Monthly Archives: August 2022

New and Almost New for You

Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

I have two pipes that came my way recently and I am happy to offer them to you for sale. No restoration story on these ones – just two beautiful pipes. I gave them a quick (but thorough) once over and now it’s time to turn them over to you. One pipe has never been smoked and the other has only been smoked once or twice by the look of it.

First, is a Savinelli Arcobaleno 606KS bent billiard filter pipe. This one is very close to new. It was smoked once, maybe twice at the most, I’m guessing. Gorgeous pipe. If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the “Italian” pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the Savinelli Arcobaleno 606KS are as follows: length 6 in. (152 mm); height 3 in. (76 mm); bowl diameter 1¼ in. (32 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅝ oz. (48 g). Have a look below. Thanks. Next is a French oldtimer – never smoked, brand new. It is beautiful bent acorn from the Courrieu company in Cogolin, France. Lovely, elegant pipe. If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the “French” pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the Courrieu Cogolin are as follows: length 5½ in. (140 mm); height 2¼ in. (57 mm); bowl diameter 1⅛ in. (29 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅛ oz. (33 g). If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring a Unique Jobey Designer Bent Egg Sitter

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table was purchased on 05/10/22 from an antique mall in Astoria, Oregon, USA. This unique Jobey has a flat base with a short tail that stabilizes the sitter. It has a rugged, finish that looks like a combination of sandblast and rustication (blastication) with lots of nooks and crannies in the briar. The top of the shank and the upper 1/3 of the bowl are smooth briar. The come together and really are quite beautiful! The pipe is stamped on a smooth panel on the topside of the shank and reads Jobey [over] Designer. The valleys and ridges of the “blasticated” grain showing through the grime and dirt are a mixture that leaves a rich texture. It had rich dark and medium contrasting brown stains that do not look too bad. There was a thick cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls. There was a lava overflow on the crowned top of the rim and covering the inner edge. It was hard to know if the rim edges were damaged. It was a beautiful pipe that was dirty and tired looking but there was a thick coat of shiny varnish or shellac covering the whole thing. The stem was golden variegated acrylic that had fancy turnings on the saddle. The tenon was the patented Jobey Link System that was developed to protect the shank. There was a hairline crack on the top of the stem where the tenon fit but it was not open and was very fine. There were tooth marks and chatter on the stem near the button on both sides. There is a brass Jobey oval logo on the top of the stem identifying it as a Jobey pipe. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava build up on the rim top and edges of the bowl. It was thick and hard but hopefully it had protected the rim and edges from damage. It was hard to know for sure from the photos. Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the tooth chatter, scratching on the stem surface and wear on the edges of the button. The airway in the stem was stained with the tars and oils that would need to be cleaned up. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the rugged dark look of the blastication. There is a lot of dust and grime filling in the valleys. The smooth portions on the top 1/3 of the bowl, the underside of the shank and foot as well as the patch on the top of the shank. He took a photo of the stamping on the smooth panel on the topside of the shank. The stamping was readable as you can see from the photos and read as noted above. He also captured the logo brass insert on the top of the stem. I turned to Pipedia to see if I could find a Jobey Designer or any information on the line (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Jobey). Along with the history of the brand that is there which you can read if you are interested there was also a photo of the same pipe that I am working on with a dark stem rather than the yellow of the one on the table. The shape and stamping are identical so I have included them below. I am also including and advertisement that was included on the site. I have included it below along with an enlargement of the section on Jobey Designer pipes. The Designer series combines real craftsmanship with a unique pipe design. This perfectly balanced briar features a smooth walnut finish, complemented by a golden Lucite stem. It sold for $50USD

