Charles replaced the threaded bone tenon with a nice Delrin push tenon. Great work on the shank and the brittle Bakelite or Redmanol stem. Give it a read.
One of the fun parts about pipe restoration is not knowing exactly what will show up in the shop. Will the next pipe be a Dunhill ODA, a huge artisan…
Back From the Brink: A New Lease of Life for a Vintage Frank Amberloid Cased Bulldog
Blog by Kenneth Lieblich
Next on the chopping block is one of those pipes that makes you raise an eyebrow and wonder. It is the Thoro-Kleen made by the Greenwich House Corporation of New York. I acquired it from a lady who found a shoebox of pipes in her late-grandfather’s closet, so we can presume this pipe to be his. When Steve last restored one of these, more than seven years ago, he described it as reminding him of the Jetsons from Saturday morning cartoons! It certainly does have a futuristic, out-of-this-world look. To me, it is a striking example of mid-twentieth-century design. 
The only markings on the pipe were on the left side of the shank. They read: ‘Thoro-Kleen [over] Greenwich-House’.
Our friends at Pipedia have a brief writeup on the Thoro-Kleen, which I copy here in its entirety:
The Greenwich House Thoro-Kleen was a metal pipe system sold with both a metal outer bowl with a briar insert and a full briar bowl. They are from the same family as the Roybrooke, Comet, and Original Gridiron pipes, and parts from all are believed to be interchangeable. The pipes were sold by the Greenwich House Corporation, located in 1947 at 939-M 8th Avenue, N.Y. 19, N.Y. The pipe set sold for $2.50 in 1947.
Similarly, Smoking Metal (a website dedicated to metal pipes) also has a short writeup:
This family of pipes have been seen as Knowles Air Lite (believed to be Canadian version), Roybrooke, Comet, Original Gridiron and the Greenwich House Thorokleen. Seemingly sold in sets that comprised a normal briar bowl as well as the metal outer with a briar insert. The body of the pipe can be hexagonal, square (Thoro Kleen only seen this shape) or circular in cross section. Regardless of variant all parts are interchangeable. The unmarked version tends to be regarded as the COMET, all the others being stamped with a name.
Some instances of this pipe appeared with an entirely-briar bowl, and some came with a metal bowl and briar insert. Some sources indicate that the pipes came with both bowls, and you could take your pick, but the one I have pipe has only the metal bowl and briar insert.
Time to get to work. This pipe was a mess from every perspective. The stem had some serious dents in it. The metal was dirty and dull, and the insides were filthy.
In the following picture, you can see the pipe as I disassembled it; there are seven pieces: the stem, the shank (or main section of the pipe), the metal outer bowl, the briar inner bowl, a screw that attached the bowls to the main part of the pipe, a valve screw at the far end, and a washer to go along with it. I don’t think this pipe had ever seen a cleaning! There was crud everywhere. 
The stem was first on my list. As usual, I wiped the outside down with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame to lift the bite marks and dents. This did help, but the dents were so substantial it would need much more than just waving a flame around. Then I cleaned out the inside with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. It was pretty darn dirty. 
Next, the stem went for an overnight soak in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. The following day, I cleaned the de-oxidizing mess off with alcohol, pipe cleaners, et cetera. The oxidation had migrated to the surface and would be pretty straightforward to remove. I scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation.
I built up the dents on the stem with black cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure. I then sanded the adhesive with some needle files, then 220-, 400-, and 600-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to smooth everything and highlight the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing.
Since most of the pipe was made of aluminum, the cleaning procedures were different than usual. The inside of the shank was much more ‘cavernous’ than normal, too. I started with pipe cleaners and Q-tips for the inside, but that only worked so well. I ended up using SoftScrub to clean the metal shank, including the interior – and I made extensive use of some metal tubes brushes because the gunk was really tough. Since there was so much grime, it created a foul-smelling and foul-looking paste, which was revolting but satisfying to remove from the pipe. The metal bowl was also cleaned with SoftScrub, but it wasn’t so bad, as it hadn’t been in contact with the burning tobacco.
I used my Micromesh pads to polish up the metal. This worked splendidly to shine it, but it’s important to note that the metal had received some battle wounds over the years, which wouldn’t be removed by the pads. They were to be left as part of this pipe’s life story. I also sanded and polished the two screws and the metal bowl. Below, you can the difference between the MicroMeshed bowl and the unworked shank.
Now for the briar insert. This is more standard fare, since I’m working with wood again. I took a small wedge of machine metal and, holding it at a 45-degree angle, gently scraped the lava and carbon off the rim. 
I reamed it with the KleenReem, and 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much build-up as possible. I took the chamber down to bare briar to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the wall. Fortunately, there were none. Then I used cotton rounds and some Murphy’s Oil Soap to scrub the outside.
The underside of the insert had some small cracks in the wood, presumably from overtightening of the screw, which attached it to the rest of the pipe. I repaired this by applying some cyanoacrylate adhesive to the cracks, letting it cure and sanding it down. 
