John I love these gimmicky pipes and enjoy my trapwell because it delivers what it promises
Photographed and written by John M. Young I just can’t stop myself from working on those darn 1940s pipes. This little gem is one of those World …
A Trapwell Large Apple Restoration
Blog by Steve Laug
Last week I received a package of pipes to work on for a friend, Scott. I had no idea what was coming but when it arrived I was surprised with the interesting and amazing pieces he included for me to work on. These included a nice looking large Dunhill 841 ODA Lovat, a Campaign pipe with a Calabash style bowl and a start on the stem, a Sasieni 2 Dot London Made Canadian with a Lovat style saddle stem, and finally an older GBD MR&Co silver banded 5 Lovat. All of them are quite lovely and also interesting for me to be able to work on. I took a photo of the box when I unpacked the pipes.
The second pipe I chose to work on from this lot was the large Sasieni Two Dot Large oval shank Lovat. The pipe has a smooth, rich brown finish. The stamping on the topside of the shank read Sasieni [over] Two Dot [over] London Made [over] King Size. On the underside the COM Stamp was shaped like football and read Made in [arched over] England. That is followed by a shape number 44G. The bowl had a heavy cake in it and the rim top and inner edges had a heavy lava built up. The cake was thicker on the back half of the bowl. The outer edge of the bowl looked very good. The finish was very dirty with grime ground into the bowl sides and shank. The stem was calcified and oxidized and there were tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. The Sasieni two blue dots were on top of the saddle portion of the stem. I took a few photos of the pipe before I started working on the pipe and have included them below. 
I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. The bowl itself had a thick cake on the walls and bowl bottom. The rim top showed a heavy coat of lava and the inner edge was heavily caked and its condition would be revealed with cleaning. The outer edge looks good. The photos of the stem show the oxidation, calcification and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button.
I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe. 
Before I started my work pipe, I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-sasieni.html) to get a feel for the Two Dot pipes. As usual there is some helpful information in short form on the site. I have included a screen capture of the pertinent section below.
On the side bar it also included this information on the King Size stamping:
“King Size” marking in any Sasieni grade or finish were the largest pipes Sasieni regularly marketed.
“Two dot” pipes are not to be confused with the Duplicated One dot.
On the side bar there was also a link to move information in French regarding the Two Dot pipes (http://www.pipephil.eu/oddpipes/dots/sasieni-2dots.html). I ran it through Google Translate and picked up the following information that was quite helpful. (I know Google translate is greatly lacking but it at least gives a sense of the meaning of the words.) I am including the link and the translation should you want to check it out.
Two-Dot Sasieni
If you are intending to acquire your first Sasieni pipe, and your budget does not allow you to splurge these days, I cannot recommend enough that you take a closer look at the colonized pipes at this London pipe maker.
What differentiates the Sasieni two-point pipes from those with four? Very few two things, judge:
Alfred Sasieni wanted the pipes marked with the diamond to be absolutely perfect. Those which had even a surface irregularity (sandpit) the size of a tenth of a pinhead, were to be considered second choice.
At the beginning of the sixties (see diagram here http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/fr/infos/sasieni-timechart.html), while the house was already marketing second-choice pipes through sub-brands [1], it was finally decided to sell the “almost perfect” under the prestigious Sasieni brand, but by reducing the points to two.
These two-point pipes were marketed from 1961 until the early 1980s. On the second-hand pipe market these models are generally sold at very fair prices [2]…
[1] Illustrated list of Sasieni’s sub-brands or second brands.
[2] Do not confuse Sasieni pipes marked with a double point, with those that have a point on either side of the pipe.
From that information I knew that I was dealing with an “almost perfect” piece of briar and that explained the two small pinprick holes on the right side of the bowl. I also knew that the Two Dots were marketed for a short period from 1961 to the early 1980s which gave a time frame for this pipe. With the King Size stamp I also knew that I was dealing with one of the largest pipes that Sasieni marketed.
By the way, Pipedia gives a great history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Sasieni) that is well worth reading.
Now it was time to work on the pipe. I used a PipNet Pipe reamer first to take out the majority of the cake. It was a deep bowl so I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to clean up the remaining cake in the bowl and to scrape off the lava on the rim top. I used a dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the walls of the bowl. I checked for damage on the bowl walls and it was in good condition. I sanded the bevel on the inner edge of the rim with 220 grit sandpaper and the thick lava coat on the rim top with a 320 grit sanding pad.
I scrubbed out the inside of the shank, mortise and the airway in both the stem and the bowl. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It cleaned up very well.
I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the grime and debris in the finish. I scrubbed out the mortise and tenon with small tube brushes and soap to remove the oils and tars in the shank area. I rinsed it with warm water to remove the grime and oils in the finish and shank. It has a fresh look that really highlights the grain in the briar.
I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads to minimise the scratches in the briar. I dry sanded with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. By the end of the nine pads the briar took on a rich shine and the rim top looked very good. 
I paused the polishing process long enough to give the rim top a light stain with a Maple stain pen to add some colour back to the light areas on the rim top. It matched the colour of the rest of the bowl and would do so even more once polished. Once finished I continued the polishing process with micromesh sanding pads.
I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips o make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. 
I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. First, I wanted to address the tooth marks in the surface on both sides. I “painted” the surface of the vulcanite with the flame of a Bic lighter and was able to significantly lift the tooth marks. I sanded the remaining marks and chatter with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them out. 
I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look 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 with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. 
I put the Sasieni Two Dot London Made King Size 44G oval shank Lovat bowl and stem back together. I 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. The reddish/brown stains worked amazingly well with the polished vulcanite taper stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. This is truly a beautiful Sasieni Two Dot King Size 44G Lovat. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.22 ounces/64 grams. I have two more of Scott’s pipes to work on and then I will be sending them back to him. I am sure he will soon add them into his rotation and enjoy some great smokes. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.
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.
