Restoring a Sandblast Medico Ventilator Bent Billiard

Blog by Steve Laug

A while back I received a small box of pipes from a fellow pipeman who wanted to donate them to support the non-profit organization I work for – the SA Foundation (www.safoundation.com). The organization has been providing long term recovery, housing and job training for women who have escaped sexual exploitation and trafficking. For over thirty years the work has gone on and thousands of young women and their children have been empowered to start over with skills and options. The work is currently in 7 countries and 12 cities around the world. If you are interested give the website a look.

Now back to the pipes. There were eight total pipes in the lot that he sent me. The first one I restored was a large Irish Second 05 Calabash that is heading off to Michigan. The second pipe was a Peterson’s Kapet pipe in a shape 124 (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/08/16/restoring-a-republic-era-petersons-kapet-124/). The third pipe was a very Danish looking Made in London, England Sandblast Acorn. (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/08/17/restoring-a-very-danish-looking-made-in-london-england-acorn/). The fourth pipe was a Bromma Bent Billiard with a screw on bowl (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/08/18/restoring-what-looks-like-a-swedish-bromma-pipe/). The fifth pipe is a Canadian Made Paradis Pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/08/19/restoring-canadian-made-paradis-rustic-246-bent-dublin/). The sixth pipe was an unsmoked small carved figural meerschaum that is for sale on the rebornpipes store (https://rebornpipes.com/rebornpipes-store/meerschaum-pipes-smooth-figurals/). All of the pipes were in clean condition and had been lightly reamed.

The next pipe, the seventh one is a bent Medico Ventilator with an aluminum slotted, ventilated shank. The pipe was clean on the inside but dusty on the sandblast finish. The sandblast was very well done and quite rugged. The rim top and edges looked very good. I think that this pipe was not smoked very much. The pipe was stamped on the flat heel of the bowl and read Medico [over] Ventilator [over] Imported Briar. The aluminum shank was dull looking but otherwise in great condition. The short bent saddle stem had a lot of tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. There was a V logo stamped on the left side of the stem. The aluminum tenon was made to hold the classic Medico paper filter. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my clean up work on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show the condition of the pipe. The rim top was dusty and worn looking but it was otherwise clean. The bowl was slightly misshapen like I have seen before on these Ventilator pipe. It is not quite round with the thicker edges on the front of the bowl and narrower on the sides and rear of the bowl. The stem had a lot of tooth chatter and some deep tooth marks on both the top and bottom. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the heel of the bowl. It was clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe. The great sandblast and the unique design of the Ventilator is visible in the photo. I turned to Pipephil’s site for a quick summary (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-medico.html). I have included a screen capture of the information on the site.I also quote the information from the side bar of the entry on pipephil:

This model cannot be smoked without the use of the rolled paper filters.Others metal pipes logos & markings in these pages: Alco, Bryson, Duncan, Falcon, Kaywoodie (Filter Pipe , Filter plus, Filtronic), Ornsby

I turned to Pipedia for more info (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Medico). There was a brief writeup on the history of the brand and the paper filtration system but nothing specific on the Ventilator pipes.

Now it was time to work on the pipe. I started my work on the pipe by scrubbing the bowl and shank exterior with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scrubbed the sandblast and the aluminum with a tooth brush and the soap and rinsed it off with running water. I dried it off with a cotton towel. I touched up the stain on the rim top with a Walnut Stain Pen. It matched the rest of the bowl colour perfectly.I cleaned the mortise/and aluminum shank along with the airway in both the shank and the stem with 99% isopropyl alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the interior of the pipe was very clean.I rubbed the bowl and the briar portion of shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for ten minutes then buffed the bowl with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I polished the aluminum ventilated shank with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a clean paper towel after each sanding pad. The aluminum took on a rich shine with the polishing.I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. There was a plastic/hard clear rubber insert that fit in the aluminum ventilated shank to hold the stem tightly in place. When I removed the stem the insert came out as well and was stuck on the aluminum tenon of the stem. I carefully used a pair of vise grips to hold the rubber insert and slowly turned the stem until I was able to remove it. Once the aluminum shank was cleaned I would glue it in place in the shank so that it would stay in place there. I coated the outside of the hard rubber/acrylic ring with white all-purpose glue and pushed it into place in the aluminum ventilator shank. I removed the stem and set the bowl and shank aside for the glue to cure.I “painted” the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface with the flame of a lighter to try and raise the dents. The stem is a typical Medico stem which seems to be a mix of vulcanite and plastic or nylon so the flame did very little. I filled the tooth chatter and marks in with clear CA glue and set it aside to cure. Once it cured I used a small file to flatten out the repairs and reshape the button edge. I used 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repairs on both sides of the stem. I started to polish it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. The stem is looking much better. I polished the 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 gave it a final rubdown with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to cure. I fitted the stem and shank with a Medico paper filter. It fit in the tenon and in the aluminum shank. All air flow from the bowl came through the filter and the cool air came in through the aluminum ventilator shank. The theory is it provided a cool smoke – mind you soggy but cool!I put the parts back together. This Medico Ventilator Imported Briar Bent Billiard is a great looking pipe with a great sandblast on the bowl. The rich, dark brown stained sandblast bowl and the ventilated polished aluminum shank look surprisingly nice. The combination works well with the polished saddle stem. I 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 buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Medico Ventilator Bent Billiard is light and sits 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 44 grams/1.52 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the American (US) Pipemakers Section. 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. There are many more to come!

