Blog by Steve Laug
This list of tobaccos was also in the bag of goodies I picked up from my friend. It is a pretty decent list of Fribourg & Treyer Pipe Tobaccos. It is annotated by the fellow who owned the documents. His notes are interesting. Fribourg & Treyer was one of all London’s great old pipe shops – established in 1720! I also have some correspondence between F&T and him regarding tobaccos he ordered that I may post if there is interest. Enjoy.
Blog by Steve Laug
I thought that this mail in pipe offer from Edgeworth Family Tobaccos was really interesting. The front page shows the new Edgeworth family of tobaccos and is in French and English. The back of the mailer has the form for ordering Custom-Made Edgeworth Pipes for a whopping $9.95 with two flaps from any Edgeworth tobaccos. The mail in address is Montreal, Quebec with a similar postal code to the previous Montreal address potentially making it a late 60’s or early 70’s mailer. The pipes come in three shapes and a guaranteed to have no fills. The inside of the mailer has an a mail in offer for Jesper Freehand Pipes by Jorgen L. The price on these is $19.95 plus two flaps from any Edgeworth tobaccos. I love this old tobacco memorabilia that I was given by my friend on Sunday. As I am reading through them I will post pieces that have interest. Enjoy.
Blog by Steve Laug
This document came to me in the lot I picked up on the weekend. I am pretty sure that it came with Arthur Leonard’s Catalogue as it was folded inside that document. It would have been given out to customers who purchased a meerschaum pipe from their shop. It gives a brief history of meerschaum and some simple instructions for obtaining “the utmost pleasure and value” from your meerschaum. I found it a quick and enjoyable read so I thought I would pass it on to you all.
Blog by Steve Laug
Another of the brochures/flyers that was in the pile I picked up from my friend on the weekend was this tobacco flyer from Arthur Leonard’s Tobacco Shop in Portland, Oregon. At the time of this publication they had three shops. This flyer is the 1972 Catalogue of Pipe tobaccos. At one point there must have been additional pages but this is the one that came to me. I love the prices and the descriptions of the tobacco. I only wish the shop was still open in Portland. I have an old sea rock carved pipe that came from that shop. I remember many years ago visiting the one at the Lloyd Center shopping mall when they were still open. Have a good read of this document from another time.
Blog by Steve Laug
The next pipe on my “to do list” from the fellow in Dawson Creek is a Peterson Meerschaum that has some great colour to it. It is made of African Meerschaum which is denser than Turkish meerschaum and usually unevenly colour to the extent that they are stained to give the pipe a better look. This one is a mottled brown and cream coloured block. I am not sure how much of it is the aging patina and how much is the stain but I love the look of the pipe.
I did a bit of hunting on the internet to try to find a photo of the pipe. It was hard to find a Meerschaum Rhodesian picture and found one that is the close to same shape. It has a flumed dark top edge or cap. The shape of the stem is a little different at the shank union than the one I am working on. The one in the photo is more pinched at the shank. The one I am working on has a band of cream coloured meer that is rounded over and the stem sits against it.
I have been watching eBay for the Pete’s and have not found one this shape. I have read that African Block Meerschaums Peterson’s are getting harder to find since the Laxey meerschaum mines shut down in 2006. I have a few of the pipes in my collection and I have found that they are heavier than Turkish meerschaum due to the inclusion of minerals and aggregate material in the Block and the fact that they were ‘Calcinated’ after being carved, to give them greater strength and durability. They will color with smoking and the use of beeswax, but it will be more of a gradual process than high-grade Turkish meerschaums.
The pipe from Dawson Creek was heavily caked which bodes well for it being a great smoking pipe. The rustication on the rim was thickly cake with the overflow from the bowl. The rusticated finish on the bowl and shank was dirty. The stem was heavily oxidized and there was some tooth chatter on the top and underside near the button. The P stamp was faded though it still was deep enough for a touch up job. I was looking forward to seeing what the finished pipe would look like after the cleanup.
I took a close up photo of the rim and the bowl. It shows the thick cake that is slightly sticky and has picked up a lot of dust and debris. The rustication on the rim is filled in with tars and oils to the point you cannot really see the grooves and ridges.
The Delrin tenon is glued into the vulcanite stem and mortise is lined with a Delrin tube. The tenon was surprisingly small in diameter for a stem this large when I took the pipe apart. The photo below shows the pipe taken apart.