By Steve Laug
I took a break from the queue of pipes I have to work on to work on a pipe in my own box. Paul in Illinois who loves Dunhill Prince shapes and he regularly texts and asks if I have any. When I was in Idaho I picked up one that we had purchased from a friend in Denmark on May 22, 2024. It is a lovely Dunhill Bruyere Prince. The stamping on the left side of the shank read FET (the designation for a prince) [over] F/T next to the bowl. That is followed by Dunhill [over] Bruyere. On the right side it read Made in [over] England followed by a number 7 to the right of the D in England that will help me date the pipe. The bowl had been reamed not long ago. There was some lava on the rim top on the back of the rim and the inner edge had darkening and was rough to the touch. The outer edge looked very good. The finish was dirty but it could not hide the lovely grain around the bowl and shank. The stem was clean though a bit pitted. The bend in the stem common on Prince pipes had straightened over time. There were tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. The classic Dunhill White Spot was missing on top of the stem but a clean small hole remained where it had been. I took a few photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I sent the photos to Paul and he is excited about it.
I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. The bowl itself had been recently reamed. The rim top showed a coat of lava and some darkening around the edge. The inner edge looked rough but a cleaning would make that clear. The outer edge looked very good. The photos of the stem show light oxidation, the missing white spot on the top and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button. 
I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The photos are blurry but you can see the shadow of the stamping. The stamping was faint but readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe.
As is my regular practice, before I started my work on the pipe, I turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Bruyere Pipes to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:
Bruyere
The original finish produced (usually made using Calabrian briar), and a big part of developing and marketing the brand. It was the only finish from 1910 until 1917. A dark reddish-brown stain. Before the 1950s, there were three possible finishes for Dunhill pipes. The Bruyere was a smooth finish with a deep red stain, obtained through two coats, a brown understain followed by a deep red.
There was a link on the above site to a section specifically written regarding the Bruyere finish (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Bruyere). I turned there and have included the information from that short article below.
Initially, made from over century-old briar burls, classified by a “B” (denoted highest quality pipe); “DR” (denoted straight-grained) and an “A” (denoted first quality), until early 1915. After that, they became a high-end subset to the Dunhill ‘Bruyere’. The DR and B pipes, a limited production, they should be distinguished as hand-cut in London from burls as opposed to the Bruyere line which was generally finished from French turned bowls until 1917, when the Calabrian briar started to be used, but not completely. Only in 1920 Dunhill took the final step in its pipe making operation and began sourcing and cutting all of its own bowls, proudly announcing thereafter that “no French briar was employed”.
Bruyere pipes were usually made using Calabrian briar, a very dense and hardy briar that has a modest grain but does very well with the deep red stain.
“Before the 1950s, there were three possible finishes for Dunhill pipes. The Bruyere was a smooth finish with a deep red stain, obtained through two coats, a brown understain followed by a deep red. The Shell finish was the original sandblast with a near-black stain (though the degree to which it is truly black has varied over the years). Lastly, the Root finish was smooth also but with a light brown finish. Early Dunhill used different briars with different stains, resulting in more distinct and identifiable creations… Over the years, to these traditional styles were added four new finishes: Cumberland, Dress, Chestnut and Amber Root, plus some now-defunct finishes, such as County, Russet and Red Bark.”
There was also a link to a catalogue page that gave examples and dates that the various finishes were introduced (https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:Dunnypipescatalog-1.png).
I turned to Pipephil’s dating guide to show how I arrived at the date of manufacture for this pipe (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). I am including the chart that is provided there for the dating a pipe. I have drawn a red box around the section. Since the pipe I am working on has a suffix 7 and is the same size as the D in England. It points to the 1960 line on the chart below. To date it just add 1960 +7 for a date of 1967. I have drawn a red box around the pertinent section in the chart.
I now knew that I was working on a Bruyere that came out in 1967 as far as I could tell by the date stamp. The shape of the pipe is an FET (Prince) with a F/T or fishtail stem.
Now it was time to work on the pipe. I used a PipNet Pipe reamer first to take out the majority of the thin cake. I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to clean up the remaining cake in the bowl and to scrape off the lava on the rim top. I used a dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the walls of the bowl. I checked for damage on the bowl walls and it was in good condition.
I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the damage around the bowl edge and the lava build up on the rim top. It is looking much better at this point in the process. 
I scrubbed out the inside of the shank, mortise and the airway in both the stem and the shank. I started the process by scraping the inside of the mortis with a pen knife. There was a small ridge of build up mid mortise making the seating of the stem incorrect. Once I had scraped it clean I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol on the shank and on the airway in the stem. It cleaned up very well.
I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the grime and debris in the finish. I scrubbed out the mortise and tenon with small tube brushes and soap to remove the oils and tars in the shank area. I rinsed it with warm water to remove the grime and oils in the finish and shank. I dried it off with a soft cotton cloth. One of the benefits of doing this is that the briar in the nicks and dents on the bowl sides swell and virtually disappear. The pipe has a fresh look that really highlights the grain on the briar.
I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads to minimise the scratches in the briar. I dry sanded with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. By the end of the nine pads the briar took on a rich shine and the rim top looked very good. Even the damage on the outer edge, while still present looked much better and the roughness was gone.
I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. 
I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. First, I wanted to address the tooth marks in the surface on both sides. I “painted” the surface of the vulcanite with the flame of a Bic lighter and was able to significantly lift the tooth marks. I also heated the stem so I could put a slight bend in it to capture the Prince shape. I sanded out the remaining tooth marks that were present with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It looked very good at this point.
I paused in the sanding process to address the missing white dot on the stem surface. I have some white spot material that I received from Mark Hoover. It is a small envelope of white spots. I put one spot in the lid of a jar I have here and mixed it with some 100% acetone. I stirred it with a dental pick to mix the acetone with the spot material. It softens and becomes malleable. I pressed the softened material into the hole on the top of the stem with the dental pick. Once it set I sanded off the excess material on the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper.
I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the newly filled white spot and to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look 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 with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. 
The diameter of the tenon made it clear that the pipe had originally had an inner tube. Somewhere along the journey the tube had disappeared. I went through my can of tubes and stingers and found an inner tube that was the right length. I inserted it in the tenon and took photos of the fit.
