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Breathing Life into a Jobey Sterling Square Shank Panel 460 Billiard 

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by Steve Laug

I picked some older pipes to work on next. The next of these is a Jobey Panel Billiard. We purchased this one on 01/22/2024 from an online seller in Jordan, Minnesota, USA. This square shank Panel Bent Billiard is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Jobey in script [over] Sterling and on the right side it is stamped Imported Briar [over} the shape number 460. The Sterling Silver Band is also stamped and reads STERLING with three hallmarks – an anchor (Birmingham, England) a letter T (date) and a rampant lion (signifying the .925 Sterling quality). The pipe was well used. The finish was dirty with dust and debris ground into the finish. There were some dark marks on the sides of the bowl that looked to be on the surface. The bowl had a thick cake in it and some lava on the rim top and the inner edge. There was some roughening to the inner edge and darkening on the top of the bowl. The Sterling Silver band was oxidized. The vulcanite stem was oxidized, calcified and had some tooth marks on the surface ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took some closer photos of the rim top and bowl to show the condition. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top and inner edge. It is hard to know for certain but it looks like there is some roughening and damage to the right side of the inner edge. He also took photos of the stem to show its condition. You can see the oxidation, calcification and tooth marks and chatter on the stem at the button. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the smooth finish and the grain around the bowl and shank. He captured the stamping on the left and right sides of the shank. It is clear and faint in spots and reads a noted above. The brass inset Jobey oval logo on the top side of the saddle stem is clear and undamaged. On the right side of the stem it appears to be stamped English Para. He took a photo of the stamping on the sterling silver band. As noted above it is stamped and reads STERLING with three hallmarks – an anchor (Birmingham, England) a letter T (date) and a rampant lion (signifying the .925 Sterling quality). The anchor is easily identifiable as the assay mark and giving the location of the silver maker. In this case the location signifies Birmingham, England. The rampant lion at the end of the three hallmarks is knows the indicator of the quality of the silver. In this case it is .925 which is the normal amount for Sterling Silver. That leaves us with the T hallmark in the centre of the threesome.To figure out the date of the stamp I turned to several silver Hallmarks lists for Birmingham. I have included the link below to the chart that I regularly use to help identify the date on pipes with this(https://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Dates/Birmingham/Date%20Letters%20T.html). The helpful thing about this chart is that it is organized by letter and you can click on a letter and get all of the hallmarks with that letter – in this case T. This where it gets a bit tricky to me. If you look at the hallmark in the photo above the “T” stamp clean and straight with no tail on the base or the cross bar of the “T”. It is similar to a non-italic T in 1968. None of the other ones (1943 or 1993) with the capital T work so that is the mystery to me. So the date is not clearly identifiable from the charts.I reread several of the blogs I have written on the brand in the past restorations of Jobey pipes and decided to include the material on the brand before I write about the cleanup of the pipe. I wanted to spell out the link from the hallmarks above to British made Jobeys. Here is the link to the blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/04/03/restoring-jennifers-dads-jobey-asti-245-pot/). I quote:

I turned to Pipephil’s site for a quick review of the brand (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-j3.html). I quote a section of the post on the Jobey brand: These pipes are made in St Claude (France) by Butz-Choquin (Berrod-Regad group) since 1987. Before this date some were manufactured in England and Denmark (Jobey Dansk).

I turned then to Pipedia to gather further information regarding the brand and quote the first part of the article (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Jobey).

English – American – Danish – French… Sadly, solid information about Jobey is scant…

Probably established in England around 1920(?) the brand hiked into the USA later. In the course of time owner, distributor and manufacturer changed repeatedly. As far as is known the following companies have been involved with the brand:

George Yale Pipes & Tobacco, New York (1942), Norwalk Pipe Co., New York (1949), Arlington Briar Pipes Corp., Brooklyn (when?), Hollco International, New York (1969), Weber Pipe Co., Jersey City, NJ (1970’s), The Tinder Box, (1970’s – 80’s).

Throughout decades Jobey pipes were mainly sold in the USA, Canada and England but remained almost unknown in continental Europe. The bulk of Jobeys was predominantly made according to classical patterns and mainly in the lower to middle price range. The predominant judgment of the pipe smokers reads: “A well-made pipe for the price.” So, there is hardly anything very special or exciting about Jobey pipes although a flyer from ca. 1970 assures: “The briar root Jobey insists upon for its peer of pipes is left untouched to grow, harden and sweeten for 100 years. […] Jobey uses only the heart of this century old briar and only one out of 500 bowls turned measures up to the rigid Jobey specifications.” 99.80% of cull… that makes the layman marveling!

Now to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had cleaned up the pipe and it looked very good. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it 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, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. It removes the oxidation, grime on the stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration work. The rim top and outer edge of the bowl look good. The inner edge and spots on the top have some darkening and light damage. The stem surface was still lightly oxidized and there were tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.The stamping on sides of the shank is faint in spots but readable. It is stamped as noted above. The stamping on the stem side is pretty clear and reads English Para. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole. The panel saddle stem is nice and the photo shows the step down tenon. I cleaned up the top and the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage to the edge and the darkening on the rim top. I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the nicks and marks in the briar around the sides of the bowl. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It was looking pretty good once I finished. I polished the bowl and the rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. By the final pad it was starting to real take on a great shine. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips. It works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The grain came alive. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks with the flame of a lighter to lift them. The heat did a great job lifting most of them. The marks and chatter that remained I filled in with black CA glue strengthened with carbon and rubber. Once cured I flattened them and redefined the button edge with a file and blended them into the surface by sanding with 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the sanding and scratch marks and smoothed the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It removes the dust and also gives the sanding pads some bite. By the final pad it was looking quite good.I polished the vulcanite stem 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 rubbed it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. This English Made Jobey Sterling 460 Panel Billiard is a real beauty. I buffed the bowl and the vulcanite saddle stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and was amazed at how the grain popped and the stem began to shine. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed them with a clean buffing pad. I finished by hand buffing the pipe with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I think you will agree that it is a great example of a Jobey Sterling. The grain and the stem work really well together. The finished Jobey Sterling 460 Panel Billiard 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 ½ 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 38 grams/1.34 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. I appreciate your support and time!