Now it was time to work on the pipe. Jeff reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. The finish looks very good with good looking sandblast around the bowl and shank. Jeff scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and rinsed it with running water. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked a lot better. The airway in the stem still had some darkening and would need to be cleaned up some more. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show what cleaned bowl and rim top looked like. The rim top and edges looked very good. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the light tooth marks and the staining in the airway on the stem. The hairline crack is in the darkened spot near the shank end.I took a photo of the stamping on the topside of the shank and it is clear and readable. I also took a photo of the Jobey oval brass inset on the top of the stem. I took the stem off the shank and took a photo to give a clear picture of the pipe from the left side profile and the top looking down. It is a really pretty pipe.I wiped down the briar with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the shiny varnish coat. It took some scrubbing but the grain really stood out on the smooth portion much better. I polished the extension with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the surface off after each pad to remove sanding debris. It is becomes more shiny with each sanding pad. I rubbed the bowl 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 10 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth and shoe brush 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. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to trying to get some of the tars from the stem. I removed the Jobey Link Tenon from the stem and worked it over with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol. It was amazing how much grit and grime came out of the stem. I then used some Soft Scrub on the pipe cleaners and continued to work on the airway and was able to remove a lot of it. I flushed it a final time with alcohol. It was much better when I finished. The only draw back (if it is one) is that the hairline crack was very visible after cleaning.There was a tooth mark that was deep on the top left side of the stem next to the button. There was also a small crack in the turned area of the stem and top. I filled both of them both in with clear CA glue and set the stem aside to cure. Once it cured I sanded the repaired areas smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the Lucite 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. This Unique Jobey Designer Egg Sitter turned out to be a great looking pipe. The mix of dark stains highlights the smooth and rusticated portions around the bowl sides, top and bottom. The golden coloured acrylic stem works very well with the natural and dark finish on the bowl. 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 and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad followed by hand buffing with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished full bent Jobey Designer Bent Egg Sitter 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 ¾ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.26 ounces/64 grams. I will be adding it to the American Pipe Makers Section on the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in carrying on the pipeman’s legacy with this pipe send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Fresh Life for a Savinelli Punto Oro Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table was purchased on 05/24/22 from an antique mall in Aurora, Oregon, USA. This Savinelli Full Bent Punto Oro has a rugged, swirling sandblast finish with lots of nooks and crannies in the briar. It is a beauty! The pipe is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank and reads Savinelli over Punto Oro. That is followed by the shape number that has a 6 but the other numbers are not clear [over] Italy. The shape number is buried in the sandblast finish so I will need to do some hunting online to identify the shape number. The valleys and ridges of the sandblasted grain showing through the grime and dirt are a mixture that leaves a rich texture. It had rich dark and medium contrasting brown stains that do not look too bad. There was a thick cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls. There was a lava overflow filling in the blast on the rim and covering the inner edge. It looked quite good. It was a beautiful pipe that was dirty and tired looking. The stem was oxidized and calcified toward the end. There were tooth marks and chatter on the stem near the button on both sides and some on the surface of the button as well. There is a small gold dot on the top of the stem identifying it as a Savinelli Punto Oro. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava build up on the rim top and edges of the bowl. It was thick and hard but hopefully it had protected the rim and edges from damage. It was hard to know for sure from the photos. Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the tooth chatter, scratching and oxidation on the stem surface and wear on the edges of the button. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the beautiful swirls of the sandblast. There is a lot of dust and grime filling in the valleys. There was also some dark strips of stain along the joint of the horn and the briar. It looked a bit ragged. He took a photo of the stamping on the smooth panel on the underside of the bowl and shank. The stamping was readable as you can see from the photos and read as noted above. I turned to Pipephil’s site to get a feel for the Punto Oro line. I have worked on both smooth and sandblast finish Punto Oro pipes in the past. This was another sandblast one – this time a dark one rather than natural. Here is the link (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-savinelli3.html). I have included a screen capture of the pertinent information on the line below. It appears the line came out in both smooth and sandblast finishes. I turned to Pipedia to look at what information they had on the brand. I found a catalogue page on the Punto Oro which confirmed what I had surmised about the line having both smooth and sandblast finished pipe (https://pipedia.org/images/d/db/Sav_Punto_Oro.jpg). I have included a screen capture of the page below. It says that the line was available in 2 distinct finishes – a rich Mahogany smooth finish and a genuine sandblast. The shape of the pipe matches most closely to the Savinelli shape number 614 on the Savinelli Shape Chart on Pipedia. It is close but the pipe in the chart is a standard mount with a saddle stem so my identification is not certain. I have included a screen capture of the chart below (https://pipedia.org/images/4/41/Sav_Shape_Chart_2017.jpg). I have drawn a red box around the 614 shape in the shape chart below.However the shape chart did not have one with a military style bit in full bent pipe with a horn shank extension (whether faux or genuine horn is not clear to me. I did a bit of further digging and found a pipe that was very similar on the smokingpipes.com site and have included the link (https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/estate/italy/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=44171). The description reads:

Italian Estates: Savinelli Punto Oro Sandblast Bent Billiard (615) Tobacco Pipe

The noble Savinelli Punto Oro (Gold Dot). This “615” is a decently sized, rather English shape chart oom-paul…

From the pipe pictured on the link I am pretty certain I am dealing with a Savinelli 615 Oom Paul shaped pipe rather than a 614. The shape matches the one I am working on and the stem and shank extension are similar.

Now it was time to work on the pipe. Jeff reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. The finish looks very good with good looking sandblast around the bowl and shank. Jeff scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the vulcanite and rinsed it with running water. He dried it off with a coarse cloth to further help remove the remaining oxidation. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked a lot better. The stem still had some light oxidation. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show what cleaned bowl and rim top looked like. The rim top and edges looked very good. There was some wear on the stain on the right front rim top but otherwise the sandblast finish is very nice. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the light tooth marks and the remaining oxidation on the stem surface. Both are hard to see in the photos but they are present and will need to be dealt with in the restoration process.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank and it is clear and readable for the most part. As noted above the shape number is stamped in the sandblast and therefore is very hard to read. My work above notes that the shape is a 615 though so that is good.I took the stem off the shank and took a photo to give a clear picture of the pipe from the left side profile and the top looking down. It is a really pretty pipe.I decided to start my work on the pipe by dealing with the dark stain that was on the edge of the horn/acrylic shank extension where it joined the briar. It was sloppy and there were spots that you can see in some of the earlier photos that make it very apparent. I sanded the horn with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad and was able to remove all of the sloppy stain on it. Here are some photos of the polished extension. Is it horn or acrylic? I polished the extension with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the surface off after each pad to remove sanding debris. It is becomes more shiny with each sanding pad. I rubbed the bowl 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 10 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth and shoe brush 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. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the still oxidized stem. I worked over the rest of the remaining oxidation and the tooth marks with 220 grit sandpaper. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. At this point it is starting to look much better.I polished the vulcanite 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. This Savinelli Punt Oro 615 Full Bent Sandblast turned out to be a great looking pipe. The mix of dark stains highlights the sandblasted grain around the bowl sides, top and bottom. The “horn” shank extension works very well with the dark finish on the bowl and the polished vulcanite military style bit. 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. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad followed by hand buffing with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished full bent Savinelli Punto Oro 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 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 1.59 ounces/45 grams. If you are interested in carrying on the pipeman’s legacy with this pipe send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Life for a Stanwell Made Royal Danish 935 Scoop

