Daily Archives: April 30, 2023

Repairing a Cracked Shank and Banding a Jost’s Supreme Diamond Shank Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another that the Vancouver pipe man dropped off for me to work on for him. It was stamped Jost’s Supreme and had a natural finish around the bowl. It is a bent diamond shank Billiard with some interesting grain. It needed restoration on the bowl which was heavily caked and the shank had the remnants of a paper wrap that had been used to hold the stem in place due to the crack in the shank. It also needed a repair to the crack on a pipe that I had originally worked on back in 2016. When I originally had worked on it the pipe had a thick cake and was well used. Here is the link to that restoration that I did back when I first picked it up (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/11/11/restoring-the-fourth-classic-find-a-josts-supreme-diamond-shank-bent-billiard/).The stem had tooth marks, tooth chatter and a lot of oxidation and calcification on the stem. Here are some photos of the pipe when he picked it up in 2016 to give a bit for context for my work. When I took the pipe out of the bag to work on this morning this is what I saw. The finish on the briar looked very good. It was dirty and the natural finish looked dried out. There was a crack on the lower right side of the diamond shank. The stem was very loose in the shank and the tenon appeared to have been wrapped in paper to tighten it. The bowl had a very thick cake and the airway in the shank was dirty. I would need to be cleaned up before I worked on the shank repair and the fit of the stem in the shank. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took photos of the rim top and the thick cake in the bowl to show how it looked. The rim top had some darkening around the inner edge of the bowl. It will clean up pretty well. The photos of the stem show the condition of the stem. You can see the tooth marks and chatter under the calcification on the stem surface.I took a photo of the stamping on both sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I took the stem off the shank and photographed the look of the pipe as a whole. It is a nice looking Diamond Shank Bent Billiard. I went back and reread the previous restoration blog that I written on the restoration the previous time I had worked on the pipe. I also was very interested to read the back story and history on the brand. I quote from the blog below.

In earlier blogs I have written about restoring another Jost’s pipe that I found. When I restored that pipe it was a brand I had heard of but was unfamiliar with. I researched the web to find some information about the brand. Here is a link to the blog I wrote on the Jost’s Olde English Deluxe: https://rebornpipes.com/2016/09/03/josts-olde-english-de-luxesupreme-overstamped-j214-bent-billiard/. I am quoting several of the paragraphs that summarize what I learned about the brand.

“I looked up Jost’s pipes on the Pipephil site and found a pipe that had the same stamping on the left side of the shank as the one I was working on. The right side had slightly different stamping in that it had the classic COM stamp circle where the one I had was two lines Made in over England. It also had a picture of the circle J stamp on the stem. There was a note there the tobacco shop proprietor was Mrs. Henry A. Jost. Her resident carver was Harvey Raspberry.”

I also found a blog that is called ClassicPipeShop that even had a catalogue of the pipes made by the Jost’s Shop or were imported by them for their store. I quote that blog once more as it places the new pipe that I am working on now.

“I did some more hunting online and I found a blog that did a great write up on Jost’s Pipe Shop and gave some definitive information on the brand and grades of the pipes. Here is the link if you wish to read a well written history of the brand and also some interesting details about shop blends of tobacco. http://classicpipeshop.blogspot.ca/2015/03/josts-pipe-shop-201-north-6th-street-st.html”

 “I have included the section of the blog on the pipes. It covers a lot of information regarding the source of the pipes and the levels/grades of pipes. Remember that the one I am working on is a De Luxe/Supreme. I quote:”

“Jost’s Pipes are closely tied to Comoy’s. Many of Jost’s pipes have the standard Comoy’s shape number and the “Made in England” in a circle. If the Jost’s pipe doesn’t have the “Made in England” it is probably made by Harvey Raspberry.”

“If the pipe has a shape number that is preceded by a “J” that is a Comoy’s product without question.  Typically these will have the words “Made in London England” on the reverse side of the shank from where the Jost stamp is made.  There are always exceptions to the rule but 95% of the time, this is accurate.”

“Many different levels of pipes were offered by Jost’s Pipe Shop.  From a 1950s catalog I have the following available:”

Jost Old English De Luxe: $85.00

These were typically of the highest… Grain is stunning and the briar is flawless.  These are the grade you should look out for as they are great smokers.