Restoring a Well Loved GBD Prestige London England 508 Bent Billiard

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by Steve Laug

I picked some older pipes to work on next. The next of these is a GBD Bent Billiard. We purchased this one on 03/21/2024 from a seller in Oregon City, Oregon, USA. Jeff regularly visits shops along the coast hunting for pipes and though there are less of them there are still a lot available. The is a Bent Billiard that is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads GBD in an oval [over] Prestige and on the right side it is stamped London, England over the shape number 508. The pipe was well used. The finish was dirty with dust and debris ground into the finish. There were some dark marks on the sides of the bowl that looked to be on the surface. The bowl had a thick cake in it and some lava on the inwardly bevelled rim top and the inner edge. There was also some roughening to the inner edge and darkening on the top of the bowl. The vulcanite stem was oxidized, calcified and had some tooth marks on the surface ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took some closer photos of the rim top and bowl to show the condition. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top and inner edge. It is hard to know for certain but it looks like there is some roughening on the back inner edge. He also took photos of the stem to show its condition. You can see the oxidation, calcification and tooth marks and chatter on the stem at the button. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the smooth finish and the grain around the bowl and shank. He captured the stamping on the left and right sides of the shank. It is clear and faint in spots and reads a noted above. The brass inset GBD oval logo on the left side of the saddle stem is clear and undamaged. I looked on the Pipephil logos site for information on the Prestige line and found nothing there. I turned to Pipedia’s general article on the GBD brand looking for any information on the Prestige line and once again found nothing. The history article is a great read. Be sure to have a look at it.

The article included link to other articles on Pipedia and one of those was to an article on the GBD Model Information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/GBD_Model_Information). I turned there and found what I was looking for. There was a short description of the line and I have included it below:

Prestige — England, unknown if also made in France: Matt natural finish, Perspex mouthpiece.

That was helpful in terms of the finish which matches the pipe in my hand other than it has a vulcanite mouthpiece. I read further and in a short note from GL Pease I found the information below. I quote:

…In a circa 1973 chart which I have, here are the descriptions of the higher grades:

  • Virgin — “Only the finest of closely grained briar is utilized for this exceptional pipe. Natural finish”
  • Century — “A golden finish created to celebrate over a century of manufacturing the finest briar pipes.”
  • New Era — “The beauty of this pipe’s perfect briar is accentuated by the richness of the ‘take-off’ dual finish.”
  • Prestige — “This pipe features a black handcut perspex mouthpiece which precludes discoloration and ‘bad taste’ after continual smoking. Only the finest of the fine-grained bowls are selected for this handsome matt virgin finished briar.”
  • Prehistoric Perspex — “The deep sandblasting silhouettes the grain in bold relief. The crystal clear mouthpiece creates an attractive contrast to the deep dark finish.”

From that I now knew that the pipe was a higher grade GBD that is described as having a black handcut Perspex mouthpiece and a matte finished, fine grained virgin briar. The pipe I have on the table has a bent vulcanite stem rather than the Perspex otherwise the description is perfect.

I turned to another link on the site to look at shape numbers and see if I could identify further information regarding the shape (https://pipedia.org/wiki/GBD_Shapes/Numbers). I quote what I found below:Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe and it looked very good. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it 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, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. While it does nothing for the finish on the stem as it is Perspex it is worth the effort in that it removes the grime on the stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration work. The inwardly bevelled rim top cleaned up really well. The rim top and outer edge of the bowl look very good. The inner edge and spots on the top have some darkening and light damage. The stem surface was still lightly oxidized and there were tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.The stamping on sides of the shank is faint but readable. It is stamped as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole. The thin taper stem is nice and the photo shows the step down tenon. I cleaned up the top and the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage to the edge and the darkening on the rim top. I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the nicks and marks in the briar around the sides of the bowl. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It was looking pretty good once I finished. I polished the bowl and the rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. By the final pad it was starting to real take on a great shine. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips. It works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The grain came alive. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks with the flame of a lighter to lift them. The heat did a great job lifting most of them. The marks and chatter that remained I filled in with black CA glue strengthened with carbon and rubber. Once cured I flattened them and redefined the button edge with a file and blended them into the surface by sanding with 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the sanding and scratch marks and smoothed the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It removes the dust and also gives the sanding pads some bite. By the final pad it was looking quite good.I polished the vulcanite stem 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 rubbed it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. This GBD Prestige 508 Bent Billiard is a real beauty. I buffed the bowl and the Perspex saddle stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and was amazed at how the grain popped and the stem began to shine. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed them with a clean buffing pad. I finished by hand buffing the pipe with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. While there are some small brown stains in the button area it is clean. I think you will agree that it is a stunning example of a GBD Prestige. The grain and the stem work really well together. The finished GBD Prestige 508 Bent Billiard 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 ½ inches, Height: 1 3/4 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 3/4 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 39 grams/1.38 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. I appreciate your support and time!

You Gotta Love a nice “Malaga” Bent Volcano

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by Steve Laug

For a long time now, Jeff and I have been purchasing Malaga pipes. The shapes, the quality of craftsmanship, the oil finishing and their smokability all make them stand out. I can’t even remember how many we have cleaned and restored but there have been many. A quick search on Google will likely take you to our blog and at least one of the pipes that we have worked on. So when this pipe came up on eBay on 02/25/24 we bought it from the seller in Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada and added it to the work queue. The grain on this pipe is quite nice. Once again it was obviously someone’s favourite smoker. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank next to the stem/shank junction and reads “MALAGA”. The smooth finish on the bowl and shank were dirty and worn. There were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. The bowl had a very thick cake that flowed over the top of the smooth rim in a lava coat. The cake in the bowl was thick right up to the top of the rim. It was hard to fully assess the condition of the inner edge. The condition of the rim edge and top would become clear in the cleaning process. The outer edge looked very good. The bent taper stem was vulcanite. The stem was lightly oxidized and had some calcification ahead of the button. There were light tooth marks on the top and the underside of the stem ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work. Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the heavy cake and lava on the rim top and edges. The inner edge of the rim showed thick cake coming up to the top and flowing over the edge. It was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. The vulcanite thin taper stem had tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show some stunning and unique grain all around the pipe. The oil curing/finish makes the grain really stand out under the grime on the bowl and shank. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It read “Malaga” on the underside as noted above. The stamping was clear and readable. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the brand, I am also including the link to a blog that I wrote that gives some of the history of the Malaga brand and the Malaga Pipe Shop in Royal Oak, Michigan in the USA. Here is the link – https://rebornpipes.com/2013/02/09/george-khoubesser-and-malaga-pipes/. That blog also includes links to a catalogue and the history of the pipemaker George Khoubesser. If you are interested to learn more then I invite you to follow the link to get a feel for the brand and the pipemaker.

I am also am including a link to some printed material on the Malaga brand that came to me from the daughter of George Koch (we purchased George’s pipes from his daughter) to help identify the particular stamping on the pipe. The link takes you to the entire collection of materials that was sent to me (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/02/27/malaga-pipes-catalogue-of-pipes-and-tobaccos/).

