by Steve Laug

On November 29 I received an email from a fellow regarding a Moretti that came to him from a dear friend. He stated that it had a burnout and that he had someone ream it for him. I have included his first email below.

Steve, I have a Moretti pipe that belonged to a dear friend. It had a burnout and I had the bowl reamed, but I’m afraid to smoke it. Can you offer a suggestion of how the inside of the bowl can be treated against possible future burnout, or can you fit the bowl with either a meerschaum or graphite liner? – Michael

We talked back and forth regarding the pipe and various options for repair. I agreed to work on them and told him to mail it to me. Once he packed it he added another three pipes to the box that he was sure had the same issues. He mailed them to me on December 8 and sent me another email.

You have convinced me that you’re the person who can help restore my pipes! I shipped 4 pipes to you today by USPS, and declared their value at $5 each for a total of $20 as you requested. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but all four have had burnout issues and I’m hoping that you can clean them out and coat the inside of the bowls as you described. If you feel that more effort is needed, please let me know.

On December 28^th I received the package from Michael. I opened the box and inside there were four beautiful Italian Made pipes. I have listed them below and included photos of the pipes.

Savinelli Autograph Sandblast Bent Cherrywood
2008 Ardor DR bent Dublin
Mastro Beraldi 2 Bent Dublin
2005 Moretti 1 Bent Rhodesian
The second pipe I brought to the table is a Mastro Beraldi 2 Bent Dublin. Overall it looks very good. It is stamped on underside of the shank and Mastro Beraldi [over] Italy [over] 2. The stamping is clear and very readable. The pipe has a mix of black and brown stains on smooth finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The crowned rim cap is covered with great birdseye while the bowl and shank sides have some beautiful straight grain. The finish was very clean and the bowl had a light cake on the walls but the rim top was clean. I inspected the walls of the bowl and could not find any issues or divots in the walls. I spoke with Michael and he mentioned that it looked like it had some small checking/cracking on the walls of the bowl. Initial inspection reveals that the light cracking in the cake on the bowl walls. I would need to examine it further once it had been reamed and cleaned. The acrylic multihued brown original stem is on the pipe and has brass dot on the top of the taper. The stem showed no tooth marks or chatter on either side. 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 clean finish on the bowl. The photos show a moderate cake in the bowl and a very clean rim top. The stem photos show the condition of the taper stem ahead of the button. I took photos of the stamping on the left and underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe.I turned to Pipephil’s site to see if I could find out information on the Mastro Beraldi brand and specifically this pipe (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-m3.html). I have included a screen capture of the section on the page as well as the side bar note

Artisan: Aldo Pierluigi “Mario Grandi” may be a sub-brand of Mastro Beraldi (low end pipes) started in 2006.I then turned to Pipedia and read the section on the brand to see what I could learn about the brand and the carver of the pipe (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Mastro_Beraldi). I quote from that article below:

Aldo Pierluigi emerged as a pipemaker around 1976/77. He stamped his earlier freehand pipes “Per mei amici” (For my friends). As it seems, Pierluigi chose a more commercialised way of pipemaking by creating the Mastro Beraldi line, which is mainly offered in the United States. This is not to say that these pipes are of inferior qual Citation from the homepage:

“Mastro Beraldi pipes are completely hand crafted by Aldo Pierluigi and his family who has been making pipes in Rome since the ‘70s using artisan’s techniques and tools.

The experience acquired in the last 30 years led to the realization of this line of hand made pipes, different one from the others, with the aim of offering to the smokers a high quality product at an excellent price.

The briar wood is Italian and is carefully selected and aged.

The mouthpiece, also by Italian factories, is made of ebonite of the best quality internally strengthened with a special pin to protect against breakage. The finishing touches are obtained with new water colours and varnish.

The rings, trimmings, accessories and packages are individually designed to complement each unique pattern. For the typical manifacture and the selected and used materials we guarantee that this pipe is a totally hand made, made in Italy and ecological product.”

Last year the Pierluigis started a new line of pipes called Mario Grandi. Since December 2006 these pipes are offered exclusively on internet auctions, starting at very low prices. Strange enough, they declare “Mario Grandi” to be a real and living pipemaker…

Considering the prices, these pipes are a good buy, especially if one applies some care to choose the better pieces.

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 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 then thoroughly cleaned the bowl walls, shank and the airway in the stem. I used cotton swabs, pipe cleaners (both bristle and regular) and Isopropyl alcohol.I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the 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 mixed a bowl coating of sour cream and activated charcoal powder. I inserted a pipe cleaner in the airway entrance to the bowl to keep it open. I applied it to the walls of the pipe with a folded pipe cleaner and repeated it until I had the walls thoroughly covered. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the stem 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. I the polished mottled brown acrylic taper stem and the Mastro Beraldi 2 Bent Dublin bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and raise the shine. I gave the stem and the bowl several coats of Carnauba Wax then buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. This turned out to be a beautiful Mastro Beraldi 2 Bent Dublin with a mottled brown acrylic taper stem. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.01 ounces/57 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked this beautiful Bent Dublin. This one will join the first one I restored both will await my completion of the work on the other two pipes Michael sent me. Thanks for looking.