I also used the Micromesh pads on the rim and bottom but not on the sides, as I thought they were fine as they were. Obviously, I didn’t apply the Before & After Restoration Balm on the metal, but I did for the briar insert.
The buffing procedure was different because of the metal. I used Red Tripoli, but before I started down that path, I decided to protect the grooves on the side of the bowl from being filled with polishing compound. I wrapped four pipe cleaners around the bowl, in the grooves, which did the trick.
I used Red Tripoli and White Diamond to polish the metal nicely. I then took a microfiber cloth to wipe off the remaining compound and finished the metal parts of the pipe with a jewelry cloth to make it shine and sing!
This Thoro-Kleen looks fantastic again and is ready to be enjoyed by the next owner! I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘American’ 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 pipe are as follows: length 5⅜ in. (137 mm); height 1½ in. (38 mm); bowl diameter 1⅜ in. (35 mm); chamber diameter ⅝ in. (16 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅝ oz. (48 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I did restoring it. 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.
Blog by Steve Laug
Irene and I just returned from a long needed holiday visiting my brother Jeff and his wife in Oregon. Of course when we are together we have to do a bit of pipe hunting. We visited shops up and down the Oregon Coast and along the Washington side of the Columbia River. We found a few notable pipes that intrigued us. I also was able to pick up quite few items that he had stored for me to take home. In the first photo below is the first finds of the trip. From the top of the left column down these are the pipe we found.
The second photo shows the next finds on the hunting trips. I have listed them below from top to bottom of the photo. I also found the moccasin pipe rest that holds one of the pipes at a local shop.
We also visited a friend in Vancouver, Washington to pick up some pipe parts – stems, tenons, bands etc. He gifted me with a House of Robertson Straight Rusticated Bulldog with a Perspex stem. We had a great visit and enjoyed swapping stories and tobaccos. 
The last two pipes we added are pictured below.
Here are some of the other things we picked up or were given.
Jeff also passed on some finds that he had made with me in mind over the past few years. This was my first visit to the states since Covid 19 so some of this had been with him quite a while.
I found another humidor for tobacco with a brass handle that turned in the rim edge and kept the tobacco fresh. It is stamped Welbeck [over] Made in England. The humidor is white w/ brown vertical lines design, top lip has a brown stripe, lid has a 3 arm screw closure to seal the jar, 6 1/2″ dia. x 5″ tall, hard rubber seal and is in good condition.
Finally a couple of other items I brought home with me from Jeff.
After a 1 month and 9-day road trip covering 1400 miles I’m finally back at the worktable. My wife and I visited several churches, family and …
Discovering a 1950s Brebbia Portofino 830 Sea Rock Pear with the help of Luciano Buzzi of Brebbia Pipes
By Al Jones
This Shape 87 is shown as a “Woodstock” on the Comoy’s shape listing on the Pipedia webpage. I would call it a Zulu and the shape is also referred to as a Yacht shape at times. Below is a picture of the shape from the 1964 Comoy’s catalog. I would date this pipe to somewhere from the early 1950’s. The nomenclature was in excellent shape, including the *5 stamp for the Grand Slam replaceable leather washer.
An old Smokers Haven pipe sales ad for the shape described the shape. This example weighed in at an amazing 29 grams. The screw in Grand Slam filter was missing (most were seemingly discarded) but the threads remain in the tenon.
Comoys always had the best proportions for their Zulu shape, and this remains one of the sexiest pipes ever crafted. So sleek, so athletic, so elegant!
Smokers Haven pipe listing
The pipe had an oxidized stem but no teeth marks. The bowl top had the typical build-up. Below is the pipe as it was received.
The conical bowl was tricky to ream, so care was needed. I primarily used a piece of 320 sandpaper wrapped around a slightly smaller Pipenet reamer head. I used a worn piece of scotchbrite on the bowl top. The bowl was then filled with alcohol and sea salt to soak. Following the soak, the shank was thoroughly cleaned with a bristle brush dipped in alcohol, until the brush came out clean across a paper towel.
The stem was mounted and stepped grades of sandpaper used to remove the oxidation. I used 600>800>1500>2000 grades followed by 8,000 and 12,000 grade micromesh. The stem was then buffed with White Diamond and Meguiars Plastic Polish. The bowl was lightly buffed with White Diamond and Carnuba wax.
Below is the finished pipe. This one was sold to a piper who lives on the lovely island of Corfu in sunny Greece.
Blog by Kenneth Lieblich
Next on the chopping block is a beautiful Danish pipe from Scandia. This terrific pipe came to me from an antique shop in the Fraser Valley (an area to the east of Vancouver). The price was reasonable, so I had to have it. The pipe is beautiful and a great example of Danish pipe-making.