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual procedure. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it 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 from around the bowl sides. It looked much better. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners and shank brushes. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it with warm water. The stem looked much better and the light tooth marks on both sides were still visible and would need a little work. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition. Jeff was able to clean up the cake and the lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. The rim top was clean but there were chips and nicks around the rim top and the inner edge of the bowl. The stem looked better, though there were tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank to show that it was readable and undamaged by the cleanup work. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of what the pipe looks like.I worked on the rim top and edges of the bowl to remove the damage and nicks on the surface and edges of the bowl. I lightly topped the bowl to smooth out the nicks and cuts in the top. I worked over the edge and top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and carefully brought the bowl back to round and removed the nicks in the top. It looked better.I sanded the bowl and shank it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to clean up the marks and scratches in the bowl surface. I wiped it down with a damp cloth between each sanding pad to remove the debris left behind by sanding. Once finished it looked better. I polished the bowl sides with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit micromesh pads. I wiped it down after each pad. It really began to take on a rich shine and the grain was quite beautiful. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the stem with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks. While I was able lift some of them there were deep ones that did not lift very much. I filled these in with black rubberized CA glue. Once the repairs cured I flattened them with a small file and then sanded them smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing of the stem with 2 x 2 inch sanding pads – dry sanding with 320-3500 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad. I was able to remove the light tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface on both sides.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 Obsidian Oil. I did a final hand polish of the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the “Malaga” Bent Volcano and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful “Malaga” Bent Volcano and the vulcanite taper stem and smooth finish combine to give the pipe a great look. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.34 ounces/40 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the American Pipe Makers and Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

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.

Restemming and Restoring a Well Used Republic Era Peterson’s Kildare 408 Apple

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by Steve Laug

In January Jeff found out about an estate sale in Pocatello, Idaho, USA. It turned out that the sale was for a fellow Jeff and I had purchased pipes from in the past, Gene. He had been the owner of Outwest Tobacco in Pocatello (long closed now) and I bought tobacco and other smoking items from him in the past. As I think about it now, it seems that I had known Gene for over 30 years Jeff and I had been to his home and enjoyed coffee and a few pipes together. I have no idea how many pipes we bought on those visits as well as to the antique shop of his daughter. I know that there were many pipes. When we heard that it was Gene’s personal collection that was for sale and that he had passed away we decided for Jeff to go to the house and have a look. He went on January 25, 2024 to scope it out as we had seen his personal collection of pipes and there were definitely some among those well smoked old warriors that would be great to pick up. Perhaps there would even be one that could join my own collection in memory of Gene.

Jeff went to the house and looked through the racks, pipe bags, tobacco both bulk and tinned as well as a variety of pipes. All the pipes were well smoked and needed serious cleaning. One the pipes he picked up was this Peterson’s Kildare 408 Apple with a black vulcanite replacement fishtail stem. It was very dirty and was a natural coloured pipe when it started. The smooth finish around the bowl was dirty and had hand oils ground into the grooves. The bowl had a thick cake that overflowed in lava onto the rim edge and top of the bowl. The stem was a replacement vulcanite one that was very dirty and had the marks of a rubber Softee Bit on the end. It had become discoloured and there was a line where the debris from smoking had accumulated along the edge and under the bit protector. The good news was that there were no tooth marks or chatter. The rest of the stem was dirty and had lost the characteristic shine. I really did not matter as I would be replacing it with a P-lip stem. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank and read Peterson’s [over] Kildare and on the right side it read Made in the [over] Republic [over] of Ireland (in three lines) and next to that was the shape number 408 next to the shank/bowl joint. 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 stem surfaces and the bowl and rim to give a sense of condition of the pipe. You can see the thick cake in bowl and the lava overflow on the edges and rim top of the bowl. It is had to know if there is any damage as the cake and lava is quite thick. The stem surface is very dirty and you can see the area on the end of the stem where the Softee Bit had protected it from chewing but had left it dirty and discoloured. He also took photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel to show the interesting grain that went around the bowl. The grain is beautiful. You can see the oils and debris ground into the finish of the bowl. He took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is faint but still is readable as noted above. I reread Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson). I am quoting nothing specifically from that article but recommend you take time to read it.

I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Peterson’s Kildare Line. It has become my go to any time I want information on the brand. On page 314 it had the following information on the Kildare Line.

Kildare (1965-) First issue of line with matte-finish in Classic Range shapes, P-Lip and fishtail mouthpiece. Second issue C.1979 as Kildare Patch, with rusticated patches on pipe surface. Third issue 2010, matte-brown, P-Lip or fishtail mouthpiece, no band. Fourth issue 2011-, burgundy sandblast finish, nickel army mount, fishtail mouthpiece, exclusive to smokingpipes.com.

The information given above identifies the pipe as a First Issue of the line with a matte-finish. It would have been issued between 1965 and 1979. This line was issued is a brown finish with either a P-lip or a fishtail mouthpiece. This means that the pipe is an older issue Kildare. The 408 shape number is attached to a ¼ bent Apple.

Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. It was a real mess and I wondered what it would look like after his work. He reamed the heavy cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The scratches in the briar stood out once clean. There were some on the left side toward the top of the bowl that appear in the first photo below. Overall the pipe looked good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. You can see the clean bowl. The bowl is in excellent condition and the rim top shows some darkening and some damage on the inner edge of the bowl and the outer edge as well. The misfit stem came out looking quite good, but since I would replace it in the restoration process I will add it to my cans of stems once I fit a new one to this pipe. I took photos of the sides of the shank to show the stamping. The photo clearly shows the faint stamping though it is actually more readable in person. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. The very short tenon is visible in the photo and was only one of the issues with this replacement stem. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. I had decided to replace the stem so I went through my stems for fine one. I wanted a straight P-lip style stem for the Peterson’s Apple. I went through my many stems and did not find one that would work with the diameter of the shank. I contacted Kenneth with the dimensions of the shank and he found several that were close. He graciously dropped them by on Sunday afternoon. In the bag he brought were several new Peterson replacement P-lip stems. I chose the taper stem below as my first choice. It had the right diameter and after the tenon was turned should work well. You can see the casting marks on the button area and tenon showing it as new stock.I have a tenon turning tool here that I often use to do this job. But for this one I decided to use the Dremel and a sanding drum to reduce the diameter of the tenon. It actually worked very well and I cleaned up the tenon with a file to remove the ridges of the sanding drum. The diameter was correct and the fit to the shank was perfect. Once the fit in the shank was right I used a lighter to heat the stem to give it the proper bend for the angle of the shank on this apple.I fit the stem on the shank and took photos of the new stem to give a sense of the new look. Personally, I like doing this as it gives me a chance to see it apart from a lens or on my desk top and assess the bend and the fit. I was happy with what I say. Now I needed to sand and shape the stem. I worked on the stem to remove the casting marks from the sides and the P-lip end with 220 grit sandpaper. I also removed some of the excess diameter on the top and underside of the stem to make the transition smooth. It definitely looked better at this point. Still lots to do.I started the polishing process on the pipe by sanding the stem and tenon with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. Each successive pad brought smoother shape and definition to the stem and tenon surface. It was starting to look very good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped them 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 gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil and set aside for the product to absorb into the vulcanite. I set the stem aside finished with all but the buffing and turned my attention to the bowl. I cleaned up the inner edge bevel with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I lightly topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to minimize the damage on the top and outer edge of the bowl. Once finished it definitely looked better. I wiped the bowl down with cotton pads and acetone to remove the darkening on the bowl sides and begin the process of cleaning the surface in my check for damage and cracks to the bowl. It actually looked very good. I used a Cherry stain pen to restain the inner edge and rim top to match the rest of the briar before I started sanding it. Once it had been sanded the match should be perfect.I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to remove the scratching and marks on the bowl surface and top and underside of the shank. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth and by the end the bowl really began to show some promise. I carefully avoided the stamping on the shank sides. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. By the final pads the briar really had a shine. 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 decided at the last minute to add a cosmetic thin brass band to the shank end. There was no need to do this in terms of damage to the stem or shank end. I just thought it would add a touch of bling to the pipe and give it a good interruption between the briar and the vulcanite. I heated the band and pressed it in place on the shank.It was great to finish this older (1965-79) Republic Era Peterson’s 408 Apple. I put the bowl and the newly fit stem together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with deep sandblast all around it. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem was beautiful. This Peterson’s Kildare 408 Apple is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 56 grams/1.98 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will soon be on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers Section of the store. If you want to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Restoring a Conway Aristocrat Made in England Bulldog

