Daily Archives: December 13, 2025

Restoring a Dunhill Shell Briar 60 F/T Gold Spigot Billiard

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from a seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a Dunhill Shell Briar Billiard with a gold ferrule and gold capped spigot stem that looked very good. It is in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. On the heel of the bowl it is stamped with the shape number 60 F/T followed by Dunhill [over] Shell Briar [followed by] Made in England12. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has a mix of black, cordovan and brown stains on a Shell sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and lightly dirty with grime in the nooks and crannies of the sandblast. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was lava in the sandblasted rim top and edges. The gold ferrule and stem cap are tarnished but otherwise looks good. The ferrule is stamped 14K with makers mark. The original stem is on the pipe and it is dirty and has spots of grime stuck on the surface of the vulcanite. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the lava coat on the rim top. There was some tobacco debris in the bottom of the bowl. The gold ferrule on the shank is shown and is slightly tarnished. The stem photos show the condition of the spigot cap and the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the deep sandblast grain on the pipe along with the contrasting gold ferrule and stem cap. There was a lot of grime ground into the bowl sides. But it still did not obscure the beauty of the pipe. The stamping on the heel of the bowl and shank was clear and readable as noted above. The gold ferrule on the shank and cap on the stem looks good. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is a real beauty.One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephill helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The 60 is the shape for a taper stem Billiard. The F/T is the stamp for a fishtail type stem. The Dunhill Shell Briar is the finish. Following the Made In England12 gives the year that the pipe was made.

The dating chart helped me understand the date stamp 12.. I have included the chart below for you to follow (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The second column is where the 12 year suffix fits. To arrive at the date the suffix is added to 1960 making the pipe a 1972 Shell Briar Spigot.I googled Dunhill Gold Spigot pipes and the search came up with this AI description of the brand and design.

Dunhill Gold Spigot pipes are high-end, collectible briar pipes featuring an 18k or 14k gold tube (spigot) inserted into the mouthpiece, signifying luxury, superior craftsmanship, and excellent smoking quality, often appearing as vintage estate pipes or special editions with distinct markings and rare, ornate designs, like those from the ’70s and ’80s. They represent the pinnacle of Dunhill’s luxury offerings, blending traditional pipe-making with precious metals for a distinctive, refined smoking experience.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I used a brass bristle wire brush to clean off the debris in the sandblast on the rim top. The sandblast was clean and dry with no debris in the valleys of the sandblast.I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners.I scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked over the finish with the brush and then rinsed it off with warm water. I dried it off with a soft cloth. I polished the gold ferrule and the stem cap with a jeweller’s cloth to remove the oxidation and to protect the gold from further oxidation. The shine looks very good at this point. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem. I sanded the stem surface with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.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. This 1972 Dunhill Shell Briar 60F/T Gold Spigot Billiard has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish made in 1972. The rich Shell Briar finish that is identified with some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great rugged sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. The polished 14K gold ferrule and stem cap look very good. The polished black vulcanite spigot stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell Briar 60F/T Gold Spigot Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ 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 33 grams/1.16 ounces. This one will be going into my own personal collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe Thanks for your time.

Breathing New Life into a Millard Imported Briar System Straight Pot

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table was one I received from a reader of the blog, Emil who wanted me to fit it with a new stem and clean and restore it for him. I asked Emil for photos of the pipe before he sent it to me so I could have a look at it. Emil gladly sent the following photos. The pipe was in rough shape with a nicked outer edge, thick cake and heavy lava coat. The aluminum shank end/mortise was oxidized and very dirty. The stem was oxidized, calcified and chipped on the underside of the button forward. Once I saw them I was ready to take on the pipe. From the photos and now that I have it in hand I have to say that it reminds me of a Keyser Hygienic pipe in terms of the tubes and plumbing in the stem and mortise. This one has some nice grain around the bowl and what I can see showing through on the inwardly beveled rim top. The rim top is thick with lava and the outer edge has some damage. The bowl has a thick cake and is very dirty. The shank end is polished aluminum and has a tube in the center of what acts as a condenser compartment. The aluminum has been damaged by what appears to be marks from pliers. The vulcanite stem is inserted in the shank end and also has a tube in the center. The swirling smoke in the chamber leaves the moisture on the sides of the aluminum shank extension. The stem was oxidized and calcified and has a large chunk of vulcanite out of the button on what appears to be the top but easily could be the bottom. I took photos of the pipe before I started his cleanup work. I took photos of the bowl and rim top and both the top and underside of the stem. You can see the thickness of the cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top. The outer edges of the bowl show some damage but the inner edge seems protected by the lava coat. The stem photos show the missing damage to the button and stem surface.The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank and it read Millard [over] Imported Briar. There was no stamping on the right side of the shank. I took a photo of the bowl with the stem removed to give a sense of the shape of the pipe.As I studied it, I also remembered that I have worked on several Millard pipes over the past years. I turned to one of the write ups on rebornpipes on a pair of Millard pipes. Here is the link https://rebornpipes.com/2015/12/11/a-pair-of-millard-perfect-pipes-a-sandblast-apple-and-dublin/. I am including a picture of a flyer that I showed in the blog and I am quoting the section that gives the background on the brand. I quote:

