Daily Archives: March 28, 2026

A New Home for a Dunhill Bruyere 127 Billiard

by Kenneth Lieblich

I thought I might take a moment to show you a Dunhill that recently came into my possession and, for the time being, is staying in my possession. This handsome Dunhill Bruyere 127 billiard was smoked quite heavily, demonstrating its status as a favourite of whoever owned it in the past. When I saw it, I really liked the thick shank and well-proportioned billiard bowl. There is some beautiful briar here and, despite the pipe’s portly appearance, it is light and comfortable to hold. I am pleased to report that the markings are very clear and well-cut on the shank. On the left-hand side is the model number, 127. Immediately to the right of this are the letters F/T. Then, to the right of that, is Dunhill [over] Bruyere. On the right side of the shank is Made in [over] England9. To the right of that is an encircled 4, followed by an A. Finally, the stem, of course, has the iconic white spot of Alfred Dunhill’s company. Here is a photo of Alfred, followed by the markings. Let’s have a closer look at what all of these markings mean. The model number 127 is one of the classic Dunhill billiard shapes. The ‘F/T’, as John Loring states in his book The Dunhill Briar Pipe, ‘is a stamping after the shape number indicating that the pipe has a fish tail bit’. The markings Dunhill [over] Bruyere refer (obviously and respectively) to the company that produced the pipe and the finish. The history of Alfred Dunhill, his company, and his family is fascinating. If you are interested in learning more, have a read of this article from Pipedia. The Bruyere finish is described by Pipedia as follows:

The Bruyère stands as Dunhill’s foundational pipe finish, introduced with the commencement of the company’s pipe manufacturing in 1910. It remained the sole finish available until the introduction of the Shell in 1917. The Bruyère is characterized by its smooth texture and a deep reddish stain, often described as ‘plum-coloured’. This distinctive appearance was achieved through a two-coat staining process, which involved a brown understain followed by the final deep red. The briar selected for this finish after 1920 was the ‘dead root’ of the Tree Heath, (Erica Arborea), sourced primarily from Calabria, Italy. This material was prized for its density and superior smoking characteristics, having been seasoned by nature itself. Positioned as a premium product from the outset, a Bruyère pipe in 1910 was priced at seven shillings and sixpence, more than double the cost of an average pipe of the era.The markings Made in [over] England9 give us an indication of when this pipe was manufactured. The number is the date suffix and provides us the information we need to figure out the date. I already knew the answer, but allow me to walk you through the process. I went to Pipephil’s Dunhill Dating Key (which you can find here) and I have reproduced (below) the two charts they use to date Dunhills. In the first image below, we are asked if our pipe has a date suffix. It does, so we follow the arrow and the chart asks if our pipe has a patent number. It does not, so we proceed. Then we are asked if our pipe reads Dunhill [over] London – again, it does not. As a result, we know that our pipe dates from after 1954.On to the second chart – and it is a bit more straightforward. The chart asks for the digit in our date suffix. In our case, it is 9. Then it asks if the digit in question is raised (in other words, is it a superscript). The answer is definitely ‘no’, so we know that the date of our pipe is the result of simple addition: 1960 + 9 = 1969. Now we know that the year of manufacture is 1969! The pipe is older than I am!Next, the encircled 4 and the capital A. This tells us about the size and finish of the pipe. Pipedia says:

The encircled group number indicates the size of the bowl (1, for example, is the smaller bowl). It is usually followed by a letter corresponding to the pipe finish. This number/letter code has been introduced about 1950 and was discontinued about 1976 replaced by a 4 or 5 digits code. They were reintroduced in March 2012, but only for commemorative versions.

In this case, the 4 indicates a medium/large size bowl and the A refers to Bruyere. As to why the letter A represents Bruyere, we again refer to Loring’s book: ‘When the Root finish was introduced in 1931 the “A” came to mean Bruyere but initially the “A” probably denoted that the pipe was of first quality’.Finally, the white spot. Have you ever wondered about it? Well, very briefly, here is the origin of the famous white spot (from Pipedia):

In 1912, the famous white spot was introduced for very practical concerns. With straight pipes, customers had trouble knowing which way to insert the handmade vulcanite mouthpieces. So Alfred Dunhill ordered white spots to be placed on the upper side of the stem. This very practical solution would become a definitive trademark of Dunhill pipes. The “white spot” soon became known as a symbol of quality.

Now let’s get on with restoring this beautiful pipe!