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Blog by Steve Laug

This pipe was purchased from an antique mall

The next pipe on the work table was purchased from an antique mall on 05/10/22 in Astoria, Oregon, USA on one of Jeff’s pipe hunts. This one is obviously a Stanwell made pipe from just looking at it. It has a mix of sandblast finish around the bowl with smooth panels on the sides. The rim top is lightly sandblast and quite delicate. There is a large Crown stamped in the top of the taper stem. It was stamped on the underside of the shank on a smooth panel. The shape number 935 is stamped mid shank. Under that it reads Royal Danish [over] Made in Denmark. The finish was dirty with dust and grime ground into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. There was a thick cake in the bowl and lava overflow on the rim top. There were spots on the rim top where the stain was missing and looked like it was chipped. The inner edge of the rim was covered so thickly in lava it was hard to know what was underneath. The vulcanite stem was oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button on both sides. There was a large crown stamp on the left side of the saddle stem. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started to work on cleaning it up for us. Jeff took photos of the rim top and the stem to show the condition of the pipe when we received it. You can see the cake in the bowl and the heavy coat of lava filling in the sandblast on the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. The stem is oxidized, calcified and has tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. He took photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel to give an idea of the shape and the condition of the briar around the bowl. It really is a nicely shaped pipe with a nice sandblast and smooth panels on the sides. The thin rim top shows promise. The next photo Jeff took shows the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. There appears to be a small hairline crack on underside of the shank where it joins the stem. The large crown is also visible on the topside of the stem. Before I started working on it I did a bit of research on the brand to get a feel for where it fit in the Stanwell line. I knew from previous Royal Danish pipes that I had worked on that the pipe was second or sub brand. I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-r6.html) for information. I did a screen capture of the information on the site. I found that the brand was indeed made by Stanwell and was one of many second lines that they made. I did a screen capture of the pertinent information and have included it below.I then turned to Pipedia and found that it was also listed as a second or a sub-brand made by Stanwell (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell#Sub-brands_.2F_Seconds). I have included the list of seconds from the site below. I have highlighted the Royal Danish in blue in the text.

Sub-brands / Seconds – Bijou (discontinued), Danish Quaint, Danish Sovereign, Danske Club, Henley (discontinued), Kong Christian (discontinued), Majestic, Reddish (discontinued), Royal Danish, Royal Guard, Royal Sovereign, Sailor (discontinued), Scandia, Sorn (discontinued), Svendson.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe following his normal cleaning process. In short, he reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the smooth bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He worked over the lava and debris on the rim top and was able to remove it. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and cotton pads to remove the debris and oils on the stem. He soaked it in a bath of Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation. He rinsed it with warm water and dried it off. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. It really looked good. I took close up photos of the stem and the rim top to show both how clean they were and what needed to be addresses with both. The rim top and bowl edges look very good. The stem looked better and the tooth marks and chatter was very light. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the bowl. You can see from the photo that it is readable. The Royal portion of the stamp is covered a bit by the edges of the sandblast but are still readable. I removed the stem from the bowl and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the beauty of the pipe.I started my work on the pipe by addressing the damage to the inner edge and top. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out. I stained the rim top and a scuffed spot on the underside with a Walnut stain pen. It looks much better. I filled in the small crack on the underside of the shank with clear CA glue. The crack had not spread and seemed be on the surface. Once the repair cured I sanded it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper to blend it into the surrounding area. I stained the repair with a Walnut Stain Pen. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm working it into the briar with my finger tips and into the blast and plateau with a shoe brush. The product works to clean, revive and protect the briar. I let it sit on the pipe for 10 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a lighter to raise the tooth marks. It looked better when I finished. I filled the tooth marks with clear CA glue. Once the glue cured I sanded the stem surface smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished out the tooth chatter and marks on the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it 1500-12000 pads. I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil each pad to remove the dust and polishing debris. I polished it with Before After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I touched up the Crown stamp on the top of the stem using white acrylic nail polish. It looked incredibly better. This is another pipe that I am really happy about the look of the finished restoration. This reborn Stanwell Made Royal Danish 935 Scoop turned out really well. I think that it really is a great looking pipe with a great shape and grain. The freehand/plateau top bowl and the vulcanite saddle stem goes well together. The polished black of the stem works well with the briar. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish make the grain really pop with the polishing and waxing. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Stanwell Made Royal Danish Bent Scoop really feels great in the hand and it looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 46 grams/1.62 oz. The pipe will be going on the rebornpipes store soon. It will be in the section on Danish Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

Cleaning Up a Lovely French Made GBD Sandblast Avoriaz 816 Oval Shank Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