Restoring Canadian Made Paradis Rustic 246 Bent Dublin

5 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Now back to the pipes. There were eight total pipes in the lot that he sent me. The first one I restored was a large Irish Second 05 Calabash that is heading off to Michigan. The second pipe was a Peterson’s Kapet pipe in a shape 124 (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/08/16/restoring-a-republic-era-petersons-kapet-124/). The third pipe was a very Danish looking Made in London, England Sandblast Acorn. (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/08/17/restoring-a-very-danish-looking-made-in-london-england-acorn/). The fourth pipe was a Bromma Bent Billiard with a screw on bowl (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/08/18/restoring-what-looks-like-a-swedish-bromma-pipe/). All of the pipes were in clean condition and had been lightly reamed. The next pipe, the fifth one is a Canadian Made Paradis Pipe. The pipe had a thin cake in the bowl and a light overflow of lava on the rim top. There was darkening around the inner edge of the rim. The finish was coated with a shiny coat of urethane (seems to be something I am dealing with lately!). It was peeling on the top of the rim and inner edge. It would all need to go. The pipe was stamped on the left side and read Paradis in script [over] Rustic. The right side of the shank was stamped with the shape number 246.The pipe rusticated patterns on the right and left side of the bowl and shank. The bent saddle stem had a lot of tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. There was stylized P on the left side of the stem.

I took some photos of the pipe before I started my clean up work on it. It is another interesting pipe that has a great back story to the Canadian Province of Quebec. But… more of that after I introduce you to the pipe. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show the condition of the pipe. The rim top had some darkening and lava on the inner edge of the bowl The urethane coat was peeling back from the inner edge onto the rim top. The stem had a lot of tooth chatter and some deep tooth marks on both the top and bottom. I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. It was clear and readable as noted above. The P stamp on the left side of the saddle stem is clear.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe. Underneath the thick urethane coat there was some great grain and the pipe was a good shape and design. I have worked on quite a few Paradis pipes over the years and have done a lot of work on the background of the brand and have written about that I previous blogs. I have included the link for ease of reference (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/10/21/breathing-life-into-a-canadian-made-paradis-porte-st-louis-bent-billiard/). I quote from that blog below.

I turned first to Pipephil’s site for a quick summary (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-p1.html). I have included a screen capture of the information on the site.The Paradis brand was made by the Paradis brothers in Quebec but I did not remember much more than that so I turned to Pipedia for more info (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Paradis_Pipes) and learned the following:

Paradis Pipes is the Canadian brand of the brothers Gilles and Fernand Paradis. In 1922 the Paradis family moved to the USA, when Lucien Paradis (1906-1979) was 16 years old. It was at this age that he started as an apprentice at his uncle’s pipe factory, Joseph B. Desjardins, maker of (JD) pipes, in Fall River, MA. Joseph Desjardins was issued two patents during this period, one for a new machine for making pipe stems and another for a new design of pipe reamer. The company employed 60 workers at one stage.