*Jost Old English Supreme: (no pricing available)

The majority of the Old English version pipes you see are marked Supreme.  These are stained in a darker color and are presumably from the same Algerian aged Briar as the De Luxe brothers.  These are also of the highest quality available. *(The current pipe I am working on is stamped Jost’s Supreme on the left side of the shank with no shape number and no Made in London England stamp.  If I read the information correctly it was one that was made by Harvey Raspberry, who was the shop pipe maker.)

Jost Virgin Briar Supreme: $35.00

Don’t see too many marked as Virgin Briar Supreme but you will often find “Supreme” Jost pipes on the second hand market (see above).  Excellent quality briar and displays the lighter toned finish of the De Luxe above.  Grain is not as flashy or desirable as the De Luxe model.

Jost Thames Briars: $25.00

I’ve seen these offered as blasted / rusticated pipes and look quite nice.  Most of the smooth finish Thames pipes are riddled with fills.  Good smokers but not much to look at (smooth).

Jost Sandblast Briars: $25.00

These are a great value.  The shop made sand-blasted pipes are usually quite large and snapped up very quickly by collectors.  The Comoy’s versions (with J shape #s) are of excellent quality and typically rather small compared to the shop-made variety.

Dukes Briars: $15.00

These come up very rarely.  The two I’ve seen in recent years are rather small in size.  Smooth finish with light / honey stain color.  Not sure what the story is behind these.

Now I knew the background on the pipe. I knew that the Supreme pipe was one of the higher end Jost’s in the Old English line. It was time to work on the pipe!

I decided clean up the pipe before I repaired the cracked shank. I reamed the bowl back to bare briar with a Pipenet Pipe Reamer using the third cutting head. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished the bowl clean up with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The walls were smooth and there was no sign of burning or checking. It looked very good.   I cleaned out the internals with 99% isopropyl alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I worked over the shank and the airway in the stem. It took some work but once finished it was clean and smelled fresh. With the internals clean it was time to work on the cracked shank. I drilled a small pinhole at the end of the crack on the right underside of the shank. I do this to stop the crack from further spreading. I fill in the pinhole with clear CA glue and built up the surface of the crack at the same time. I squeezed the crack together and held it until the glue set. I spread the glue with a dental spatula and pressed into the shank crack. Once the repair cured I sanded it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. I went through my bands and found a shank band/ferrule in nickel that was a snug fit on the shank. It was crowned and slightly dome so that would need to be flattened. I put the band a piece of dowel and used a ball peen hammer to flatten the top of the dome for a better fit with the stem.I heated the band with a lighter and pressed it onto the shank end. The fit of the ferrule to the shank was tight and it pulled the crack together even more than my clamping. It covered much of the stamping but the crack was quite long and I wanted some strong coverage. I put the stem on the shank and took photos of the new look of the pipe. I sanded the damage on the rim top and edges with 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove the majority of it with the sanding. There was some remaining darkening on the back inner edge of the bowl. I polished the bowl rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It took on a real shine by the time I finished with the last sanding pad. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the smooth rim and the sandblast finish on the bowl and shank. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the wood. I used a horse hair shoe brush to work it into the crevices and keep from building up in the valleys and crevices of the finish. Once the bowl was covered with the balm I let it sit for about 15 minutes and buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth and the shoe brush. I polished it with a microfiber cloth. I took photos of the pipe at this point in the process to show what the bowl looked like at this point. I used a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to try and flatten the remaining crown on the shank band/ferrule.Now it was time to address the part of the restoration I leave until last. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the deep grooves in the tenon to build it up and make it even. Once the repair cured I sanded it smooth to make it round and even once more. Once finished it looked better and the fit in the shank was very good. I wanted to adjust the bent in the stem as it had straightened a bit over time. I heated the blade with the flame of a Bic lighter. Once the vulcanite had softened I bent it to the correct angle and set the bend with cool water. It looks much better. I took the newly bent stem off the shank and worked on the stem surface to deal with the tooth marks and chatter. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and calcification off the surface of the stem. I build up the damage to the top of the button edge with black CA rubberized glue. Once it had cured I recut the button edge and flattened the repairs. I smoothed out the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing the stem with 600 grit wet dry sand paper. I use micromesh sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pad as I find it does two things – first it protects the vulcanite and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine Polish. I finished the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection from oxidizing quickly. The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I first buff the stem and the briar with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. Blue Diamond is a plastic polish but I find that it works very well to polish out the light scratches in the vulcanite and the briar. I work the pipe over on the wheel with my finger or thumb in the bowl to keep it from becoming airborne. It works well and I am able to carefully move forward with the buffing. The briar and stem just shone!   I finished with the Blue Diamond and moved on to buffing with carnauba wax. Once I have a good shine in the briar and vulcanite I always give the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I following up the wax buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I follow that up with a hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished vulcanite stem. It really is a beautiful pipe. The smooth finish around the shows the grain shining through the buffed natural finish of this Jost’s Supreme Diamond Shank Bent Billiard. The finished 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 1.62 ounces/46 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and the third of the five pipes for repair that I have ahead of me. Once I am finished with the lot he will get them back to enjoy once more. As always I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. 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.