I took some close up photos of the stem to show the oxidation and tooth chatter on the stem. There was large tooth mark on the top of the stem. It is hard to see in the photos below but after the first cleaning it would be visible.
I used a brass bristle brush to scour the top of the rim to remove the thick cake and reveal the crevices and ridges below the grime. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to take out the majority of the cake. I would need to clean it further later.
I scrubbed the externals with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the grime and oils in the grooves of the bow and shank. I rinsed the bowl off with warm running water to remove the soap and dirt. I scrubbed it more under the running water using the tooth brush.
I dried off the bowl and used Savinelli Pipe Knife to clean up the inside of the bowl and remove the last of the cake.
I cleaned the mortise and the airways in the shank and the stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the internals were clean.
I put the stem in an Oxyclean bath and let it sit overnight. In the morning I took it out of the bath and rubbed it down with a coarse cloth to remove the loosened oxidation. I took the following photos to show the stem at this point. The second photo shows the deep tooth marks.
Because the dent was round and smooth I decided to try to lift it with heat. I used a Bic lighter and “painted” the dent with the heat. It took a couple of passes of the lighter before it was smooth. The dent rose up to meet the surface of the stem. I did not need to do a fill or repair on the stem.
I touched up the P stamp with white acrylic and a fine brush. I overfilled the P and let the paint dry. Once it was dry I carefully scraped it off with a sharp knife and sanded it smooth. The second photo shows the stem stamping.
I took photos of the bowl at this point to show how it looked after cleaning. 
I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. I set the stem aside to dry.
I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I avoided buffing the bowl with the Blue Diamond because it would collect in the grooves and ridges of the meerschaum. I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe and stem with a clean buffing pad to polish the wax on the stem. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I think this one will be a good smoking pipe for Steve once I send it back to Dawson Creek. Thanks for looking.
This old Savinelli Catalogue gives great descriptions of the various lines of Savinelli Pipes. It gives a brief history of the brand and the workmanship used in their pipe manufacturing. The lines are described from the highest grade to the cheapest grade. It also includes a write up on Sherwood New Concept pipes, Churchwardens and Canadians/Lumberman pipes. There is a page on the Lollo compact pipe and the Roley Pocket pipe. There is a page on inexpensive pipes and lightweight pipes. The brochure ends with a page of accessories and oddities – the Kalumet, The Pipe Boy Car Pipe Rest, Snorkel and Tobacco jars. The back page of the catalogue gives the Briar Story, How to Break in your new pipe and filling, lighting and smoking the pipe.
Blog by Steve Laug
This is an interesting piece of tobaciana – a Sales sheet for Robert McConnell tobaccos of London England. It looks like it came from G. Hiltebrandt of Montreal – evidently a tobacconist in Montreal. It is marked with prices and blend descriptions. The brochure includes tobaccos that were tinned – all of which I recognize. It also includes blending tobaccos and cigarette tobaccos. The prices are written in and certain blends highlighted by a previous reader. I thought I would pass it on as I find it interesting.
Blog by Steve Laug
In the bag of tobacco literature there was this small John Cotton Sweet Danish Tobacco blends brochure/flyer. The best phrase is COMPLETELY FREE OF CHARGE. It shows six new blends and gives a description of what is in each blend. Even the names are interesting to me – Rich Mellow Virginia, Gaelic Mixture, Honeydew, Danish Aromatic, Harvest Gold and Burley. Though I rarely smoke aromatics I always enjoy the language of the older marketing – the descriptive paragraphs are skillfully worded to evoke a Pavlovian response. Enjoy
I also picked up a copy of a Peterson’s Pipes Brochure that is really interesting. It has some great drawings of the system and also of the various shapes that are available. The brochure as an order blank that the buyer can send to Genin, Trudeau & Co. at 38 Notre Dame West in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The postal code on the cover of the brochure gives it some age though I am not sure how old it is. Perhaps some of you will be able to help date this brochure. It would be great to know potential age.
On Sunday I visited R.J. Clarke Tobacconist here in Vancouver and he gave me a bag of tobacco literature. There are catalogues, brochures, flyers, inserts and letters from suppliers. There is some pretty interesting memorabilia in the bag. I am scanning the documents and will be posting them here on the blog to give them a wide audience. The first of these is an older Julius Vesz catalogue. I have several of Julius’ pipes and enjoy them. They smoke cool and dry. So this was a great addition to the information I have on the pipes. I thought I would share it with you all. Enjoy the brochure.
rebornpipes 