Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff and I always keep an eye for Gourd Calabash pipes. We pick them up at a variety of spots – antique shops, auctions and periodically we purchase them in estates that we buy. We bought two calabashes from an estate of a pipeman in Plano, Texas, USA on 03/30/2022. This was a great example of a great looking Calabash. It has a well-made block meerschaum cup that fits well in the gourd. The meerschaum cup had a thick cake in the bowl some darkening around the inner edge and rim top. The cup had some patina developing around the cup top. The gourd itself was quite clean on the inside with some tars on the sides of the gourd. There is a new cork gasket around the gourd top that was dry but was in good condition and when rejuvenated would hold the cup in place. At the shank end of the gourd there was an acrylic shank extension. There was no stamping on the shank or gourd but it reminds me of many of the Pioneer Gourd Calabash pipes that I have worked on. The stem was well made fancy vulcanite and was oxidized, calcified and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started the clean up on the pipe. It should clean up amazingly well. Jeff took photos of the meerschaum cup, bowl and inner edge. You can see the moderate cake in the bowl. tars/lava around the inner edge of the bowl and the lava and darkening on the op round the bowl edge. He also took photos of the stem. It is oxidized, calcified and has light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. He took a photo of the gourd bowl and a close up of the briar shank extension. The fit of the meerschaum cup to the top of the gourd is snug and looks good. The acrylic shank extension fits well against the gourd and against the stem. He removed all the parts and took photos of the parts of the pipe showing the inside and the outside of the gourd and the meerschaum cup.Over the years I have worked on quite a few Gourd Calabash pipes like this one. The shank extension, the stem and the way the bowl fits all say to me that it is an American made Pioneer Gourd Calabash. As such it is hard to pin down a date for it. So, it was time to work on it. Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. He carefully reamed the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior of the gourd and the meerschaum 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 gourd with the soap and a brush as well. He cleaned the airway in 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 Briarville 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 meerschaum 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 was some 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 bowl with the stem removed to give a sense of how it looked. I also took it apart to show how clean the parts are. I started my work on the pipe by greasing the cork gasket in the inner edge of the gourd. I worked some Vaseline into the cork and set it aside to let it soften the cork and make it more elastic.I set the gourd aside to let the cork absorb the Vaseline and turned my attention to the meerschaum cup. I sanded the rim top and the underside of the cup with a set of 2 inch sanding pads for 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I used the 320-600 grit pads on the underside, the cone of the cup. I used the 1000-3500 grit pads on the rim edge and top. They work amazingly well and are easy to manage and sand smooth.I worked on the meerschaum cut with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with a damp cloth. It really began to have a rich shine by the last pad.   At this point I rubbed the meerschaum cup down with some Restoration Balm and buffed it off with a soft cloth. The cup really shone.I set the meerschaum cup aside and rubbed the gourd 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 gourd. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the bowl and shank surface. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The gourd really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. I put the cup on the gourd and gave both several coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed them by hand. The pipe really looked good at this point and once the stem was on it would be a beautiful pipe. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem at this point in the process. I sanded out the chatter and marks on the stem surface with a set of 2 inch sanding pads for 320-3500 grit sanding pads. They work amazingly well and are easy to manage and sand close to the sharp edge of the button. I polished 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 “Pioneer” Gourd Calabash with a Meerschaum Cup and took it to the buffer. I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond to polish the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in the vulcanite. 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 Meerschaum Cup Gourd Calabash – the vulcanite taper stem, the polished gourd and meerschaum cup combine to give the pipe a great look. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 8 inches, Height: 4 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 4.13 ounces/117 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the Ceramic and Meerschaum 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.