In 1930, due to the Great Depressions, Lucien lost his job and returned to Quebec to work in the agricultural machine industry. In his spare time, he made pipes, selling them door to door. Three years later the rest of the family joined him and Lucien founded a pipe factory with two of his brothers. The company eventually employed 18 workers and in the 60s produced over 50 thousand pipes a year, under brands like JBL, Dr. Thomas, Fernand Gignac, S.C. Pipes, New London Golfer, and Jo Thomassin.

Paradis was founded in 1978, at the Salon of Quebec Artisans’ and is available in tobacconists all over the country today. The brand produces 8000 pipes a year (400 “handmade”), with Greek briar.

Now it was time to work on the pipe. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the lava coat and darkening on the rim top. I cleaned the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I wanted to remove the darkening and minor damage to the top and edge of the bowl.I stripped off the urethane coat with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad and some acetone on a cotton pad. I broke the shine coat and then rub it down with acetone on a cotton pad. I repeated the process until I had removed the shiny coat. I cleaned up the reaming of the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I took out the remnant of cake that had been left so I could examine the walls. I was glad to see there were no fissures in the briar walls.I scraped out the shank with a pen knife to remove the tar build up that was on the walls. I followed that up by cleaning the mortise and the airway in both the shank and the stem with 99% isopropyl alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the interior of the pipe was very clean. I polished the briar bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. 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 to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for ten minutes then buffed the bowl with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface with the flame of a lighter to try and raise the dents. It worked very well and the majority of them came up. The few that remained I filled them in with clear CA glue and set it aside to cure. Once it cured I used 220 grit sandpaper to sand out the tooth chatter and marks on both sides of the stem. I used a small file to flatten out the repairs and reshape the button edge. I started to polish it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. The stem is looking much better. I polished the 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 gave it a final rubdown with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to cure. This Canadian Made Paradis Rustic 246 Bent Dublin is a great looking pipe with great grain once the urethane coat was removed and the briar polished. The rich, brown stained smooth bowl with carved patches around the bowl and shank that were stained with a darker brown is quite beautiful. The finish works well with the polished vulcanite saddle 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 buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Paradis Rustic 264 Bent Dublin is light and sits 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 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 34 grams/1.20 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the Canadian Pipemakers Section. 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. There are many more to come!

Restoring What Looks Like a Swedish Bromma Pipe

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Now back to the pipes. The first one I restored was a large Irish Second 05 Calabash that is heading off to Michigan. The second pipe from the lot was unique looking Peterson’s Kapet pipe in a shape 124 (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/08/16/restoring-a-republic-era-petersons-kapet-124/). The third pipe was a very Danish looking Made in London, England Sandblast Acorn. (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/08/17/restoring-a-very-danish-looking-made-in-london-england-acorn/) All of the pipes were in clean condition and had been lightly reamed. The next pipe is a nylon pipe built a lot like a Falcon. The base is nylon and the bowl is briar and threaded. The stem is also nylon/plastic. When I first saw it I thought about a previous pipe that I had worked on that was called a Bromma Dollar. Everything about it was just like the Bromma. The etched pattern on the shank and base is identical to the Bromma. The only stamping on the pipe is on the bottom of the briar bowl. It is stamped PAT. S. 3.The pipe has a thin pencil shank that is in excellent condition. The bent taper stem had a lot of tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. There were no logo stamps on the stem.

I took some photos of the pipe before I started my clean up work on it. It is another unique and interesting looking pipe. The shape and materials of the pipe reminds me of the Bromma as mentioned above. I will go into more detail on that in the section before I start the restoration. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show the condition of the pipe. The rim top had some darkening and debris in the. The stem had a lot of tooth chatter and some deep tooth marks on both the top and bottom. The stem had a built in stinger which was a finned tube that extended into the shank.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the threaded bowl. It was clear and readable as noted above. The Pat. S. is below my finger and the 3 is just above my thumb in the photo below. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe. I removed all the parts and took a series of photos to show all of the parts. It is an interesting pipe for sure. I turned to Pipedia and found nothing listed for the brand that I was thinking about. I then turned to Pipephil and was glad to find that Bromma was listed with a picture for comparison sake (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b8.html). While the pipe I was working on is not stamped like this one the material is the same. I did a screen capture of the pertinent section of the article and have included it below along with the information from the sidebar.A brand of the Scandinaviska Pipfabriken. Probably from same workshop: Harlekin, Dollar

