Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on ye olde chopping block is a charming pipe from France and it dates back a century – or more. It’s a very attractive bent billiard pipe that I acquired in a lot from France. Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting a young man studying for the priesthood. While he as visiting the Vancouver area, he told me he was interested in acquiring a pipe. I had him over to the house and showed him many pipes. He picked this very pipe. He wanted one of modest size and this fit the bill very well. The briar wood was quite lovely and it had an equally fetching stem made of horn. There was also a nickel band around the shank which read, S [over] LV. This was next to some blackletter characters that I couldn’t quite make out. Meanwhile, the markings on the left side of the shank read: Dr Wolf [over] BTE. S.G.D.G. The Dr Wolf part was clear enough, but I needed to confirm what the other letters referred to. I was fairly sure this was something to do with French patents, but I googled to make sure. Indeed, it was a type of French patent, extant between 1844 and 1968. The letters BTE. S.G.D.G. stand for Breveté Sans Garantie du Gouvernement, meaning “patent without government guarantee”. As Wikipedia explains:

In France, the law of 1844 states that patents are issued “without prior examination, at the risk of the applicant and with no guarantee of function, novelty and merit of the invention also in terms of precision or accuracy of the description”. Back to the brand name, Dr Wolf. This was tricky – I wasn’t familiar with the brand Dr Wolf and there was nothing about it online – except for one seemingly unhelpful advertisement. This ad was on an antique shop’s website and it was listed as being from the “end of the 19th century”. I was annoyed by the lack of information, but I am nothing if not tenacious in discovering the history of pipes – especially French pipes, for which I have a particular fascination. I saved that advertising image to my computer, so I could show it in this article.My first step was consulting both Wilczak & Colwell and my own personal database of French pipe makers and, of course, there was no listing for “Dr Wolf”. However, in my database, the name, “Wolf”, did appear in the listing for a late-19th century pipe maker: CC Paris. Here is the write-up from Pipedia on CC Paris:

Every collector of antique pipes knows that pipe factory and retail store catalogs from the 1800s – early 1900s are as rare as hen’s teeth to find…and an even rarer occasion, when found complete and in good to better condition. This fragile catalog from this little-known French manufactory, merchandised its pipes with the logo of a triangle bearing the letters “C C Paris” embossed in fitted cases. Cases with this logo are known, but the Wolf and Mathiss name, until now, was not known as the factory behind the retail establishment.

Wolf & Mathiss was originally known as Cawley & Henry, a pipe manufacturer founded in 1867. The product line was fairly robust, catering to not only pipe and cigar smokers, but also to cigarette consumers, because the catalog includes cigarette rolling papers that, according to company information, had received silver medals at two expositions, Anvers (1885) and Paris (1889).Unfortunately, the name “Wolf” is not uncommon and there was nothing to suggest that this Wolf was the same as Dr Wolf. There was also no indication of what the given names were for either Mr Wolf or Mr Mathis. As a side note, I assume that the correct spelling is “Mathiss”, not “Mathis”, as shown on Pipedia. A 1907 copy of Kelly’s Directory of Merchants, Manufacturers and Shippers lists the name with a single “S”.However, the Pipedia page for CC Paris made me wonder about a connection to Dr Wolf. First of all, the pipes on catalogue pages shown there bear some resemblance to my Dr Wolf pipe – hardly a definitive clue, but interesting nonetheless. The other thing that struck me was the logo, shown here:There is no obvious reason why the logo would be of interest, but I recognized it and couldn’t remember where I’d seen it. I love researching pipe history, but it’s always frustrating when one hits a dead end. And then it struck me! That logo! I’d seen it in the very same advertisement I downloaded earlier. Here it is (zoomed in) and look what it shows!!!So there we have it – the Wolf of Wolf & Mathiss must, in fact, be Dr Wolf. I am delighted to have made this discovery. It completes the loop between the relevant pipe makers and demonstrates the origin of the Dr Wolf name.

Clearly, this particular pipe had been well-loved, as it arrived well worn, with plenty of filth inside, a few dents in the work, gouges in the horn stem, and scratches all over the rim. Interestingly, this pipe had an orific button at the end of the stem, a feature that apparently disappeared by the 1930s, so it must be around a hundred years old. For more information on the orific button, take the time to read Steve’s interesting article on the subject. Well, time to get to work! I started by wiping the stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads, then cleaned out the inside with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. Fortunately, it wasn’t overly dirty, and it only needed a handful of pipe cleaners. One of the odd features of this pipe was that the tenon was also made of horn. I quite liked that feature, but it did make it a pain to clean. I built up the bite marks and gouges on the stem with clear cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure. Following that, I sanded the adhesive down with 220- and 400-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely grain of the horn on the stem, with some Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing.

Now for the stummel. Firstly, I decided to ream out the bowl. I used the PipNet Reamer 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. I also took this opportunity to wash the stummel with Murphy’s Oil Soap and remove as much grime as I could. Following this, of course, I cleaned out the insides with the requisite pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. Boy, it was dirty! One issue that complicated the cleaning of the stummel was the mortise was lined with cork. This was a nifty feature, but I had to ensure that I didn’t damage the cork as I used the alcohol and implements to clean the insides. In order to restore it a bit, I added petroleum jelly to the cork with a cotton swab.The rim was so badly scratched that I had to “top” the pipe – that is, I gently and evenly sanded the rim on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. This effectively removed the damage without altering the look of the pipe.The old patina was nice enough that it didn’t need a new stain so I cleaned it with some Murphy’s and then set it for a de-ghosting. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some Castile soap and tube brushes. Due to the wear on the rim of the pipe, I used my wood sphere, wrapped in 220-grit sandpaper, to create a beautiful, chamfered edge on the rim. This also helped return the opening of the bowl to round. I think the results turned out very nicely. I then finished it up by sanding with my Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit). Then applying some Before & After Restoration Balm added that je ne sais quoi which brings out the wood’s beauty. One of the issues you will have noticed in the photos is that the stem’s tenon didn’t fit well in the shank’s mortise. In order to make it fit properly, I built up one side of the tenon with some clear cyanoacrylate adhesive. This worked like a charm and the fit was perfect after I fiddled with the adhesive for a bit.I also cleaned the nickel band with SoftScrub and that worked well. I also gave it a polish with a few of my finer MicroMesh pads – then finished with my jewellery cloth which added some much-needed pizzaz. Finally, it was off for a trip to the buffer. A dose of White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax were just what this pipe needed.This is a handsome pipe with a classic look and feels very comfortable in hand. The lovely shine made the wood very attractive, and I know that the new owner will enjoy smoking it for many years to come. I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe 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 email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.