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by Steve Laug

I picked some older pipes to work on next. The next of these is a Classic, Smooth Straight Bulldog with a Saddle Stem. We purchased this one on 09/20/2023 from a seller in Portland, Oregon, USA. The is a large straight Bulldog that is stamped on the top left side of the shank and reads Conway [over] Aristocrat. On the left side it is stamped Made in England. On the top left side of the saddle stem the Circle C logo of Conway was stamped. The pipe was well used. The finish was dirty with dust and debris in the smooth briar and in the twin rings around the rim cap. The bowl had a thick cake in it and heavy lava on the rim top and the inner edge. There was some damage on the left back of the rim top and om the bevelled inner edge of the bowl. The vulcanite stem was oxidized, calcified and had some tooth marks on the surface ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took some closer photos of the rim top and bowl to show the condition. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top and inner edge. You can see the chip on the outer edge at the back of the rim top. It is hard to know for certain but it looks like there is some roughening on the back inner edge. He also took photos of the stem to show its condition. You can see the oxidation, calcification and tooth marks and chatter. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish on the bowl. The twin rings and bowl cap are quite well done and you can see the nicks and damage in the briar. He captured the stamping on the left top and right top side of the diamond shank. It is faint in spots but reads as noted above. It is interesting to note the nicks on the shank. The circle C logo stamped on the left side of the saddle stem is faded but the stamp is quite deep. I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c6.html) to see what I could find out on the brand. I did a screen capture of the section on the site on the Conway label. It is a pipe that bears the same stamping as the one in hand here other than the shape number. I also copied the sidebar information below the screen capture.Conway pipes were most probably made by Singleton & Cole. If the pipe is stamped with a shape number this probability almost becomes a certitude. According to Wilczak & Colwell (op. cit.) Loewe had a line named Conway.

I turned to a link on Pipedia hoping for more information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Conway). Sadly the only information was a mention of the information on Pipephil’s site. There were some amazing photos of the brand on the site. There was one that included an unsmoked Apple with a box and pipe sock as well as a brochure. The interesting point is that it was also an Aristocrat.Armed with that information that pipe was probably made by Singleton & Cole in London, England. I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had cleaned up the pipe and it looked very good. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it 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, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration work. The rim top cleaned up really well. The rim top had some damage on the back left side of the top. The outer edge of the bowl look very good. The inner bevelled edge was clean but had some darkening all around the bowl. The stem surface was clean but the oxidation was still visible and calcification was gone. Overall it looked very good with a few tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.The stamping on top left side of the shank and the top right side is clear and readable. It is stamped as noted above. It is faint in spots but still clear. The logo on the left topside of the saddle is also clear. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole. The wide taper stem is nice and the photo shows the proportions of the pipe. I used a wooden half sphere and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the rim top and the bevel on the bowl. Once finished the inner edge looked better. I then topped the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage to the left side of the rim top. I took a photo of the top after this part of the work as well.I washed the bowl with cotton pads and acetone to remove some of the opaqueness of the stain. Once I washed it down it looked much better. The grain really stood out and I was able to add a bit of colour to the sanded rim top. I touched up the stain on the rim top with a Walnut stain pen to match the rest of the bowl colour. It matched well and once it was polished and buffed it would be perfect.I sanded the bowl and shank with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad to remove the debris. The pipe was beginning to look much better. I polished the smooth briar around outside of the bowl and the rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to get it into the rings and rustication. It works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The grain and the rustication came alive. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks with the flame of a lighter to lift them (forgot to take photos). The heat did a great job lifting all of them. The marks and chatter that remained I filled in with black CA glue strengthened with carbon and rubber. Once cured I flattened them with a file and blended them into the surface by sanding with 220 grit sandpaper. I touched up the Circle C logo on the left side of the stem with white acrylic nail polish. Once it cured I scraped off the excess and polished the stem.I polished the roughness, scratch marks and smoothed the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It removes the dust and also gives the sanding pads some bite. By the final pad it was looking quite good.I polished the vulcanite stem 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 rubbed it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. This Conway Aristocrat Straight Bulldog is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The style of rustication that is used around the bowl is quite beautiful and works well with both the shape and the polished vulcanite taper stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the wheel and followed by buffing the pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Conway Aristocrat Bulldog 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: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 47 grams/1.66 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. I appreciate your support and time!

Custombilt Imported Briar Rhodesian. maybe I. ROED stamped on top of it.

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by Steve Laug

I picked some older pipes to work on next. The next of these is a Custombilt Saddle Stem Rhodesian with the classic CB style rustication. We purchased this one on 01/22/2024 from Jordan, Minnesota, USA as part of a lot on eBay. Just one more piece of evidence that, contrary to my own opinion, there are still some good finds at good prices to be found on that site. The is a Tall Rhodesian that is stamped on the top left side of the shank and reads Custombilt [over] Imported Briar. It is also over stamped in gold A.I. ROED across the shank stamp. The pipe was well used. The finish was dirty with dust and debris in the rustication and in the twin rings around the rim cap. The bowl had a thick cake in it and some lava on the rim top and the inner edge. There was also some roughening to the inner edge of the bowl. The vulcanite stem was lightly oxidized and had some tooth marks on the surface ahead of the button. It looked like the stem had sported a Softee Bit Guard and there was debris and calcification where it had been. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took some closer photos of the rim top and bowl to show the condition. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top and inner edge. It is hard to know for certain but it looks like there is some roughening on the back inner edge. He also took photos of the stem to show its condition. You can see the scratching and the bit guard. In the second photo he removed the bite guard and shows the condition of the stem surface. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the rustication – both the surface grooves and the hash marks inside the grooves. The twin rings and bowl cap are quite well done. He captured the stamping on the left top and underside of the left side of the diamond shank It reads a noted above. It is interesting to see A.I. ROED overstamped on the brand stamp on the shank.I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c8.html) to get a quick view of the brand once again. I knew that I was working with one of the older pipes and probably made by Tracy Mincer himself. He stopped making the Custom-Bilt pipes in the early 1950s. The screen capture I included below shows a brief history of the brand. I quote from the side bar in the above screen capture and have highlighted in red the pertinent part of the article.

