Daily Archives: February 12, 2026

Breathing Life into a Tired 1988 Peterson’s Deluxe 20S

by Steve Laug

In the last box of pipes Jeff sent me there was a Peterson’s De Luxe that came to us from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark on 04/11/2023. This one is a Peterson’s De Luxe Bent Billiard. It is stamped on the left side of the shank Peterson’s [over] Deluxe and on the right side it reads Made in the Republic of Ireland (three lines) [over] 20S. It was a dirty pipe when we received it. The walls of the bowl and shank had tars and oils ground into finish and it was quite grimy. There was a thick coat of lava on the rim top and the inner edge of the rim. The back edge of the outer edge of the rim had been knocked about hard. There was a thick cake in the bowl that had remnants of tobacco stuck in it. The ferrule on the end of the shank was Sterling Silver. It was stamped Peterson’s [over] Dublin followed by Sterling [over] Silver. Next that there are three silver hallmarks. The first was Hibernia seated, arm on a harp for the country of manufacture. The second was a Crowned Harp designating sterling quality. The third mark was a date stamp and, in this case, a upper-case cursive “C” which dated the pipe as a 1988. The stem was oxidized and there were tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button and on the button edge itself. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their general condition. You can see the thick tars and lava on the inner edge and the rim top. The cake in the bowl is quite thick and there is tobacco debris on the walls of the bowl. There is damage on the front inner and outer edge and the rear outer edge. The finish on the bowl is very dirty with grime and oils ground into the bowl, but still very stunning. This pipe has a classic Peterson’s P-lip stem that has some oxidation, calcification on the surface of the vulcanite. There is chatter and tooth marks on the top and underside. There is damage on the underside edge of the P-lip. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give an idea of the grain on this particular piece of briar. It is buried under a heavy coat of tars and oils. It was thick around the outer edge of the rim and the shank side. Even so, the grain is amazing and I cannot wait to see what it looks like once it is polished and waxed. He took photos of the stamping on both sides of the shank to capture it for me. The first photo shows the left side of the shank and the stamping as noted above. The second shows the right side of the shank with the Made in the Republic of Ireland stamp and shape number 20S. I did a bit of work on Google to gather background on the DeLuxe line of pipes when I worked on the other DeLuxe pipes recently. I decided to quote that here as well.

The first information I found was on the Peterson’s website (https://www.peterson.ie/pipes/system/deluxe-system-smooth/). I quote from the description of the line below. I have highlighted several key portions in bold black for emphasis.

While the Deluxe stamp first appeared on our System pipes in 1940, the design itself dates to our 1896 and 1906 catalogues and, with the exception of the Supreme, has always marked our highest tier of System pipe. Like the System Standard and System Spigot lines, the Deluxe System pipe incorporates Charles Peterson’s patented System design, including a deep reservoir to collect excess moisture from the smoke; a graduated-bore mouthpiece that funnels the smoke and allows moisture to collect within the reservoir; a sturdy sterling silver military mount, which allows the pipe to be broken down and cleaned without damage or warping; and our patented P-Lip bit, which draws the smoke upward, thus reducing tongue bite. The Deluxe differs from those aforementioned lines, comprised of bowls with only the finest grain patterns and featuring a sterling silver mount and a push-gap stem, which was never designed to be flush-fitting, the space between the mount and stem base gradually decreasing with prolonged use. The Deluxe also elevates the System pipe by fixing each stem with a traditional chimney, an aluminum fitment that extends the tenon past the chamber’s airway for optimal System performance. Created for Peterson enthusiasts interested in acquiring the finest System pipe on the market, the Deluxe System will serve as the crown of any collection. Seen here in the Smooth finish.

From that information I knew how the De Luxe fit in the hierarchy of Peterson’s pipes. It was always the highest tier of the System pipes. It also was made with the gap in the fit of the stem to the shank on purpose with the idea that the distance would decrease over time with prolonged use. The attachment of a chimney at the end of the tenon was to maximize System performance. Sadly this one was missing the chimney.

From there I also turned to Pipedia. I quote from an article by Jim Lilley and have included much of it below. (https://pipedia.org/wiki/A_Closer_Look_at_The_Peterson_Deluxe_System_Pipe). Once again I have highlighted pertinent sections in bold below.

by Jim Lilley – The version of the system pipe for our closer inspection is one of Peterson’s more recognisable series, the handsome and very distinctive Deluxe system pipes, which include the Darwin and Mark Twain. These pipes are at the top of the ‘system’ series in terms of quality and finish.