When I came across the Millard – the Perfect Pipe coupon in the two boxes of Kentucky Club that I found I was fascinated with the look of the pipe. It reminded me of the Keyser Hygienic pipes that I had restored over the years. The stem that fit into the metal mortise shank insert and the tubes on the inside of the stem and the shank were similar. While the Keyser tubing in the shank looked identical the one in the stem was different. Keyser was directed downward while the Millard was two straight tubes that met in the mortise. They did not touch but the metal chamber became a condensing chamber, or as they call it an Action Trap, for the smoke and collected the moisture before it continued through the tube in the stem. I looked up the brand online and found the following advertisement postcard that shows the way the system works. I found that the stems were interchangeable between the shapes that the pipe came in. The straight stems could be easily transferred from pipe to pipe. In fact the pipe originally came with an extra or replacement stem. The pipe came in a sandblast and a smooth finish in six shapes – apple, Dublin, billiard, pear, pot and bent. It came in two sizes: medium or large. In the advertisement below you can see that the pipe cost $3. I also found that Mastercraft supplied the pipes through the coupon sales. Knowing a bit of history about the company I know that they did not make pipe so they were sourced from the original manufacturer.

Before I worked on the pipe I took the box of Kentucky Club that I had on the shelf and opened it and took out the coupon. It actually was a coupon for The Millard pipe. It read as follows:

Looking for the Ideal Pipe? The Millard is often regarded as the answer. Its complete action trap keeps the pipe dry in any position and prevents mouth flow back. Se it in our new Premium Catalog. It will delight and intrigue you. We feel sure.Now it was time to work on the pipe. I went through my can of stems and found one that would work quite well with a bit of work reshaping the shank end of the stem and opening the airway to slip over the tube in the mortise of the shank. The shape was correct and it had a couple of light tooth mark on the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. I used a drill to open the airway in the stem to slide over the tube in the shank. I started with a bit slightly smaller than the airway and worked up to the correct dimensions.I worked on giving the shank end of the stem the same diameter and taper as the inside of the aluminum mortise. I used 220 grit sandpaper to shape and fit it to the shank.I set the stem aside and worked on the bowl. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe Reamer using the 2nd and 3rd cutting heads. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and took the cake back to bare briar. I sanded the inside bowl walls with a piece of dowel wrapped in 220 grit sandpaper. I cleaned out the airway into the bowl – and the inside of the aluminum mortise and plumbing with pipe cleaners – both bristle and regular with alcohol. I was able to remove the grime and the tars in the shank and mortise area. I repeated the process on the new stem. It looked much better and smelled great.I scrubbed the bowl and rim with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the debris and grime on the bowl sides. It looked much better. I set the bowl aside and went back to the stem. I filled in the tooth dents in the stem on the top and underside ahead of the button with rubberized black CA glue. Once the repairs cured I used small files to flatten the repairs. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repairs. I dry sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I was able to clean up the scratches in the vulcanite and give the new stem a proper shape. It was looking very good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a cloth and Obsidian Oil. I finished the polishing with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. I set the stem aside and used some clear CA glue and briar dust to fill in the deep chips in the right side of the rim top.I sanded the bowl and aluminum shank with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I polished out the scratches in the aluminum as much as possible and the scratches and repairs in the briar. The bowl and shank began to look much better. I polished the briar and aluminum with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It really began to take on a rich shine. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I put the pipe back together – the bowl with its new stem. This restored Millard Imported Briar System Straight Pot is a real beauty and I think the polished aluminum shank extension (condensation chamber) and the new black vulcanite stem work well together. The grain on the bowl came alive with the buffing. I used Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel on both the bowl and stem. I gave both multiple coats of carnauba wax on the wheel then buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The Millard Straight Pot feels great in the hand. It is lightweight and the contrast in the browns of the briar, the polished aluminum and the vulcanite stem is quite amazing. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outer diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.34 ounces/38 grams. It really is a beauty. I will be sending it back to Emil this week. I am hoping that he enjoys it as much as I enjoyed working on it. Thanks for walking through the restemming and the restoration with me. Cheers.