Daily Archives: April 15, 2024

Restoring a Comoy’s Consort 1057 Rhodesian with an Acrylic Saddle Stem

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a great looking Bent Rhodesian with great grain around the bowl. It has a well shaped variegated acrylic stem. We purchased it from an estate sale in Spring Branch. Texas, USA on 02/29/2024. I have included the photos below that the seller sent to me so I could see what the pipe looked like. When the pipe arrived Jeff took photos of it before cleaning it up. Here is what we saw. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Comoy’s [over] Consort. On the right side it is stamped Made in London in a circle [over] England. Underneath the COM stamp is the shape number 1057. To the left of that next to the stem shank junction it is stamped with a letter M. The acrylic stem has the newer Comoy’s C logo worn decal on the left side of the saddle. The bowl had been reamed recently and the inner edge of the bowl looked very good. The rim top has some grime and some lava on the surface. There were oils and grime ground into the bowl sides gives the finish a flat look though there is some great grain. The shank has a slight curve to it giving the pipe a Bent Rhodesian shape. The bend of the saddle stem matches the curves of the bowl and shank. The variegated rose acrylic stem is a dirty and has some light tooth chatter on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button.He took photos of the pipe’s bowl and rim top to show the reamed bowl and the spotty lava coat overflowing onto the top. He also took photos of the stem to capture its condition before clean up. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the rich grain around the bowl and the amount of grime ground into the surface of the briar. He took photos of the stamping on the sided of the shank. It is clear and quite readable. It reads as noted above. You can also see the decal of the Comoy’s logo on the side of the stem. It is worn off in places but still identifiable. I knew the pipe was probably newer and a Cadogan period pipe by the style of the stamping, the line and the acrylic stem but I wanted to see if I could get a cleared date on the pipe. I turned to Pipedia’s guide for dating Comoy’s pipes and have included what I found below (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Comoy%27s_Dating_Guide#%E2%80%9CMade_In%E2%80%9D_Stamp). I quote the pertinent section –

Made in London England

Appears in two versions. This is again stamped in a circle with “MADE” at the top, “IN” in the middle, and “LONDON” at the bottom, with “ENGLAND” in a straight line beneath. It can be assumed that this stamp was first used in the export drive in the early 1950s. On a Bulldog Sandblast from the early 50s the Comoy name no. 2 above was used together with “MADE IN LONDON” over “ENGLAND”. There are no known examples of pre-WW II Comoy’s stamped in this way. The second version is the same as above but in a “rugby ball ” shape…

I was correct in assuming it is Cadogan produced the English line. The Rhodesian I am working is a Comoy’s shape 1057. It is a real beauty and the variegated stem looks very good with it. Now it was time to work on it.

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He cleaned up the inside of the bowl with a PipNet reamer and a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. The bowl walls looked very good. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with shank brushes, pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and rinsed it with warm water to remove the soap and debris. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show how clean it was. The top and the inner edge of the rim look quite good with just some small scratches. The stem looks clean of debris and grime. There are light tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of shank. The stamping is clear and readable (much clearer in person than the photos show). I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe. I started polishing the bowl by sanding it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding dust. It looked better and the scratches disappeared. I polished the briar bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the debris. The bowl took on a rich glow. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for 10 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. Mark Hoover’s Balm is a product that I have come to appreciate and one I use on every pipe I have been working on. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the chatter on the surface of the stem.I polished the acrylic with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I put the stem back on the Comoy’s Consort 1057 Rhodesian and took it to the buffer. I worked over the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax on the wheel 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. The pipe polished up really well and the rim top and edge looked good. I was happy with the look of the finished pipe. The photos below show what the pipe looks like after the restoration. The rich reddish, brown bent Rhodesian is a beautiful take on a classic shape. The polished acrylic saddle stem looks really good with the rich reds of the briar. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.76 ounces/50 grams. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers and Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. This Bent Rhodesian looks and feels great in the hand. This one should be a great smoker. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

A Brand-New Jima Pipe

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Welcome to the wonderful world of Jima! Are you interested in metal pipes? Are you interested in strange system pipes? Are you interested in French pipes? Are you interested in futuristic designs? Well, have I got a pipe for you! One sees Jima pipes from time to time, but it’s particularly nice to see an unsmoked one. Today, I’m putting this new Jima up for sale. Let me tell you a bit about them. The following information is from Pipedia:

French brand created in the 1960s by Mayeux, which had a very modern look. This modern look was emphasized by the manufacturer in the promotion material. The slogan speaks of “La pipe de l’an 2000” or “The pipe of the year 2000”. The factory was sold to Chapel Frères & Cie, which became part of the Berrod-Regad group in 1987. The Jima pipe is no longer made. Although Pipedia says “created in the 1960s”, I can provide the more exact date of 1963. It was marketed until the mid-1970s. The pipe shown in the above ad is actually a much rarer version of the Jima – it has its metal bars wrapped around the outside of the plastic case.Much of what is written in the Pipedia article is, in fact, blatantly ripped off from the website of the Amsterdam Pipe Museum. The original article from which this is taken was in Dutch, but here is their English translation:

A special product of French origin is the Jima pipe, for export also known under the name Garland. It concerns a pipe having a different shape provided with a silver-plated or gold-plated steel metal frame, connecting a plastic mouthpiece with a plastic outer shell that houses the pipe bowl. This plastic pipe comes in different colours, with black and ivory as the most popular. More modern versions are mottled in pastel shades, whose sales stay far below any level. The inner bowl looks like meerschaum but is actually made of pressed white clay. The stem has a specific filter system which consists of a wound spiral, the so-called “filtres serpentins helicoidaux”, which according to the product information is electrostatic. To access the filter the stem can be unscrewed, although in other instances a user-friendly spring system is applied. At the top of the mouthpiece we often read “Breveté France & Etranger” or “Modèle Deposé Made in France”.

Jima was certainly futuristic looking and, by all accounts, they smoke very well. The Smoking Metal website has also has an entry on Jima pipes, which is worth looking at. Additionally, Elie’s Freehand Pipes has several photos – with this particularly useful photo of a partially disassembled Jima:Even more helpfully, there is a French website called PBMI. This stands for Pipes en Métal à Bol Interchangeable, which, in English, means Metal Pipes with Interchangeable Bowls. They have some interesting information for those who read French and many photos for those who don’t. Most interesting of all, however, is a brief article in the French edition of Popular Mechanics in March 1963. I have translated the article for you all here below:

All new in its shape, its technique and the materials that make it, this pipe is like a pocket hookah. The bowl is made of a permeable silica-alumina clay and has no taste. The bowl is cooled during smoking because it is mounted with a radiation ring and housed in a special plastic case. As a result, the air circulates easily, through holes in the bottom and by an annular slit located under the radiation ring.

The pipe is very light and the bowl can be easily replaced, if necessary. It is connected to the tip by two fixed side rods and a removable condenser-radiation tube that can be emptied instantly. This radiation tube contains a newly-developed, electrostatic spiral filter which has many surfaces to trap tobacco tar and condensation. This coil, coated with an insulating aluminum oxide film, suspended by two insulating joints, causes an electrostatic effect, resulting in the quick condensation of nicotine and other alkaloids. The smoke is cooled, to the satisfaction of the smoker and those around him. This newly designed and produced pipe is very healthy.Anyway, all in all, a fascinating piece of pipe history and design. It is bound to be a great smoker and it is available now. If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the French pipe Section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5⅔ in. (144 mm); height 1⅝ in. (40 mm); bowl diameter 1½ in. (38 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1¼ oz. (39 g). If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.