Each Peterson Deluxe is made from carefully selected, age mellowed root briar. In matte finish with hallmarked sterling silver mounts and a unique space fitting mouthpiece to allow for years of wear. They are available in a wide range of shapes numbered, as follows 1s,2s,3s,4s,5s,8s,9s,11s,12.5s,20s,XL5s, 20FB and 11FB.

The pipes are well carved, construction, engineering and workmanship, is outstanding. The stems are well drilled and aligned. Silver work is excellent, finish very good, and the often maligned briar is of outstanding quality.

The design is a very typically Peterson classic shape. Apart from the Darwin, the balance can be stem heavy, the bit is thick and chunky, especially in the larger versions. I also enjoy the sense of presence they give to the pipe, particularly if smoking in company with friends or strangers. They have a sophistication about them.

The smoking qualities are excellent, dry and cool. The draw is good, and the flavour is particularly great in new pipes. The Mark Twain’s are outstanding in this department.

As for the aesthetics and ergonomics, I find some shapes much more attractive than others. Favourites for me are the 1s,2s,3s,the Mark Twain’s and the Darwin deluxe. As a clencher most are very good to hang, except the beautiful Darwin which is more of a ‘hand holder.’

The one weakness I find is the modern orange/golden colour, (the so called natural) it is, in my opinion, less attractive than that found in the older Walnut finish of the eighties.

As far as value and cost is concerned, for the excellent quality finish, these are competitively priced at around $135 to $250 depending on size and briar grade.

For what it is worth, I reckon the Deluxe s are probably the best value range of pipes that Peterson produce, both in terms of functionality and value. There is not a thing wrong with these pipes. Those who malign the brand because they’re made by the hundreds using machines, are very wrong, IMHO. I like them a lot and the bang for the buck is the best I’ve ever seen for new pipes of this quality…

With that information at hand I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove as much of the oxidation and calcification as possible. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe once I started to work on it. I took some photos of the rim top and stem. The rim top and bowl were clean and the bowl was out of round. There was damage to the outer edge on the bowl front and back where it had been knocked about. Jeff had been able to get rid of all of the lava and tars of the bowl sides. The closeup photos of the stem shows that it is a much cleaner and better looking stem. The tooth marks and chatter were still present with deeper ones on the underside of the button. There was also a trough on the topside of the stem ahead of the button.I took some photos of the stamping on the shank sides and the silver on the ferrule to show the condition after the cleanup. Often the stamping takes a hit with the cleaning and is lessened in its clarity. Jeff does a great job in leaving the stamping looking very good. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe at this point. I started my restoration work on this pipe by addressing the darkening around the inner edge of the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to start the cleanup. I built up the damaged areas on the front and the backside of the rim top with briar dust and clear CA glue.Once the repairs cured I used a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and a wooden sphere to reshape the rim top. I turned it on the paper and gave the inner edge of the bowl a slight bevel. Once finished it was looking much better. I would need to sand the exterior of the bowl sides to smooth out the repairs.I sanded the rim top to shape the repairs and also remove the scratches and darkening around the rim edge and sides. I used 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. I started my polishing regimen on the bowl. I used nine micromesh sanding pads and dry sanded the bowl with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. The bowl really shines by the final three pads. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I polished the Sterling Silver ferrule with a jewellers polishing cloth to remove the tarnish and protect it from further tarnishing. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I filled in the damage on the underside of the stem with a black rubberized CA glue. I rebuilt the damage and set it aside to cure. Once it cured I shaped it with small files and then sanded the repairs to blend it into the vulcanite. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cloth. It began to look very good.I polished it with micromesh sanding pads and dry sanded the bowl with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth after each pad. I rubbed it down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine polishing compound. The stem looked very good. I don’t know how many times I have said this but I love it when I come to the end of a restoration and all of the parts come together and the pipe looks better than when we started the cleanup process. I put the stem back on the Peterson’s DeLuxe 20S System and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I carefully avoided the stamping on the shank sides during the process. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad on the buffer. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is a great example of a Republic Era Peterson’s DeLuxe 20S Bent Billiard. Once again, the grain and the way the shape follows the grain is amazing. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.66 ounces/48 grams. This Peterson’s De Luxe 20S is a great piece of pipe history that is in good condition. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be putting this one on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipemakers Section. Let me know if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for your time.

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.