Chunky bowls with rough carving or gouges.

Tracy Mincer stopped making Custom-Bilt pipes in the early 1950s. The trademark was successively bought by Leonard Rodgers (1953), Consolidated Cigars (1968) and Wally Frank Co. (early 1970s). The later began to produce again his version of the pipe in 1974 or 1975 at Weber pipe factory (NJ). In 1987, the pipes were made out of the Butz-Choquin factory (France) and then Mexico until the late 1990s. Currently (2010), the Custombilt name is owned by Tobacalera of Spain which is part of Altadis.

It is generally admitted (but not proved) pipes stamped “Custom – Bilt” (with the hyphen) are from the Mincer era. The name might have changed from Custom-Bilt to Custombilt (without the hyphen) in 1946.

I turned to Pipedia and found the following advertisement for the Custombilt line that I am working on (https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:Custombilt_Shapes.jpg). The logo on the advertisement is the same and the shape I have circled in blue in the advert below is the same shape number as the one that I am working on.  The majority of the information on the rest of the site was two book reviews of the Custom-Bilt Story by Bill Unger. I did a screen capture of the stamping that matched the stamping on the pipe that I am working on. The stamping on the one I have might be example of Stamp #2 of the Wally Frank Era pipes (shown in the screen capture below). This stamp has the top arch of “C” extend to the top of “t”. The bottom arch of the “C” also curves into the leg of the “u” as in a cursive signature. I have also included the information on Stamp 3 as it mentions two stamps from this Wally Frank Era.In the early 1970s, Wally Frank Co. bought the Custombilt trademark and began to produce their version of the pipe in 1974 or 1975. Hollco Rohr owned the Weber pipe factory, located in New Jersey, and produced the Custombilt pipes there. From all of the above information I am fairly certain that I am dealing with a Wally Frank-era Custombilt made between 1974-75.

Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself.  Jeff had cleaned up the pipe and it looked very good. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it 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, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration work. The rim top cleaned up really well. The rim top and outer edge of the bowl look very good. The inner edge was clean and the rustication on the rim top extended into the edge. The stem surface was rough but the oxidation and calcification was gone. Overall it looked very good with a few tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.The stamping on top left side of the shank is clear and readable. It is stamped as noted above. It also is overstamped as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole. The wide taper stem is nice and the photo shows the proportions of the pipe.I polished the smooth briar around outside of the bowl and the rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to get it into the rings and rustication. It works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The grain and the rustication came alive. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks with the flame of a lighter to lift them. The heat did a great job lifting all of them. The marks and chatter that remained I filled in with black CA glue strengthened with carbon and rubber. Once cured I flattened them with a file and blended them into the surface by sanding with 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the roughness, scratch marks and smoothed the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It removes the dust and also gives the sanding pads some bite. By the final pad it was looking quite good.I polished the vulcanite stem 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 rubbed it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. This Custombilt Imported Briar Straight Rhodesian is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The style of rustication that is used around the bowl is quite beautiful and works well with both the shape and the polished vulcanite taper stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the wheel and followed by buffing the pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Custombilt Straight Rhodesian 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: 6 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 55 grams/1.94 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the American Pipemakers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. I appreciate your support and time!

GBD Prestige London England 9436 Saddle Stem Billiard

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by Steve Laug

I picked some older pipes to work on next. The next of these is a GBD saddle stem smooth billiard. We purchased this one on 03/21/2024 from a seller in Oregon City, Oregon, USA. Jeff regularly visits shops along the coast hunting for pipes and though there are less of them there are still a lot available. The is a saddle stem Billiard that is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads GBD in an oval [over] Prestige and on the right side it is stamped London, England over the shape number 9436. The pipe was well used. The finish was dirty with dust and debris ground into the finish. The bowl had a thick cake in it and some lava on the inwardly bevelled rim top and the inner edge. There was also some roughening to the inner edge and darkening on the top of the bowl. The black acrylic stem looked very good and had a slight rippled look from sanding and buffing in the past. and had some light tooth marks on the surface ahead of the button. The stem had sported a Softee Bit Guard and there was debris but the bit had protected the stem from deep tooth marks. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took some closer photos of the rim top and bowl to show the condition. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top and inner edge. It is hard to know for certain but it looks like there is some roughening on the back inner edge. He also took photos of the stem to show its condition. You can see the scratching and the bit guard. In the second photo he removed the bite guard and shows the condition of the stem surface. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the smooth finish and the grain around the bowl and shank. He captured the stamping on the left and right sides of the shank. It is clear and faint in spots and reads a noted above. The brass inset GBD oval logo on the left side of the saddle stem is clear and undamaged. I looked on the Pipephil logos site for information on the Prestige line and found nothing there. I turned to Pipedia’s general article on the GBD brand looking for any information on the Prestige line and once again found nothing. The history article is a great read. Be sure to have a look at it.

The article included link to other articles on Pipedia and one of those was to an article on the GBD Model Information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/GBD_Model_Information). I turned there and found what I was looking for. There was a short description of the line and I have included it below:

Prestige — England, unknown if also made in France: Matt natural finish, Perspex mouthpiece.

That was helpful in terms of the finish which matches the pipe in my hand precisely. However, the note on a Perspex mouthpiece led me to believe it was speaking of the clear mouthpiece. That puzzled me a bit. I read further and in a short note from GL Pease I found the information below. I quote:

…In a circa 1973 chart which I have, here are the descriptions of the higher grades:

  • Virgin — “Only the finest of closely grained briar is utilized for this exceptional pipe. Natural finish”
  • Century — “A golden finish created to celebrate over a century of manufacturing the finest briar pipes.”
  • New Era — “The beauty of this pipe’s perfect briar is accentuated by the richness of the ‘take-off’ dual finish.”
  • Prestige — “This pipe features a black handcut perspex mouthpiece which precludes discoloration and ‘bad taste’ after continual smoking. Only the finest of the fine-grained bowls are selected for this handsome matt virgin finished briar.”
  • Prehistoric Perspex — “The deep sandblasting sillhouettes the grain in bold relief. The crystal clear mouthpiece creates an attractive contrast to the deep dark finish.”

From that I now knew that the pipe was a higher grade GBD that is described as having a black handcut Perspex mouthpiece and a matte finished, fine grained virgin briar.

