Nice job on that one John. I like these odd pipes that are apart of the quest for a cooler, drier smoke.
Written and photographed by John M. Young I love to read old pipe advertisements from the 1940s and 1950s. Where else can you find gems like “bitter…
A Henry Leonard & Thomas Inc. Royalton Crown Billiard Restoration
Blog by Steve Laug
The pipe on the table is a rusticated Brigham Bent Acorn that came to me for restoration from a Alex who shipped it to me from Quebec. He had written recently to ask about restoring the pipe. Here is what he wrote at that point.
Hello,
I was gifted a Brigham from my grandfather who passed away in 1982.
The pipe still has the filter and had tobacco that I tossed out. It has heavy cake, the bottom of the bowl is now V shape and not U shape.
Also, I can’t get a pipe cleaner to pass the shank and get into the bowl, yet I can get air when I sip it.
How much would it cost to restore this pipe?
Thanks, Alex
We discussed what it would cost and chatted back and forth through emails. I asked him to send me some photos of the pipe so I could see what I would be dealing with. He sent the photos that I have included below that really give a clear picture of the pipe and what needs to be done with it. I told him I would take it on and he dropped it into the post for me to work on.
The pipe arrived in Vancouver in this morning’s post. I opened the box and I examined the pipe carefully and no additional issues arose that I had not seen in the photos that Alex sent. I wrote Alex an email regarding what I saw. Here is my assessment:
This Brigham is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank and reads 289 (shape number) followed by Brigham in script (over) Canada. There was a thick cake in the bowl leaving it almost conical as Alex noted. There was a lava overflow on the smooth rim top that was heavier on the back side of the top. The inner edge of the bowl were in good condition with a few small nicks and some darkening. The rusticated finish is dirty and dusty. The stem was oxidized and spotty on the top and underside and around the shank end. The stem did not have tooth marks or chatter. There were two brass dots on the left side of the taper stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started my cleanup work on it.
I took a close-up photo of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl. The rim top shows the thick lava on the back half of the rim top. The inner edge of the bowl shows an overflow of thick lava and cake. I took photos of the top and underside of the stem surface and button to show its general condition. It looked very good under the spotty oxidation. 
I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank on the smooth patch. It is very clear and readable.
I removed the stem from the shank and was not surprised to see the Brigham Hard Maple filter in the metal tenon. You can see the two brass dots on the left side of the stem in the photo below.
I thought it would be helpful to give you all the background of the brand for those unfamiliar with the brand. I am including the information from Pipedia on Brigham pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history and background on the pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Pipes). Charles Lemon (Dadspipes) has recently published a book on the history of the brand. If you can get a hold of a copy it is a great read. The Pipedia article is a good summary. I have included it below.
Roy Brigham, after serving an apprenticeship under an Austrian pipesmith, started his own pipe repair shop in Toronto, in 1906. By 1918 the business had grown to include five other craftsmen and had developed a reputation across Canada for the high quality of workmanship. After repairing many different brands of pipes over the years, Roy noted certain recurring complaints by pipe smokers, the most common referred to as “tongue bite”. Tongue bite is a burning sensation on the smoker’s tongue, previously thought to be due to the heat of the smoke (i.e. a “hot smoking pipe”).
He soon began manufacturing his own pipes, which were lightweight, yet featured a more rugged construction, strengthening the weak points observed in other pipes. The problem of tongue bite intrigued him, and he decided to make overcoming it a future goal.
About 1938, Roy’s son Herb joined him to assist in the business. The business barely survived the great depression because pipes were considered to be a luxury, not a necessity, and selling pipes was difficult indeed. In approximately 1937 [1], after some experimentation, Roy and Herb discovered that tongue bite was in fact a form of mild chemical burn to the tongue, caused by tars and acids in the smoke. They found that by filtering the smoke, it was possible to retain the flavour of the tobacco and yet remove these impurities and thereby stop the tongue bite.
Just as Thomas Edison had searched far and wide for the perfect material from which to make the first electric light bulb filaments, Roy & Herb began experimenting with many materials, both common and exotic, in the quest for the perfect pipe filter. Results varied wildly. Most of the materials didn’t work at all and some actually imparted their own flavour into the smoke. They eventually found just two materials that were satisfactory in pipes: bamboo and rock maple. As bamboo was obviously not as readily available, rock maple then became the logical choice.