Restoring a Beautiful Bentley Sandblast Prince by Hans Jonny Nielsen (aka Former)

Leave a reply

by Kenneth Lieblich

Now here’s a pipe you don’t see everyday: a very attractive prince by the Danish pipe maker known as ‘Former’ – though his real name is Hans Jonny Nielsen – working for the Danish/German/Swiss outfit, Bentley. This pipe came to me in an exchange with a gentleman in Toronto. It is an elegant pipe, with a beautiful blast, and a luxurious tapered stem. I was quite taken with this pipe when I first saw it, and I’m sure you will be too. What do the marks on the pipe say? The underside of the shank tells us. First, we see the word Bentley [over] Former Design [over] 5 – 0 – 0. 94. Next to that is a circle inside of which is either the Roman numeral II or the number 11. Further to the right, and a right angle, are the words, Swiss+Made. Finally, there is a stylized B on the stem, signifying the Bentley name. I didn’t know much about Bentley or Nielsen, so I sought out the usual sources for information. At Pipedia, the Bentley article included this information:

This is the production Brand of Hans Jonny “Former” Nielsen. When the U. S. pipe demand for quality handmade “freehand” pipes diminished, W.Ø. Larsen in Copenhagen sent their several workshop pipemakers home to work out of their house. Former who was the Larsen foreman at the time, eventually went to Germany and started the Bentley line of production pipes made on frasing machines, several at a time. Some years ago he returned to Denmark with this type of equipment and continues to make these production pipes in his current workshop in between making his famous handmade pipes. Former went to Kleinlutzel, Switzerland (just over the border from Germany) and took over a pipe fabrication in the employ of Herman Lane, making the Bentley pipes (circa 1986).

This last line made sense as far as this pipe was concerned. Pipedia also has a good-length article on Nielsen himself and I encourage you to read it here. However, one paragraph of that article concerns us here:

In 1986 Former met an interesting opportunity when he was asked to go to Switzerland and modernize the old Bru-Bu factory and to develop a new, high-grade pipe given the English name “Bentley”. He successfully took the opportunity, and spent the next 10 years in Switzerland. Former met his wife, Daniela, while working in Switzerland. In 1997, they decided to purchase the factory machinery and moved to Lauenburg / Elbe, where the Bentley production was continued at Dan Pipe. But Daniela got homesick and so they returned to Denmark. Dan Tobacco (a subsidiary of DanPipe) still manufactures Former’s tobacco blends and the building still has the Bentley logo prominently featured on its front.

A quick perusal of the material at Pipephil confirmed all of this. Look at this screenshot:I think we can surmise that this pipe was probably made in the 1980s, presumably in Switzerland – although I still think of it as a Danish pipe.

The stummel is in lovely condition. Not too much cake or lava, and the blast is in wonderful shape. The stem is a bit different. For the most part, it looks good, but there are some serious tooth marks. Clearly, the vulcanite is excellent quality, but the tooth chatter is quite heavy. Let’s see what we can do about it. I used isopropyl alcohol on a few cotton rounds and wiped down the stem to provide an initial cleaning of filth before moving on to the next steps. The primary cleaning came next. 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.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, ochre-coloured 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.As the stem was now clean and dry, I set about fixing the dents in the vulcanite. This was done by filling those marks with black cyanoacrylate adhesive, impregnated with carbon and rubber. I left this to cure and moved on.The penultimate step for the stem is sanding. First, with my set of needle files, I reduced the bulk of the cyanoacrylate repairs. I removed the excess adhesive as near to the surface as possible, without cutting into the vulcanite. Following that, 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. Not all of the marks could be removed – but it is so much better than before! 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 first step was to ream out the bowl – that is to say, remove all the cake inside the bowl. This accomplished a couple of things. First (and most obviously), it cleaned the bowl and provided a refurbished chamber for future smoking. Second, when the old cake was removed, I could inspect the interior walls of the bowl and determine if there was damage or not. I used a reamer, a pipe knife, and a piece of sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel. Collectively, these ensured that all the debris was removed. Fortunately, the bowl was pretty clean.Similar to the stem, I then cleaned the stummel with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. With a pipe this dirty, it took quite a while and much cotton to clean.I then decided to ‘de-ghost’ the pipe – that is to say, exorcize the remaining filth from the briar. I filled the bowl and the shank with cotton balls, then saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused the remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton.To tidy up the briar, I wiped down the outside, using a solution of a pH-neutral detergent and some distilled water, with cotton rounds. I also used a toothbrush in the crevices. This did a good job of cleaning any latent dirt on the surface of the briar. The last step of the cleaning process was to scour the inside of the stummel with the same mild detergent and tube brushes. This was the culmination of a lot of work in getting the pipe clean.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 the stem with a blue diamond compound, then the stummel with three coats of conservator’s wax. This procedure makes the pipe look its best – the stummel sings and the stem glows.All done! This Bentley prince by ‘Former’ 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 ‘Danish’ 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 6⅓ in. (162 mm); height 1⅝ in. (40 mm); bowl diameter 1⅔ in. (43 mm); chamber diameter ⅞ in. (21 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1½ oz. (44 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.