I put the 1967 Dunhill Bruyere FET F/T Prince bowl and stem back together. I 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. The reddish/brown stains worked amazingly well with the polished vulcanite taper stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. This is truly a beautiful Dunhill Bruyere FET F/T Prince. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.23 ounces/36 grams. I have another pipe set aside for Paul in Illinois that I will pack together and send to him. I am sure he will soon add them into his rotation and enjoy some great smokes. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.
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.
by Steve Laug
Last week I received a package of pipes to work on for a friend, Scott. I had no idea what was coming but when it arrived I was surprised with the interesting and amazing pieces he included for me to work on. These included a nice looking large Dunhill 841 ODA Lovat, a Campaign pipe with a Calabash style bowl and a start on the stem, a Sasieni 2 Dot London Made Canadian with a Lovat style saddle stem, and finally an older GBD MR&Co silver banded 5 Lovat. All of them are quite lovely and also interesting for me to be able to work on. I took a photo of the box when I unpacked the pipes.The first pipe I chose to work on from this lot was the large Dunhill ODA 841 Lovat. The pipe has a smooth Bruyere finish. The stamping on the left side of the shank read ODA [over] 841 next to the bowl. That is followed by Dunhill [over] Bruyere. On the right side it read Made in [over] England followed by a number 1 to the right of the D in England that will help me date the pipe. The bowl had a heavy cake in it and the rim top and inner edges had a heavy lava built up. The outer edge of the bowl had knocked hard against a surface and damaged all the way around. The finish was very dirty with grime ground into the bowl sides and shank. The stem was calcified and oxidized and there were tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. The classic Dunhill White Spot was on top of the saddle portion of the stem. I took a few photos of the pipe before I started my work on it and have included them below. 
I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. The bowl itself had a thick cake on the walls and bowl bottom. The rim top showed a heavy coat of lava and the inner edge looked rough from being reamed with a knife but a cleaning would make that clear. The outer edge on the front of the bowl and the back have knocking damage and the side edges have some as well. The photos of the stem show the oxidation, calcification and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button.
I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe. 
Before I started my work on the pipe, I turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Bruyere Pipes to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:
Bruyere
The original finish produced (usually made using Calabrian briar), and a big part of developing and marketing the brand. It was the only finish from 1910 until 1917. A dark reddish-brown stain. Before the 1950s, there were three possible finishes for Dunhill pipes. The Bruyere was a smooth finish with a deep red stain, obtained through two coats, a brown understain followed by a deep red.
There was a link on the above site to a section specifically written regarding the Bruyere finish (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Bruyere). I turned there and have included the information from that short article below.
Initially, made from over century-old briar burls, classified by a “B” (denoted highest quality pipe); “DR” (denoted straight-grained) and an “A” (denoted first quality), until early 1915. After that, they became a high-end subset to the Dunhill ‘Bruyere’. The DR and B pipes, a limited production, they should be distinguished as hand-cut in London from burls as opposed to the Bruyere line which was generally finished from French turned bowls until 1917, when the Calabrian briar started to be used, but not completely. Only in 1920 Dunhill took the final step in its pipe making operation and began sourcing and cutting all of its own bowls, proudly announcing thereafter that “no French briar was employed”.
Bruyere pipes were usually made using Calabrian briar, a very dense and hardy briar that has a modest grain but does very well with the deep red stain.
“Before the 1950s, there were three possible finishes for Dunhill pipes. The Bruyere was a smooth finish with a deep red stain, obtained through two coats, a brown understain followed by a deep red. The Shell finish was the original sandblast with a near-black stain (though the degree to which it is truly black has varied over the years). Lastly, the Root finish was smooth also but with a light brown finish. Early Dunhill used different briars with different stains, resulting in more distinct and identifiable creations… Over the years, to these traditional styles were added four new finishes: Cumberland, Dress, Chestnut and Amber Root, plus some now-defunct finishes, such as County, Russet and Red Bark.”
There was also a link to a catalogue page that gave examples and dates that the various finishes were introduced (https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:Dunnypipescatalog-1.png). 
I turned to Pipephil’s dating guide to show how I arrived at the date of manufacture for this pipe (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). I am including the chart that is provided there for the dating a pipe. I have drawn a red box around the section. Since the pipe I am working on has a suffix 1 it points to the 1960 line on the chart below. I have drawn a red box around the pertinent section in the chart.
On Pipedia they also have an ODA shape chart that was helpful. I have included that below (https://pipedia.org/wiki/A_DUNHILL_ODA_SHAPE_CHART).
I turned further to a listing on Pipephil (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/infos/dunhill-oda-en.html)with regard to the ODA 800 Series pipes. It is a helpful document and I have included a screen capture of it below. The chart has a paragraph at the top that reads as follows:
The following chart (1) lists larger Dunhill shapes introduced in 1950. They were stamped “ODA” with a number ranging from 806 to 857 (but not all number in between….
After the chart were the following paragraphs that I am also including.
Pipes from the ODA 800 series must be distinguished from the pre-WWII “OD” (Own Design) pipes. The later were carved to order and graded from A to J.
The ODA 800 series were discontinued in the mid 1990s.
(1) According to John Loring (op. cit.)
I now knew that I was working on a Bruyere that came out in 1961 as far as I could tell by the date stamp. The shape of the pipe is Dunhill ODA 841 which were made from 1950 until 1990 when the 800 series was discontinued. So this pipe fits the date line perfectly. The ODA 841 was the designation for Lovat shape with a saddle stem.
Now it was time to work on the pipe. I used a PipNet Pipe reamer first to take out the majority of the cake. It was a deep bowl so I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to clean up the remaining cake in the bowl and to scrape off the lava on the rim top. I used a dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the walls of the bowl. I checked for damage on the bowl walls and it was in good condition.
I scrubbed out the inside of the shank, mortise and the airway in both the stem and the shank. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It cleaned up very well.
I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the grime and debris in the finish. I scrubbed out the mortise and tenon with small tube brushes and soap to remove the oils and tars in the shank area. I rinsed it with warm water to remove the grime and oils in the finish and shank. It has a fresh look that really highlights the briar.
I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the damage around the bowl edge and the lava build up on the rim top. I also carefully knocked off the rough edges on the outer edge of the bowl without significantly changing the damage. It is looking much better at this point in the process.
