I love these internal repairs Charles. You have certainly mastered this. Thanks for the clear step by step procedure.
There is an old adage that tiny problems become large problems if left unattended, and the pipe on the bench this week is a prime example of this …
Reviving a Hard Ridden Savinelli Freehand Bent Dublin
Blog by Steve Laug
I fired up my first bowl of tobacco in my UNSMOKED Hand Carved Dominik Kobryń Pencil Shank Dublin this weekend. I rubbed out some Seattle Pipe Club Christmas Spirit Plug. The pipe is stunning and feels great in my hand. The beautiful ring blast gives the pipe a very light weight and very tactile sense that will only be more when it heats up during a smoke. The pencil shank pipe is a dainty 5 inches long and 2 inches tall. It weighs in under 1 ounce at .95 ounces or 27 grams. I have included a few photos of the pipe before I loaded it up and smoked it.
If Dominik pipes are new to you I am including what I learned when I worked on the first pipe of this brand. When I started I knew nothing about the carver other than he did beautiful work so I turned to Pipedia to see what I could find (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dominik_Pipes). There was a listing for Dominik Pipes. He is a Polish Carver and I have included the short article in its entirety below.
Dominik pipes are made by Dominik Kobryń. His journey with pipes began in 1993 at a flea market, where he bought his first pipe. From that time his collection has grown a lot. He made his first pipe in December 2016. Dominik credits Wojtek Pastuch as his mentor, and is very grateful for that!
Dominik uses briar from Mimmo Romeo. He makes his stems by hand, mainly from Ebonite and Cumberland rods, but occasionally acrylic. He focuses on unique pipes that are well done technically.
From there I clicked on a link at the bottom of the page that took me to his Pipe sales website (http://www.dominikpipes.com/). Interestingly the site contained almost word for word the information that I had found on Pipedia.
My name is Dominik Kobryń. My journey with pipes began in 1993 on a flea market, where I bought my first pipe. From that time my collection has grown a lot.
I made my first pipe in December 2016. Wojtek Pastuch has taught me a lot about pipemaking and I am very grateful for that!
I use briar from Domenico Romero (Mimmo). I make stems by hand, mainly from ebonite rods and Cumberland, sporadically acrylic. I pay much attention to create unique pipes, well done technically.
The tobacco I chose for the inaugural smoke is a limited-edition version of Seattle Pipe Club’s Plum Pudding pipe tobacco called Christmas Spirit. I love the Plum Pudding tobacco so when this tobacco was released I got a hold of a tin of Christmas Spirit 2023. The tobacco had been cured with Apple Brandy and there was a cut piece of the wooden Brandy barrel in the tin. It is described by the sellers as a holiday mixture perfect for the season even though I am smoking it out of season. It builds upon a foundation of Plum Pudding Special Reserve — complete with mature Orientals, Latakia, Virginias, Perique, and Black Cavendish —and is aged in apple brandy barrels. 
I cut a chunk off the plug and rubbed out a bowl worth of the tobacco. It smelled divine and my mouth watered in expectation. I pressed the tobacco into the bowl leaving it slightly springy so air can be drawn through the tobacco. I did the first light with my lighter to singe the surface of the tobacco. I followed that with the second light to. The draught on the stem was perfect so I drew on the stem and pulled the smoke through the stem and into my mouth. The smoking of the pipe was effortless and once it was lit it burned evenly through the bowl. I enjoyed a flavourful smoke that was very good for a first bowl. The bowl coating that had been used did not affect the flavour or diminish it at all. It was a great smoke.
I took the loaded pipe up to my front porch and sat on chair there and enjoyed the amazing taste of a new to me tobacco. The draught on the pipe was flawless and the sandblast ring grain made the bowl a very cool smoking pipe even as it worked down the bowl.
The smoke lasted most of an hour and I enjoyed the relaxing ambience of the front porch, above the passersby on the sidewalk below. It is a great pipe and one that I will smoke again and again. If you have not looked at them on the Polish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store you should take a look there are some real beauties available there. You might find one that delivers the kind of smoke you would enjoy. Thanks.
Blog by Steve Laug
I have always liked the GBD 9438 shaped pipe and this one was one of the first that I picked up many years ago when I first started working on pipes. I found it at an antique shop. It was in the early days when I picked up most every pipe I found. I believe that like others I found in the early days this pipe cost me about $6CDN. Just remembering that reminds me how much things have changed over the years. It became a favourite shape of mine and over the years I have purchased many more 9438 pipes made by GBD for their main and their seconds lines such as Irwin and Dr. Plumb. I have added them to my collection. Here is a link to a blog I did on my collection back in 2013 (https://rebornpipes.com/2013/12/12/my-gbd-9438-saddle-stems-and-tapered-stem-rhodesians/). I have 12 – some were in rough shape and others not so bad. 
I have been sorting through my pipe collection and thinning out pipes that I am willing to part with. I have sold many already and others are currently on the store. For the most part these pipes have been early restorations and all need a bit of work to bring them up to my current standard. I have set aside three 9438 pipes that I decided to rework. The first of them is stamped on the left side Dr. Plumb [over] London Made. On the right side it is stamped London England [over] 943810. While it was very workable and I had actually smoked it quite a bit over the years I knew that original restoration on it was less rigorous than my current standards. So, before I listed it for sale I wanted to work it over again. I took photos of the pipe to give a sense of the beauty and the work that needed to be done.
I took photos of the pipe’s bowl and rim top to show the moderate cake in the bowl and some damage to the inner edge of the bowl. There was also burn damage on the rim top and darkening on the rear and front right top of the bowl. I also took photos to capture the condition of the stem. You can see in the first photo below the dark dot on the top of the saddle. It was originally a Dr. Plumb style logo but over time it had darkened. Fortunately, I am not a biter or stem chewer so there were no deep tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem. There was some oxidation on the vulcanite stem and some chatter around the button.
I took photos of the stamping on each side of the shank. It is readable and clear as noted above.
I took the stem off the shank and took a photo of the look of the pipe. It really is a beauty.
I decided to address the damage to the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. To deal with the burned inner edge of the rim and the rim top damage I lightly topped it on a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I used a piece of 220 grit sandpaper on a wooden ball to give the rim top a light bevel. It took a bit of work to smooth out the damage and lightly bevel the inner edge of the bowl. I used a Cherry stain pen to restain the rim top and begin the process of blending it in.
I reamed the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to take out the cake. I removed ti back to bare briar. I sanded the bowl walls with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel to smooth out the walls. It looked very good. No burn damage or checking on the bowl walls.
I scrubbed out the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. The shank was dirty though the stem airway was not too bad. It cleaned up well. 
I sanded the bowl and rim top to clean up the damage and repairs to the edge and start the polishing of the bowl. I used 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. It really began to take on a shine.
I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris on the surface.
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 a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth and shoe brush to raise the shine.
I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem. It was in good condition other than the light tooth chatter so 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. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.
This Dr. Plumb London Made 943810 Bent Rhodesian cleaned up much better this second time around and looks very good. The Before & After Restoration Balm brought the colours and grain out in the smooth finish on the pipe. It works well with the polished vulcanite saddle stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dr. Plumb London Made Rhodesian 943810 fits nicely in the hand and I think it will feel great as it heats up with a good tobacco. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ 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 1.76 ounces/50 grams. I will be adding this one to the British Pipemakers Section of the rebornpipes store shortly. If you want to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.
rebornpipes 