Over the years Jeff and I have picked up many different GBD pipes from a variety of lines that all have a very English look and feel to them. We have also picked up quite a few that are from the French factory before the move to England. This pipe was purchased from an estate on 06/13/22 from Fort Myers, Florida, USA. The finish on the pipe is a sandblast that is deep but smooth and follows the grain around the pipe. The mix of black and brown stains of the briar looks very good with the black of the saddle stem. The rim top is crowned with a bevel inward and has some great grain. It was hard to know if there was damage with the thick cake in the bowl and the veritable eruption of lava over the top of the rim. The finish was quite dirty with grit, grime and oils ground into the surface of the bowl and shank. The shank is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank and reads GBD in an oval [over] Avoriaz. Next to the shank/stem junction there is the shape number 816 [over] France. The vulcanite saddle stem was lightly oxidized and well dented with tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. There is a GBD brass oval roundel on the top of the saddle stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe to capture its condition when it arrived at his place. It was going to take some work to bring this one back to life. But both of us thought that it would be worth it. Jeff took photos of the rim top and bowl that show the cake and overflowing lava on the top and edges of the bowl. It is really hard to know what it looks like under all of that. We have learned that it will either be badly damaged or it will have been well protected. Only cleaning it off would reveal which result was on this pipe. The stem had a lot of tooth chatter and marks that are clear in the photos that follow. There is some oxidation and the calcification on the stem surface. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show condition of the briar. You can see the dust and debris ground into the bowl. The rim edge and top have some very nice grain. The sandblast is actually quite different. I wonder if it isn’t manipulated when blasting. It has a unique look to it. He took photos of the stamping on the underside shank. It was clear and readable as noted above. The brass GBD roundel looked good as well. I always like to be able to set the pipe I am working on in its historical setting so I turn to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/GBD) and read through the brand history. Toward the middle of the article I found what I was looking for. I quote below:

The Paris factory moved to Saint-Claude in 1952. Since 1981 the majority of GBD pipes come from the English factory.

The premium lines of GBD offered very good values, and are considered amongst the most affordable high end pipe of the 1960’s and earlier and a rival in quality, design, and price to Dunhill. Smokers’ Haven was the main retail supplier for GBD’s in the US until the early 1980’s.

GBD produced consistently well made pipes, almost entirely of Algerian or Grecian briar. In the late 1960’s to late 1970’s, they introduced the “Collector” and “Unique” lines, made primarily by Horry Jamieson, who had carved for Barling for many years, and was skilled in freehand design. Older GBD pieces are excellent smokers and unique in design. They did an excellent executions of classic pipe shapes, as well as some beautiful freehands in the “Unique” line. [2]

The following list comprises the better grades in descending order:

The pipe I am working on was stamped Avoriaz (not listed in the GBD line list) and with a shape number that is not on the list either. It is stamped France, thus I knew that it was made either in Paris before 1952 or in St. Claude after that date and before 1981 when production moved to England.

I wondered about whether Avoriaz was a French word or a region. I did a quick search on Wikipedia and found what I was looking for (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoriaz). I quote the introduction to the article on Avoriaz, a French Mountain Resort.

Avoriaz (French: [avoʁija], Franco-Provençal: [aˈvɔʁja, aˈvɔʁi])^[1] is a French mountain resort in the heart of the Portes du Soleil. It is located in the territory of the commune of Morzine. It is easily accessible from either Thonon at Lake Geneva or Cluses station on the A40 motorway between Geneva and Chamonix. Either way one follows the D902, Route des Grandes Alpes,^[2] to Morzine and then the D338 running from Morzine to Avoriaz. Snow chains are often necessary. Avoriaz is built on a shelf high above the town of Morzine, which is among the pioneering towns of skiing with its first lifts dating back to the early 1930s. Today Avoriaz is one of the major French ski destinations catering for all standards of skiing and ranks among the top snowboarding destinations of the world. Apart from snow-based pursuits, Avoriaz is also a centre for trekking, golf, VTT (mountain biking) and other outdoor activities during the summer. Cars are forbidden in Avoriaz. The resort is designed to be fully skiable. Other transport around the resort includes horse-drawn sleighs and snowcats during winter.

Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual focus on detail. 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 exterior of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush and was able to remove the thick lava build up on the rim top. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He rubbed down the stem with Soft Scrub – an all purpose cleaner that works well to remove oxidation and calcification on a vulcanite stem. He soaked it in Briarville’s Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. The rim top cleaned up really well. The crowned rim top, inner and outer edges of the bowl looked very good. The rim top and inner edge has some darkening on the back side of the bowl but there was no burn damage. The stem surface looked good with some small, deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It was readable as noted above.I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole. I polished the crowned rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris and dust. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips. I worked it into the deeper parts of the blast with a horse hair shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. 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 “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks. It worked very well and many of the marks lifted. I filled in the remaining marks with clear CA glue and let the repairs cure. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to blend the repairs into the stem surface. I started the polishing with 400 grit sandpaper. I polished the vulcanite stem 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. This French Made GBD Avoriaz 816 oval shank saddle stem Billiard is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The rich contrasting brown stained finish around the bowl is quite beautiful and highlights the sandblast grain. The stain and finish 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 and the stem multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished GBD Avoriaz 816 sits nicely on the desk top and in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inch, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 56 grams/1.98 ounces. I will be putting it on the French Pipe Maker section of the rebornpipes store shortly. 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!