I turned to another link on the site to look at shape numbers and see if I could identify further information regarding the shape (https://pipedia.org/wiki/GBD_Shapes/Numbers). I quote what I found below:

9436 billiard straight round
         

The stem on the 9436 I was working on was a black Perspex saddle stem. It looked very good. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe and it looked very good. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it 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, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. While it does nothing for the finish on the stem as it is Perspex it is worth the effort in that it removes the grime on the stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration work. The inwardly bevelled rim top cleaned up really well. The rim top and outer edge of the bowl look very good. The inner edge has some darkening and light damage. The stem surface was smooth but the ripples in surface were visible though hard to capture with the photos. Overall it looked very good with a few tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.

The stamping on sides of the shank is faint but readable. It is stamped as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole. The saddle stem is nice and the photo shows the step down tenon. I cleaned up the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage to the edge and the darkening on the rim top. I polished the bowl and the rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. By the final pad it was starting to real take on a great shine. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips. It works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The grain came alive. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the rippled areas on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper. It would also remove the tooth marks and chatter at the same time.I polished the sanding and scratch marks and smoothed the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It removes the dust and also gives the sanding pads some bite. By the final pad it was looking quite good.I polished the vulcanite stem 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 rubbed it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. This GBD Prestige 9436 Saddle Stem Billiard is a real beauty. I buffed the bowl and the Perspex saddle stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and was amazed at how the grain popped and the stem began to shine. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed them with a clean buffing pad. I finished by hand buffing the pipe with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. While there are some small brown stains in the button area it is clean. I think you will agree that it is a stunning example of a GBD Prestige. The grain and the stem work really well together. The finished GBD Prestige 9436 Billiard 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 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 41 grams/1.45 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. I appreciate your support and time!

An Unusual and Beautiful Peterson 221 Sterling Silver Prince

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by Kenneth Lieblich

This pipe came to me in a collection of pipes that gave new meaning to the phrase, ‘trash and treasure’. Everything from the sublime to the ridiculous was in here, but when I saw this Pete, I was immediately enchanted. It is a Peterson 221 prince. This is a stunning pipe. It’s an older one and it’s a real veteran, with a few mild battle scars which are part of its history. I can’t help but think that this pipe should be in someone’s Peterson collection – it’s lightweight and breathtaking. This was one of the more difficult restorations I’ve ever undertaken. You might read through this blog post and think that it doesn’t seem particularly unusual. And, superficially, you’re right. Most of the steps in this restoration are run-of-the-mill, but, in many cases, these steps had to be done and redone so many times that I nearly launched the pipe across the room. So, settle in for a wild ride. The pipe is marked as follows: on the left side of the shank, it says K&P [over] Dublin. On the left side, it says Made in Ireland in the form of a circle and, next to that, the shape number 221. The circular Made in Ireland suggests that this is an older pipe, possibly (but not definitely) pre-republic. On the sterling silver band is displayed three shields each containing the three marks K&P [over] Sterling [over] Silver. The stem is the traditional Peterson P-lip, but it has no logo.This is an unusual Peterson, by shape and number. There are Pete princes and there are Pete 221s (bent billiards), but I hadn’t seen a 221 prince. I searched extensively for this very pipe and came up empty. I looked at Pipedia and Pipephil – nothing. Many more searches also came up with nothing. Steve kindly referred me to a couple of his articles (from 2016 and 2020) that gave a good clue:

https://rebornpipes.com/2016/09/13/petersons-pipes-brochure-from-genin-trudeau-co-montreal-quebec/

and

https://rebornpipes.com/2020/03/13/final-pipe-from-the-19-pipe-eastern-canada-lot-a-republic-era-peterson-1312-system/

The key information is on the old Peterson brochure shown in the blog post. In previous times, Petersons were imported into Canada through a company called Genin Trudeau & Co. (nowadays just Trudeau – the kitchen wares company). Genin Trudeau had the Peterson firm stamp their own shape numbers on the pipes they imported. This brochure supposedly dates from around 1974 and includes a silhouette of a 221, as you can see here in a cropped photo:However, there’s a problem: the 221 in the brochure is close – but not identical – to the 221 I’ve got here. Mine has a gentle bend; the one in the brochure does not. Clearly, my 221 was from a different time. Steve suggested that I contact Mark Irwin at Peterson Pipe Notes, as he is a great repository of Peterson knowledge. Mark was his usual obliging self and directed me to a page from his blog:

https://petersonpipenotes.org/280-canadian-shape-numbers-from-a-gtc-pipe-box-brochure/

In this post, he shows an older brochure, also from Genin Trudeau & Co. and dated to approximately 1955, which also shows a 221 prince. This time, however, it is the correct pipe!Although the brochure shows a rusticated pipe and mine is smooth, it is clear that the shape is identical. I suspect that this pipes dates from well before 1955, but I cannot prove this. Nonetheless, it is an exciting tidbit of information – thank you to Steve and Mark for their help.

