Daily Archives: February 7, 2026

Restoring a Dunhill Cumberland 41083 Rhodesian with a Chomped Cumberland stem

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one that we picked up in an estate we purchased from a seller in Durham, North Carolina, USA on 12/27/2025. The Sandblast finish and the Dunhill stamping caught our eye. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads 41083 on the heel of the bowl followed by Dunhill Cumberland [over] Made in England²⁰. It has a classic Cumberland sandblast with a smooth rim top that is a stark contrast to Cumberland taper stem. The finish is a light sandblast and there is a lot of debris and dust in the nooks and crannies of the blast. The bowl appears to be moderately caked. The inner edge and the top show a lava overflow and darkening on the backside of the inner edge. The stem is oxidized, calcified and has deep tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. Like the other pipes in this estate, the stem was chomped and spoke to the fact that it spent a lot time in the owner’s mouth. He loved this pipe and enjoyed it often. The classic white spot is on the left top side of the stem and looks to be in good condition. Jeff took some photos of the pipe to show the general condition of the pipe before he started his clean up. He took some photos of the rim top and bowl from various angles to give me a clear picture of the condition of the rim top and bowl. You can see the lava on the rim top and edges as well as part of the cake in the bowl. He included photos that show the top and underside of the stem. It is as described above. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish on the pipe. The photos showed some great grain through the sandblast around the bowl and shank. It is a great looking piece of briar. He took some photos of the stamping on the underside of the bowl and shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above.As is my regular practice, before I started my work on the pipe, I turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Bruyere Pipes to get a refresh the information I know regarding the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Cumberland). I quote:

Cumberland – Introduced in 1979. Cumberland is another sandblast with a brown stain and a brindle stem (the material is more commonly called ‘Cumberland’ these days, thanks to Dunhill’s influence and the success of the finish over the past quarter-century). Originally, the Cumberland always featured a smooth brown rim, but in the current production the rim is sometimes smooth, sometimes sandblasted. Occasionally, a straight grain blast is finished with a Cumberland stain and a “Shilling Grain,” similar to the “Ring Grain,” resulting in a new variation on the traditional sandblast. The Shilling series is named for the British coin: the sandblast looks like a stack of shillings. Named after the warehouse on Cumberland Road. The old pipes that inspired this finish were found there. I turned to Pipephil’s dating guide to show how I arrived at the date of manufacture for this pipe (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). I am including the chart that is provided there for the dating a pipe. I have drawn a red box around the section. Since the pipe I am working on has a superscript suffix ²⁰ after the D in England it points to the 1960 line on the chart below. To date it just add 1960 +20 for a date of 1980. I have drawn a red box around the pertinent section in the chart.I now knew that I was working on a Cumberland that came out in 1980. The shape of the pipe is called a Ssandblast Bent Rhodesian with a 41083 Shape number on the heel of the bowl/shank.

I turned to Pipephil’s shape list (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shapes.html). At the bottom of the list of shapes (with the 04 being a Billiard) is a key for interpreting the digits in the stamp I have included that below.

Dunhill pipes are stamped with a four digit code.
Digit 1: (from 1 to 6) denotes the size of the pipe (the group).
Digit 2: denotes the style of the mouthpiece (0,1=tapered, 2=saddle)
Digit 3 and 4: denote the generic pipe shape (in yellow in the chart on link above)

Example: 5102
(5 = size | 1 = tapered stem | 02 = Bent)

When 5 digits occur, the meaning of the 4 first remain the same

The 41083 was thus a Group 4 size, with a taper Cumberland mouthpiece, and in an 83 or Bent Bulldog (Rhodesian) shape.

Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He cleaned up the inside of the bowl with a PipNet reamer and a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. The rim top shows some damage on the top and the inner edge of the bowl. The bowl walls looked very good. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. Now the damage to the stem was very clear. Overall, the pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim top and stem to show how clean the pipe was. The bowl was clean and the damage to the rim top and the inner edge is very visible in the photo below. The stem was clean and the light tooth marks and chatter can be seen in the photos. You can also see the light oxidation.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is very clear and readable and read as noted above. I also removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the pipe to show the look of the parts.I started my work on the pipe by addressing the damage to the rim top. I used 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads to smooth out the damage on the rim top and the inner edge. It looked much better once finished.I polished the rim top with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads and wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. It took on a rich shine. The exterior of the bowl look better after sanding. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit on the bowl for 10 minutes and then buffed it off with a paper towel and soft cloth. The product is a great addition to the restoration work. It enlivens, enriches and protects the briar while giving it a deep glow. It is a product I use on every pipe I restore. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem near the button with the flame of a lighter to lift the deep tooth marks. I was able to lift many of them and it looked better. I filled in the remaining marks with on the stem with clear CA glue. Once the repairs cured I flattened them and recut the button on the stem with a small flat file. I sanded the repairs with 220 grit sand paper to further blend them into the surface. I sanded the Cumberland stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. The repairs began to disappear into the surface of the Cumberland and the stem began to take on a smooth new look. Progress for sure.It was ready for the next step. I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the surface down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. It is really shining. I polished it further with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil to finish this step. I am excited to be on the homestretch and look forward to seeing the 1980 Dunhill Cumberland 41083 Sandblast Bent Rhodesian/Bulldog put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together and lightly polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish them. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe on the wheel with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The depths of the grain really pop with the wax and polish. The polished Cumberland stem is a beautiful contrast to the combination of stains on the bowl and shank. This Dunhill Cumberland 41083 Rhodesian was a bit of work to bring back to life. The pipe is light weight, comfortable in the hand and should feel great as it is warmed up when smoking. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 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 1.55 ounces/45 grams. I will be putting this one on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section soon. Let me know if you wish to add it to your collection.