I also remembered working on a Bromma pipe many years ago and doing a blog on it for rebornpipes. I have included the link for the blog below and some photos of the pipe to show the parallels to the one I am working on now. Here is the link to the blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2012/11/24/cleaning-up-a-swedish-bromma-dollar-system-pipe-2/). The parts of the pipe are identical to the one I am working on now. The etched pattern on the base, the patent stamp on the underside of the bowl, the stinger apparatus the way the bowl is threaded are all the same. I described the unique structure of the bottom of the bowl in the blog which is precisely the same as the bowl on the table now. All leads me to conclude that I am working on another Bromma Swedish system pipe. I quote:

…I also used a bristle tooth brush and alcohol to scrub the bottom of the bowl from the threads down to the nipple-like structure on the bottom…There is an inset portion of the bowl bottom that is like a moat around an island that has the mountain-like nipple in the centre. This took quite a few cotton swabs to clean the grime out of the channel. Once it was clean there is a patent stamp on it. It reads Pat. S. I am guessing it is a Swedish Patent mark. The portion of the bowl that is threaded seems like it is made of the same kind of material as the base of the pipe. The mountain in the middle is briar. It is an interesting and unique design. From that I concluded that the threaded platform of the bowl was nylon or Bakelite like the base and shank and that the briar bowl was seated permanently on that nylon threaded platform. The current pipe bowl and platform are identical to the one shown above. It is a unique and patented system that removes the easily damaged briar threads on other system pipes like this and replaces them with a more solid and durable plastic/Bakelite platform that screws into the base. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

I cleaned the blast on the rim top with a brass bristle brush to loosen the debris in the grooves. It mad a difference and the blast was identifiable once more.I cleaned up the reaming of the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I took out the remnant of cake that had been left so I could examine the walls. I was glad to see there were no fissures in the briar walls. I cleaned the hexagonal filter pad with alcohol. I let it sit in the alcohol and it leeched out the oils and tars in the material. From examining it I think it is made of cork. I cleaned the base of the pipe, shank and removable bowl with cotton swabs and alcohol. I cleaned the airway in both the stem and shank with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the interior of the pipe was very clean.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 to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for ten minutes then buffed the bowl with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I rubbed down the base which seemed to be made of a lightweight nylon or plastic material, possibly Bakelite with Before & After Restoration Balm and let it sit for 10 minutes. I buffed the base off with a cotton cloth and then inserted the cork washer.I fit the cleaned cork filter on the top of the nipple on the base of the bowl and then screwed the bowl onto the base.I screws the bowl back onto the base and took photos of the pipe at this point in the process. It is actually a nice looking pipe and incredibly light weight. I heated the stem with the flame of a lighter to try and raise the dents. It did not work at all. I filled them in with clear CA glue and set it aside to cure. Once it cured I used 220 grit sandpaper to sand out the tooth chatter and marks on both sides of the stem. I started to polish it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. The stem is looking much better. I polished the 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. The stem material is very odd and hard to polish. The spots where the repairs were done are visible because they are more shiny with the polishing. I am not sure where to take this at this point so it will probably go as it is now. This Swedish Made Bromma Bent Billiard System Pipe with a pencil shank is a great looking pipe whatever you call the shape. The rich, black stained rusticated finish around the briar bowl is quite beautiful. The finish works well with the polished nylon/Bakelite base and the thin nylon 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 buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. No matter how I polished the stem the strange nylon mix material is a beast to fully polish. The repairs show clearly but the stem is solid. The finished Bromma Bent Billiard is very light and sits 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 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ inch. The weight of the pipe is 26 grams/.92 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the Pipes From Various Makers – Czech, Belgian, German, Israeli, Spanish Pipemakers along with Metal Pipes Section. 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. There are many more to come!

Restoring a very Danish looking Made in London England Acorn

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Now back to the pipes. The first one I restored was a large Irish Second 05 Calabash that will be going to the fellow I repaired the cracked Irish Second for. This will give him another option to smoke should that one give him further issues. The second pipe from the lot was unique looking Peterson’s Kapet pipe in a shape 124 (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/08/16/restoring-a-republic-era-petersons-kapet-124/). All of the pipes were in clean condition and had been lightly reamed. The next one on the table is a very Danish looking Acorn. When I first saw it I thought maybe one of the Stanwell sandblasts. I was wrong the only stamping on it on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. It is stamped Made in London [over] England. The sandblast was in good condition. There was some darkening on the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. There was a light cake in the bowl. The pipe has a thin pencil shank that is in excellent condition. The thin saddle stem was lightly oxidized and had tooth chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There were no logo stamps on the stem.