I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads to minimise the scratches in the briar. I dry sanded with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. By the end of the nine pads the briar took on a rich shine and the rim top looked very good. Even the damage on the outer edge, while still present looked much better and the roughness was gone.
I paused in the polishing to touch up the light spots on the bowl top and edges with a Cherry stain pen. The colour is a perfect match and with the ongoing polishing and final buffing of the bowl it will blend in perfectly.
Once the stain cured I went back to the polishing routine. The stain coat blended in quite well and was looking like it should by the time I finished the final pad.
I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips o make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. 
I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. First I wanted to address the tooth marks in the surface on both sides. I “painted” the surface of the vulcanite and was able to significantly lift the tooth marks. I sanded the remaining marks and chatter with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them out.
I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look 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 with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. 
I put the 1961 Dunhill Bruyere ODA 841 Lovat bowl and stem back together. I 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. The reddish/brown stains worked amazingly well with the polished vulcanite taper stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. This is truly a beautiful Dunhill Bruyere ODA 841 Lovat. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ¾ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.98 ounces/56 grams. I have three more of Scott’s pipes to work on and then I will be sending them back to him. I am sure he will soon add them into his rotation and enjoy some great smokes. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.
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.
by Steve Laug
A few weeks ago, I visited my Dad and family in Idaho Falls, Idaho. My brother Jeff and I went through quite a few of our pipes and I pulled out some unique ones that I was interested in working on. I packed them and took them home with me. The next pipe is one we purchased on 05/09/2024 from an antique store in Vernonia, Oregon, USA. The pipe has a rusticated finish with a smooth panel on the left side of the shank and around the rim top. The stamping was on the left side of the shank in a panel. It read Dunmoor [over] Imported Briar. There was no shape number or other hints to the manufacture on the pipe. The bowl had a light cake in it and the rim top had some lava built up. The stem had an inserted silver O on the topside of the taper. The insert in the centre was missing. The stem was lightly oxidized and there were tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took a few photos of the pipe in the car on the way home and have included them below.
I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. The bowl itself had a light cake on the walls and bowl bottom. The rim top showed some light lava and the inner edge was rough from being reamed with a knife and would need to be cleaned up. The photos of the stem show the light oxidation and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button. You can also see the open hole in the centre of the stem logo.
I took a photo of the stamping on the side of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe.
There was little information on the Dunmoor brand online. I checked all the standard sites and books of brands I have available to me. There were other Dunmoor pipes for sale all listed as US made pipes but no links to a maker. I did a final check on Pipephil’s site using the logo on the top of the stem to direct my search. There I found a US Made pipe with the same silver O on the stem surface. It appeared that the center was black. Here is the link to what is known as a Medico Cavalier (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/motifs/mo-ring.html#medico). The logo seems identical. It is similar enough for me to link the two pipes. I checked my stem and found that the center of the O was missing and I could blow air through it. That would need to be fixed. I have included a screen capture of the information on the site below.
Now it was time to work on the pipe. I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to clean up the cake in the shallow bowl and to scrape off the lava on the rim top. I used a dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the walls of the bowl. I checked for damage on the bowl walls and it was in good condition.
I scrubbed out the inside of the shank, mortise and the airway in both the stem and the shank. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It cleaned up very well.
I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the damage around the bowl edge and the lava build up on the rim top. I polished it with 1500-3000 sanding pads. It is looking much better at this point in the process.
I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a shoe brush to make sure that it covers every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. You see the shine that the briar has taken on and the way rustication has depth.
I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I decided to start with the missing centre dot on the logo. The issue was that without the centre dot it was wide open and air was drawn through easily diverting the airflow from the button. I cleaned out the hole in the logo with a pipe cleaner. I greased a pipe cleaner with Vaseline and inserted it in the stem from the tenon end so that it was directly below the hole. I filled in the hole with black CA glue and used some accelerator on it to cure it quickly. I removed the pipe cleaner and sanded the repair smooth with the surface of the stem. 
I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look 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 with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. 
More than usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I really am looking forward to the final look when I put a pipe back together, polished and waxed. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax 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. The finish pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and shank. This Dunmoor Imported Briar Squashed Tomato was another fun pipe to work on. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 inch, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.13 ounces/32 grams. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the American Pipemakers Section very soon. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I working on it. 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 pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.
by Steve Laug
A few weeks ago, I visited my Dad and family in Idaho Falls, Idaho. While there my Brother Jeff and I did a bit of pipe hunting. We did not find much but we did find an interesting Banker shaped pipe in an Antique Mall. The price was right ($35USD) so we picked it up and brought it home to Jeff’s house. The surface of the briar has been roughened, perhaps by steel wool or a wire brush. The finish was rough to the touch but it looked like there might be some nice grain underneath. With the use of a lens I could read the stamping on the topside. It read House of Lords [over] Made in England. There was the remnant of the shape number on the right side of the shank next to the bowl. It could be a 52S shape. The bowl had a cake in it and the rim top had a thick coat of lava built up. The stem had a crown stamp on the topside of the saddle. The stem was lightly oxidized and there were tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took a few photos of the pipe in the car on the way home and have included them below.
I reamed the pipe while I was staying with Jeff. I forgot to take photos of the pipe before I reamed it. I brought it home to finish my work on it. I took photos of the pipe when I took it out of the box this afternoon. Jeff had scraped the lava off the rim top and we cleaned up the outside of the bowl. You can see the damage to the finish in the photos below. Whoever had done the work on it had made a mess of it. This was going to be a fun one to bring back to life.
I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. The bowl itself looked quite clean after our reaming. The rim top showed some darkening on the top and down the outside edges where it had run over the rim top. The inner edge was rough from being reamed with a knife and would need to be cleaned up. The photos of the stem show the light oxidation and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button.
I took a photo of the stamping on the side of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe. 
I turned to Pipephil’s site (www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-h3.html#houseoflords). I did a screen capture of the section on the site. It shows the stamping on the left side of the shank that matches the stamping on the topside of the pipe I am working on. The crown stamp shown on the stem I have is a lot like stamping on the stem I have. I am including the information from the side bar that says that House of Lords is a brand from Samuel Gordon and possibly a Sasieni second (J.M. Lopes, op. cit.). 