The pipe was, indeed, lovely, but – boy – was it dirty! The rim of the bowl had mounds of lava on it and the interior walls were coated in cake. I’m pleased to say that the exterior briar was in great shape. No problems at all. Meanwhile, the stem was quite oxidized and heavily calcified. It also had some tooth dents, but nothing too serious. I used a disposable lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame. The gentle heat of the flame can cause the dents in the vulcanite of the stem to expand back into shape. This certainly helped, but did not completely correct the situation. The stem’s calcification was quite substantial. I used an old butter knife and gently scraped some of the thicker accretion off. Doing this now helps later in removing the oxidation.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 marks and dents in the vulcanite. This was done by filling those divots 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. 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 remove the lava on the rim. For this, I took a piece of machine steel and gently scraped the lava away. The metal’s edge is sharp enough to remove what I need, but not so sharp that it damages the rim. This work revealed some minor wear and a little burn on the rim. Nothing serious – and all part of this pipe’s history.My next 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. I was pleased to see that the walls were in good condition, despite the heavy smoking.The inside of the stummel needed to be cleaned thoroughly. However, this pipe was so clogged, that I first needed to open the horribly occluded airway. So, I took a long drill bit, held in a drill chuck, and hand-cranked it to dislodge the dreadful detritus inside. Hand cranking is essential because it provides a precision and caution that a power drill cannot provide. 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. 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 hard work in getting the pipe clean.I used all nine micromesh pads (1,500 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 Dunhill Bruyere 127 billiard looks fantastic again and I am delighted with the results. This is one pipe that I am going to be adding to my collection – at least for now. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5½ in. (138 mm); height 1⅞ in. (48 mm); bowl diameter 1½ in. (39 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (20 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1½ oz. (43 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 at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Resurrecting a Shattered Patent Sasieni London Made “Amesbury” Canadian

2 Replies

by Steve Laug

Not too long ago I received an email from a Andrew in Greece asking if I could work on some pipes for him. He had some that needed a stem and a couple of pipes with broken stems and a Canadian that had a crack down the back of the bowl and across the right side. We emailed back and forth and he sent me the following photos. I figured they would be some interesting pipes to work on so he sent them to me to work on. I received the box yesterday. When I opened it this morning I was amazed to see what he had sent. The Sandblast Canadian that needed restemming was stamped 264 Peterson’s Kapruf. The rest of the stamping was quite faint. The pipe needed to be restemmed and it had a small divot in the shank end and what looked like a crack. The second, a smooth Canadian was a BBB Ultonia 504 with a gold band. The two Sandblast with broken stems turned out to be Stanwells. The larger on is stamped Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 969-48. It is followed by the shape number 858 [over] Old Briar. The smaller one is stamped Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 969-48 followed by de Luxe followed by the shape number 87. The last of the five with the shattered bowl is an 8 Dot Sasieni [over] London Made [over] Pat. No. 1513428. It was also stamped “Amesbury”. They were going to be an interesting lot to work on.

I chose to deal with the cracked bowl on the 8 Dot Sasieni Canadian next. It was in badly damaged condition, questionably the worst in the lot. The stamping on the left topside of the shank was Made in England in a Rhombus shape near the bow and shank. That is followed by Sasieni in script with the flourish curling under the stamping [over] London Made [over] Pat. No. 1513428. On the right topside it was stamped “Amesbury”. It was faint in spots but still was readable. The cracks around the bowl went from the top right side down most of the bowl and curved around the backside and curved up to the top. There was also a crack that went from the vertical one across the right side of the bowl. The bowl was heavily caked and there were spots of lava on the rim top and inner edge. The inner edge was a little rough from previous reaming. The shank was solid and the stem was oxidized and had tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of them bowl. There was lava on the rim top, some darkening and several cracks on the rim top that matched those on the bowl sides. The inner edge was also damaged. The shank and the stem were also shown. The stem is oxidized, lightly calcified and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I also took a photo of the top underside of the shank to show the faint stamping that was present. It is faint in spots but is still readable as noted above.I took photos of the cracked bowl showing the damage around the sides and the rim top. They were deep cracks. My estimation was that they went all the way through to the inside of the bowl. Hard to know for sure because of the thick cake on the walls. Before I started my work on the pipe, I decided to do some work on the stamping of this pipe to get an idea of the time period it was carved. I turned first to Pipephil’s site to see what I could learn (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-sasieni4.html#doubleonedot). I found a pipe that was stamped the same way as the one I am working on. It is stamped on the left side of the shank like the third pipe in the screen capture photo below. Mine is stamped the same way with Sasieni in script with the fish tail. Underneath it is stamped London Made [over] Pat. No. 1513428). The one I have is stamped on the top right side and read “Amesbury” rather than “Wimbledon” stamp in the same place. I included the side bar notes below the picture. From that I knew that the pipe was made during Pre-transition Period 1927-1949.