I took some photos of the pipe before I started my clean up work on it. It is another unique and interesting looking pipe. The acorn shaped bowl and pencil shank look very good together. The Made in London England stamp is vague enough and used by enough English pipemaking companies that I cannot give a definite maker for the pipe. My guess is that it is probably a Charatan pipe but I cannot prove or disprove that. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show the condition of the pipe. The rim top had some darkening and wear on the top and the inner edge of the bowl. The stem itself were in good condition other than a few light tooth marks and some chatter.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It was clear and readable as noted above. The “MADE IN LONDON” portion of the stamp is in the sandblasted portion. I removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the look of the pipe. The long pencil stem and shank are really well done and quite stunning. The grain around the bowl is very nice.My guess on it being a Charatan made pipe is just that. The Made in London England stamp is the only clue and somewhere in the back of my memory the shape also twigs that thought. With no more to go on it was now time to work on the pipe.

I cleaned the blast on the rim top with a brass bristle brush to loosen the debris in the grooves. It mad a difference and the blast was identifiable once more.I cleaned up the reaming of the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I took out the remnant of cake that had been left so I could examine the walls. I was glad to see there were no fissures in the briar walls.I moved on to deal with the inner edge of the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper to remove the darkening and light damage on the inner edge of the bowl. Once finished it looked better. I scraped the build up of tars off the walls of the shank with a sharp pen knife. It removed a lot “gunk” (a technical term!). I cleaned the bowl, the shank and the airway in both the stem and shank with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the interior of the pipe was very clean. 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 to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for ten minutes then buffed the bowl with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I used 220 grit sandpaper to sand out the tooth chatter and marks on both sides of the stem. I started to polish it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. The stem is looking much better.I polished the 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. This Made In London England Sandblast Acorn with a pencil shank is a great looking pipe whatever you call the shape. The rich, reddish brown stained finish around the bowl is quite beautiful and gives depth to the blast. The finish works well with the polished, thin vulcanite saddle 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 buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Made in London England Acorn is very light and sits 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 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ inch. The weight of the pipe is 32 grams/1.13 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the British Pipe Makers Section. 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. There are many more to come!

Restoring a Republic Era Peterson’s Kapet 124

5 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Now back to the pipes. The first one I restored was a large Irish Second 05 Calabash that will be going to the fellow I repaired the cracked one for. This will give him another option to smoke should that one give him further issues. Today I took on a second pipe from the lot. It is a very unique looking Peterson’s Kapet pipe in a shape 124 – a shape I have not seen or worked on before and one that I want to learn about as I worked on it. All of the pipes were in clean condition and had been reamed. This long canted looking pipe that is kind of a cutty had some burn marks on the front and back outer edge of the rim. The bowl was quite clean but I could smell the tobacco. The pipe was stamped on the left side and read Peterson’s [over] Kapet and on the right side it read Made in the Republic of Ireland. There was a silver band on the shank that was oxidized but otherwise in good condition and bears a Sterling Silver stamp on the top side. I think it is an after market band but I do not see any cracks in the shank that would say it was a repair. The stem was lightly oxidized and had tooth chatter on both sides ahead of the P-lip. The gold P stamp on the left side of the stem was faded.

I took some photos of the pipe before I started my clean up work on it. It is a very unique and interesting looking pipe. The bowl is forward canted and has a pencil shank. It is similar in terms of shank and style to the line of Specialty Briars that Peterson put out – the Tankard, the Barrel, the Calabash and the Belgique. It could easily fit in that line of pipes but I would need to do a bit of research to see where it fit. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show the condition of the pipe. The rim top had burn damage on the top and also damage on the inner and outer edge of the bowl. The stem itself were in good condition other than a few light tooth marks and some chatter.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It was clear and readable as noted above. The photo of the silver band shows the Sterling Silver Stamp on the top of the band.I removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the look of the pipe. The long pencil stem and shank are really well done and quite stunning. The grain around the bowl is very nice.I turned to an article that Mark Irwin had written on his Petersonpipenotes.org blog on the shape number 124 (https://petersonpipenotes.org/tag/peterson-shape-124/). I have included the first few paragraphs from Mark’s site and encourage you to read it further. Mark also included a shape chart that I have also included below.