Restoring a Dirty, Beautifully Grained Nording C Freehand

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Blog by Steve Laug

It was time to turn back to one of the pipes that Jeff and I recently picked up. This pipe was purchased from an antique mall on 05/25/22 in Portland, Oregon, USA. The pipe geometrically carved Freehand with a variety of angles in the carving in the bowl and shank that really follow the grain on this piece of briar. The rim top is plateau and is stained black. You can see the flow of straight and flame grain around the bowl and shank. It is stamped on the underside of the shank F over NORDING over DANMARK just before the plateau end of the shank. There is no other stamping on the pipe. The stem does not have the expected Nording N anywhere on the sides or top. The pipe was very dirty with a thick cake in the bowl and some lava overflowing on to the plateau rim top. It was hard to know what the inner edge of the rim looked like because of the lava and cake. Other than being dirty the finish appeared to be in good condition. The fancy, turned stem was lightly oxidized and had come calcification where a pipe Softee bit had been. There was some deep tooth chatter and marks on both sides of the stem ahead of the button and on the button surface. Jeff took the following photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. He took a photo of the rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the overflow of lava. The cake is thick and hard and the lava overflow is in the plateau. The bowl is a real mess but it must have been a great smoking pipe. The stem looked dirty and oxidized with the calcification. The bite marks and tooth chatter on the stem were quite deep and the edge of the button was worn down. The next photos show the sides and heel of the bowl to give a clear picture of the beauty of the grain around the bowl of the pipe. Under the residue left behind by a price sticker and the grime there is some great grain peeking through. Jeff took a photo of the stamping to capture the clarity of it even under the grime. The stamping is readable. Holding the pipe stem down the stamping is C over NORDING over DANMARK.Before I started my work on the pipe I wanted to learn more about where this pipe fit into the Nording lines so I turned to the first of two sites that I always check to gather information on a brand. I turned first to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%B8rding). Nording’s were exclusively freehand shapes, graded from A, B, C, D, up to its highest grade, extra. Later an “F” grade was added—less expensive than the “A.” I could find no other information on the rest of the stamping on the pipe.

I did find a great collage of photos of Erik Nording that I have included below.I turned to the second information site – Pipephil’s (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-n2.html) did not find any more helpful information on the Nording Danmark stamp.

Armed with the information on the C stamp being a midgrade Freehand, I knew a bit about the pipe at hand. I turned to address the pipe itself. Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean off the grime off the finish and the heavy overflow of lava on the rim top. The cleaning had removed some of the black stain on the rim top. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove all of the oils and tars in the pipe. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and was able to remove much of the oxidation. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration. I took photos of the rim top and the stem to show their condition once it arrived in Canada. Jeff was able to clean up the incredibly thick cake and lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. You can see the spots where the black stain had been removed from parts of the plateau top. He was also able to get rid of the grime and grit in the surface of the briar. The inner edge of the bowl was in very good condition and was smooth to the touch. There appears to be some roughening at the back of the inner edge but it is actually part of the plateau. The rest of the rim top and edges looked very good. The stem looked much cleaner. There was deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides on and near the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It was clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the appearance of the parts. You can see how large the pipe is in the photos.I decided to start with polishing the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The bowl began to take on a rich shine and grain was beginning to stand out. I paused the polishing to touch up the stain on the plateau rim top and shank end. I used a black stain pen and was able to match the black perfectly. It looks much better.I went back to polishing the briar with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the briar down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the dust and sanding debris. The bowl is really taking on a rich shine. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I used a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the plateau top. After it sat for a little while I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem at this point in the process. I “painted” the tooth marks in the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift them. I filled in the deep tooth marks on the stem surface and button edge with clear CA glue. I set the stem aside to let the repairs cure. I used a small file to flatten the repairs and recut the button edge. I sanded the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the stem surface. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I used the Before & After Pipe Polish to remove the small minute scratches left in the vulcanite even after the micromesh regimen. I finished by wiping the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the Nording Danmark C Large Freehand and took the pipe to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up really nicely with a great contrasting stain look to the briar. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a unique Nording for me – the thin stem and straight shank give the pipe a different look. The polished black vulcanite stem looks really good with the reds and blacks standing out in the grain. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 7 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches wide x 2 ¾ long, Chamber diameter: 3/4 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 64 grams/2.26 ounces. This is another pipe that I will be putting it on the rebornpipes online store shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

Restemming and Reclaiming a worn and tired Nording Danmark 116 Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

Though I am not currently not taking on new work but trying to catch up on my backlog of pipes I have a commitment to doing repairs for customers of our local pipe shop. I have worked on several pipes for the pipeman who dropped this pipe and two others off at my house on Tuesday morning. All three had the tenons snapped off in the shank and two with broken or damaged stems. All three were heavily smoked with cakes almost completely filling in the bowls. It always make me wonder how one can fill a bowl when cake is so thick my finger would not fit in the bowl. The exterior of all three bowls were heavily caked with tars, oils and grime ground into the finish. The pipes reeked of the aromatic tobaccos that had been smoked in them. My wife bagged the three pipes and sealed them until I could get to them.