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.

Banding a Vauen Mokka 5277Danish Style Ball with a cracked shank

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by Steve Laug

A week ago, or so, I received an email from Derek in Edmonton, Alberta about a pipe that he had. The shank had broken into several pieces and the photo below shows the damage on the pipe. It is a great looking apple shaped pipe that is stamped Vauen Mokka 5277. The finish is sandblast and stained dark brown or coffee coloured. The acrylic stem has a briar ring on it. It is a 9MM stem. He had done a repair and glued the pieces together. He did a good job of putting the parts together in a snug way. The only issue to my eyes was the longevity of the glue repair and the fact that the fit of the stem was loose. The following are photos that Derek sent to me to show the repaired shank on the pipe. The first photo shows overall look of the bowl. It is a great looking pipe. The photos after that show the repair shank and also the fit to the shank end. I did some work on the Vauen Mokka line before I started working on the pipe itself. I turned to the Vauen site (https://www.vauen.com/pipes/detail/collection/mokka/current-range.html). On the site there was a section on the Mokka line. I have included that information below.

The deep brown sandblasted surface creates a harmonious contrast to the natural briar wood that appears at the top of the bowl and at the end of the stem. The relief-like protruding grain ensures optimum heat dissipation.

Mouthpiece: acrylic black. Bitetype: Fishtail mouthpiece

Google sent me to the Pfeifen Shop and the listings on the Vauen Mokka 5277. I found a great photo of the pipe I am working on. Here is the link (https://www.pfeifen-shop-online.de/Vauen-Mokka-Pipe-5277).The site described the Mokka line as follows:

Coffee has been a part of the human culture for centuries. It hasn’t always been the quick drink, we see it as today, but solely a luxury drink. The combination with a pipe, creates a delightful experience like no other. The Vauen Mokka taste excellent even without coffee. Thanks to its sandblasting a greater surface are is created, so that the smoke can loose its heat more quickly, which is both more pleasurable and easier on the pipe itself. The bright accents on the rim and stem are pure, bright briar wood and contrast the deep brown colour of the pipe very well.

Half-Bent: Ball
Surface: Brown, sandblasted
Drilling: 9 mm
Stem: Acrylic
Material: Briar
Length: 140 mm
Height of bowl: ca. 63 mm
Drilling of the bowl: 20 mm
Weight: ca. 60g

With that information I knew what I was working on. I turned to work on the pipe itself. I went through my nickel bands to find one that was deep enough to bind together the repairs. It was deep enough but did not hide too much of the stamping on the shank. I took photos of the parts. I fit the band on the edge of the shank end. I heated it with a lighter and pressed it onto the shank end by pressing it against a hard board. I heated and pressed, heated and pressed until it was even with the shank end. I restained the repaired areas with a Walnut stain pen to blend them into the surface of the briar. The match was a good blend. The exterior of the bowl look better after sanding. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit on the bowl for 10 minutes and then buffed it off with a paper towel and soft cloth. The product is a great addition to the restoration work. It enlivens, enriches and protects the briar while giving it a deep glow. It is a product I use on every pipe I restore. I polished the nickel band and put the stem on the shank to capture a sense of what the repaired pipe looked like. I sent the photos to Derek to show him the look of the pipe. He liked what he saw.I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped it down with an Obsidian Oil Cloth after each sanding pad. It began to take on a rich shine.It was ready for the next step. I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the surface down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. It is really shining. I polished it further with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil to finish this step. I am excited to be on the homestretch and look forward to seeing the Vauen Mokka 5277 Saddle Stem Ball put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together and lightly polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish them. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe on the wheel with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The depths of the grain really pop with the wax and polish. The polished acrylic stem is a beautiful contrast to the combination of stains on the bowl and the band on the shank. This Vauen Mooka 5277 Ball was a bit of work to bring back to life. The pipe is light weight, comfortable in the hand and should feel great as it is warmed up when smoking. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.05 ounces/58 grams. I will be sending it back to Derek early next week and it should give him some great smokes through the years ahead.