This is the short story of a small, pencil-shanked shape that’s peculiarly Irish yet rarely seen, even in the Peterson catalog. The shape’s name seems to depend on what type of stem is attached to the end of the bowl—zulu, churchwarden or dublin.

After World War II, or “The Emergency” as it was known in Ireland, Peterson re-established their trade ties and, like other pipe-makers, found the demand for their pipes even greater than it had been seven years before. At some level of consciousness in the Irish spirit there was a nostalgia for something older and more secure, something that spoke of home, stillness, and rest.

Charles Peterson’s favorite Oversize house pipes, with their 7 and 12-inch mouthpieces, were a thing of distant memory. The smaller-bowled straight “reading pipes” of the Patent Era, which also symbolized a leisurely evening’s smoke at home, were also forgotten. But the ache for what they represented must have returned, eventuating in Peterson’s first batch of Specialty Briars “church wardens,” illustrated in the 1945 catalog and 1947 shape chart with the iconic 124, which Peterson dubbed a “dublin.”From Mark’s article it seemed that the shape came and went over the years. There were long periods where it was not made. Then periodically it came out in the mid 1960s, 1983, 1993-2018. I really think that this pipe is either the mid 1960s era or the 1983 period pipe. Both would fit in the Republic Era. Even the 1993-2018 would also fit that time frame. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

I started my work on the pipe with the interior of the pipe. I cleaned the bowl, the shank and the airway in both the stem and shank with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the interior of the pipe was very clean.I polished the tarnished silver band with a tarnish preventive silver polish until the tarnish was gone and the band shone! It is a pretty addition to this charming pipe.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The briar really began to take on a deep shine by the end of the cycle of pads. 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 to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for ten minutes then buffed the bowl with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I used some Rub’n Buff Antique Gold to touch up the P stamp on the left side of the taper stem. The stamping is faint but still very readable and the gold made it stand out better. I rubbed it into the stamp with a piece of paper clip and then buffed it off with a cotton pad.I polished the 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. This Republic Era Peterson’s Kapet 124 is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored, whatever you call the shape. The rich, brown stained finish around the bowl is quite beautiful and highlights grain very well. The finish works well with the Sterling Silver shank band 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 buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Peterson’s Kapet 124 is very light and sits 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 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ inch. The weight of the pipe is 24 grams/.85 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the Irish Pipe Makers Section. 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. There are many more to come!

Restaining and Restoring a Green 2015 St. Patrick’s Day 05 Calabash

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe has been sitting here for almost three years. I have picked it up and looked at quite a few times and always set it back down for another day. Today is finally the day. It is a nice 05 Calabash from Peterson of Dublin. It is a Limited Edition 2015 St. Patrick’s Day Pipe. It came with the box, slip cover and green pipe bag. We bought it in 2018 knowing that it had some issues. The biggest was that the right side of the bowl and shank had faded to almost a green wash while the rest of the pipe was fully green. A second issue always stopped me was that the pipe had been dipped in a thick coat of urethane or at least varnish. I would have to remove it if I was to restain the pipe. The stem had a decaying rubber softee bit on it and we all know those can hide anything from tooth marks to bite-throughs and we would not be sure until it was in our hands and we removed it. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show its condition. It is faded and washed out looking as much as the rest of the pipe. However it is also well smoked. The previous owner had smoked it but was careful with the rim edges and top – no burn damage or poor reaming. Those are redeeming features. He also took photos of the stem with the Softee bit in place and removed. Another redeeming feature was that underneath it was quite clean and undamaged. I let out a big WHEW once I saw that as it is a major amount of work avoided in stem repair. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the stain and the briar underneath. It is an interesting looking pipe. He took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank and you can see the thick urethane coat almost filling in the stamping. It is readable but it is also awful with the plastic coating on it.To be honest with all of you I am not a big fan of coloured pipes to begin with so this really is a hard one for me. I also really have no idea what the pipe must have looked like before the sun fading and thick urethane coat. Maybe it would be better? I was not sure so I decided to pause my work for a little longer and see what I could find out about the original 2015 St. Patrick’s Day pipe.