Restoring a Lightly Smoked ICARUS Sandblast Apple with an Amber Acrylic Stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on is a nice looking sandblast reddish brown apple with a vegetable ivory shank band/adornment that I picked up in a lot of 10 pipes from a fellow on Vancouver Island who was selling his collection. The stamping on a smooth patch on the underside of the shank reads ICARUS [over] U.S.A. The amber coloured saddle stem has no stamping or marks. The pipe is a nice looking sandblast and I wonder if it is not made of  Strawberry bush or Arbutus. It is very light weight and comfortable to hold. The pipe came in a pipe sock stamped Icarus Pipes. I took the pipe out of the sock and turned it over in my hands. It was in pretty good condition. This is what I saw when I took it out of the pipe sock.

  1. The finish was dusty in the grooves and valleys of the sandblast finish. Otherwise it looked very good.
  2. The sandblast rim top showed some slight darkening on back and some grime in the sandblast. There was no lava build on the top and the edges were clean and undamaged.
  3. There was a light cake in the bowl. It held the aroma of the tobaccos smoked in it – fortunately not aromatic. The walls looked to be undamaged but once I removed the light cake I could confirm that.
  4. The amber acrylic saddle stem had no identifying logos or stamping. There was light tooth chatter and marks on both sides.

To summarize what I saw – this Icarus Sandblast Apple is a well made pipe. It is dusty but otherwise in good condition. The acrylic stem is lightly marked but otherwise undamaged. The look and feel of the pipe in the hand is great. It is going to clean up very well. Here are photos of the pipe before I started my clean up.  The bowl of the pipe looked very good. The sandblast rim top is clean other than a little darkening on the top and in the blast toward the back of the bowl. The edges of the bowl were undamaged and looked very good. I see no warning signs in the rim top or the edges of the bowl. I took photos of the acrylic stem to show its condition. Though hard to see there are light tooth marks and chatter on the surface of both sides ahead of the button but it should clean up easily with sandpaper.The next photo captures the stamping on the underside of the shank. They read as I have noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of it to give a sense of proportion.For me, as you know, the background information on a brand and line of pipes is an important part of the restoration. I Googled the brand and found a large variety of sellers who were selling the pipes. The first of these was a seller called Cigarworld and they had a great description of the pipe and the background on the brand (https://www.cigarworld.de/en/pfeifen/pfeifen/briarworks-icarus-90015964). I quote in full below:

Briar Works pipes from the USA in Europe? How does that happen? Sometimes you are lucky and find such beautiful pipes as “bycatch” from a cigar deal on an inventory list. Of course, you have to take action, not only for us, but also for you. Because with a probability bordering on certainty we will not be able to get any new “Briarworks” anytime soon.

The pipes are well made, all without a filter and with an acrylic mouthpiece.

The sandblasted pipes have an incredibly deep relief and are made from strawberry bushes (arbutus). The material has the same properties as briar, but is a little lighter.

The surfaces of the “CS models” are natural and thus contribute to the excellent smoking behavior. Every now and then, however, there is an untreated spot. But no putty!

The “N5” models are incredibly well made, have a great finish and are wax-polished.

Only while supplies last!

