40 Lovat, long shank, saddle bit 4 5″ 1928, 1950, 1969 11

481 Lovat, long shank, saddle bit 1 5″ 1950, 1969 11

I turned next to dating the pipe. There is a 6 following the D in ENGLAND on the underside of the shank. The 6 is the same size as the D in England. I turned to the dating chart on Pipephil to pin down the date on this pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). I did a screen capture of Part 2 of the Dunhill Dating Key and included it below. I drew a red box around the section dating this pipe.Since the suffix is not raised but is the same size as the D in England I turned to the section with the information highlighted by the red box above. I knew then that the date of the pipe would be 1960 + 6 (suffix) = 1966.

Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. I started by working on the rim top of the bowl. I used a brass bristle wire brush to knock off the debris and clean out the crevices of the sandblast. It took a bit of work to loosen all the debris and remove the shellac that was covering it. I wanted to remove the shellac coat from the sandblast finish and thus also remove the debris that had been shellacked over on the rim top. I wiped it down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish from the surface of the pipe. The bowl looked better and the rim top also was much better. With the externals cleaned up and the lava and the shellac removed it looked much better. I needed to clean out the inside as well. I reamed the pipe with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and scraped the cake back to bare briar. I sanded the walls smooth with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The inside of the bowl looked very good.I cleaned out the internals of the shank, mortise and airway in the stem with isopropyl alcohol (99%) and cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. It was a dirty pipe. With a bit of work it smell sweeter and was noticeably cleaner.I filled in some of the hollow spots in the previous repair with clear super glue. I was aiming to have it more even and filled in with the glue. Once the touch ups to the repair had cured I restained it with a Walnut stain pen to match the surrounding briar.The bowl looked very good at this point so I rubbed it down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl and shank with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for about 10-15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface of the vulcanite stem with the flame of the lighter. I was able to lift all of the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper to start the polishing. I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem and gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil to finish it. This Beautiful 1966 Rugged Sandblast Dunhill Shell Briar 40 Lovat is a great looking pipe with the little extra TLC I put in once I received it. The rich Shell Briar Sandblast finish that highlights the swirls of the grain and works well with the polished vulcanite stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell Briar 40 Lovat is a Group 4 size pipe that will be a great smoker. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 33 grams/1.16 ounces. I am going to enjoy smoking this one I added to my own collection. I take a moment to remind myself and each of us that we are trustees of pipes that will outlive us and the lives of many other pipe men and women who carry on the trust of their care and use. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Worth Repairing? Salvaging a Seriously Cracked Lorenzetti Titus

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Charles I love the way you sewed the crack together on this one. The methodology is unique and I wanted to share it with the readers on rebornpipes. Thank you!

Charles Lemon's avatar

Cost is almost always a prime consideration when it comes to estate pipe repairs. As I and other pipe restorers have proven more than once, virtually every estate pipe is repairable if the will to do so exists; whether the repair is worth the cost is a very different question, and the answer is very often “It depends.” Is the pipe a sentimental favourite or family heirloom? What is the cost of replacement compared to repair? Does the pipe have intrinsic value to other pipe smokers or collectors? Will the repaired pipe be used personally or sold on to a new steward?

These are some of the questions that ultimately led to the decision by its steward to discard today’s estate pipe project. With a long list of needed repairs and a Canadian retail price of about $80CAD, the cost of the work simply outpaced the value of this Lorenzetti…

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Restoring a Beautiful Heritage Antique 33 Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have always had an interest in the Kaywoodie Made Heritage Pipe line. I really like the way they are made – both in terms of workmanship and style. They really made some amazing looking pipes and I always try to pick them up when I can. Jeff has also found this to be true so he is on the lookout for this brand in all of his pipe hunts and auction haunts. We purchase this pipe in October 2021from a fellow in Redmond, Oregon, USA. It is stamped 33 on the heel of the bowl and Heritage [over] Antique on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. The pictures of the sandblast showed it was well done. The finish was dirty and there was a thick cake in the bowl. It appeared that the bowl had been lightly reamed before it came to us. There was a light lava overflow in the sandblast finish on the rim top that would need to go. There was the Heritage double diamond logo on the left side of the stem. The stem was oxidized and had light tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. All totaled it was still a beautiful pipe. We were hooked. Jeff took these photos before he started his clean up work. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition that I noted in the description above. Even though it is very dirty you can see that the rim top and edges all look very good. The stem photos clearly show the oxidation and light tooth marks on both sides. It would need some work. Jeff took photos of the sides of the bowl and heel to show the sandblast finish on the bowl. This blast is rugged and deep. I have worked on quite a few Heritage pipes and have never seen this before. The next photos show the stamping that I described in the opening paragraph. It is clear and readable. He also included a photo of the double diamond logo on the left side of the taper stem. In other blogs on the brand I have given a bit of history on the Heritage Brand. I have included that here as well for ease of reference. Andrew Selkirk did a great job in researching and I am including a link to his work on the blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2014/12/23/refurbishing-a-heritage-heirloom/). I am including a brief summary of what he found in the next two short paragraphs to set the stage for the pipe on my work table.

