Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

One of my customers very kindly sent me five pipes to clean up for him. I had the pleasure of working on some beauties and I thought I would share the results with all of you. I was sent two Jobeys and three Peterson Sherlock Holmes pipes. On this occasion, I did something different than I usually do: I restored all five at once, rather than one at a time. The results on the pipes were as good as usual, but the results on your author’s sanity were perhaps less good. This blog is more of a show-and-tell than my usual restoration stories. Onward ho!

Let’s examine the five pipes. First is a Jobey Band E79 partially rusticated bullmoose with a variegated, acrylic, fishtail, saddle stem. Second is a Jobey Hand-Rubbed 680 smooth bent egg with a black, vulcanite, fishtail, saddle stem. Third is a Peterson’s Sherlock Holmes Professor large bent billiard with a sterling silver band and a black, vulcanite, P-lip, tapered stem. Dated 1998. Fourth is a Peterson Sherlock Holmes Hansom large (and very tall) bent bulldog with a sterling silver band and a black, vulcanite, P-lip, tapered stem. Dated 1997. And fifth is a Peterson Sherlock Holmes (without a specific name) large bent Rhodesian with a sterling silver band and a black, vulcanite, P-lip, tapered stem. Dated 1987. I cleaned the outside of all of the stems with Murphy’s and the insides with pipe cleaners and Q-tips dipped in isopropyl alcohol. The vulcanite stems were tossed into the oxidation removal fluid for a good soak. I later cleaned off the oxidation and went to fill in the tooth dents with black cyanoacrylate adhesive. I worked off the high points with my needle files and sanded them all with Micromesh pads and Obsidian Oil. On to the stummels. I reamed out all the bowls and removed all of that old cake. Some bowls had lava on the rim, so I carefully removed that without damaging anything further. I also cleaned the outside of the stummels with Murphy’s. These stummels had been quite well maintained over the years, so there wasn’t much difficulty in cleaning out the gunk inside – with one exception. The Jobey bent egg had a hidden trap of debris inside that had evidently never been noticed. As the photos show, there was some dreadful goo to remove from there! I set all five pipes up for a de-ghosting session and, since I was doing them all at once, an egg carton made an excellent holder for multiple pipes at once.Again, four of the five stummels were in great condition and didn’t really need much work to the outside briar. The exception was that same Jobey egg – it had a couple of significant blemishes which I repaired with briar dust and cyanoacrylate adhesive. After this, all of the stummels were sanded down with Micromesh pads and then left to sit with a coat of Before and After Balm. It sort of moisturizes the wood and gives it a lovely gloss. I took the pipes to my bench buffer and spiffed them all up with some White Diamond and carnauba wax. My last stem was to polish the sterling silver ands with my jewellery cloth. And voilà! These beauties are already on their way back to their owner. I trust that he will enjoy their new and improved status. I hope you enjoyed reading this quick write-up of this lovely bunch of pipes. If you are interested in my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.