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!