Daily Archives: July 29, 2025

Restoring and Cleaning a Clogged Savinelli Tundra 802 Canadian

by Steve Laug

On the weekend I received a phone call from Brian, a fellow the local pipe shop referred to me. He had two Savinelli Balsa filter pipes that were clogged and had no airflow. He asked if I would clean and open them up for him. I received them in the post yesterday and opened the box that he sent them in. The first pipe I chose to work on was a Canadian shape. It was stamped Tundra on the topside of the shank and has a Savinelli S shield on the underside followed by the shape number 802. The finish was very dirty and sticky to touch. The bowl had a thick cake that completely covered the airway at the bottom of the bowl. The rim top had was covered by thick coat of lava that was sticky. The taper stem was multi-coloured acrylic. It had a bite trough in the underside ahead of the button and some deep tooth marks on the topside. The tenon was thin and was made to hold a Balsa filter. There was a clean and very damaged filter in the tenon. The shank and airways in both the mortise and stem were very dirty. I blew through the stem and it was clear and unclogged. I tried to blow through the shank and it was completely closed off with no airflow at all. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work. I took photos of the rim top and the stem to show the condition. You can see the cake in the bowl and overflow of lava on the rim top. The photos of the stem show the tooth marks and chatter on the top and the bite through on the underside of the stem. There are also bite marks on the top and underside of the button. I took photos of the stamping on the top and underside of the shank to capture it. The Tundra stamp and the stamping on the underside was faint but readable as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the look of the pipe.I turned to the Savinelli website to see what it had to say about the Tundra line of pipes (https://www.savinelli.it/rw_en/savinelli-tundra-802.html). Interestingly, they had the same pipe pictured on the site with the following description.

This pipe series take inspiration from Tundra, typical landscape of cold countries. The warm finish and the coloured stem let appreciate a wide variety of brown shades. Here we propose you a splendid Canadian, model 802. Style which has as main feature a long and elliptical shank. The shank length allows the smoke to cool down, making it fresh and pleasant.

I started my work on the pipe by reaming the bowl with a PipNet reamer. I used the first cutting head and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and removed all the remnants of the cake. I scraped the rim top with the flat edge of the blade at the same time and removed most of the thick lava build up. I sanded the walls of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped in 220 grit sandpaper. The walls look very good at his point in the process. I cleaned out the shank, the airway and the mortise as well as the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, hard bristle and soft bristle pipe cleaners. It was a very dirty pipe which just meant that it had really been enjoyed by the previous pipe man. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scrubbed the lava on the rim top and overflow on the outside of the bowl with the soap. I rinsed the briar with warm water to remove the grime and debris of the scrubbing. It looked significantly better after the scrubbing. The darkening on the rim top was better but it would need a little more work. Once I cleaned the bowl with the soap it looked much better. To take the pipe to the next level, I polished the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1200-15000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The grain started to rise to the surface and the repairs blended even more as I polished it. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl. With the the shank clear and the airway open it was time to work on the stem. It was clear, just dirty and I needed to address the bite through in the stem. The coloured acrylic made this challenging but not undo-able. I needed to also fill in the bite marks on the topside and the marks on the button edge as well. I greased a pipe cleaner with Vaseline and inserted it below the hole. I filled in the hole with clear CA glue, rebuilt the button edge and also filled in the tooth marks at the same time. I set it aside to cure. Once the repairs cured I used some small files to recut the button edge, reshape the surface and flatten the repair on the stem surface on both sides. I put the balsa filter back in the tenon to stiffen it and used 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the edges, the button top and the surface of the stem. It was looking good. The filled in bite through on the underside was visible but the beauty was it was underneath! I would continue to sand and work it to minimize the visibility but the repair was solid. I built up the flimsy and misshaped tenon surface with some clear CA glue. It also repaired the thin hairline cracks in the surface. Once it cured I sanded it smooth with 220 sandpaper. I sanded the surface of the acrylic taper stem with the 2 x 2-inch sanding pads – 320-3500 grit pads to clean up the sanding marks on the stem surface. By the final 3500 grit pad the stem started to really shine.I touched up the gold shooting star stamp on the top of the stem with Antique Gold Rub’n Buff. I pressed it into the stamp with a tooth pick and buffed it off with a soft towel. It looks good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I set it aside to dry. I am excited to finish this Savinelli Tundra 802 Canadian with an acrylic taper stem. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and then by hand with a microfibre cloth to deepen it. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful grain on the smooth bowl and shank. The polished grain on the pipe looks great with the repaired acrylic stem. This Savinelli Tundra Canadian is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 41 grams/1.45 ounces. This first Savinelli that Brian sent is a beautiful pipe that I will send to him once I have cleaned up the other pipe he sent. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of this resurrected beauty. It should be a great smoking pipe.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Tidying Up a Savinelli-made Hercules 121 EX