The pipe is a Danish pickaxe pipe by Scandia, produced from the esteemed pipemaker, Stanwell. The pickaxe is a very attractive shape and this one is no exception. It really makes an impression. It has beautiful, sandblasted briar from the bowl, down the shank and transitions into the vulcanite ferrule. It also has a fantastic push stem. The underside of the shank reads Scandia [over] Made in Denmark. There is a faint marking on the ferrule, which appears to show “10” or possibly “1C”. I don’t think this is a shape number, for reasons I will explain momentarily. Finally, the stem’s top also has the SC, indicating the Scandia make. 
Both Pipedia and Pipephil list Scandia as being a Stanwell sub-brand or second (and not much else), as per the photo below.
Meanwhile, Pipedia has a good amount of information on the Stanwell brand and its history. I certainly recommend looking it over: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell.
Despite the (possible) number 10 on the ferrule, I went to check the list of Stanwell shapes, here on Reborn Pipes, and I found that this definitely did not match. However, I did find something that was a match! Shape 1b is listed as “Freehand, Pick Ax, push mouthpiece, by Sixten Ivarsson. (1975)”. To further confirm this, here is a page from an old 70s or 80s Stanwell catalogue which clearly shows the same shape of pipe with the matching shape number. I think we can safely assume that this is a pickaxe, designed by the legendary Sixten Ivarsson.
Anyway, this really is a good-looking pipe. No major issues to resolve – just a few minor ones. The stem was dirty, and some small scratches. There were a couple of significant bite marks, as well as some oxidation and calcification on the vulcanite.
The rim on the stummel was blackened and burnt – that would need to be addressed. The insides were fairly dirty and would need some work to clean out. There was also a small nick along the inside edge of the rim.
The stem was first on my list. I wiped down the outside of the stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame in order to lift the bite marks and dents. Unfortunately, this didn’t really work, but I have ways of sorting this out. Then, I cleaned out the insides of the stem with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol.
Once this process was done, I used SoftScrub and cotton pads to wipe down the stem before throwing it in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover overnight. The following day, I cleaned all of the de-oxidizing mess and again scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation. This worked well.
I used some nail polish to restore the letters SC on the stem. I painted the area carefully and let it fully set before proceeding. These letters were too worn to be fully restored, but they definitely looked better after I worked on them.
Before I moved on to the Micromesh pads, I built up the dents on the stem with cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure.
I used my miniature files to ensure that the repairs keep the shape and look like they should. I then sanded the stem down with 220-, 400-, and 600-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. I did the same to the remaining tooth marks. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing.
I repeated all of the above procedures for the vulcanite ferule, which only came off the stummel after applying heat and some gentle force.
On to the stummel, and the usual cleaning procedures were in order for this pipe. I used both the PipNet Reamer and the KleenReem to remove the built-up cake and take the bowl down to bare briar, as I wanted to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the walls of the bowl. Fortunately, there were none.
I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and isopropyl alcohol. There was lots of filth inside this stummel, and it took a good number of pipe cleaners etc. to sort that out. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes. I then moved on to cleaning the outside of the stummel with Murphy’s Oil Soap and some cotton pads. That removed any latent dirt.
I decided to de-ghost the pipe in order to remove any lingering smells of the past. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this.
As I mentioned earlier, there were some small burn marks on the rim of the stummel that also needed to be addressed. Some of this was removed by the Murphy’s. For the burns that remained, I took some oxalic acid on a Q-tip and rubbed and rubbed. As you will see, the treatment worked reasonably well and the rim was improved. Some would remain, but that is part of the history of this pipe. I completed this step by gently sanding the interior rim edge to remove any remnants that remained.
Then I addressed the nick on the rim by filling it with cyanoacrylate adhesive and briar dust. I sanded it down and made it look great. After this, the entire stummel was treated to a rub-down with all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit). A light application of Before & After Restoration Balm brought out the best in the stummel’s sandblast. There is some beautiful wood on this Danish pipe!
In fact, as I was working, my youngest child came to watch me for a bit and said, “Is that a doggy?” I wasn’t sure what she meant, but she grabbed the stummel and pointed this out. That’s pretty funny!
I glued the ferrule back I place and then it was off for a trip to the buffer. A dose of White Diamond and a few coats of conservator’s wax were just what this pipe needed. I had to be especially careful with the bench polisher, since the edges had a tendency to catch on the buffing wheels.
This pipe was a delight from the start and its beauty only increased through the restoration process. This pipe is elegant, light, and incredibly comfortable to hold. Finally, I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘Danish’ 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 Stanwell are as follows: length 5½ in. (140 mm); height 2½ in. (64 mm); bowl diameter 1⅝ in. (41 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅝ oz. (47 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. 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.
Blog by Steve Laug
The next pipe was another interesting pipe that surprised both Jeff and me when it came in a lot of pipes that we bought it from the fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on January 26, 2023. This one is another beautiful Bari pipe. It has great grain around the bowl and shank. The pipe is stamped on the left side and clearly reads BARI and on the right side it reads Made in Denmark. There is no shape number on the shank. The rim top is crowned curving inward with a bevel toward the bowl. The inner and outer edges clean. The bowl had been reamed recently and the rim top was clean. The finish was dirty with dust and grim ground into the briar but great grain still shone through. The vulcanite taper stem was lightly oxidized and dirty and had some light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took these photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. 