I then turned to Pipedia for more detailed information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Sasieni). I quote a section of that article below. It refers to the Patent Number that is on the pipe I have on the table. The underlined portion below is particular pertinent to this pipe.

To begin with, there are three main elements to dating the Sasieni pipe, the patent number, the style of the name “Sasieni” as it appears on the shank, and the Dots themselves. Naturally, there are exceptions to these rules (this hobby would be boring without them), but for the most part these guidelines apply better than 95% of the time. All Sasieni One, Four, and Eight Dot pipes made before W.W.II and destined for the U. S. market carried a patent number on the shank which usually started with the numbers “15″, with 150221/20 and 1513428 being representative of the group. Also, the name “Sasieni” was stamped on the shank in a very florid manner, with the tail of the last “i” sweeping underneath the name forming a shape which has been compared to a fish by more than one collector. This script was discontinued by Alfred almost immediately after he took over the company, so this alone tells you your pipe is pre W.W.II. Underneath in block lettering are the words “London Made”, with the patent number making the third line.

The dots will help you narrow this down further. As we mentioned, the short lived U. S. market One Dot was introduced around 1920, and was replaced by the early to mid 1920’s by the Four Dot. The 1920’s Four Dot is distinguishable by the florid Sasieni script, a patent number, and four blue dots, which are quite small compared to the pipes of post war years. Furthermore, by 1935 Sasieni began stamping pipes, based on the shape, with their own names, which were usually, but not always, English towns. For example, apples were stamped “Hurlingham”, bulldogs were “Grosvenor” or “Danzey”, and panels were “Lincoln”. One rare and interesting variation of this was the large bent, dubbed “Viscount Lascelles”. Even in this soft Sasieni market, these pipes regularly sell for $150 in their rare appearances in mailers.

The pipe I have is one that was made for the US market as established by the Patent Number on the shank. The flourished “i” confirms that the pipe was made Pre-transition, 1927 – 1935. The third line stamped is London Made in block lettering. With all that information I knew that this pipe was from the period before the transition so it was an old timer.

I reamed the bowl with a Pipe Net pipe reamer to carefully scrape out the cake that was present to get it back to bare briar. I had to be careful as the bowl was very fragile and could easily fall to pieces. Before I worked more on the bowl I wanted to repair the cracks in the bowl walls.I filled in the cracks around the bowl sides with clear CA glue to first stabilize the bowl sides and build a base. Once that was done I sanded the are smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. Once the repairs were flattened I filled in the gaps in the repaired cracks with briar dust and clear CA glue. I sanded the rim top and the repairs on the bowl sides with 320 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repairs to the briar. It looks much better but still needs sanding. Once I had smoothed out the repairs I cleaned up the reaming in the bowl. I scraped out the remaining cake in the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I then sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. It made the internal damage very clear.I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads blend them into the surface of the briar. They are very visible on the surface but they are solid and should hold up well. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I stained the briar with a dark brown aniline stain. I applied it with a dauber and flamed it to set it in the grain. I repeated the process to ensure a good coverage on the repaired briar. The coverage on the briar was spotty and showed the spots where I had done the repairs.I polished the briar with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded with each pad and then wiped the bowl down after each pad to remove the debris. It began to look rich and smooth. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my finger tips to work it into the finish. The product is incredible and the way it brings the grain to the fore is unique. It works to clean, protect and invigorate the wood. I cleaned out the internals of the shank and bowl with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. The pipe is very clean. I like it clean to make a better fit for new stem. I cleaned out the airway in the stem I had chosen with pipe cleaners and alcohol.With the externals completed it was time to deal with the internal cracks matching those on the outside. I mixed a batch of JB Weld to repair the matching cracks on the inside walls of the bowl. I smooth out the repair with a dental spatula. Once it cured I smoothed out the repair with sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. I mixed a bowl coating charcoal powder and sour cream and coated the inside of the bowl with the coating to protect it while it developed a cake. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the tooth marks and nicks in the stem surface with Extra Strength Rubberized Black CA glue. I let it cure then used a flat file to recut the button edge and flatten the repairs in the surface. I sanded the repaired areas with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface. I sanded the stem with 320-1500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil Cloth to remove the sanding dust. It began to look very 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 an Obsidian Oil Cloth. The stem began to take on a rich shine. This older Sasieni London Made Pat. No. 1513428 “Amesbury” Canadian with a vulcanite taper stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The “Humpty Dumpty” repairs on this shattered do not hide the beautiful grain on the briar. It still shines through the polished finish and is stunning. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Sasieni London Made Pat. No. 1513428 “Amesbury” Canadian fits nicely in the hand and feels great. 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 28 grams/.95 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that I hold until I have finished working on the other two pipes that Andrew sent me. Once I am finished with the lot they will be heading back to Greece. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.