I further followed the link to “Gordon” and learned that Samuel Gordon had founded the brand “GORDON” in 1910-20 eras. This is the link for Gordon brand of pipes; www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-g4.html#gordon
From there I turned to the Sasieni listing on Pipedia and scrolled down to the list of seconds that was given there (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Sasieni#Sasieni_Seconds). From that information I learned that the pipe was definitely linked to Sasieni. The fourth listing in the screen capture 
Now I knew I was dealing with a Sasieni made pipe which helps explain the stamping on the pipe including the Made in England on the topside of the shank. I did a quick search of rebornpipes and found an article on a pipe I had restored that was the same shape as this one. I have included the link (https://rebornpipes.com/2015/10/25/cleaning-up-a-london-made-charleston-banker/). Have a look at the blog and you will see the shape I am referring to. I am also including some photos of the pipe that show the parallels to the one that I am working on now. 
I turned to work on the pipe next. Since it had been reamed and cleaned a bit I could forgo that part of the process. I used a 320 grit sanding pad to remove the darkening from the rim top. There was some burn damage on the back inside edge and the front inside and outside edge. I Then used a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and a wooden ball to give the top an inward bevel that took care of the damage to the inner edge and cleaned up the rim top. The pipe was beginning to look much better. I still needed to sand the rough finish but I liked the rim top at this point.
I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the roughened finish. I wiped it down after each sanding pad to get a sense of the progress on the finish. It was looking better with each pad I used. 
I wiped the bowl and shank down with alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the sanding dust and get a sense of the grain around the bowl sides. I am very happy with how it is looking at this point. 
I polished the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a cotton pad and a drop of olive oil after each sanding pad. The briar really took on a patina that began to look better with the polishing. 
I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I work it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covers every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. You see the shine that the briar has taken on and the way sandblast has depth. 
I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look 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 with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. 
More than usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I really am looking forward to the final look when I put a pipe back together, polished and waxed. I 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. The grain pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and shank. This House of Lords Banker was another fun pipe to work on. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. 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 2.08 ounces/59 grams. The pipe will be on the rebornpipes store shortly in the British pipe makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I working on it. 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 pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.
by Kenneth Lieblich
Next up is a handsome and modest Bewlay Popular 510 billiard. It is a simple, salt-of-the-earth type of pipe that I love. No muss, no fuss – just a solid, classic pipe. I acquired it from a local gentleman who had smoked a pipe once upon a time, but was finally divesting himself of his smoking paraphernalia. As some of the photos show, this one still has its original pipe sock to go along with it.
The pipe is from The House of Bewlay – a chain of pipe stores and not a manufacturer itself – and is a classic billiard shape. The pipe’s markings on the left side of the shank read Bewlay [over] Popular. The right side of the pipe shows London Made [over] 510 (the shape number). Next to that is either a letter O or a number 0 (or maybe even a U) – it’s hard to know which, since it doesn’t look either like an O from the word “London”, nor like the 0 in the number “510”. Finally, there is a letter B on the left side of the stem.
The shape number corresponds perfectly with a Bewlay catalogue from the late 60s, as you can see in the photo below. I do not know the exact date of the pipe, but it is likely from the 1960s or 70s.
Let us read a bit more about Bewlay from the Pipedia article:
The English brand of Bewlay & Co. Ltd. (formerly Salmon & Gluckstein Ltd.), was in business from the early 20th century until the 1950s. The brand ended up being sold and taken over by Imperial Tobacco Co. The shop chain closed in the 1980s but there seems to be one shop still in business on Carr Lane in the city of Hull. Bewlay pipes were made by prestigious firms. Notably Barling, Charatan, Loewe & Co., Sasieni, Huybrecht, and Orlik. So understandably, the English considered a Bewlay pipe a quality pipe.
The website, Very Keen on Pipes, also includes the following information about Bewlay. I don’t know what the source of his information is, but I will reproduce here nonetheless:
One of the most famous English tobacco shops, Bewlay & Co. Ltd, was founded in 1870 at 49 W. Strand in London by the Jewish Elkan family, who immigrated from the Netherlands. At the initial stage, the business was positioned as retail trade in tobacco products; Bewley was one of the first to sell cigars. Of course, in the early 20th century, briar pipes became very popular, and Bewlay’s offered a range of Barling, Charatan’s, Loewe, Sasieni, and Orlik models. Bewlay’s was one of the first companies to export pipes to the United States. Some fans claim that Bewlay’s was the start of Joel Sasieni (Sassieni’s family were also Jewish immigrants, lived in the same area, and appear to have attended the same synagogue). In 1937, the family business was sold to Salmon & Gluckstein, which was already controlled by Imperial Tobacco. The chain of stores closed in the 1980s.
There is a long-standing confusion over determining who made which Bewlay pipes when. Bewlay used a several different fonts for the B of their logo. Equally, the pipes are marked with variations of “Made in England”, “London, England” and “London Made” (as this one is). The photo below is from Pipephil and the middle pipe is very similar to this one, in terms of markings. There is a multi-page thread in the forums of PipesMagazine.com on this topic and, if you’re interested, you can find it here. I’m not sure which of those companies might have made this pipe, but I would certainly welcome any information from someone who does know.
The pipe is in very nice shape and was well-loved. The stem had some tooth scratches and dents, plus it was coated with a lot of oxidation and calcification. The previous owner must have treated this one like a lollipop. There were no significant issues with the stummel, although it did have some lava on the lovely rim.
I started out by gently and carefully scraping off some of the thick layer of calcification on the stem with a butter knife. You can see in the photos that this created quite a bit of debris.
I then cleaned the inside of the stem with 99% isopropyl alcohol and some pipe cleaners. It was dirty, but not too bad. I also cleaned the stem with some Murphy’s on some cotton rounds. As you can see, the stem was pretty dirty, and will need a good soaking. In fact, it had a funny pattern of tiger stripes on the stem.