Heritage pipes were Kaywoodie’s answer to Dunhill. According to one of their brochures, Heritage pipes were made from “briar burls seasoned and cured for up to 8 months,” with only “one briar bowl in over 300 selected to bear the Heritage name.” “Heritage stems are custom fitted with the finest hand finished Para Rubber stems. Mouthpieces are wafer thin and concave.”

The Heritage line began in the early 1960’s, with the trademark issued in 1964. The line was started at the request of Stephen Ogden, (who worked for Kaywoodie in 1962). Mr. Ogdon had previous experience working for Dunhill, either running the New York store or working for Dunhill North America. Mr. Ogden was made President of Heritage Pipes, Inc., Kaywoodie Tobacco Co.,Inc. and Kaywoodie Products Inc. as well as a Vice President of S.M. Frank & Co. Heritage Pipes were produced from 1964 until 1970 (Source kaywoodie.myfreeforum.org).

Andrew also included a copy of the Heritage brochure that I am also including below (Courtesy kaywoodiemyfreeforum). In going through the models displayed on the page there is not one for the 33. The brochure has a great write up on the Heritage Antique Line. It reads Rustic Grain Stands out in Rugged Relief. It describes the line as follows:

This pipe is so bold looking, yet so light and smooth smoking. A special sandblasting process exposes a greater surface area on the bowl, giving a cooler, more satisfying smoke. Centuries-old Heritage Antique is strikingly masculine in appearance.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual precise work. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife.  He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. The rim top cleaned up very well. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in Briarville Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. The bowl and the rim top looked very good. The inner and outer edges of the rim also looked very good. There was no damage to the edges. The stem surface had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.I took photos of the stamping on the underside shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above.I took the stem off the shank and took a photo of the parts of the pipe to show the overall look of the pipe.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm 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. The following photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I am very happy with the results. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the light tooth marks and chatter smooth with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them in and started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I wiped it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside.    The sandblast Heritage Antique 33 Apple is a real beauty and the finish and shape are well done and have a classic English look even though this is an American Made pipe. The thin taper vulcanite stem polished up on the buffing wheel with Blue Diamond and had a rich glue. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Heritage Antique Apple fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.02 ounces/29 grams. I will soon be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the American Pipe Maker section. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!

Repairing and restoring a Unique Tom Spanu Freehand Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is smooth finished Dublin with a plateau top and a horn shank end. The stem is acrylic with a briar saddle and two strips of briar running down the sides. It came to us on September, 2020 from a lady in Salina, Kansas USA. The contrast of the brown and black stains make the grain stand out. It was stamped at an angle on the left side of the shank and read Tom Spanu. On the underside it is stamped F 3 followed by S P. The pipe was very dirty in the plateau on the rim top. All of the grooves were filled in with a thick coat of lava. The bowl was heavily caked so it was hard to know for sure what the condition of the edges was under the lava. The interesting stem with briar inlays was good in the saddle and inlaid sides. The acrylic blade of the stem had tooth chatter and deep marks on the top and underside on and near the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the pipe. Jeff took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is heavily caked with a thick overflow of lava on the top and edges fills in the plateau finish. The stem has deep tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside near the button. Jeff took photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the grain and around this bowl. Underneath all the grime it is a nice looking pipe. He took photos of the left side and underside of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is readable in the photos below and is as noted above. He also included a photo of the inlaid silver dot in an acrylic ring on the topside of the stem to show the condition. To get a short history reminder about the brand I turned to Pipephil’ sites to read what he had written there in the side bar (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-t7.html#tomspanu). I quote below and also include a screen capture of the pertinent section.