He took photos of the rim and bowl to show the condition of the bowl and rim top. You can see the reamed bowl walls and the clean rim top. He also took photos of the stem surfaces to show its overall condition when it arrived. It was lightly oxidized and dirty and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides.
The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the rich grain around the bowl and shank sides. The brown stain adds depth to the finish. 
He took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. It was clear and readable. (There was no photo of the stamping on the right side.)
Before I started working on it I did a bit of research on the brand to remind myself of the maker. I have worked on quite a few Bari’s in the past so rather than rework all of that I am including the information I found while working on a Bari Special Handcut Made in Denmark Dublin Freehand (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/07/22/cleaning-up-a-danish-made-bari-special-handcut-b-dublin-freehand/). I quote below from that blog.
I quoted a section from Pipedia on Bari pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Bari). It is good to be reminded of the fact that Viggo Nielsen was the pipe maker.
Pipedia states that Bari Piber was founded by Viggo Nielsen in Kolding, Denmark around the turn of 1950/51. His sons Kai and Jørgen both grew into their father’s business from a very young age and worked there till 1975. Both have become successful pipe makers.
Bari successfully adapted the new Danish design that had been started mainly by Stanwell for its own models. Bari was sold in 1978 to Van Eicken Tobaccos in Hamburg, Germany though the pipes were still made in Denmark. From 1978 to 1993 Åge Bogelund and Helmer Thomsen headed Bari’s pipe production.
Helmer Thomson bought the company in 1993 re-naming it to “Bari Piber Helmer Thomsen”. The workshop moved to more convenient buildings in Vejen. Bogelund, who created very respectable freehands of his own during the time at Bari got lost somehow after 1993. Bari’s basic conception fundamentally stayed the same for decades: series pipes pre-worked by machines and carefully finished by hand – thus no spectacular highgrades but solid, reliable every day’s companions were what they turned out. The most famous series are the smooth “Classic Diamond” and the blasted “Wiking”.
I did a quick look at Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b1.html) and did a screen capture of the section on Bari pipes.
Now that I was reminded about the Viggo Nielsen connection it was time to work on the pipe on my end.
Jeff had done a great clean up of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. He cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He cleaned the exterior of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and the lava on the rim top. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the debris that had accumulated on it. The stem was soaked in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and then rinsed clean. The pipe looked clean and ready for the next step in the process. Here are some photos of it when I brought it to the table.
I took photos of the rim top and the top and underside of the stem. You can see the clean bowl and rim top. The stem has light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. It is dirty but otherwise great. It is a nice looking pipe.
The next photos show the stamping on the left and right sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. There is also a small portion of the Bari stamp on the left side of the stem in the first photo below.
I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the overall look of the pipe. It is really a nicely looking pipe that will look great once it is cleaned up.
I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It really began to take on a shine.
I rubbed the bowl down with some Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, renew and protect briar. I let it do its work for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The pipe is really quite a beauty.
I polished the stem on both sides using micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded the stem with the 1500-12000 grit pads, then wiped it down with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After stem polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.
This is another pipe I am excited to finish. It is a Bari Made in Denmark Bent Dublin. I put the pipe back together and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond 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 and hand buffed it with microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem with the golden acrylic spacer. It really was a beautiful pipe. The sandblasted grain shining through the rich browns/black stain on this Bari Made in 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: 5 ½ 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 1.27 ounces/36 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the cleanup with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.
Blog by Steve Laug
This past week, after some email correspondence I received a package with three Vauen pipes that a friend here in British Columbia wanted me to restore for him. The one was a broken shanked Vauen Meerschaum and the other two were rusticated briars. This is the second of the briars – a Vauen rusticated Bent Egg with a 9MM Filter stem. The smooth rim top had some lava build up and a moderate cake in the bowl. The inner and outer edges of the bowl looked very good. The finish was dirty but had a charm that was characteristic of older rusticated Vauen pipes. The rustication was slightly different than the previous Billiard which make me wonder if it is a newer rendition. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank and read Vauen. On the right side it read Nest. There was not a shape number present. It was light weight and would clean up quite nicely. The tenon had come loose from the stem and would need to be reglued but it was in good shape. The stem was quite clean and was made of black acrylic. There was light chatter and marks on the surfaces near the button on both sides but no tooth marks at all. I took photos of the pipe before I started working on it. 
I took photos of the rim top and the top and underside of the stem. You can see the cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the rim top. The stem has light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. It is dirty but otherwise great. It is a nice looking pipe.
The next photos show the stamping on the left and right sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. 
I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the overall look of the pipe. You can see the loose tenon in the photo as well. It is really a nicely looking pipe that will look great once it is cleaned up.
I am including that material on the brand from the previous blog for those who may have missed it. I turned first to Pipephil’s site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-v1.html). I did a screen capture of the information on the site. There was a great sidebar that gave some history of the brand. I include both of them below.