It was time to work on the last of the pipes – Dublin with oval shank. It was stamped on the underside of the shank and read Nording [over] Danmark [over] 116. It had a tenon stuck in the shank and a large chip on the top of the shank. I took photos of the bowl to show its condition before I started on it. I took photos to show the heavy grime on the bowl sides, the cake in the bowl and the heavy lava and damage to the rim top and inner edge. Somewhere along its journey the pipe had been banded. It was a real mess. I took a close up photo of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake in bowl and the damage on the inner edge of the rim. It was another very dirty pipe. I also took a photo of the chip out of the top of the shank showing the broken tenon in the shank. I tried to pull the broken tenon and was not surprised that it was stuck in the shank. I put the bowl in the freezer and let it sit for 30 minutes. Once I removed it I used a screw turned into the airway to wiggle the tenon out of the shank. It actually came out quite easily. I decided to repair the large chip on the topside of the shank. I rebuilt it with clear CA glue and briar dust. I layered them into the chipped area using a dental spatula to apply the briar dust to the layers of glue. It took a bit of work but I quickly finished the repair. I flattened the repair with different files to blend them into the surface. I would need to sand them further but the repair looked good. At this point I decided to clean up the pipe so I could work on it. I like restoring clean pipes so that was going to be a lot of work but worth it to me to get rid of the grime. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the largest cutting head. I cleaned up the reamer with a Savinelli Fitsall PipeKnife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. There was a small mountain of carbon. I scrubbed the externals of the pipe to remove the heavy oils and tar build up on the bowl. It took a lot of elbow grease using a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap. I worked on it until the grime washed away with running water. It looks much better at this point. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the rim top and clean up the inner edge of the bowl. I also sanded the repair on the top of the shank with the 220 grit sandpaper at the same time. It took a bit of work but both repairs looked much better. With the sanding done it was time to band the shank end to bind the repair and the hairline crack from the repair up the shank a slight distance. I spread white glue around the shank end with a tooth pick and pressed a brass band onto the end of the shank. I took photos of the banded shank and it looked good. With the externals cleaned I turned my attention to the internals. I scrubbed the shank and the airway in the bowl with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol until it was clean. It was a mess. The stem was brand new and was very clean.I set the bowl aside and worked on the fit of the stem. I drilled out the airway with a bit the same size as the guide pin on the tenon turning tool. I then used the tenon turning tool to remove and reduce the diameter of the tenon. I smoothed out the tenon with a sanding drum on my Dremel. I used a flat file and a smaller file to remove the casting marks on the sides of the stem and the end of the button. Once finished with the file it was looking much better. I put the stem on the shank and took photos of the look of the fit of the stem to the shank. I will need to do some shaping around the shank end but the fit in the shank is perfect. It is a snug fit. I took the stem off and went back to the bowl to polish it with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with a damp cloth. It looks far better than it did before even with the many fills in the briar around the bowl. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar. To get it into the nooks and crannies of the plateau I used a shoe brush and worked it deeply into the grooves. The balm works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. It is a beautiful pipe. I turned back to the stem. I shaped the stem and adjusted the saddle portion of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper. I removed excess vulcanite all around the top, bottom and underside to shape and get the fit next to the shank and brass band. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. The fit looked very good. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with some Obsidian Oil. I finished hand polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – Fine and Extra Fine. I rubbed it down with another coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. The stem really was beginning to look very good. This was a very beat up Nording Danmark 116 Dublin and now with its restoration and newly fit black vulcanite saddle stem it looks far better than when I started. The reworked rim top works very will with the rest of the bowl. 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 brown stain makes the grain just sing and it works well with the polished vulcanite stem. Have a look at the photos below. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 46 grams/ 1.62 ounces. Once I finish restemming the last of the pipes the three will be going home with the fellow who dropped them off. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe.

Restemming and Reclaiming a worn and tired Portland Bruyere Garantie Canted Egg

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Blog by Steve Laug

I decided to work on one of two oval shank canted eggs with oval saddle stems next. I opened the bag and removed both the bowl and the broken stem. I took photos of the bowl to show its condition before I started on it. I took photos to show the heavy grime on the bowl sides, the cake in the bowl and the heavy lava and damage to the rim top and inner edge. Somewhere along its journey the pipe had been banded. It was a real mess. I tried to pull the broken tenon and was not surprised that it was stuck in the shank. I put the bowl in the freezer and let it sit for 30 minutes. Once I removed it I used a screw turned into the airway to wiggle the tenon out of the shank. It actually came out quite easily. I went through my stems and found a new one that matched the broken piece of the previous stem. I took a photo. I would need to turn the cast tenon and remove the casting marks on the sides and the button on the pipe to get a fit. Here is a photo of the bowl with the new stem. Now it was time to clean it up so I could work on it. I like restoring clean pipes so that was going to be a lot of work but worth it to me to get rid of the grime. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the largest cutting head. I cleaned up the reamer with a Savinelli Fitsall PipeKnife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. There was a small mountain of carbon. I scrubbed the externals of the pipe to remove the heavy oils and tar build up on the bowl. It took a lot of elbow grease using a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap. I worked on it until the grime washed away with running water. It looks much better at this point. With the externals cleaned I turned my attention to the internals. I scrubbed the shank and the airway in the bowl with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol until it was clean. It was a mess. The stem was brand new and was very clean.I topped the bowl to prepare it for reworking the damage to the inner edge of the bowl. I wanted to smooth it out before working on the inner bevel of the bowl. I used a wooden ball and 220 grit sandpaper to give the bowl a bevel. The final photo of the four below shows the repaired and reshaped rim edge. I set the bowl aside and worked on the fit of the stem. I drilled out the airway with a bit the same size as the guide pin on the tenon turning tool. I then used the tenon turning tool to remove and reduce the diameter of the tenon. I smoothed out the tenon with a sanding drum on my Dremel. I used a flat file and a smaller file to remove the casting marks on the sides of the stem and the end of the button. Once finished with the file it was looking much better. I put the stem on the shank and took photos of the look of the fit of the stem to the shank. I will need to do some shaping around the shank end but the fit in the shank is perfect. It is a snug fit. I went back to the bowl to finish the cleanup and restoration of it. I polished the it with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with a damp cloth. It looks far better than it did before even with the many fills in the briar around the bowl. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. The balm works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. It is a beautiful pipe. I turned back to the stem. I shaped the stem and adjusted the saddle portion of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper. I removed excess vulcanite all around the top, bottom and underside to shape and get the fit next to the shank and brass band. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. The fit looked very good. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with some Obsidian Oil. I finished hand polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – Fine and Extra Fine. I rubbed it down with another coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. The stem really was beginning to look very good. This was a very beat up Portland Bruyere Garantie Canted Egg and now with its newly fit black vulcanite saddle stem it looks far better than when I started. The reworked rim top works very will with the rest of the bowl. 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 brown stain makes the grain just sing and it works well with the polished vulcanite stem. Have a look at the photos below. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 46 grams/ 1.62 ounces. Once I finish restemming the last of the pipes the three will be going home with the fellow who dropped them off. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe.