After all that, the stem went for a dip in the stem oxidation remover. I let it sit overnight, to allow all the oxidation to rise to the surface of the stem. The next day, I cleaned up the stem with some cleanser on some cotton pads. This took some considerable elbow grease, but, in the end, worked very nicely. Forgot to take a photo though.
I then renewed the colour on the stem’s “B” by painting some nail polish there and letting it set. After that, I took my nine Micromesh pads and sanded the whole stem until it was shining like new. I also used my pipe stem oil in between the pads (from 3600 on) to bring out some extra lustre. Beauty.
Onto the stummel. In order to clean out the cake in the bowl, I used the KleenReem and followed that up with a piece of sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel. I sanded down the cake until I hit the briar walls, so that I could inspect them for potential damage. Everything looked good on the inside, which is great news.
I proceeded to clean out the inside of the shank with 99% isopropyl alcohol and pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. It was surprisingly dirty in there! But I got it clean in the end.
When that was done, I set up to de-ghost the pipe. I put some cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and soaked them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let that sit overnight so that any remaining smells and/or filth would leach out into the cotton. I also scrubbed the insides with some soap and tube brushes. It was beautifully clean after that!
The stummel was in very nice shape, although the rim did have some lava on it, as previously mentioned. I used a piece of machine metal to ever-so-gently scrape off as much of this as I could so as to avoid damaging the rim. This worked perfectly. A good amount of debris came off, which was nice to see.
I then used some lightly diluted Murphy’s to clean the whole stummel. This removed any external dirt and oils, and it was much improved.
I then took my restoration balm, rubbed it in the wood and let it sit for about 20 minutes. This balm is fantastic stuff and does wonderful things to nourish the wood. After letting it sit, I used a microfibre cloth and buffed it. 
Off to the bench polisher to put the final touches on this pipe. I first gave it a thorough (but light-handed) going-over with White Diamond compound. Following that, several coats of carnauba wax created a beautiful, glossy seal on the pipe.
All done! This Bewlay Popular 510 billiard looks fantastic and is ready to be enjoyed again by the next owner. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! As I mentioned before, it comes with its original branded pipe sock. If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the “British” 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 5⅔ in. (143 mm); height 1¾ in. (45 mm); bowl diameter 1¼ in. (32 mm); chamber diameter ⅔ in. (18 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1 oz. (30 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.
by Steve Laug
A few weeks ago, I received an email from a friend, Sonny in Salmon Arm, BC. We have worked together on pipes over the past few years either ones that I have sold to him or those he has picked up on auctions or sales that I have restored. He wrote that he had some pipes that needed restoration.
I also have some of those old estates I still need to send to you for restoration. Hopefully I will be able to pack them up and get them off to you this week. Thank you again, Steve! – Sonny
He followed that up with another email regarding what he wanted done on the various pipes. I have included it below.
I would like the Vauen bent ball shape to have no band on it. It looks like it may have had a band there at one time and I’m not sure why. And if any of them needs to be stained again, I would like them to be black, especially the Peterson 309 and that ball Vauen. Let me know what you think.
I took a photo of the box of six pipes once I unwrapped them. There were 6 interesting pipes – a Vauen Luxus Bent Ball, a Vauen Dr. Perl Billiard, a Sand Blast Vauen Dr. Perl Pot, a Parade News Briar Shop Oom Paul, a Bari Pearl Bamboo shank Ball and Peterson’s System Premier 309 Bent Billiard. All were in need of various degrees of restoration.
The last pipe left to work on was a sandblast Oom Paul with a saddle stem. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the right side and reads Parade News [over] Briar Shop [over] Imported Briar. The sandblast finish was in excellent condition and was quite clean. The was no cake in the bowl and no lava rim top and some darkening. The pipe had been reamed and cleaned somewhere along its journey. The stem had straightened slightly and there was lightly oxidized and there was tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. I took these photos before I started my work on the pipe.
I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. There is a light cake in the bowl and the rim top is in excellent condition. I would say that the pipe has been lightly smoked. The photos of the stem show the oxidation and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It also will need to be re-bent correctly.
I took a photo of the stamping on the side of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe.
There was no information to be found on the brand so I turned my attention to cleaning up the pipe. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the second and third cutting head to remove the cake. I cleaned up what remained of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl to remove any remnants with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. Once finished the inside of the bowl was smooth and the briar was bare.
Once the pipe was reamed I worked on the internals – the mortise, sump and airway in the shank and airway in the stem. I scraped the shank walls with a pen knife to remove the tars and thick carbon. It appeared that the pipe has been lightly smoked in terms of the cake but the shank and sump seem to have never been cleaned. The stem was more of the same. I cleaned them all with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. It used a lot of them but the results are very good.
Because the bowl was in such good condition I did not have to scrub the externals. I went immediately to Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I work it into the briar with my finger tips and a shoe brush to make sure that it covers every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. Once the time has passed I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. You see the shine that the briar has taken on and the way sandblast has depth. 
I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. The stem needed to be bent to match the curve of the bowl. I heated it with the flame of a Bic lighter to soften the vulcanite and then bent it to the right curve. I held it in place until the bent was set in place.
I sanded the stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the tooth chatter and the oxidation on the top and underside. I was able to remove all of the marks in the stem surface. It looked much better.
I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look 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 with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.
As usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when I put a pipe back together, polished and waxed. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax 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. The sandblast pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the dark browns of the bowl and shank. This Parade News Briar Shop Oom Paul was another fun pipe to work on. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.87 ounces/52 grams. It is the last of Sonny’s pipes and soon I will send them all back to him. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I working on it. 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 pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.
Blog by Steve Laug
A few weeks ago, I received an email from a friend, Sonny in Salmon Arm, BC. We have worked together on pipes over the past few years either ones that I have sold to him or those he has picked up on auctions or sales that I have restored. He wrote that he had some pipes that needed restoration.
I also have some of those old estates I still need to send to you for restoration. Hopefully I will be able to pack them up and get them off to you this week. Thank you again, Steve! – Sonny
He followed that up with another email regarding what he wanted done on the various pipes. I have included it below.
I would like the Vauen bent ball shape to have no band on it. It looks like it may have had a band there at one time and I’m not sure why. And if any of them needs to be stained again, I would like them to be black, especially the Peterson 309 and that ball Vauen. Let me know what you think.