In 1848, Karl Ellenberger and his partner Carl August Ziener establish a pipe factory in Nuremberg. In 1901 they merge with Gebhard Ott an other factory in town and they create a firm named Vereinigten Pfeifenfabriken Nürnberg (abbreviated : VPFN*). Shortly after Ernst Eckert, a member of the Ott family became manager of the society. During the 20th century Adolf, Ernst (jr) and Alexander Eckert (CEO in 2012) followed one another at Vauen’s head.* VPFN : “V” is said VAU in German (pronounce faou) and “N” becomes EN. Hence VAUEN.
I also turned to a blog written on rebornpipes by Dal Stanton (Pipesteward.com) that I quote a section from the blog below that gives a great sense of the history of the German brand and some photos from the website (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/04/27/breathing-new-life-into-a-german-vauen-6294-p-lip-saddle-billiard-for-a-special-young-lady/).
… I turn to the question of the history of the VAUEN name? I look to the History section of the VAUEN website and again, I am impressed with the presentation. Whenever I work on a pipe, and especially when a pipe name is new to me, I enjoy looking at its history to appreciate the pipe more fully now on my worktable. From VAUEN’s website:
Quality and a wealth of ideas have a long tradition at VAUEN. 160 years of VAUEN: that means 160 years of skilled workmanship and modern technology and 160 years of experience in fulfilling the individual wishes of today’s pipe lovers, and those of tomorrow.
In Nuremberg in 1848, Karl Ellenberger and his partner Carl August Ziener turned an idea into reality: Germany’s first pipe manufacturer produced tobacco pipes for connoisseurs around the world using a selection of the best wood. In an amalgamation with the Gebhard Ott pipe factory, which was founded in 1866 in Nuremberg, the Vereinigten Pfeifenfabriken Nuremberg (United Pipe Factories Nuremberg, or VPFN) was born in 1901. Under the management of Ernst Eckert, a descendent of the founding Ott family, a company was born whose products and services would shape the tobacco and smoking culture in Europe and overseas for the next 160 years and counting.
The question about the name, VAUEN, not being a name of a person and why it is capitalized throughout is explained:
In his search for a name that would be easily remembered by all pipe lovers, Ernst Eckert’s son, Adolf Eckert, coined a new name for the company in 1909: VAUEN – a composition of the first letters V (pronounced vow) of Vereinigte Pfeifenfabriken and N (pronounced en) of Nuremberg. A brand for the future was born.
Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. I reamed out the cake on the bowl walls with a PipNet Pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls smooth with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel.
I cleaned out the mortise and airway into the bowl and the stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol until they came out clean. 
I scrubbed the rugged exterior of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the grime and the soap. It looked much better once it was clean.
I polished the rim top and removed the light scratching in the surface with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove dust. I stained the rim top and edges with a Walnut stain pen to match the rest of the bowl and shank.
I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the finish with my fingers and used a shoe brush to press it deep into the crevices of the rustication. The product works to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank and enliven and protect the briar. After it sat for 15 minutes I wiped it off with a soft cloth. The briar really came alive with 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 turned my attention to the stem. I reglued the tenon in the cleaned up stem end with clear CA glue. It lined up perfectly and I set it aside for the glue to cure.
I polished out the tooth chatter and marks on the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with Obsidian Oil to remove the sanding dust. I used the Before & After Pipe Polish to remove the small minute scratches left in the vulcanite. I finished by wiping the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. 
As usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look of the Vauen Nest Rusticated Bent Egg when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. 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 took on depth with the wax and polish. The shiny black acrylic stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and thick shank. This Rusticated Vauen Next Bent Egg was another fun pipe to work on. It really is a quite stunning piece of briar whose shape follows the flow of the grain on the briar. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.80 ounces/51 grams. This is the second of three Vauen Pipes that I am working on for my friend. Once I finish the last pipe of the threesome I will be sending them back to him. Thanks for reading my reflections on the pipe while I working on it.
Blog by Steve Laug
This past week, after some email correspondence I received a package with three Vauen pipes that a friend here in British Columbia wanted me to restore for him. The one was a broken shanked Vauen Meerschaum and the other two were rusticated briars. The first of the briars was a Vauen rusticated Billiard with a 9MM Filter stem. The rim top had some lava build up in the rustication and a moderate cake in the bowl. The inner and outer edges of the bowl looked very good. The finish was dirty but had a charm that was characteristic of older rusticated Vauen pipes. The pipe was stamped on the underside of the shank and read College [over] Vauen followed by the shape number 350. It was quite lightweight and would clean up quite nicely. The tenon was set in the shank and the stem fit over it. The stem was quite clean and was made of black acrylic with the characteristic Vauen White Dot. There was light chatter on the surfaces near the button on both sides but no tooth marks at all. I took photos of the pipe before I started working on it. 
