01 | September | 2023

By Al Jones

This Comoy’s Deluxe bent billiard showed on up on Ebay and caught my eye. I really enjoy small, bent billiards and this one seemed to fit the bill, although I had never seen a Shape 70 Before. The Deluxe line is particularly appealing, featuring a Sterling silver cap and military stem. The caps are never hallmarked, so I assume destined only for US sales. Unbeknownst to me, this seller was part of the GBD Collectors Facebook page, and only after he accepted my offer, did we make the connection. He had already restored the pipe, which is why I titled this entry a “tune-up”.

Below is the pipe as shown on Ebay. The stem looked like it had an odd kink that I knew was an easy fix. The pipe was in ready to smoke condition. I always like to put my own final prep to stems. My GBD friend had really done a nice job with this pipe, including packing it (Ebay seller Donal-Col) and I had a big smile on my face unpacking it. The sandblast shows some very nice grain, a bit unusual for a Comoy’s Sandblast of that era, which are typically not noteworthy.

I’ve restored over one hundred Comoy’s pipes in the past decade, but never encountered this Shape 70. Indeed, I found almost no examples via Google, save a 2nd line example sold by Smoking Pipes. From that photo and a 1964 catalog page, I saw the stem needed a more graceful half-bend. The pipe was quite small, at 35 grams (much like the Sasieni Regent shape). Below is the catalog page from 1964 that shows a nice example of the bend in the stem.

I removed the stem, inserted a greased cleaner (the pipe easily passes a cleaner!). I heated the stem on both sides with my Hobby-Lobby heat gun. I had a tub of cold water ready, to set the bend. I use a large restaurant weight to get the correct bend. I also used the heat gun to lift some of the small dents. I polished it to a higher sheen with 800, 1500, 2000 grit paper, then buffed it with White Diamond and Meguiars Plastic Polish. Below is the finished stem.

That was it, the pipe was ready to enjoy! Below is the finished pipe. I am enjoying it as I write this article. No ghosting, so again, the seller did a great job. The shape and size are perfect!

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is smooth finished Peterson’s London& Dublin Canadian pipe that had a very dirty/grimy finish but had some good looking grain around the bowl sides and shank. It came to us from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on 10/03/2022. This Lightweight Canadian was stamped on the left side of the shank and read Peterson’s [over] London & Dublin. It was stamped on the right side and read London Made [over] England. On the underside near the shank/stem junction it is stamped 35P. The pipe was in filthy condition when he brought it to the table. The finish was dirty with grime ground into the briar sides and rim. There was a thick cake in the bowl and a coat of lava on the rim top but the edges of the bowl. The inner edge of the bowl was rough and looked like it had been reamed with a knife and had a lot of rough edges. The stem was dirty but there was no oxidation or calcification on it. There were tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside on and near the button. There was no “P” stamp logo on the taper stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the promise that we see in this pipe. Jeff took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is caked and the rim top has a lava coat and the inner edge of the bowl is rough and shows knife damage. The photos of the stem show tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the amazing grain that was around this bowl. It is a nice looking pipe. He took photos of the sides of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is readable in the photos below and is as noted above. I am including the link to the Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Peterson’s London Made England line. On page 296-297 it had the following information.

MADE IN over ENGLAND and variations shown below (1936-62) Peterson maintained a factory in England for about a quarter of a century, from the late 1930s to ’62. Corporate transcripts and London business periodicals suggest the London operation on White Lion Street was about to get underway in ’37. Only a handful of London hallmarked Petersons are documented, stamped with date marks of 1936 and 1939, and these have no COM stamp. Their output would be limited by the onset of the Battle of Britain in July 1940, but it seems reasonable to suppose pipes were made in the London factory during WWII, inasmuch as the K&P Staff Register lists twelve employees earning wages there in January ’44. London hallmarked Petersons have been identified with dates of 1949-54. Most London made Petersons in a collector’s inventory were made in these postwar years, from 1949 until the closing of the factory in ’62. This narrow range of dates is probably the most reliable indicator of years when the stamp and the variations listed below were employed. The presence of one variation or another on a pipe is not by itself a reliable indicator of age.

Made In over England

Made In England forming a circle

Made In England forming an ellipse

Made in England in a line

A “Peterson’s Product” over Made In England

A Peterson’s Product over Made In England

A Peterson Product over Made in England

Made In over Great Britain

Great Britain

London Made over England

London Made

Now I knew a date range for the pipe I was working on – 1949-1962. I have underlined and made the text bold in the above list to show the stamping on the pipe I am working on. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and the darkened spots with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better when it arrived. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top had some looked quite good and the inner edge had some darkening and damage. It should clean up really well. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the tooth marks on the surface near the button. I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is clear and readable. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to have a look at the parts and overall look. I decided to address the damage on the rim top and the hacked inner edge of the bowl first. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage and bring the bowl back to as close to round as possible. The thinness of the walls did not leave a lot of room to work with so it is better but not perfect. I used a walnut stain pen to stain the inner edge of the bowl and the rim top to match the rest of the pipe. I polished the bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped down the bowl after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the bowl and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a “Bic” lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to raise them and I sanded the remaining marks to blend them into the surface of the surrounding vulcanite. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil.I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Oil to preserve and protect the stem. I am excited to finish this London Made English Peterson’s London & Dublin, Canadian 35P. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful mixed grain all around it. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem combined with the bowl and brass band on the shank and made a stunning pipe. This smooth Classic Older Peterson’s London & Dublin English Made Canadian 35P is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 34grams/1.20oz. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be putting on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers Section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection send me an email or a message. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

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 pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.