Refreshing a NOS Unsmoked Manx Meerschaum Bronze Elite 03 Rhodesian

by Steve Laug

I wanted to work on something a little different before getting back to more briar. I chose a Manx Meerschaum pipe that I purchased from a seller in England. It was unsmoked and came in its original box with the plastic bag still holding the unsmoked pipes. Being a Manx pipe, it was made on the Isle of Man by the Laxey Pipe Factory which closed in 2002. This NOS ¼ Bent Rhodesian was in excellent unsmoked condition. It has a flume finish – darkened at the top of the rim and partway down the bowl sides. The bowl is light tan/white in colour on the rest of the bowl. The bowl is very clean other than the dust of sitting so long in the box and plastic. There is a Delrin insert in the shank for strengthening of the meer. The stem is in unused condition with no oxidation and no tooth marks or chatter on the stem surface. The seller sent me photos of the pipe before we closed out deal on the pipe. It is quite nice and the box is undamaged. I did some research on the Laxey Pipe Ltd. who made the Manx Meerschaum pipe. I have included that information below.

My research on the origins of the Manx Bronze Elite 2 Block Meerschaum name can be summarized like this: It was made with African Meerschaum from the Tanganyika Meerschaum Corporartion (Tanganyika Meerschaum Corporation – Pipedia) and produced by Laxey Pipe Ltd. on the Isle of Man. 

Here is the Pipedia information on Laxey Pipes Ltd.:

Laxey Pipes Ltd. resided in a historical 19th century four-storey Man stone building at The Quay, Old Laxey, Isle of Man, which thankfully has been preserved.

The company specialized in the production of meerschaum pipes using the Meerschaum mined by the Tanganyika Meerschaum Corporation in the Amboseli basin in Tanganyika (since 1964 part of the United Republic of Tanzania).

Please note: you may often find names like “Manx Pipes Ltd.”, “Man Pipe Co.” and others more, but there is no indication of another Isle of Man pipe producer other than Laxey Pipe Ltd. at any time!

Laxey Pipes Ltd. marketed their own brands like “Manxpipe”, “Manxman”, “Manxland” e.c. Names like “John Bull”, “White Knight” (unwaxed), “Domino” (black, or lined) indicated some shapes / colours of Laxey’s own series. The stems either showed the astronomical sign for “male” or “man” (circle + arrow), or the crest of the Isle of Man, the 3-legged X in a circle. Manxpipes and Laxey’s other brands were available through pipe retailers in general, but also were sold (mainly) to tourists through their own shop in Laxey.

Furthermore Laxey Pipes Ltd. manufactured the meer bowls for Peterson, Barling, Nørding and others from the later 1960’s until 2001. Man Pipe e.g. was a brand distributed by Comoy’s. The bowls usually showed no nomenclature indicating the orderer. “Genuine Block Meerschaum” was engraved frequently. Often, just the stems were different, while bowls were the same.

Supply of meerschaum from East Africa ran out (Kenya / Tanzania exhausted, Somalia inaccessible), and thus the last Laxey meers were supplied to trade in May, 2001. Laxey Pipes Ltd. tried to survive continuing with briar pipes – mainly in the Danish style -, but to no success. It closed down business in July 2002.

Tanganyika Meerschaum that was used by the Laxey production is described as tougher, less porous, and cheaper than Meerschaum mined in Turkey (Tanganyika Meerschaum Corporation – Pipedia).

Now it is time to work on the pipe itself. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. The first photo shows the pipe outside of its box. It is unused and very clean other than the dust of sitting for years. The pipe is flumed at the top of the bowl with a dark stain – either black or brown. The rest of the bowl is a white/tan that will colour over time. I took photos of the sides and the top and heel of the bowl to show the condition. You can see some nicks in the surface of the bowl but nothing to stunning. There is an area on the underside of the shank where it is worn or chipped and reshaped. That may very well be original and came out of the factory that way. It is hard to know for certain. The interior is dusty but unused. The bowl was pretty clean though you can see some spots on the rim top where the darkened portion is dull or worn looking. I took some photos that give a clear picture. The first is a close up that shows the bowl and the rim. I also took photos chatter on the surface.I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. It is faint but still readable and reads 2. I also removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the pipe to show the look of the parts.The bowl was in such good condition I did not need to do any work on it. I waxed the bowl with some Clapham’s Beeswax and buffed it to a rich shine. I set the bowl aside and polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each pad. It is a beautiful saddle stem. This unsmoked NOS Manx Meerschaum Bronze Elite 2 Rhodesian with a vulcanite saddle stem is a great looking pipe. The shape of the bowl reminds me of a GBD 9438 Rhodesian in some ways. The stem fit and shank all say Manx or Laxley Pipes. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Manx Meerschaum Rhodesian is another pipe that fits nicely in the hand and feels great. 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 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 58 grams/2.08 ounces. I will be holding onto this one at least for a while as it ticks all the boxes for me and I have wanted to try a Manx Meer like this for a long time. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!