I took photos of the rim top and the top and underside of the stem. You can see the cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the rim top. The stem is very clean in regards to tooth marks an damage. It is dirty but otherwise great. It is a nice looking pipe.
The next photo shows the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above.
I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the overall look of the pipe. It is really a nicely looking Billiard that will look great once it is cleaned up.
I wanted to remind myself of the background on the Vauen brand before I started my work on the pipe. I turned first to Pipephil’s site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-v1.html). I did a screen capture of the information on the site. There was a great sidebar that gave some history of the brand. I include both of them below.In 1848, Karl Ellenberger and his partner Carl August Ziener establish a pipe factory in Nuremberg. In 1901 they merge with Gebhard Ott an other factory in town and they create a firm named Vereinigten Pfeifenfabriken Nürnberg (abbreviated : VPFN*). Shortly after Ernst Eckert, a member of the Ott family became manager of the society. During the 20th century Adolf, Ernst (jr) and Alexander Eckert (CEO in 2012) followed one another at Vauen’s head.* VPFN : “V” is said VAU in German (pronounce faou) and “N” becomes EN. Hence VAUEN.
I also turned to a blog written on rebornpipes by Dal Stanton (Pipesteward.com) that I quote a section from the blog below that gives a great sense of the history of the German brand and some photos from the website (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/04/27/breathing-new-life-into-a-german-vauen-6294-p-lip-saddle-billiard-for-a-special-young-lady/).
… I turn to the question of the history of the VAUEN name? I look to the History section of the VAUEN website and again, I am impressed with the presentation. Whenever I work on a pipe, and especially when a pipe name is new to me, I enjoy looking at its history to appreciate the pipe more fully now on my worktable. From VAUEN’s website:Quality and a wealth of ideas have a long tradition at VAUEN. 160 years of VAUEN: that means 160 years of skilled workmanship and modern technology and 160 years of experience in fulfilling the individual wishes of today’s pipe lovers, and those of tomorrow.
In Nuremberg in 1848, Karl Ellenberger and his partner Carl August Ziener turned an idea into reality: Germany’s first pipe manufacturer produced tobacco pipes for connoisseurs around the world using a selection of the best wood. In an amalgamation with the Gebhard Ott pipe factory, which was founded in 1866 in Nuremberg, the Vereinigten Pfeifenfabriken Nuremberg (United Pipe Factories Nuremberg, or VPFN) was born in 1901. Under the management of Ernst Eckert, a descendent of the founding Ott family, a company was born whose products and services would shape the tobacco and smoking culture in Europe and overseas for the next 160 years and counting.
The question about the name, VAUEN, not being a name of a person and why it is capitalized throughout is explained:
In his search for a name that would be easily remembered by all pipe lovers, Ernst Eckert’s son, Adolf Eckert, coined a new name for the company in 1909: VAUEN – a composition of the first letters V (pronounced vow) of Vereinigte Pfeifenfabriken and N (pronounced en) of Nuremberg. A brand for the future was born.
Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. I reamed out the cake on the bowl walls with a PipNet Pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls smooth with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel.
I cleaned out the mortise and airway into the bowl and the stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol until they came out clean. 
I scrubbed the rugged exterior of the bowl and the stem with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the grime and the soap. It looked much better once it was clean.
I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the finish with my fingers and used a shoe brush to press it deep into the crevices of the rustication. The product works to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank and enliven and protect the briar. After it sat for 15 minutes I wiped it off with a soft cloth. The briar really came alive with 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 turned my attention to the stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with Obsidian Oil to remove the sanding dust. I used the Before & After Pipe Polish to remove the small minute scratches left in the vulcanite. I finished by wiping the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. 
As usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look of the Vauen College 350 Billiard when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the stem. 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. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The depth of the rustication really pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black acrylic stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and shank. This Rusticated Vauen College 350 Billiard was another fun pipe to work on. It really is a quite stunning piece of briar whose rustication flows with the cut of the briar. The pipe is a comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ 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 1.02 ounces/ 29 grams. This is the first of three Vauen Pipes that I am working on for my friend. Once I finish the threesome I will be sending them back to him. Thanks for reading my reflections on the pipe while I working on it.
Blog by Kenneth Lieblich
Pull up a chair and light your pipe – let me tell you the tale of an involved pipe restoration. This pipe arrived from France in a large lot. It certainly caught my eye with its idiosyncratic name and shape. I don’t know anything about the previous smoker of this pipe, but it certainly has travelled the world. Many things about this pipe are unusual, but most unusual of all is the shape! What would you call it? From the side it looks a bit like an igloo. It’s not a freehand, it’s not a classic shape – what on earth is it? I’m not sure, but I do have a soft spot for it so I’m going to call it an igloo.