Restoring a Mr. Brog Bulldog no. 34

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe that I am working on came from a friend in Naples, Florida, USA on 07/17/2024. It was very dirty and had a heavy varnish coat around the Pearwood bowl and shank. It was a natural finish under the varnish. It was dirty and had hand oils ground into the finish. The bowl had a thick cake in the bowl and a coat of lava flowing onto the inner edge and the rim top. The thick taper stem was very dirty, oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was a white spot on the topside of the stem. The fit of the stem to the shank is perfect. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank and read Mr Brog [over] no. 34 Bulldog. To the left of the stamping was a large stamped cloverleaf. Jeff took photos of the pipe so I could have a sense of what it looked like before he started his work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl. There was a lava build up on the top of the rim and the inner edge of the bowl. Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the tooth chatter and marks ahead of the button edge. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the grime in the finish around the sides of the bowl and shank. Even under the dirt and debris of the years it looked very good. Jeff took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as you can see from the photo. It read as noted above. Before I started working on the pipe I wanted to see what the original stem looked like and I wanted some background information on the Pear Wood Pipes. I decided to do a bit of digging on the history of the brand. I turned first to Pipephil’s site to get a quick overview (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-m8.html). From there I learned that the brand started in Poland in 1991 in the area known as the “St. Claude of Poland’. It was started by Zbigniew Bednarczyk along with Kazimierz Rog. Zbigniew kept the name after Kazimierz died in 2006.I turned to Pipedia for a bit more detail of the history (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Br%C3%B3g).

Pracownie Fajek Bróg was founded as Mr Bróg in Przemysl, “the Saint-Claude of Poland”, in 1991. Master craftsman Kazimierz Rog, the senior partner, had been a pipemaker since 1947, starting as an apprentice and later partner of Wiktor Winiarski and Zbigniew Mazuryk, followers of legendary Ludwik Walat. Zbigniew Bednarczyk was completely new to pipemaking, but as a non-professional sculptor, painter and poet he surely had pretty enough artistic disposition.

Mr Brog started out offering 10 models of briar pipes and 10 models made of wild pear, wild cherry and other unexpected materials, available both smooth and rusticated and polished with natural waxes only. The experience of the old master and the dynamic passion of his young friend made the brand soon well-known in Poland. Little by little they enlarged their program turning towards a more artistically minded way of pipemaking. This was the bedrock for success on international markets.

Kazimierz Róg, highly honored, passed away after a lengthy illness on June, 26th 2006. The firm is continued by Zbigniew Bednarczyk and his wife Renata.

I decided to check on the Mr. Brog Website (https://mrbrog.com/collections/pear-wood-pipes) to see what I could find out. The first information that I found was the following on the wood the pipe was made of. I quote

Pear wood is a great alternative to briar wood. Pear wood is very dense and a hard wood which is great for a pipe you can have for the years to come. Also, pear wood gives off a very pleasant smell and taste while smoking.

I then turned to the catalogue of pipes and shapes that were available in pear wood and looked specifically for the Bulldog No. 34. The shape and the shape number are shown in the photo on the site (https://brogshop.pl/en_US/p/Pipe-no.-34-Buldog-9-mm-Mr-Brog/290). I have included a picture from the website. As I scrolled through the photos on the site on this shape I found a photo of the various finishes on the pipe. The particular pipe I am working on is the first one at the top of the photo. It is labelled as Naturalny.Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He cleaned up the inside of the bowl with a PipNet reamer and a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. The rim top shows some damage on the top and the inner edge of the bowl. The bowl walls looked very good. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. Now the damage to the stem was very clear. Overall, the pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim top and stem to show how clean the pipe was. The bowl was clean and the darkening to the rim top and the inner edge is very visible in the photo below. The stem was clean and the tooth marks and chatter can be seen in the photos.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is very clear and readable and read as noted above. I also removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the pipe to show the look of the parts.I started my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening to the rim top and sanding the bowl and shank. I used 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads to remove the darkening on the rim top and the inner edge as well as clean up the bowl. It looked much better once finished. I polished the rim top with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads and wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. It took on a rich shine. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm and worked it into the surface of the pear wood with my finger tips. I let it sit on the bowl for 10 minutes and buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth to raise a shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth marks and chatter. I smoothed it out but since it is acrylic it still shows the scratch marks in the surface.I sanded the scratches on the stem sides with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil cloth. But the end it was beginning to shine.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads – the stem began to take on a shine. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished the stem with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine Polish. I buffed the stem with a soft cloth to raise the shine. I fit the 9MM tenon with a Dr. Perl Junior 9MM filter. It slipped in with no obstruction and fit in the shank perfectly.The Mr. Brog Pear Wood Bulldog no 34 turned out really well. I put the 9MM stem back on the shank and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond to raise the shine. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the bowl with a soft cloth to deepen the shine. This chubby Pear Wood shape that Mr. Brog calls Bulldog no 34 is quite nice. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Diameter of the Chamber: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.87 ounces/53 grams. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Pipes from Various Makers section. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection let me know. Thanks for reading through my thoughts and reflections as I worked on this pear wood pipe.