Restemming and Reclaiming a worn and tired No Name Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

I decided to work on this billiard first. I opened the bag and removed both the bowl and the stem. It was a real mess. I took photos of the bowl to show its condition before I started on it. I took my normal foursome of photos and then added a few extra to show the heavy grime on the bowl sides, the cake in the bowl and the snapped tenon in the shank. Somewhere along its journey the pipe had been banded. Something about it makes me think it may well have been that I had banded and restemmed for the fellow quite a few ago. I did a bit of searching on rebornpipes for the blog but could not find it. In the big picture is did not matter but I am always very curious. I tried to pull the broken tenon and was not surprised that it was stuck in the shank. I put the bowl in the freezer and let it sit for 30 minutes. Once I removed it I used a screw turned into the airway to wiggle the tenon out of the shank. It actually came out quite easily. I went through my stems and found one that matched the broken one that had been included in the bag. I took a photo. I would need to reduce both the length and the diameter of the tenon to get a snug fit in the shank. It had a lot of potential but would take work to lift the dents in the stem and fit it to the pipe. Here is a photo of the bowl with the broken stem and the new one.Now it was time to clean it up so I could work on it. I like restoring clean pipes so that was going to be a lot of work but worth it to me to get rid of the grime. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the largest cutting head. I cleaned up the reamer with a Savinelli Fitsall PipeKnife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. There was a small mountain of carbon. I scrubbed the externals of the pipe to remove the heavy oils and tar build up on the bowl. It took a lot of elbow grease using a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap. I worked on it until the grime washed away with running water. It looks much better at this point. With the externals cleaned I turned my attention to the internals. I scrubbed the shank and the airway in the bowl and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol until it was clean. It was a mess.I topped the bowl to prepare it for reworking the damage to the inner edge of the bowl. I used briar dust and super glue to build up the heavily damaged areas around the edge. I layered it in place in the damaged area with a dental spatula. The second photo below shows the repair.I cleaned up the rough edge of the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I wanted to smooth it out before working on the inner bevel of the bowl. I used a wooden ball and 220 grit sandpaper to give the bowl a bevel. The final photo of the four below shows the repaired and reshaped rim edge. I stained the rim top and edges with an oak stain pen to match the colour of the bowl. With the micromesh polishing it would be a good match.I polished the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with a damp cloth. It looks far better than it did before even with the many fills in the briar around the bowl. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. The balm works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. It is a beautiful pipe. The bowl looks surprisingly good when you consider what it looked like when I started. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem and then “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks and scratches. I was able to lift many of them. I used clear super glue to fill in those that remained. I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repairs and started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I also sanded the tenon with 220 grit sandpaper to reduce the diameter of the tenon and get a snug fit. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with some Obsidian Oil. I finished hand polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – Fine and Extra Fine. I rubbed it down with another coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. The stem really was beginning to look very good. This was a very beat up No Name Straight Billiard and now with its newly fit tapered black vulcanite stem it looks far better than when I started. The reworked rim top works very will with the rest of the bowl. 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 brown stain makes the grain just sing and it works well with the polished vulcanite stem. Have a look at the photos below. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 60 grams/ 2.12 ounces. Once I finish restemming the other two pipes the three will be going home with the fellow who dropped them off. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe.

A Strangely Beautiful Preben Holm Hand Made in Denmark Westminster IIS with a cracked shank