2 Replies

by Kenneth Lieblich

Here’s a handsome and robust Savinelli-made Hercules that was part of a large lot that I recently acquired. If it’s from the Hercules line, that must mean it’s big and strong. It is a slightly bent pot and it has a nice vulcanite saddle stem. Good looking pipe and, fortunately for everyone, it was new (or nearly new) when I got it. I can’t imagine that it was smoked more than once, if at all. The markings on the pipe are very clear. On the left side of the shank is the word Hercules. On the right side of the shank, we read 121 EX [over] Italy. The stem shows a stylized engraved image of Hercules himself. The shape number, 121, is described by Savinelli as “Half-Bent Pot” and the EX stands for “Extraordinaire”, and that corresponds to sizes 4.5–5. Savinelli is one of the most recognized names in pipe smoking and they have a long and storied history. You can read about them from their own website or from Pipedia’s article about them.Let’s look at the pipe. The stummel is in great shape. Seldom, if ever, smoked, so hardly any wear. There are a couple of fills, but they have been well addressed. The stem is also in great shape – no tooth marks or scratches, just some oxidation to deal with. The primary cleaning came first. I disinfected the inside of the stem with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly to make sure the interior was very clean. I used hardly any pipe cleaners because it was already clean.The goal of the next step is the removal (or minimization) of oxidation. Going to my sink, I used cream cleanser, cotton rounds, and a toothbrush, and scoured the stem to remove as much surface oxidation as possible. As the photos show, the result was a hideous, brownish mess – but better off the stem than on it.Once the stem was reasonably clean, I soaked it overnight in some Briarville Stem Oxidation Remover. This solution works to draw oxidation in the stem to the surface of the vulcanite. This is a major aid and an important step in ensuring a clean stem. The following day, I drew out the stem from its bath and scrubbed the lingering fluid with a toothbrush. After this, I painted the logo on the stem with some enamel nail polish. I restored the logo carefully and let it fully set before proceeding.The penultimate step for the stem is sanding. I used all nine of the micromesh sanding pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand out flaws, even out the vulcanite, and provide gentle polishing of the finished surface. I also applied pipe-stem oil while using the last five micromesh pads. There was a wonderful, deep black shine to the stem when I was done.As the stem was (nearly) complete, I moved on to the stummel. The inside didn’t even need reaming, as the original bowl coating was still there! Similar to the stem, I then cleaned the stummel with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. There was next-to-nothing inside. The black you see in the photos is simply from the bowl coating.To tidy up the briar, I also wiped down the outside with some oil soap on cotton rounds and used a toothbrush in the crevices. This did a good job of cleaning any latent dirt on the surface of the briar.Having completed that, I noticed a small nick on the rim of the bowl. I dug out my iron and a damp cotton flannel cloth. By laying the cloth over the affected areas and applying the iron to it, the hot and moist steam can cause the wood to swell slightly and return to shape. This worked very well and the rim looked as good as new.I used only the last five micromesh pads (3,600 through 12,000 grit) to sand the outside of the stummel and finish it off. This sanding minimizes flaws in the briar and provides a beautiful smoothness to the wood. I rubbed some LBE Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. The balm moisturizes the wood and gives a beautiful depth to the briar. I then buffed the stummel with a microfibre cloth. For the final step, I took the pipe to my bench polisher and carefully buffed it – first with a blue diamond compound, then with three coats of carnauba wax. This procedure makes the pipe look its best – the stummel sings and the stem glows.All done! This Savinelli Hercules 121 EX half-bent pot looks fantastic again and is ready to be enjoyed by its next owner. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘Italian’ 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 6¼ in. (159 mm); height 1⅞ in. (47 mm); bowl diameter 1⅞ in. (47 mm); chamber diameter ⅞ in. (23 mm). The weight of the pipe is 2¼ oz. (67 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. 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.