The photos show that this pipe’s former owner must have loved this pipe – it was smoked to the Nth degree. Although it must be a fantastic smoker, it has clearly never seen a pipe cleaner or reamer! The stem is filthy beyond words and it has scratches, bites, oxidation, and calcification. Most unfortunately, the stem also has a significant bite-through on the underside.The stummel is also quite rough. There are a few minor nicks in the wood, but nothing serious. The main issue here is the cake in the bowl. Wow. The bowl is literally completely blocked. The cake is rock hard and its lava has erupted all over the rim. This is going to take some work!I used a disposable lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame. The gentle heat of the flame can often cause the dents in vulcanite of the stem to expand back into shape. In this case, the dents were alleviated somewhat, but not enough. Better than nothing.The calcification was quite substantial. I used an old butter knife and gently scraped some of the thicker accretion off. Taking the opportunity to do this now helps later in removing the oxidation.I used oil soap on a few cotton rounds and wiped the stem down. This provides a preliminary cleaning of filth off the stem before moving on to the next steps.The primary cleaning comes next. I cleaned the inside of the stem with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 99% lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly and made sure the interior was clean. I used a lot of pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. This was a very dirty pipe.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 is a hideous brownish mess – but better off the stem than on it. This particular stem was so dirty that I also applied the cleanser to the inside with some tube brushes.Once the stem was reasonably clean, I soaked it overnight in some de-oxidation fluid. This solution works to draw oxidation in the stem to the surface. 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 de-oxidation fluid with a toothbrush. Once clean and dry, I set about fixing the bite marks in the vulcanite. This is done by filling those divots with black cyanoacrylate adhesive, impregnated with carbon and rubber. I left this to cure and moved on.My next task was repairing the large hole on the underside of the stem. There are several methods of doing this and individual circumstances will dictate how to proceed. In this case, I used a straightforward method of employing the same black cyanoacrylate adhesive mentioned above. Before applying the adhesive, some preparatory work is required. With such a large gap in the vulcanite, any applied adhesive will simply run through the aperture and fill the airway. To prevent this, I coated the end of a pipe cleaner with petroleum jelly and lodged it in the airway. This provides a platform for the adhesive to sit on while curing and prevent it from entering the airway. The petroleum jelly is used to prohibit the adhesive from attaching to the pipe cleaner. This repair was much more labour intensive than normal. The adhesive patch I created failed three times before I finally made it work. The precarious nature of the repair impelled me to lay the patch much thicker than I might otherwise have. I am pleased with the final result, but I am not utterly convinced of the patch’s long-term structural integrity.The penultimate step for the stem is sanding. I first used my set of needle files to reduce the bulk of the cyanoacrylate repairs. I do not want to cut into the vulcanite, but I want to lower the height of the adhesive to as close as possible above the surface. 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 apply pipe-stem oil while using the last five micromesh pads. There is a wonderful, deep-black shine to the stem when I am done.Now that the stem is (nearly) complete, I can move on to the stummel. The first step for me is to ream out the bowl – that is to say, remove all the cake inside the bowl. This accomplishes a couple of things. First (and most obviously), it cleans the bowl and provides a refurbished chamber for future smoking. Second, when the old cake is removed, it allows me to inspect the interior walls of the bowl and determine if there is damage or not. More about that later. In the meantime, I used a reamer, a pipe knife, and a piece of sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel. Collectively, these ensure that all the debris is removed. However, this pipe needed a jackhammer to deal with the rock-hard cake in the bowl. Since I don’t have a jackhammer, I used a ½” rotary burr on my Dremel. This is a tricky procedure and I would not normally use this burr except as a last resort. The cake was so hard, that I had no other option at my disposal. Working with great care, I managed to clean out the bulk of the material and then returned to my normal tools to finish the work. As you can imagine, there was an extraordinary amount of debris in the bowl.My next 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 provides an edge that is sharp enough to remove what I need, but not so sharp that it damages the rim. This work revealed a lot of damage underneath: burning, scratches, gouges, etc. This would have to be addressed later.The inside of the stummel needs to be cleaned thoroughly. However, this pipe’s shank 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. Similar to the stem, I then cleaned the stummel with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 99% lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. With a pipe this dirty, it took quite a while and much cotton to get 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 plain 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton.To tidy up the briar, I also wiped down the outside with some oil soap on cotton rounds (and a toothbrush). This does a good job of cleaning any latent dirt on the surface of the briar.The last step of the cleaning process is to wash the inside of the stummel with some liquid cleanser and tube brushes. This is the culmination to a lot of hard work in getting the pipe clean. As you can see, this pipe still has some visible wounds. The damage to the rim is significant. In order to minimize the burns and nicks on the rim, I ‘topped’ the pipe – that is to say, I gently, slightly, and evenly sanded the rim on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. This effectively takes down the damage, without altering the look of the pipe.A notable burn remained on the rim, so I took some crystalized oxalic acid and dissolved it in warm water. I then took some cotton swaps, dipped in the solution, and rubbed the burned spot vigorously. The acid works well to alleviate superficial burns (burns where the integrity of the wood is still good).All the cleaning I did revealed an important problem. The photos do not show it well, but the previous owner reamed this pipe overzealously. The heel of the bowl was gouged out through reaming and is now very thin. I had to fill this. To fill a gap like this, I use an epoxy adhesive that is extremely hard, resistant to high temperatures, and completely inert when cured. It works superbly. I filled the affected area with the epoxy and let it cure for a full 24 hours. The next day, I roughened up the epoxy’s surface for the next step. I thinly coated the inside of the bowl with a mixture of my wife’s homemade yogurt and activated charcoal. Once hardened, this provided a good, slightly rough surface for a new cake to build.I used all nine micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) on the outside of the stummel to finish it off. This sanding minimizes flaws in the briar and provides a beautiful smoothness to the wood surface. I rubbed some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and left it to sit for 20 minutes or so. The balm moisturizes the wood and gives a beautiful depth to the briar. I then buffed it with a microfibre cloth. The final step is buffing. I took the pipe to my bench buffer and carefully polished it – first with a white diamond compound, then with three coats of carnauba wax. Naturally, these finishing touches make the pipe look its best – the stummel sings and the stem glows.

All done! This Peterson 221 sterling silver prince was a lot of work, but it looks fantastic and is ready to be enjoyed again 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 ‘Irish’ 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 6⅛ in. (155 mm); height 1⅛ in. (30 mm); bowl diameter 1½ in. (36 mm); chamber diameter ⅔ in. (17 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1 oz. (29 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I did 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.

A Playful Restoration of a Stanwell Flame Grain 63 Dublin

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by Steve Laug

I took a break from working on repairs for customers and my own pipes to have some fun with an unstemmed bowl I had in my box. I went through my stems and did not have a normal or original stem for the bowl. I tried a variety of stems and none of them fit well of even close. I know this one will certainly irritate some purists but I have to tell you it was a fun pipe to work on.The shank had a bit of an odd shape as it was round on the top and the right and left sides. The unique part was that the bottom of the shank was flat. It was stamped on the left side of the shank and read Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 969-48 [over] Flame Grain. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Selected Briar [over] shape number 63. On the underside of the shank it is stamped Made in Denmark [over] Modele Depose. The shape was a classic Dublin with a plateau rim top. I only took one photo of the bowl before I started working on it. The bowl had some amazing grain around the sides and shank. Definitely the pipe lived up to its name FLAME GRAIN. I went to my can of stems and found both an interesting stem and a horn acrylic shank extension. With a bit of adjusting they would make an interesting looking freehand.The tenon end on the shank extension took only a little adjusting to fit the mortise in the shank. I used a file and a Dremel and a sanding drum to adjust the fit. I fit it in the shank end to get a sense of what it looked like with the extension.I coated the tenon end of the extension with some clear super glue and pressed it into the shank end. I held it in place until the glue set and the extension was solid in the shank.I used a flat file/rasp to shape the shank extension the shank end. I used a Dremel and sanding drum as well. It took a lot of sanding and filing to shape the extension but it gradually began to take on shape. I took some photos of the pipe after the heavy file work was finished. It is looking much better in terms of the fit. Lots of heavy sanding to do to further shape it. I took some photos of the stamping on the shank sides. The photos are far blurrier than the stamping is in person. It is very readable.More filing and more sanding with 220 grit sandpaper really gave the shank extension a defined shape and look. Polishing the shank extension would bring the horn shank back to life. I paused in the polishing of the acrylic horn extension to clean up the bowl. I worked over the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to clean out the debris in the plateau. It polished up nicely with the brush. It looked much better. I began my work on this pipe by reaming the pipe. I used a PipNet Reamer with the first and second cutting heads to take back the heavy cake to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and finally sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. I like to remove all the cake to examine the walls for damage and checking. Great news is that this one is free of any damage! I sanded the bowl to smooth out the finish on the bowl and take care of nicks and scratches in the bowl sides and shank. I also sanded the acrylic horn shank extension. I also sanded the areas where the file and the 220 grit sandpaper had been used on the briar shank. I used 320-3500 grit sanding pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to check on the progress. It came out looking much better. I touched up the sanded areas on the shank end ahead of the extension with a Cherry stain pen. It matched surrounding briar very well. The acrylic horn shank extension looked very good. I polished the briar bowl and the acrylic horn shank extension with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the debris. The bowl and the band took on a rich glow. I cleaned out the shank and the airway in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. It was surprisingly clean and the pipe smelled fresh. I rubbed down the briar Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface with my fingertips. I used a shoe brush to work the balm into the plateau. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 15 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I used the sanding pads I purchased recently – 320-3500 grit regular pads to smooth out the finish and remove the light tooth and chatter marks in the stem. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil to finish the preliminary work after the 3500 grit pad.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 Obsidian Oil. I polished the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem to protect the stem. I set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the reborn/re-imagined  Stanwell Flame Grain Made in Denmark 63 Dublin Freehand and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the acrylic. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful Stanwell Flame Grain Dublin 63 – the acrylic horn shank extension, black acrylic stem and smooth finish combine to give the pipe a great look. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inch, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.55 ounces/45 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the Danish Pipe Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