I took a photo of the box of six pipes once I unwrapped them. There were 6 interesting pipes – a Vauen Luxus Bent Ball, a Vauen Dr. Perl Billiard, a Sand Blast Vauen Dr. Perl Pot, a Parade News Briar Shop Oom Paul, a Bari Pearl Bamboo shank Ball and Peterson’s System Premier 309 Bent Billiard. All were in need of various degrees of restoration.The fifth pipe I chose to work on was another Vauen Dr. Perl but this time a saddle stem Billiard. It is stamped on the left side and reads Vauen [over] Dr. Perl. On the underside it is stamped with the shape number 3288 followed by a pair of crossed bent pipes. The finish was dull with grime on the surface of the sides of the bowl. The was a moderate cake in the bowl – heavier in the bottom half. There was some light lava on the rim top and some darkening. The filter stem was lightly oxidized and there was tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. I took these photos before I started my work on the pipe.
I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. There is a moderate cake in the bowl and some lava and rim darkening on the top and inner edge. The photos of the stem show the oxidation and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button.
I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping was very clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe. 
I am including the background on the Vauen brand that I have used before. I always read over it before I start my work on a pipe. It is an important part of the restoration to me as it adds colour to the pipe I am working on. I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-v1.html). I did a screen capture of the information on the site. There was a great sidebar that gave some history of the brand. I include both of them below. 
In 1848, Karl Ellenberger and his partner Carl August Ziener establish a pipe factory in Nuremberg. In 1901 they merge with Gebhard Ott an other factory in town and they create a firm named Vereinigten Pfeifenfabriken Nürnberg (abbreviated : VPFN*). Shortly after Ernst Eckert, a member of the Ott family became manager of the society. During the 20th century Adolf, Ernst (jr) and Alexander Eckert (CEO in 2012) followed one another at Vauen’s head.* VPFN : “V” is said VAU in German (pronounce faou) and “N” becomes EN. Hence VAUEN.
Dal Stanton (Pipesteward.com) wrote a great piece on the history of the brand on a Vauen pipe that he worked on. I reread that and quote a section from the blog below that gives a great sense of the history of the German brand and some photos from the website (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/04/27/breathing-new-life-into-a-german-vauen-6294-p-lip-saddle-billiard-for-a-special-young-lady/).
… I turn to the question of the history of the VAUEN name? I look to the History section of the VAUEN website and again, I am impressed with the presentation. Whenever I work on a pipe, and especially when a pipe name is new to me, I enjoy looking at its history to appreciate the pipe more fully now on my worktable. From VAUEN’s website:
Quality and a wealth of ideas have a long tradition at VAUEN. 160 years of VAUEN: that means 160 years of skilled workmanship and modern technology and 160 years of experience in fulfilling the individual wishes of today’s pipe lovers, and those of tomorrow.
In Nuremberg in 1848, Karl Ellenberger and his partner Carl August Ziener turned an idea into reality: Germany’s first pipe manufacturer produced tobacco pipes for connoisseurs around the world using a selection of the best wood. In an amalgamation with the Gebhard Ott pipe factory, which was founded in 1866 in Nuremberg, the Vereinigten Pfeifenfabriken Nuremberg (United Pipe Factories Nuremberg, or VPFN) was born in 1901. Under the management of Ernst Eckert, a descendent of the founding Ott family, a company was born whose products and services would shape the tobacco and smoking culture in Europe and overseas for the next 160 years and counting.
The question about the name, VAUEN, not being a name of a person and why it is capitalized throughout is explained:
In his search for a name that would be easily remembered by all pipe lovers, Ernst Eckert’s son, Adolf Eckert, coined a new name for the company in 1909: VAUEN – a composition of the first letters V (pronounced vow) of Vereinigte Pfeifenfabriken and N (pronounced en) of Nuremberg. A brand for the future was born.
Armed with that information I turned my attention to the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the second and third cutting head to remove the cake. I cleaned up what remained of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl to remove any remnants with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. Once finished the inside of the bowl was smooth and the briar was bare. I cleaned up the rim top to remove the darkening and the lava. I used a Savinelli Fitsall knife to scrape off the lava. I sanded the top with a 320 grit sanding pad. It looked much better. 
I cleaned up the rim top to remove the darkening and the lava. I used a Savinelli Fitsall knife to scrape off the lava. I sanded the top with a 320 grit sanding pad. It looked much better.
I touched up the rim top and edge with a Cherry Stain pen to match the rest of the surrounding briar.
Once the pipe was reamed and the rim top cleaned I worked on the internals – the mortise and airway in the shank and airway in the stem. I scraped the shank with a pen knife to scrape off the tars and thick carbon. It appeared that the pipe has been heavily smoked without the filter and the inside of the shank was a mess. The stem was more of the same. I cleaned them all with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. It used a lot of them but the results are very good.
I scrubbed the externals of the bowl with Before & After Briar Cleaner and a tooth brush. I rinsed off the grime and grit from the cleaning with warm water and dried it with a soft cloth.
I polished the briar by dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. By the last three pads the briar really took on a rich shine. 
When I get the bowl to this point in the process I use Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I work it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covers every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. Once the time has passed I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. You see the shine that the briar has taken on and the way sandblast has depth. 
I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface. I was able to lift all of the marks significantly and then sanded them out with 220 grit sandpaper.
I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look good.
I took out my box of Vauen 9mm filters and put a new filter in the tenon of the stem. It fit perfectly and sat in the stem and shank as expected. 
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 with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.
As usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when I put a pipe back together, polished and waxed. I 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. The grain really pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and shank. This Vauen Dr. Perl 3288 Saddle Stem Billiard was another fun pipe to work on. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.45 ounces/41 grams. Just one more of Sonny’s pipes to work on before I send them all back to him. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I working on it. 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 pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.
by Steve Laug
A few weeks ago, I received an email from a friend, Sonny in Salmon Arm, BC. We have worked together on pipes over the past few years either ones that I have sold to him or those he has picked up on auctions or sales that I have restored. He wrote that he had some pipes that needed restoration.