This is a Skikda pipe, made in Algeria. The only marking on the pipe was on the left of the square shank, which simply had the word ‘Skikda’. Igloo shape or not, it has a squared, tapered stem. As you can see, the stem of the pipe is made of vulcanite and the width of the stem narrows to the button. This indicates that the pipe is likely pre-war. My educated guess is that the pipe was made between 1932 and the beginning of World War II. Why 1923? Read on… 
As is often the case with pipes from the early 20th century, the information I have on Skikda Pipes is slim indeed. What does the word “Skikda” mean or refer to? Skikda is a region and a town in northeastern Algeria. Between the 1830s and 1960s (when Algeria was under French rule), the town was known as Philippeville, after the French king at the time the town was founded. Pipephil had no information at all under the name, Skikda, and Pipedia had a mere three short sentences – but the sentences were significant in their own way:
“It seems likely that Skikda pipes are connected to the Amiel brand founded (1923) [sic – this should read 1932] by Raoul Amiel in Philippeville (Skikda, Algeria). The factory employed about 30 persons in the early 1960s when it closed down. It is the only known pipe producer to have been headquartered in Skikda.”
This was significant because I had independently come to the same conclusion about Skikda and Amiel, before reading the Pipedia article. In other words, I was pleased that someone else had made the connection between Skikda and Amiel.
Pipedia also has an article on Amiel Pipes, with information gleaned from an email of Jacques Le Moigne, great-grandson of Justine Amiel, Raoul Amiel ‘s sister. I quote some (but not all) of that information:
The factory of Raoul Amiel near Philippeville in Algeria is the result of the briar industry there. By 1900 the French and Italian sources of briarwood in the Mediterranean are becoming rarer. The pipe industry had grown in a short period of time and a gigantic demand for this special rootwood was there. In 1905 rich fields of briar were discovered in Algeria, at that time still part of France. Within some years Algeria became an important exporter of so-called ebauchons that were exported world-wide. About eighty percent of the briar used in the pipe industry of that time originated from Algeria. We had previously indicated that French undertakers together with English investors were considering to set up the industry of pipe making in Algeria. The raw material was sufficient available, moreover cheap labour was easy to get. The Amiel family reports the factory was originally financed by the Wassas Family. Unfortunately things changed after 1929. The Amiel family was a traditional pipe family. They had their origins in Nancy, France, which they left in 1870 during the German invasion. They first moved to Florence Italy before moving to Philippeville in French Algeria. Raoul was a gifted engineer and designed and built the factory, which was very modern for the time. In 1932 the first pipe factory in Algeria opened its doors under the name Raoul Amiel. A mysterious factory of which little history is known. Certainly the techniques for making the pipes came over from Saint-Claude so that the pipes are hard to distinguish from the French counterparts. The factory named Amiel is heading with success. The product soon reached a high grade of perfection and soon competed with the French products. Even so, Amiel was selling a greater deal of his products in Saint-Claude, where the pipes received a French mark to be exported world-wide. Despite of the large production and the excellent trade the success of the factory is unclear to us now. After the founding the factory worked till the late 1950’s. Possibly the mark thereafter was sold and the production moved to another place. Anyhow, pipes under the name Amiel were kept alive till they disappeared from the marked somewhere around 1980. Certainly that fact is related to the declining interest in the tobacco pipe in general.
On to the pipe — and it was a bit of a nightmare. This stem may be the most badly oxidized stem I’ve ever worked on. The brownish-greenish-yellowish colour was oppressive and it was unclear whether it could be fully returned to its original glossy black. Inside the stem was quite dirty but not unusually so. The surface of the stem had scratches, marks, and dents as would be expected of a pipe this old, but worst of all — as the photos show — a big chunk of vulcanite was missing on the underside.
As for the stummel, it was no better. It was nasty, grungy and dull. The left side had a couple of significant nicks, the underside of the shank had a crack, and the rim of the pipe was badly damaged by burns and was damaged enough to look like a meteor crater. Clearly, it had had a long, hard life. 
This turned out to be a more challenging restoration than I had anticipated. Part of the difficulty was as a direct result of my own inexperience; I had to redo some of the steps more than once to achieve the desired result.
It was time to fix this pipe! First up — the stem. There was some paper mush (or something similar) on (and adjacent to) the tenon. I later found out that this was to repair yet another problem in the stummel, but I digress. I removed all of that paper debris before proceeding with the usual procedures.
I wiped the outside down with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame in order to lift the bite marks and dents. Then I cleaned out the inside with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. 
Because of the extreme oxidation, I used SoftScrub and cotton pads to wipe down the stem before throwing it in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. The following day, I cleaned all of the de-oxidizing mess and again scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation. This worked quite well.
I built up the smaller dents on the stem and button with black cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure.
The major gouge would need far more work. I made a patch out of a new-to-me product — a type of cyanoacrylate adhesive strengthened with carbon and rubber (I also mixed a little activated charcoal in). I’d heard good things about this product and wanted to try it out for myself (Spoiler alert: it worked very well!) This repair was a perfect opportunity to test drive this adhesive. I first plugged up the stem’s draught hole with a folded pipe cleaner coated in petroleum jelly. This ensured that any of the CA glue would not accidentally plug up the air passage in the stem.