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 Republic Era Peterson’s “Shannon” 6 Billiard

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by Steve Laug

A couple of weeks ago I received a message on Facebook from Shannon about cleaning up a pipe for him. It was one of his favourite pipes so he wanted it spiffed up. I have included several of his messages below along with photos of the pipe in question.

Hello! I saw the beautiful work you did on a Peterson Shannon 80S recently and not only would I like to purchase that but I would also like to see if you could give my Shannon Billiard a glow-up. I purchased it with some minor wear and teeth marks but it has been faithful for a good while. would like to get it a sibling and pair them together as fresh if possible. Please let me know…

…I’ve only been smoking for a little over a year so when I saw that Peterson had a whole line in my own name, I’ve kinda been drawn to it. They’re just not that common and usually in a sad state when I see them.

…Here’s the pipe in question. I covered the teeth marks with a pipe bit but as you can see, it’s still in pretty good shape overall.Probably THE best smoking pipe I own, especially for when I don’t feel like fully rubbing out flakes. It handles folded tobacco better than the rest of the ones I have. Here’s a couple more photos I just took of the minor issues… We chatted back and forth a bit about his pipe and I agreed to work on it for him. He boxed it up and sent it to me to work on. It arrived this week thanks to UPS and I opened the box and took the pipe out. I examined it and took photos of the pipe. It was well smoked and well cared for. The bowl has a light cake on the top 2/3rds and the bottom 1/3 is raw briar – not darkened by smoking. The rim top had some darkening in spots and the inner edge also had some darkening. The finish was shiny like it had a light varnish coat. There were some oils and grime in the finish. The stem was in good condition other than the tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The brass spacer on the stem was lightly oxidized. The Peterson’s P logo stamped on the left side of the stem was faint but had remnants of gold in it. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank and read Peterson’s [over] Shannon. On the right side it bore the number 6 next to the bowl/shank junction which is the shape number for a Peterson’s Billiard. That is followed by Made in The [over] Republic [over] of Ireland in three lines. This tells me that the pipe was a Republic Era pipe which dates it between 1948 and present date. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. It really is a beautiful piece of briar. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition. You can see that my assessment in the above photos is correct. The rim top shows some darkening toward the back and around the inner edge of the rim. The cake is the bowl is quite light. The photos of the stem show the tooth chatter and marks (which are light but still present) from the previous owner Shannon bought the pipe from. Otherwise the stem looks very good.I took photos of the stamping on the shank sides. It is clear and readable as noted above. The P logo on the stem side is deep but the colour in it is faint. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to show the proportions of the stem to the bowl. The stem is a classic Peterson style taper stem.Before I started working on the pipe I turned to “The Peterson’s Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to see what it had to say on the “Kildare” line. On page 313 it says:

Shannon (19695-c.1987) First offered as entry-grade walnut or black sandblast, P-lip mouthpiece and a nickel band. In 1969-c.1970 offered through Iwan Ries as Shannon Meerschaum lined, middle grade black sandblast and higher-grade brown sandblast finish, P-lip mouthpiece. From 2005 as polished tan and black stain, unmounted, P-lip or fishtail mouthpiece with stamped gold P on the vulcanite mouthpiece.

I believe that the pipe I am working on is from the 2005 line. It has a polished tan and black stain and a fishtail mouthpiece. It has a classic shape and the information would make the pipe one issued after 2005. It has a bit of age on it and it is in excellent condition. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

I started my work on the pipe by dealing with the shiny top coat on the bowl. I wanted to remove that and clean up the finish. I wiped down the bowl with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the varnish (possibly shellac). It worked very well to get rid of the top coat without harming the stain coat on the bowl. It also looked much better after the wash with the acetone. I used a dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the thin cake in the bowl. It was a bit rough and uneven before I sanded it. Once finished it was smooth to touch from the top to the bottom of the bowl. I cleaned out the internals of the pipe with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It was quite clean which is a tribute to Shannon’s care of his pipes. I cleaned out the remnants of tars and oils in the shank and the pipe is clean. There is a smoky smell of tobacco but it is clean.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the dust. The rim top, edges and bowl were really shining by the final pad. I paused the polishing to clean up the top of the rim a bit. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the darkening on the rim top. It looked better at this point. Afterwards, I repeated the 1500-2400 grit pads and then continued to work through the rest of the pads. It looked much better. I rubbed the bowl and rim down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I really like watching the Balm do its magic and bring the briar alive. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the vulcanite surface with the flame of a lighter – constantly moving the flame over the tooth marks and was able to lift many of them. I was able to lift them significantly enough that sanding them with 320-3500 grit sanding pads.I sanded the stem with the 2 inch square 320-3500 grit sanding pads and easily removed the tooth marks and chatter. I wiped down the stem after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished out the scratch marks left behind by the sandpaper. The stem looked very good.The stem was in such good condition that I decided to just do some preliminary work on it before polishing it. I touched up the “P” logo on the left side of the stem with Rub’n Buff Antique Gold. I let it dry then polished off the excess with a worn 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad. Once the excess was removed the stamp looked much better. There were some weak spots on the curve of the “P” stamp but overall it looked 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 Obsidian Oil. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine, I rubbed it on with my finger and buffed it off with a cloth. I gave the stem a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to let the oil be absorbed. Once again at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when the Peterson’s “Shannon” 6 Billiard with a fishtail stem is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I lightly polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I 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 and the beautiful grain really popped with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and thick shank. This Republic Era Peterson’s “Shannon” 6 Straight Billiard was another fun pipe to work on. It really is a quite stunning piece of briar whose shape follows the flow of the briar. The pipe feels great in the hand will be better when warmed up while smoking. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 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 1.48 ounces/42 grams. I will be sending it back to Shannon shortly. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

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.