Artisan: Tommaso Spanu (born 1944 in Chiaramonti Sardinia) is an independant pipe maker since 1979. He was established in Laerru (Sardinia) from 1979 to 1999 where he used to harvest, cut and condition his own ebauchons. During this period he often worked for Paronelli. The workshop moved to Sassari (Sardinia) in 1999. He crafts Briar but also Lemonwood, Olivewood, Boxwood, Juniper, Oak and even Cork Oak.I turned to Pipedia for more information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Spanu). I quote below:

Novarte S.N.C. di Spanu Tommaso

Update: We are sad to report that it has come to our attention that Tommaso Spanu passed from this World in the Fall of 2015 to join the many great Italian pipe makers that came before him. Our hope is that Tommoso’s sons and brother will continue the Spanu pipe making tradition. We can also enjoy the legacy he leaves in the many pipes he has made over the years.

In 1963 Tommaso Spanu left his home in Sardinia and wandered to Northern Italy to become a pipemaker. His uncle had managed an apprenticeship for him in Gavirate, in the province of Varese, with it’s many pipe manufactures. His exceptional talent soon attracted the attention of Alberto Paronelli (→ Paronelli), the grand seigneur of Italian pipe business. Paronelli, a famed pipe designer himself, arranged that the best pipe craftsmen schooled his young fosterling and personally taught him in pipe design and styles. Soon Spanu reached a remarkable level of skills and began to work on the Clairmont pipes, a high-grade brand produced for and distributed by Paronelli. A little later the bulk of the Clairmonts was made by Spanu who was even allowed to stamp them with his own name additionally.

All in all Tom Spanu spent 16 years in the North where he worked with many other famous pipemakers like Guiseppe Ascorti and Luige Radice e.g. In 1979 he finally felt it was time now to continue on his own. So he returned to Sardinia where he established his own workshop with some help from his brothers. A firm was founded to market the pipes, the Novarte S.N.C. di Spanu Tommaso. Furthermore he purchased a licence from the local government and following Spanu is the only pipemaker worldwide who grows, harvests, mills and conditions his own briar!

Today his brother and two sons carry on the family tradition, making more than a thousand pipes a year. Mostly more classic models for Italy, but also a good amount of more stylish designs for the foreign markets. Now, if it comes to talking about “entirely handmade pipes” … Just as when Tommaso started carving pipes, only hand tools are used. Not a lathe or drill is to be found in his workshop!

Around 1997 Spanu was approached by Mercedes-Benz and asked to design briar-burl dashboards for their most luxurious sedans. And he replied “Maybe tomorrow!” We can assume that the envoys looked quite dumbfounded to be turned down that way, and so Spanu explained that while the project would be fun, his first love was pipes, and only once he was not making as many pipes he would consider it. Mercedes-Benz is said to have taken the rebuff in good nature, and even this automobile manufacturing giant is still waiting on Mr. Spanu to finish some pipes.

Beside the all-briar pipes Spanu loves to work with a wide variety of others woods ranging from the traditional olivewood to beech, oak, boxwood and juniper. He often produces hybrids composing different woods.

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft. He rinsed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. It looked very good when I brought it to the worktable.   I took close up photos of the rim top and the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top looked very good. The beveled inner edge had some damage on the right side toward the front that would need to be cleaned up in the process. I took photos of the stem to show the tooth marks on the surface ahead of the button and on the sharp edge of the button itself. I took a photo of the stamping on the left side and the underside of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is clear and readable. I took the pipe apart and took a photo of the pipe. It is a good looking pipe and has a few deep scratches around the bowl and shank. There were three small worm holes I the horn shank band where it met the briar stem. They were round and quite deep. They would need to be filled in and repaired to make the band round and smooth once more.I began my work on the pipe by dealing with worm holes in the horn shank band. I filled them in with clear super glue. I repeated the fill until the surface was smooth. I blended the repairs into the surrounding horn and it looked good. I put the stem on the shank and sanded the junction as well. I worked on the beveled inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it our and lessen the darkening. It cleaned up well and looked very good.I worked on the deep cuts in the left side of the bowl with sandpaper and filled them in with clear CA glue. I sanded the repaired areas with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them out. I polished the repairs with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. By the end of the process they looked very good. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar and plateau rim top with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I filled in the deep tooth marks on the stem sides with black super glue and set it aside to cure. When it cured I flattened the repairs with a small file. I sanded out the repaired areas with 200 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface. I started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I am excited to finish this Tom Spanu F3 SP Freehand Dublin with a Plateau Rim Top. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the rugged rustication all around it. Added to that the polished triple brass and emerald acrylic band and the black vulcanite stem was beautiful. This Spanu Freehand Dublin is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 76 grams/2.68 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the Italian Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Restoring and Reworking a Stem on a Ser Jacopo Maxima R2 Canadian

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a Rusticated Ser Jacopo Canadian that is proportionally well done. Jeff and I purchased a group of pipes on 04/26/2022 from a woman who contacted us from Cleveland, Ohio, USA. They had belonged to her husband’s father. We spent time chatting with her and arrived at a price and she sent the pipes to Jeff. It included 28+ pipes including this one.