The site included a sandblast apple that was identical in shape, shank band and stem. The one I have is reddish in colour rather than black and the shank band is more yellowed and aged looking. The stem is also amber rather than black acrylic.From this listing I could see that pipes were made in limited numbers and that they were made by Briarworks – a company that I have bought a pipe from in the past. It was a company run by Todd Johnson and Pete Provost. I have several of Todd’s earlier pipes and really enjoy them and I have a nice Briarworks pipe that I also enjoy.

I followed some of the other links and found a listing on Pipes and Cigars that also listed the brand and gave some background information (https://www.pipesandcigars.com/shop/icarus-pipes-brand/1702038/). I quote:

Icarus pipes are the brain child of Todd Johnson and Pete Prevost. They have spent over a year building their pipe factory in Nashville, TN and are now ready to show the world what their hard work has achieved, an affordable pipe that smokes as good if not better then pipes costing hundreds of dollars. Their shapes are innovative and their engineering is precise. We love these pipes at P&C.

The was also information on smokingpipes.com. Some of the same information is given but there is also additional information (https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/Icarus/). I quote

Icarus is the brain-child of Todd Johnson, master pipe artisan and President/CEO of BriarWorks International, and was conceived with the simple goal of creating a brand of pipes which would deliver a combination of exacting engineering and superlative smoking qualities heretofore unseen in factory produced briars. In order to realize this lofty ambition, Johnson, along with the talents of Pete Prevost, brought to bear new methods of tenon adhesion, bits which are cut thinner than many produced by some of the most famous artisans of today, as well as continuously tapered, 18-22mm tobacco chambers. Not satisfied with merely having perfect interiors, Icarus features shapes which were designed by some of the world’s most famous and talented pipemakers, and are often accompanied by beautiful and well thought out accent materials.

The elfumador.com site has a great description that summarizes all the information that I have found on the various sites (http://elfumador.com/Icarus.html). I quote:

BriarWorks’ goal with Icarus Pipes was to create a serially produced pipe containing all of the elements present in a handmade pipe, but at a price point attainable by nearly every pipe smoker. Each pipe is precisely engineered and finished by hand. All of the pipes in the Icarus line are fitted with a custom designed, acrylic mouthpiece and often feature silver or acrylic embellishments.

Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. I started my work on the pipe by cleaning the internals. The cake was quite thin but it can hold residual oils from previous tobaccos and I wanted to check the bowl walls for burn damage or checking. I reamed it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife and took the cake back to bare briar. I sanded the walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I worked on them until they were smooth. There was no checking or burn damage to the bowl walls. It was quite clean. I cleaned out the internals of the shank and the airway in the stem with 99% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I worked them over until they were clean. I scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked the soap into the grooves and valleys in the finish. I rinsed it off with warm running water. I dried it with a soft cotton towel. The bowl looks much better at this point in the process of recovery. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the rusticated finish on the bowl and shank and the smooth rim top. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the wood. I used a horse hair shoe brush to work it into the crevices and keep from building up in the valleys and crevices of the finish. Once the bowl was covered with the balm I let it sit for about 15 minutes and buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth and the shoe brush. I polished it with a microfiber cloth. I took photos of the pipe at this point in the process to show what the bowl looked like at this point. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. It has a Delrin tenon in the stem that is in perfect condition and has a chamfered entrance to the airway in the tenon/stem. I dry sanded both sides of the stem with 1500-12000 grit pads to polish it further. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The shine grew deeper with each sanding pad. I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I wiped the stem down with a damp cotton pad afterwards and buffed it with a soft microfiber cloth. I put the Icarus Apple back together. I don’t buff the sandblast bowl on the wheel as it leaves a lot of grit in the deep grooves of the finis. I gave the bowl and shank multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a shoe brush to raise the shine. The wax is great protection and I love using it on sandblast finishes because it does not build up in the grooves and valleys like carnauba wax does. I buffed it by hand with a microfiber cloth to finish the shine. I polished the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish out the scratches in the acrylic. 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 contrast of the browns and reds of the stain on the briar with the shine of the polished vulcanite stem is quite stunning. The rich sandblast around the bowl and shank is quite remarkable and gives the pipe an incredible tactile presence. The Icarus Sandblast Apple beautiful pipe and one that will be a great smoking pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 4 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 a light and comfortable, 39 grams/1.38 ounces. This is the first Icarus pipe that I have worked on but not my first BriarWorks pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the American Pipemakers Section shortly. If you want to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.