Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on them work table came to us from an estate sale in Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA on September 16, 2023. It is a BBB Highest Grade Rhodesian that is in good condition. It is stamped on the left side of the shank BBB in a diamond [over] Highest Grade. On the underside of the shank it is stamped Aged Imported Briar. The silver band covers the final letter of Briar. The silver is stamped Sterling on the top of the band. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has a medium brown stain on the finish that highlights the grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and had some oils ground into the bowl sides. There was some darkening on the rim top. The bowl had a thick cake and there was some light lava on the rim top and edges. The inside edge of the bowl was damaged and was slightly out of round. The saddle stem was oxidized, calcified, dirty and had tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem. The rim top and edges had a thick coat of lava built up and flowing from the bowl over the top. The was roughened and had some light tooth marks on both sides. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the lovely grain on the pipe. You can also see the nicks in the surface of the bowl and in the twin rings. It is a beauty.The stamping on the left and the underside of the shank is shown in the photos below. It looks very good and faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. Jeff captured the detail in the photos below. I have worked on many BBB pipes over the years but never one that was stamped like this one. I looked up information on the net and was unable to find any information on a pipe stamped like this one – Highest Grade Aged Imported Briar. Left with no added information on the brand, I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. You can see the clean bowl. The bowl is in excellent condition and looks very good. There is some darkening on the rim top and some damage on the inner edge of the bowl. The stem came out looking quite good. There are some tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the left and the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The photo clearly shows the stamping and is actually more readable in person. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe. I worked on the inner edge of the bowl to bring it back to round using a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It took some work to smooth out the damage. Before I sanded the rest of the bowl and rim top I wiped the bowl down with isopropyl alcohol on a cotton pad. It looked much better once the pipe had been cleaned. I sanded the bowl and rim top with 320-1500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the nicks in the surface and to remove the darkening around the rim cap and bowl sides. It looked far better than when I started. The bowl was in such good condition that I had to do some minimal work with it. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the small tooth marks on the surface on both sides with clear CA glue. Once the repair had cured I sanded it smooth to blend it into the surface of the vulcanite with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It worked well to smooth things out and once finished the stem looked much better. I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This BBB Highest Grade Silver Banded Rhodesian with a Saddle Stem has a beautiful, unique rich brown/red finish that highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. The polished black vulcanite saddle stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished BBB Highest Grade Rhodesian is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.01 ounces/30 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. If you are interested in adding it to your collection I will be adding it to the British Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. Thanks for your time.