This Ser Jacopo Canadian is stamped on the underside and Maxima followed by Per Aspera [over] Ad Astra. That is followed by Ser Jacopo [over] Fatta A Mano [over] Italia. A circle R2 follows that next to the bowl/shank junction. On the top of the stem is a single coral dot. The finish was very dirty with spots of grime and debris ground into the rustication. The bowl had a thick cake in the bowl and heavy lava overflowing onto the rim top. The rim top appeared to have some burn damage on the inner edge of the bowl. The outer edges looked good. The acrylic stem was a disaster. It was gnawed off with only two points remaining on either side. The externals were filthy with calcification, oxidation and tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of what remained of the ruined button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and rim top and edges. The lava is so thick that is hard to know what the edges and top look like underneath. The stem was heavily oxidized, calcified and the end of the stem and most of the button had been gnawed off. Overall the pipe is a real mess. Jeff took photos of the rusticated finish around the bowl sides and heel. It was nice looking if you can see through the grime ground into the surface. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping is clear and readable. It reads as noted above. I turned to Pipephil (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s5.html) to remind myself of the background of the brand. I also wanted to see what the single Coral dot meant on the stem. I knew that the Coral dot was on the older pipes but that was all I knew. I include a screen capture of the section on the brand below. The third photo below shows a similar Coral dot on the stem.I am also including the information that I found there in the sidebar on PipePhil. I quote that below. I have highlighted the R2 designation below in red.

Founder of the brand in 1982: Giancarlo Guidi (1943 – †2012). Production (2006): ~ 6000 pipes/year. Ser Jacopo seconds: Gepetto.

Finish mark: Rusticated pipes: R1 (dark brown) R2 (light brown); Sandblasted pipes: S (black), S1 (dark brown), S2 (light brown), S3 (tanshell); Smooth pipes: L (red), L1 (acceptable grain), L2 (nice grain), L3 (exceptional grain).

I then turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Ser_Jacopo) to read some more about the brand and see if there were more details regarding the single Coral dot. I quote below.

Ser Jacopo (provided by Marble Arch Ltd., US importer and distributor of Ser Jacopo)

Smokingpipes.com has an excellent concise history available on their website Ser Jacopo History at Smoking Pipes.com

Ser Jacopo, better to say Ser Jacopo dalla Gemma, was started by Giancarlo Guidi in 1982 upon leaving Mastro de Paja.

Giancarlo Guidi and Bruto Sordini broke away from Mastro de Paja in 1981 in pursuit of their own company. Ser Jacopo was named after an Italian nobleman. Guidi and Sordini, having taken part in creating the now infamous Pesaro “school” of pipe making, wanted to expand further. To accomplish this, Ser Jacopo focused their efforts on the pairing of the briar with a seemingly endless variety of mounts. Through the use of precious metals and stones, horn, and exotic woods Ser Jacopo pipes are given unique characters that many collectors find quite aesthetically pleasing. Although Ser Jacopo pipes borrow heavily from classical shapes, they are indeed quite unique in style.

In addition to creative mountings, Ser Jacopo is also well known for making themed pipes, and the most famous of these themes is perhaps the Picta Series, where pipes are modeled after pipes seen in pictures by and of famous artists, such as Vincent Van Gough.

Ser Jacopo makes multiple grades of pipes, with the “entry” level being the Geppetto brand, and the highest grade being the “Gem” series.

The small Ser Jacopo shop produces approximately 6000 pipes per year. The pipes are known for using outstanding Italian briar, which is well seasoned. The pipes have earned a well-deserved reputation for having excellent smoking qualities, equal or better than any other fine Italian pipe maker (or, for that matter, any other pipe maker in the world).

Giancarlo Guidi passed away on August 6, 2012, leaving behind a great legacy. He was 64 years old.

Nomenclature – the section on the nomenclature helps understand the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is helpful and really quite interesting.

The standard nomenclature found on Ser Jacopo pipes is as follows:

Ser Jacopo Fatta A Mano In Italia Per Aspera Ad Astra  – Fatta A Mano translates to “Made By Hand”. Per Aspera Ad Astra is a Latin phrase found on Ser Jacopo pipes and is the Ser Jacopo motto. It translates to “To the Stars Through Travails”, meaning that success comes through hard work. In the Summer 1997 Pipes and Tobaccos article Giancarlo Guidi translated this as “through a difficult way until the stars are reached”.