I also have some of those old estates I still need to send to you for restoration. Hopefully I will be able to pack them up and get them off to you this week. Thank you again, Steve! – Sonny
He followed that up with another email regarding what he wanted done on the various pipes. I have included it below.
I would like the Vauen bent ball shape to have no band on it. It looks like it may have had a band there at one time and I’m not sure why. And if any of them needs to be stained again, I would like them to be black, especially the Peterson 309 and that ball Vauen. Let me know what you think.
I took a photo of the box of six pipes once I unwrapped them. There were 6 interesting pipes – a Vauen Luxus Bent Ball, a Vauen Dr. Perl Billiard, a Sand Blast Vauen Dr. Perl Pot, a Parade News Briar Shop Oom Paul, a Bari Pearl Bamboo shank Ball and Peterson’s System Premier 309 Bent Billiard. All were in need of various degrees of restoration.The fourth pipe I chose to work on was the Vauen Dr. Perl Pot. It is stamped on the underside and reads Vauen [over] Dr. Perl. To the right of that it is stamped with the shape number 103 followed by a pair of crossed bent pipes. The finish was quite clean with light dust in the sandblast grooves. This bowl was an odd one. It was quite clean but when I took it out of the box there were a couple chunks that fell out in my hand. I examined the bowl with a lens and found that the bowl had been given a thick bowl coating that was cracked and chipping. As I examined it I hit a few spots with my fingernail and the coating chipped off. There was no cake in the bowl as it appeared to have been cleaned before the bowl coating had been applied. The coating was very thick and very brittle and I figured it would all come out quite simply. The stem was lightly oxidized but otherwise clean. There was a paper filter in the filter mortise. That filter was in decent condition with some yellowing on the paper. There did not appear to be anything other than tooth chatter ahead of the button. I took these photos before I started my work on the pipe.
I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. There is something on the walls of the bowl but the cake is gone. It appears to be a bowl coating of some sort but it is in rough condition. Otherwise the bowl is clean and in good condition. The photos of the stem show the heavy oxidation and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button.
I took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above. It is much clearer in person but is hard to capture on the curve of the shank. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe. I removed the filter from the shank. It is a bit of a unique filter made by Vauen that I have not seen before.
I am including the background on the Vauen brand that I have used before. I always read over it before I start my work on a pipe. It is an important part of the restoration to me as it adds colour to the pipe I am working on. I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-v1.html). I did a screen capture of the information on the site. There was a great sidebar that gave some history of the brand. I include both of them below.In 1848, Karl Ellenberger and his partner Carl August Ziener establish a pipe factory in Nuremberg. In 1901 they merge with Gebhard Ott an other factory in town and they create a firm named Vereinigten Pfeifenfabriken Nürnberg (abbreviated : VPFN*). Shortly after Ernst Eckert, a member of the Ott family became manager of the society. During the 20th century Adolf, Ernst (jr) and Alexander Eckert (CEO in 2012) followed one another at Vauen’s head.* VPFN : “V” is said VAU in German (pronounce faou) and “N” becomes EN. Hence VAUEN.
Dal Stanton (Pipesteward.com) wrote a great piece on the history of the brand on a Vauen pipe that he worked on. I reread that and quote a section from the blog below that gives a great sense of the history of the German brand and some photos from the website (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/04/27/breathing-new-life-into-a-german-vauen-6294-p-lip-saddle-billiard-for-a-special-young-lady/).
… I turn to the question of the history of the VAUEN name? I look to the History section of the VAUEN website and again, I am impressed with the presentation. Whenever I work on a pipe, and especially when a pipe name is new to me, I enjoy looking at its history to appreciate the pipe more fully now on my worktable. From VAUEN’s website:Quality and a wealth of ideas have a long tradition at VAUEN. 160 years of VAUEN: that means 160 years of skilled workmanship and modern technology and 160 years of experience in fulfilling the individual wishes of today’s pipe lovers, and those of tomorrow.
In Nuremberg in 1848, Karl Ellenberger and his partner Carl August Ziener turned an idea into reality: Germany’s first pipe manufacturer produced tobacco pipes for connoisseurs around the world using a selection of the best wood. In an amalgamation with the Gebhard Ott pipe factory, which was founded in 1866 in Nuremberg, the Vereinigten Pfeifenfabriken Nuremberg (United Pipe Factories Nuremberg, or VPFN) was born in 1901. Under the management of Ernst Eckert, a descendent of the founding Ott family, a company was born whose products and services would shape the tobacco and smoking culture in Europe and overseas for the next 160 years and counting.
The question about the name, VAUEN, not being a name of a person and why it is capitalized throughout is explained:
In his search for a name that would be easily remembered by all pipe lovers, Ernst Eckert’s son, Adolf Eckert, coined a new name for the company in 1909: VAUEN – a composition of the first letters V (pronounced vow) of Vereinigte Pfeifenfabriken and N (pronounced en) of Nuremberg. A brand for the future was born.
Armed with that information I turned my attention to the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to remove the brittle and crumbling bowl coating. It was very strange stuff and little fell apart as I touched it. I cleaned up what remained of the coating with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl to remove any remnants with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. Once finished the inside of the bowl was smooth and the briar was bare of the coating.
Once the pipe was reamed, cleaned I worked on the internals – the mortise and airway in the shank and airway in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. The shank was quite clean other than the dust from my work on the bowl. The stem was also very clean.
When I get the bowl to this point in the process I use Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I work it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covers every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. Once the time has passed I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. You see the shine that the briar has taken on and the way sandblast has depth. 
I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I worked over the stem with Soft Scrub cleanser and cotton pads to further remove the oxidation in the surface of the vulcanite.
I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look good.
Since I did not have any filters for the Vauen like the one that was in place I used it again. It was discoloured from time but had not been used so it was clean.
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 with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.
As usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when I put a pipe back together, polished and waxed. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax 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. The sandblast finish really pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the dark browns of the bowl and shank. This Vauen Dr. Perl 103 Pot was another fun pipe to work on. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.20 ounces/33 grams. Just two more of Sonny’s pipes to work on before I send them all back to him. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I working on it. 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 pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.
rebornpipes 