This was a tricky business and it took some real patience and effort to make it work. As the photos show, after I applied the cyanoacrylate, it looked pretty darn ugly, but I was expecting that. After the curing, I ended up sanding down the end of the stem to reduce some of the excess material. To carry this process on, I used some miniature files to further shape the button and make it suitable for sanding. I used another file on the inside to ensure there were no rough edges in the bore.
I then sanded the stem down with 220-, 400-, and 600-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. This ensures that it keeps its shape and looks like it should. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. It is worth noting that a repair this big on a stem will never be completely invisible, but I was pleased with how I managed to make it look reasonably good.
After all of that, it was time to work on the stummel. First, I reamed out the bowl. I used the KleenReem to remove the built-up cake and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as I could. I took the chamber down to bare briar, as I wanted to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the wall. Fortunately, there were none. One thing to note is that this stem has an unusually wide draught hole and I’m not sure whether it was originally constructed that way, or if it was widened later. Either way, that (coupled with the crack in the shank) is why the stem’s tenon had that paper stuff on it – to ensure that the pipe fit together properly.
Since the draught hole was unusually wide, I used some drill bits to help remove the detritus inside. Just to be clear: I did NOT use these drill bits in a drill! I used them with my hands. Using a drill here would be catastrophic for the pipe.
I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. It was fairly dirty, but not extraordinarily so. I used cotton rounds and some Murphy’s Oil Soap to scrub the outside of the stummel and a toothbrush with Murphy’s for the lava on the rim of the pipe. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes.
Because this pipe was so filthy, I decided to bypass the usual “ghosting” altogether, and go straight to a bath! I opted to soak the stummel in isopropyl alcohol overnight. This will usually remove the sort of goo, grunge, and ghosts I was faced with. Next day, I took it out of the bath and left it to dry.
As you can see in the post-bath photos, some filth remained in the recesses of the pipe, so I took a bit of acetone on some Q-tips and rubbed. This worked like a charm!
Having completed that, I could move on to fixing up the wounds on the stummel; there were three significant ones on the left side. They were large enough that I would not be able to make them disappear entirely, but I wanted to make them solid and smooth, and meld into the rest of the wood. I used a dental tool to dig out the remaining fill-material and replaced it with a mixture of cyanoacrylate adhesive and briar dust. These would get sanded down later.
I then moved on to the crack on the underside of the shank. The first step in dealing with this was to ensure that the crack would not continue to creep after I had repaired it. To that end, I took a micro-drill bit, inserted it in my Dremel, and very carefully drilled a hole right through the wall of the shank, into the mortise. 
I then needed to apply cyanoacrylate adhesive in order to seal and repair it. First, however, I used a Q-tip and a folded pipe cleaner to coat the inside of the shank with petroleum jelly. This would prevent the adhesive from dripping inside the shank and creating further problems. That done, I carefully applied a tiny bead of adhesive to the hole and the length of the crack. Finally, I clamped it shut and let it cure. This was a great success – obviously, the crack would always be visible, but I was really pleased with how the repair looked. I took out my topping board and sanded the three planes of the pipe to both flatten the repairs and also level out the surface. I also wanted to resharpen the edges and corners a little.
Next was to work on that meteor crater of a rim. I actually argued with myself for some time about this damaged rim. I seriously considered the idea of leaving the damage as it was (as part of the pipe’s history) because I was adamant about not changing the profile of the rim by sanding it. However, I felt that I couldn’t just leave the pipe as it was. It needed some help. I took some 600-grit sandpaper, wrapped it around my wooden sphere and gingerly sanded the rim. The circular shape and motion of the sphere gradually smoothed and returned the edge to a perfect circle. I think I managed to achieve a good balance between removing the damage but still keeping the original look.
I took some oxalic acid, used several Q-tips, and rubbed, but this did not do much towards removing the burn. So, I brought out the big guns and used acetone, which achieved better results.
Then I used all of my Micromesh pads over the entire stummel, including the rim.
But just when I thought I was done the stummel — I wasn’t. I was reminded that there was that awful paper stuff on the tenon of the stem because it didn’t fit correctly, so I needed to rectify this too. I built up the bottom part of the mortise of the shank with CA glue and briar dust. After letting it cure, I sanded it down with my needle files, made it look good and, most importantly, ensured it fit well with the tenon.
Finally, I gave the pipe a light application of Before & After Restoration Balm and let it sit for 15 minutes or so. I then buffed it with a microfibre cloth.
After that, I took it to my bench polisher and polished it with white diamond and carnauba wax. This brought out the best in the stummel’s grain.
The Skikda igloo with a long, hard life has been brought back from the dead! It an unusual and uncommon piece of Algerian and French pipemaking. It looks so much better than when I started and is ready to be enjoyed again by the next owner! I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! 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 pipe are as follows: length 5½ in. (140 mm); height 1 in. (25 mm); bowl diameter 1¼ in. (32 mm); chamber diameter ⅝ in. (16 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅛ oz. (33 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I did restoring it. 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.
rebornpipes 