Ser Jacopo Pipes are generally found in one of three finishes (rusticated, sandblast, smooth) designated by a letter and number code:

R1: Rusticated, dark brown or plum finish.

R2: Rusticated, light brown finish.

S:  Sandblast, black

S1: Sandblast, dark brown

S2: Sandblast, light brown

S3: Sandblast, tanshell

L:  Smooth, red, usually with silver trim

L1: Smooth, flame grain, various finishes

L2: Smooth, straight grain, various finishes

L3: Smooth, straight grain extra, discontinued

Dating Pipes

In the photo to the left you can see the development of the stem inserts on the pipes.

Top: Early Red Coral Logo Middle: Coral Logo with Silver Ring Bottom: Modern Day Silver J Logo – Courtesy of Mike Ahmadi

Ser Jacopo pipes is somewhat difficult, because Ser Jacopo does not generally use date codes (the exception being the Diamond Gemma series pipes, which are dated coded). Early pipes (from 1983 to 1997) featured a red coral dot on the mouthpiece, sometimes found encircled in a silver ring. This was discontinued and changed to a sterling silver letter “J”. On the Gemma series of pipes, the mouthpiece logo is a precious stone surrounded by an 18k gold ring.

The pipe I am working on is one of the early pipes (1983-1997). It is a lovely pipe with a deep and unique rustication. Now it is time to work on the pipe and bring it back to life.

Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Before he sent it to me, Jeff had done an amazing job cleaning the pipe. It almost looked like a different pipe after his work. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife.  He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. The finish looked very good and the rugged finish felt good in the hand. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and then rinsed it off with warm water. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and a tooth brush and rinsed it off with warm water. It looked amazing when I took it out of the package of pipes he shipped me. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration work.   The rim top was cleaner and the inner edge of the bowl showed burn damage on the front right and back left. There was some chipping and damage around entire edge. The rim top and outer edge actually looked to be in good condition. The bowl was slightly out of round. The stem surface looked good with the oxidation gone and large chunk of the button missing. It was odd in that it was an even break on both sides and almost like a slot had been cut leaving behind two small thin posts on each side.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is faint but is still readable as noted above.I took the stem off the shank and took a photo of the parts of the pipe. The overall look of the pipe is quite nice. The stem is quite stubby and short so that gave me an idea that I would explore later in the restoration.I started my portion of the work on this pipe by addressing the damage to the rim top and the inner edge of the bowl. I worked over the rim top with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage and the darkening. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the inner edge and give it a slight bevel to deal with the chipping and cutting that was present. It cleaned up remarkably well. With polishing and buffing it would look even better.I polished the smooth rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the debris and sanding dust.The bowl looked very good at this point so I rubbed it down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl and shank with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for about 10-15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I buffed the bowl with a shoe brush to raise the shine on the bowl. It is a really nice looking pipe with a finish that has a look like cut glass to me. The rich brown of the stain vary through the layers of the rustication. It is very nicely done. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I cut of the two pegs that remained of the button and flattened the end of the stem against a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper. Surprisingly, it did not shorten the stem significantly. I did not feel that the pegs provided enough body to support a repair so I opted on shortening the stem and rebuilding the button with rubberized black super glue. I layered the repair on slowly, letting each layer cure before adding the next one. Once the repair cured I would need to reshape the button with files. I reshaped the button and the edge with a small file. The repaired button was beginning to look good at this point. I touched up the edge surface with CA glue to smooth and fill it in. Once the glue cured I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to continue the shaping. I repaired and resanded until I was happy with it. I started the polishing process with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I used a small pottery shaping saw to cut the slot in the end of the stem and shape it. It is getting closer and closer to being finished.I sanded the button surface some more with 220 grit sandpaper to further shape it. I filled in the air-pockets with superglue and let it cure until dry. Once it cured I started the polishing with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with some Obsidian Oil. I polished it further with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped it down a further time with Obsidian Oil and let it cure. This Beautiful Rusticated Ser Jacopo Maxima R2 Canadian with a Coral Dot is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The rich and unique rusticated works well with the polished, repaired and rebuilt vulcanite stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Ser Jacopo Maxima Canadian is a large pipe that I am sure will be a great smoker. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 43 grams/1.52 ounces. I will be holding on to this one for awhile to test out the durability of the button rebuild. I take a moment to remind myself and each of us that we are trustees of pipes that will outlive us and the lives of many other pipe men and women who carry on the trust of their care and use. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