They were able to manufacture a replaceable hollow wooden tube made from rock maple dowelling, which when inserted into a specially made pipe, caused absolutely no restriction to the draw of the pipe, yet extracted many of the impurities which had caused tongue bite. The result was indeed a truly better smoking pipe…
Charles Lemon has also written a great article on the stamping and marking on the Brigham pipes that fit into a time line that he has drafted. It is well worth a read and is fascinating. (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Pipes_%E2%80%93_A_Closer_Look_at_Dots,_Dates_and_Markings). I quote from the pertinent section on the time frame for this pipe.
I have dubbed the decades between 1980 and 2000 the Late Canadian Era, a period that saw several changes at Brigham that are of note to the collector. First, the traditional 8-grade pinning system (the famous Brigham “Dots” which denoted the quality of the pipe) was changed to a 7-grade system to simplify pinning (more on this below), and the Norsemen and Valhalla series were merged to form the President Series, which represented the very finest pipes coming out of the Toronto factory. Early pipes from this era (left, below) are stamped with a shape number and “Brigham” over “Canada”; later pipes (late 1980s+, on right below) are stamped simply with a shape number and the Brigham logo.
This solidly places the pipe I am working on in the period of Brigham production that Charles calls the Late Canadian Era (1980-2000). It is a great looking pipe with a slightly different rustication pattern than some of the early Brighams I have worked on.
Charles also put together a chart that helps the restorer to understand the Brigham dot system. I quote from the same link on Pipedia as noted above. Since this pipe could be from the 1980s I have included the chart below.
The Original Brigham Dot System 1938 – 1980
Brigham pipes are renown in the pipe world for their famous “Brigham Dots”, a system of brass pins inset in the stem to denote the grade of each pipe. The original 8-grade pinning system, used for 42 years between 1938 and 1978 (spanning the Patent, Post-Patent and Canadian Eras) looked like this: 
With the information from Charles’ article and the chart above I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping and the age of this pipe. The pipe was made between in 1970-1980 because of the style of the stamping noted above. The 2 dots on the pipe told me that it was a Brigham Select. Now it was time to work on the pipe.
I began my work by reaming the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the third cutting head to take the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The walls were clean and showed no damage from heat.
I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and the rim a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. It looked much better and the dust and debris was gone.
I used a brass bristle wire brush to cleanup the thick cake on the rim top. It worked very well to remove the remnant on the top of the rim. It looks much better.
I scrubbed out the internals with 99% isopropyl alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the shank and the airway into the bowl and the stem were clean. 
I worked on the rim top and inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage and marks.
I polished the smooth rim top and smooth patches on the bowl sides with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad. The rim top and patches took on a deep shine that highlighted the grain. 
I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush 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.
With that done, the bowl was finished other than the final buffing. I set it aside and turned my attention to the stem. I scrubbed the surface of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the oxidation on the surface of the vulcanite. It came out looking much better.
I sanded out the remaining oxidation and the tooth marks with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. They take the surface from rough to shiny by the time I use the 3500 grit pad. 
Before polishing the stem further, I decided to fit it with a new Rock Maple Distillator.
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 Brigham Canada 289 Bent Acorn. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. 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 and hand buffed it with microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the rusticated finish. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem with the shining brass pins was beautiful. This mixed grain on the rusticated Brigham Select 2 Dot 289 Bent Acorn 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: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.69 ounces/48 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be heading back to Alex to smoke in memory of his Grandfather. Thanks for walking through the cleanup with me as I worked over this pipe.
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.
Blog by Steve Laug
The next pipe I am working on was purchased on 12/13/2022 as part of a group of pipes from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark. This was a dirty pipe with a lot of wear and tear and obviously it had been someone’s favourite smoker. The pipe has an identifying plate on the topside of the shank that reads Stanwell [over] 1987. There was no other stamping on the shank and the silver plate confirmed for me that it was a Stanwell Pipe of the Year. The dirty sandblast finish was not able to hide the beauty in the grime. There were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. The bowl had a moderate cake that flowed over the top of the smooth rim in a spotty coat of a lava and it was hard to assess the condition of the inner edge. The stem was a black vulcanite taper stem with a silver Crown S on the topside. It had some tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I had a lot of oxidation and calcification on both sides of the stem. It had a lot of potential. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work. 
Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the moderate cake and spotty lava coat covering the rim top. There appeared to be a fill in a flaw on the rim top and inner edge at the left rear of the bowl. It really was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. He also took photos of the stem surfaces to show its overall condition when it arrived. 
The photos of the sides and heel of the bowls show beautiful grain around the bowl and shank sides. The sandblast is nicely done and highlights the grain. The brown stain on the briar adds depth finish on the pipe and makes the grain really stand out on the smooth parts. It shows some promise.
He also took a photo of the stamped silver plate on the topside of the shank. It reads as noted above. The silver crown “S” inlay on the top of the stem is tarnished but a beauty.
I turned to the internet to find out information about the Stanwell Pipe of the Year. I came across this interesting article and shape chart on the Blue Room Briars site where they listed a collection of the POYs (https://www.blueroombriars.com/blogs/news/the-stanwell-pipe-of-the-year-collection). I have included the shape chart and part of the article below for the information that it contains.
…Recently, Blue Room Briars acquired a complete Stanwell Pipe of the Year (POY) collection spanning from 1980 – 2017. Looking at these pipes in detail reveals some interesting insights into Stanwell’s production, although it should be noted that these findings are not the final say on when a particular pipe was made, but we hope you can use it as a guide when trying to determine the era of manufacture for Stanwell pipes made after 1980.
The first pipe of note is the 1980 POY. This pipe does not come with the engraved silver plaquette. The pipe also sports a traditional vulcanite mouthpiece.
Between 1981 and 1998, the Stanwell pipes from the POY collection have the addition of silver plaquettes denoting the year, a traditional vulcanite mouthpiece, and also have a Teflon lined mortise. This is an interesting feature that creates a very stable connection between the mortise and tenon, as well as allowing the mortise to be swabbed out easily for maintenance. It wouldn’t be unwarranted to believe that other Stanwell pipes with a Teflon sleeved mortise were probably made between the 1980s to late 1990s. This additional, and costly, feature demonstrates Stanwell’s commitment to quality manufacturing even into the last portion of the 20th century.
Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean off the grime off the finish and the overflow of lava on the rim top. The cleaning had removed the grime on the rim top. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove all of the oils and tars in the pipe. He soaked the stem in Briarvilles Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and was able to remove much of the oxidation, calcification. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration.
I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition once it arrived in Canada. Jeff was able to clean up the cake and the lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. The rim top looked very good but there seemed to be light damage and darkening to the top and inner edge of the bowl. The stem looked better, though there were light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. 
I took a photo of the stamping on the silver plate on the topside of the shank to show that it was readable and undamaged by the cleanup work. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of what the pipe looks like.
I started my work on the inner edge and rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I also used a wooden ball and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the inner bevel of the rim. It took some work but I was able to remove the damage and the darkening. It looked much better. 
I started polishing the smooth rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The smooth rim top began to take on a rich shine and grain was beginning to stand out. You can also see the fill on the left rear of the rim top. I sanded with all of the pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a soft cloth.
I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I used a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the sand blast. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have 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 polished the silver plaque on the topside of the shank with a jewellers cloth to remove the slight remaining oxidation and to protect and preserve it. 
I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem at this point in the process. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic Lighter to lift the tooth marks on both sides. I was able to lift the majority of them. I filled in one mark on each side of the stem ahead of the button. I used a small file to flatten out the repairs. I sanded the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper.
I polished the vulcanite stem surface and repairs near the button with a new product I am using. I ordered a set of 2 inch sanding pads for 320-3500 grit sanding pads from Amazon. They work amazingly well and are easy to manage and sand close to the sharp edge of the button. 
I polished light tooth marks and chatter out of the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil.
I polished the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry.
I put the stem back on the Stanwell Pipe of the Year 1987 Dublin pipe and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful Stanwell POY 1987 – the vulcanite taper stem and smooth rim top and sandblast finish combine to give the pipe a great look. The polished black, vulcanite stem looks really good with the rich browns standing out in the sandblast. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.20 ounces/34 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the Danish Pipe Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!
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. 
rebornpipes 