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Blog by Steve Laug

There is something about this strangely beautiful sandblast long shank Freehand says that is it another Preben Holm pipe. The unique shape that really chases the grain to give a sense of vertical and horizontal grain of the sandblast says Holm to me. The style of the stem is a bit of an oddity to me but it is the same width as the shank so it probably is original. This pipe was purchased on 06/13/22 from an estate in Fort Myers, Florida, USA. It is stamped Hand Made [over] In [over] Denmark [over] Westminster [over] IIS. The shape of the bowl with the angles of the carving are unique and the depth of the sandblast give a sense of fluidity to the pipe. The finish is stained with dark colours – black and brown that make it have a depth to its finish. It was filthy and the plateau rim and shank end was the same. The dust and debris is quite heavy around the sides of the bowl. The plateau rim top has a heavy lava overflow on the top and edges coming from a thick cake in the bowl. There is also a crack in the underside of the shank end that extends straight through the stamping. The oddly shaped turned vulcanite stem was heavily oxidized and calcified with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. When I first saw it I was not even sure if it was the right stem but it is growing on me. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started working on it. It really is a beauty. He took close up photos of the uniquely shaped bowl and rim top from different angles to show the condition of the bowl and the plateau rim top. You can see the thick cake in the bowl with the flakes of tobacco stuck to the walls. You can also see the overflow of lava on the rim top and on the inner edge of the bowl. He took photos surface of the vulcanite stem to show the oxidation, calcification and tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show a deep and rugged sandblast that really makes the mix of grain stand out through the grime on the shank and the sides of the bowl. The geometric angles of the bowl shape are really quite stunning and interesting. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank to capture it. It was clear and readable as noted above. You can also see the crack in the underside of the shank that goes through the N in Hand Made and E in Denmark in the stamp. I turned to Pipedia to see what I could find out about the IIS brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/IIS). The article there was shrouded in mystery and gave several options on the maker. I quote:

Pipes marked with IIS and sometimes IS are reported to be made by Karl Erik, and can be found on many private label pipes, such as the one below, marked “John Crouch” for the Scottish Merchant & Tobacconist out of Alexandria Virginia. Others have reported pipes marked IIS, or perhaps the IS in particular, were seconds made by Preben Holm.

I googled for further information and found a pair of IIS pipes on etsy that were sold with notes by the maker (https://www.etsy.com/listing/504709353/ii-s-hand-made-in-denmark-tobacco-pipes). I found it interesting and quote part of it as follows:

There are some mixed ideas about the II S trademark. Spoke to a few about it and than searched the web. Could have been made by Karl Erik while employed by Preben Holm, or sold in US only pipes or could have been made by Preben Holm. In any case they are a very unique pair. Nice works of art. Here is some info that was shared with me and I will include to help solve any mysteries.

KE’s old grading used numbers ascending from 4 to 1. The entirely hand made one of a kind pieces were stamped “Ekstravagant”. Quite simple.

But then there are the II S stamped pipes! (And furthermore seen so far II SM, I S, I M and I B.) Three fairy tales, often told:

II S stands for the initials of a pipe maker who worked for Preben Holm before he changed to KE. (Karl Erik)
II S pipes are a second brand of KE. Nonsense comparing the quality of II S and normal KE pipes!
II S was used when there was no space for stampings otherwise.

I believe that the pipe was made by Preben Holm during the height of his work on pipes. I wonder if it is possible that they were made in the period before he changed from stamping them with his name and to Ben Wade due to issues with his importer in the US. I am not sure but I think that works well in terms of the data.

When I received it from Jeff this past week it did not look like the same pipe. It was clean and the finish had life. 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. It was in good condition. He cleaned the internals of the shank and stem with cotton swabs, 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. He removed the Softee Bit and then scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and soaked it in Briarville’s Stem Deoxidizer. He rinsed it with warm water and dried it off with a soft cloth. It came out looking 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 unpacked it. I took some photos of the rim top and stem to show the condition of them both when the pipe arrived. Overall it looked good. The oxidation on the stem had come off very well and the tooth marks and scratches in the finish were visible. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It was clear and readable as noted above. I have drawn a red circle around the crack in the shank to help identify it.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the appearance of the parts. You can see how large the pipe is in the photos.I started my work on this pipe by dealing with the crack in the underside of the shank. It is a tough one in terms of placement and not being able to band it as I normally would. I opened the crack slightly and spread some thin, clear CA glue into the crack in the shank and squeezed the crack together until the glue hardened. I carefully sanded off the repair with 220 grit sandpaper and then polished it with 3200-3600 grit micromesh to blend it in. It looked very good. I reduced the diameter of the tenon to relieve any pressure that it might put on the mortise when inserted. I know that a solid repair would have been the insertion of a tube in the shank – brass/stainless or Delrin. In the future that may need to be done but for now the repair I did actually looks very good and the reduction of the tenon a slight bit reduces the pressure it puts on the shank. Time will tell for sure.

Once the repair cured I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar. To get it into the nooks and crannies I used a shoe brush and worked it deeply into the grooves. The balm works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. It is a beautiful pipe. The rugged finish on the bowl looks amazing. It is a beautiful pipe. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I decided to square out the rounded edges of the stem sides on the saddle with 220 grit sandpaper. I flattened them out to match the flat sides on the shank. I think it actually worked very well. I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surfaces with 220 grit sandpaper and they blended in quite well. I started the polishing of the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil and the stem was looking quite good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with some Obsidian Oil. I finished hand polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – Fine and Extra Fine. I rubbed it down with another coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. The stem really was beginning to look very good. This is a beautiful Hand Made in Denmark Westminster IIS by Preben Holm with a unique oval shaped black vulcanite stem. I flattened out the curved edges of the oval stem to match the flat sides of the shank. It has a great look and feel. The shape fits well in the hand with the curve of the bowl and shank junction a perfect fit for the thumb around the bowl when held. I polished stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the sandblast bowl and plateau on the rim top and shank end multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax. I gave 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 combination of black and brown stains gave the sandblast and plateau depth. The pipe took on life with the buffing. The rich colour of the briar works well with the polished vulcanite stem. Have a look at it with the photos below. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 2 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 53 grams/ 1.87 ounces. This Danish Freehand is a real beauty. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be staying here for awhile so I can assess the effectiveness of the shank repair. Thanks for your time.