New Life for a Republic Era Peterson’s Emerald 01 Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is smooth finished Peterson’s Emerald pipe. This one is an 01 Bent Billiard that has a great rustication on the bowl sides and shank. It also has a triple band on the shank – 2 thinner brass bands separated by and emerald green acrylic band. It came to us from an online auction on 10/04/21 in Leesport, Pennsylvania, USA. This rusticated Bent Billiard had a triple brass and emerald band on the shank that adds a touch of colour to the rusticated pipe. The pipe was very dirty in the rustication on the bowl and shank. The contrast of the brown and black stains gives depth to the rustication. It was stamped on the underside of the shank and read Peterson’s [over] Emerald. That is followed by the stamp that reads Made in the Republic of Ireland in three lines and the shape number 01. The bowl was heavily caked with a thick overflow of lava in the rustication on the rim top. The edges of the bowl appeared to be in good condition under the lava. The stem was lightly oxidized and had tooth chatter and marks on the top and underside on and near the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the pipe. Jeff took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is heavily caked with a thick overflow of lava on the top and edges. It fills in the rustication quite a bit on the to. The stem is calcified, oxidized and has tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside near the button. Jeff took photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the rustication around this bowl. Underneath all the grime it is a nice looking pipe. He took photos of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is readable in the photos below and is as noted above. He also included a photo of the P stamp on the left side of the stem to show the condition. I am including the information from Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson). I have included a bit of the pertinent history here.

1950 – 1989 The Republic Era – From 1950 to the present time, the stamp for this era is “Made in the Republic of Ireland” in a block format generally in three lines but two lines have been used with or without Republic being abbreviated.

During the 1950’s and 60’s the Kapp & Peterson Company was still in the ownership of the Kapp family. However 1964 saw the retiral of the company Managing Director Frederick Henry(Harry) Kapp.

I knew that I was dealing with a Republic Era pipe made between 1950 and the present. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

I turned to The Peterson Pipe book by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg for more information. On page 299 there was a summary of the Emerald Pipe. I quote

Emerald (1987-) Moderate-priced  line in Bordeaux and black rustic finish with a shank band of green acrylic between brass rings, P-lip mouthpiece; smooth walnut version added in ’91. Fishtail mouthpiece added in ’97. Identical line and finishes named Jade from early eighties until ’87.

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Deoxidizer. He rinsed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. It looked very good when I brought it to the worktable. I took close up photos of the rim top and the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top looked very good. The beveled inner edge had some darkening that would need to be cleaned up in the next steps of the process. I took photos of the stem to show the tooth marks on the surface ahead of the button and on the sharp edge of the button itself. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is clear and readable. I took the pipe apart and took a photo of the pipe. It is a good looking pipe and has a rugged rustication around the bowl and shank.I began my work on the pipe by dealing with the beveled inner edge of the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it our and lessen the darkening. It cleaned up well and looked very good.The front portion of the rim top had been slightly smoothed out from use so I used a series of burrs on my Dremel to recut the rustication on that portion. I was able to match it pretty well with the remaining rustication on the rim top. I used a brass bristle wire brush to knock off the high spots. I restained the rim top and edge in that area with a Mahogany and Walnut stain pen. The combination of the colours looked very good. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks and gouges in the surface and reshaped the button edges with 200 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I touched up the “P” stamp on the top of the stem with Gold Acrylic Nail Polish. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick and wiped off the excess. There was not enough of a stamp to hold the gold stamp in place. It is faint enough that without a lens it cannot be seen. I am excited to finish this Republic Era Peterson’s Emerald 01 Bent Billiard. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the rugged rustication all around it. Added to that the polished triple brass and emerald acrylic band and the black vulcanite stem was beautiful. This Classic Peterson’s Emerald is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 47 grams/1.66 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the Irish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Restoring an Astleys 109 Jermyn St. London Rusticated Medium 52 Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table was purchased in July 27, 2020 as part of a group of pipes we obtained from a woman in Australia. The pipe is a medium sized Dublin that is rusticated with a classic Astleys style rustication that was meant to increase the surface area of a bowl and thus provide a cooler smoke. This one is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads 52 (shape number) followed by Astleys [over] 109 Jermyn St. [over] London. The pipe was quite dirty and the bowl was thickly caked. The rim edges looked to be in good condition. The taper stem was vulcanite and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. The stem was oxidized and had some calcification on the end. The Astleys “A” stamp on the top of the stem was visible and readable. Jeff took some photos of the pipe to show the general condition of the pipe before he started his clean up. He took some photos of the bowl and stem to give a sense of the condition of the pipe. You can see the cake and debris in the bowl and the lava in the rustication on the rim top. The stem was dirty and had calcification on both sides at the button. There is also some tooth chatter and some light tooth marks. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish on the pipe. The photos show the rustication patterns around the bowl. Under the oils and grime it was a nice looking bowl. I think it will be a really nice looking pipe once it is restored. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank and the top of the stem. On the shank it was stamped as noted above. The stem bore the Astleys “A” logo on the topside. I turned to Pipephil’s site to get an overview on the brand (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-a8.html). I have included a screen capture below of several pipes that showed the stamping and the logo on the stem.There was also a link on the site to a blog article in French on a Astleys Cavalier pipe that also included some helpful information (http://pipes.over-blog.com/article-4532650.html). I have included both the French article and the Google Translation below.

Il est à peu près inconcevable, dans une rubrique traitant des pipes Cavalier, de ne pas citer la marque anglaise Astley’s.

En fait de marque, il s’agit initialement d’une vénérable civette londonienne qui fêtait ses 100 ans en 1962. Le magasin, d’abord installé au 109 Jermyn Street (1) s’est déplacé à Piccadilly Arcade et a malheureusement fermé ses portes à la fin des années 90.

Comme le font souvent les civettes, les propriétaires avaient l’habitude de faire produire leurs pipes par les pipiers de leur choix et d’apposer ensuite leur propre label. Les pipes vendues chez Astley’s étaient produites, selon l’époque, par Charatan, Ashton ou James Upshall. Certains prétendent qu’avant la fermeture on commandait aussi à Comoy et GBD, ce qui n’est pas vraiment vérifié.

Quoiqu’il en soit la marque a été rachetée par Mordechai Ezrati, un collectionneur de pipe, qui a aussi acquis James Upshall.

Translation

It is almost inconceivable, in a section dealing with Cavalier pipes, not to mention the English brand Astley’s.

As a brand, it was initially a venerable London civet which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1962. The store, first installed at 109 Jermyn Street (1) moved to Piccadilly Arcade and unfortunately closed its doors in the late 90s.

As civets often do, owners used to have their pipes produced by the pipe makers of their choice and then affix their own label. The pipes sold at Astley’s were produced, depending on the era, by Charatan, Ashton or James Upshall. Some claim that before the closure we also ordered from Comoy and GBD, which is not really verified.

Anyway the brand was bought by Mordechai Ezrati, a pipe collector, who also acquired James Upshall.

From this I found it interesting that various English pipe makers crafted pipes for Astleys. I have highlighted the pertinent section on that above.

From there I turned to the article on Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Astley%27s). I quote:

Astley’s was both a brand and name of a famous London tobacconist. The first shop was founded in 1862 and was located at 109 Jermyn Street, just down the road from the Charatan’s shop. They sold meerschaum pipes and later classic pipe shaped briar pipes. The owner of this shop was Mr. Paul Bentley whose family owned and ran the shop since the 1930’s. The shop closed some time ago, and the name of the brand was bought by Mordechai (Moty) Ezrati, who also owns the James Upshall pipe brand.

Astley’s served as an extremely exclusive and renowned shopping outlet for outstanding pipes for the British royalty and London gentry alike. Visitors to London sought out this shop as a ‘must visit’ during their stay. Although they never made their own pipes, the Astley branded pipe was made on contract by Charatan (until the 1980’s), James Upshall, Dunhill, L&JS, and Bill Taylor of Ashton pipes. Some sources (The Piperack for instance) say that Comoy’s and GBD had also made pipes for Astley’s. The shop always commanded extremely high prices for their much sought after specimens.

After Charatan had changed hands and was sold to Herman Lane Limited in the United States, Astley’s continued with their high grade pipe sales by presenting some of the best examples of British pipe manufacturing to pipe connoisseurs around the world.

Stamping: Astley’s, 109 Jermyn St, London (before, Wm Astley & Company, 109 Jermyn St S.W. London). Symbol: Styled white ‘A’.

I have a copy of an Astleys Catalogue on rebornpipes so I have included a link to that below as well as some pages that show the shape and the finish of the pipe I am working on. I have drawn a red box around the shape number (https://rebornpipes.com/2012/08/10/astleys-pipe-catalogue/).I have also drawn a box around the style of finish on the pipe I working on. The photo seems to show a sandblast but does not say so. The pipe I am working on looks similar but it is rusticated in a typical Astleys fashion.Jeff once again did an amazing job cleaning the pipe. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and got rid of the cake. He cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife so that we could see the walls of the bowl and assess for damage. He cleaned the internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He rinsed the pipe under warm water. He dried it off with a cloth and then let it air dry. The stem was scrubbed with Soft Scrub and soaked in Briarville’s Stem Deoxidizer. Once Jeff took it out of the bath and rinsed it the stem looked very good. The finish on the bowl and the rim top cleaned up nicely. I took pictures of the pipe to show how it looked when I brought it to the table. I took a close up photo of the rim top to show how clean it was. The stem looked good just some light tooth chatter and several deeper tooth marks near the button.I took a photo of the stamping and it is clear and readable as noted above. I took the stem off the pipe and took a picture to show the proportions of this nice little pipe.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my fingertips. The product is a great addition to the restoration work. It enlivens, enriches and protects the briar while giving it a deep glow. I appreciate Mark Hoover’s work in developing this product. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks with the flame of a Bic lighter to try and raise them a bit. Remember vulcanite has “memory” and if the marks are not sharp edge the heat well raise them. In this case while they came up some there was still significant damage. I filled in the remaining tooth marks with Black CA glue and set the stem aside to dry.Once the repairs cured I used a needle file to flatten them out and recut the sharp edge of the button. I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to further blend in the repairs. I started the polishing process with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. There was still some oxidation on the stem at the shank end. I scrubbed it with Soft Scrub All Purpose Cleanser to remove it and was able to remove the majority of it on both sides of the shank end. It looked better.I used some white acrylic fingernail polish to touch up the “A” logo on the top of the stem surface. I rubbed it on with the brush and worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick. Once it was dry I scraped off the excess and lightly buffed it with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad. It came out looking very good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I buffed the stem with a soft cloth to raise the shine. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil to preserve and protect the stem surface. As always I am excited to finish a pipe that I am working on. I put the Astleys 52 Rusticated Dublin back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like along with the polished vulcanite stem. This is nice looking pipe and I am sure that it will be comfortable in hand when smoking as it is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The pipe weighs .92 ounces/26 grams. It is another beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the Pipes by English Pipe Makers Section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

An Interesting Flea Market Find – an unsmoked, no name straight Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I am working on is one that I found yesterday when my wife and daughters and I went for a walk about at the Vancouver Flea Market. It is a weekend tradition here in Vancouver and has a lot of interesting “treasures” among the detritus of very large warehouse garage sale. We make the trek through the place several times a year looking for the various things that we each collect. For me it always pipes and tobacciana. Yesterday I was not disappointed for there among all the normal Chinese made pipes with metal bowls, cobs and poorly made Meerschaum figurals I came across this little unsmoked straight Apple. It had no stamping on the sides of the shank. It is a nice piece of briar with lots of variations in the grain patterns around the bowl and stem sides. The rim top had a small nick on the left front top and outer edge. The bowl itself was clean, raw briar that had not been smoked. The airway drilling from the shank was centered and at the bottom of the bowl. The exterior of the bowl was dusty and there was gummed adhesive stuck on the shank and stem surface that had dried and hardened. The was protected somewhat by this so it was only lightly oxidized and there were no tooth marks on chatter on either side. It was tight in the shank and when twisted free the tenon and shank were very dusty. I took pictures of the pipe when I brought it home. I took photos of the bowl to show the overall condition of the bowl and rim top. You can see it is quite clean and unsmoked and you can see the chip out right front of the rim top. The stem was covered with the adhesive from labels somewhere along it journey.I carefully twisted the stem off the shank. It was very tight in the shank and once removed the tenon was covered with a dusty debris. It is a nice looking pipe and should clean up nicely.I used a cotton pad and some acetone to remove the stick adhesive on the stem and the shank. I wiped the bowl and stem down until it was clean and the stuff was removed. It looked better.I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the chipped and damaged top and edge on the front left side of the rim top. It looked much better when I had finished.I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway to the bowl and in the stem with isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. It was dusty from sitting and there was some light stain that came off the inside of the mortise.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads to clean up the finish and give it a shine. I wet sanded with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cotton cloth. The photos tell the story. 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 ten minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. With both parts of this Unsmoked No Name Straight Apple 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 mix of grain on the bowl 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 mixed grain No Name Apple. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This unsmoked pipe weighs 36 grams/1.31 ounces. This NOS Unsmoked Apple is yours to load with a favourite tobacco and break it in as you like. I will be putting this interestingly made Freehand in the American Pipe Maker Section of the rebornpipes store very soon. If you would like to purchase it and carry on the legacy of the previous pipe smoke send a message or an email to me. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this great looking little straight Apple.