I Googled and found a site that had a decent description of the pipe. I could almost picture it from the words. It was a shop called Mission Pipe. You have to answer the age questions to get in but here is the link (https://www.missionpipe.com/peterson-2015-st-patrick-s-day-pipe). They had a photo but it was not that clear. I quote their description below.

Peterson 2015 St. Patrick’s Day Pipe – Peterson of Dublin just released their annual St. Patrick’s Day Pipe, and being their 150th Anniversary year, they went all out. The Peterson’s 2015 St. Patrick’s Day Pipe features an amazing emerald stain, carving reminiscent of Celtic knots on the bowl and rings of silver-colors that match the emerald perfectly…

Google next took me to Mark Irwin’s Peterson Pipe Notes site. His description was spot on and the photos showed me what I needed to know (https://petersonpipenotes.wordpress.com/tag/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/). I quote below. I have also included a photo of the shape 05 that I have.

St. Patricks Day Pipe 2015 – A combination of smooth (green) and rustic (black) finishes with a smooth flat top at the top of the bow. The rustication is a Celtic knot. Twelve shapes (as shown): 01, 05, 68, 69, XL90. X220, 408, 338, 306, 304, 105, 106.I now knew what I was aiming for with the pipe in question. First the removal of the urethane then a restain with this objective in front of me. A carved Celtic Knot black band around the top edge of the bowl and then a very green stain that matched the green between the polished silver in the band on the shank end.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe as he normally does. He reamed it with a Pipnet Reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipeknife. He scrubbed out the inside of the airway in the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to see if he could break down the plastic coat. Unfortunately it did absolutely nothing to that finish. He removed the Softee Bit and scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrubb. He soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He rinsed it off and recleaned it. I took the following pictures when it arrived. That shiny coat kills me! I took photos of the rim top and the stem to show the condition of them both. The rim top is blotchy green in colour and the finish is not smooth. The heavy urethane coat is not smooth on the top. The stem looks very good and other than very light chatter it is in excellent condition. I took photos of the stamping on the shank sides. It is clear and readable but you can also see the high gloss shine of the urethane on the bowl in these photos. It is really quite thick.I took a photo of the bowl and stem separated to give a sense of the pipe but also to highlight the urethane coat the predominates the finish on this once beautiful pipe.Now it was time to try and strip the urethane coat off the bowl so I could restain it. It was going to be a lot of work. I sanded the bowl with 1500 grit micromesh sanding pads and also a medium and a fine sanding block to try and break up the urethane seal. I sanded for a while then wiped the bowl down with acetone. Eventually I was able to break through the urethane coat on the bowl sides and rim top. It sounds simple but I spent probably 3-4 hours sanding and wiping the bowl down with acetone to finally break through the plastic… a foul and loathsome thing!! With the finish finally removed I stained the Celtic Knot carving around the top of the bowl with a Black stain pen as it was in the original. The black looks very good at this point in the process.With that finished it was time to stain the bowl with the green stain. I chose a green stain that matched the green ring in the shank band. It is a Fiebing’s Kelly Green. I applied it with the wool dauber that came with the stain and flamed it to set it in the briar. The flame burns off the excess alcohol and opens the pores in the briar to let the colour into the grain. I repeated the process until I was happy with the coverage around the bowl. I set the bowl aside to cure and took a break on the front porch for a couple of hours. Before I called it a night I took the cork from the bowl and took photos of the newly stained bowl. I set aside the bowl to let the stain cure before going further with it. I turned my attention to the stem. I repainted the P stamp on the left side with some white acrylic nail polish. I brush it on and scrape of the excess with a fingernail. I lightly sanded it with a 1500 micromesh sanding pad and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine polish. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.This Peterson of Dublin St. Patrick’s Day 2015 shape 05 Calabash is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The Kelly Green stained finish around the bowl is quite beautiful and highlights grain very well. It also matches the green in the shank band. The finish works well with 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 buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. (In taking the photos I can see that I need to do a heavier buff on the bowl and will do so after the finish cures a day or two.) The finished St. Patrick’s Day 2015 Bent Calabash sits 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 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ inch. The weight of the pipe is 48 grams/1.69 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store 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. There are many more to come!

A Pipe Restorer’s Nightmare

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Blog by Steve Laug

I think that it is very good for me too acknowledge issues that come up with pipes that I have restored and sold. I have done it before and will continue to do so to maintain both my integrity and humility! My Mom used to say that confession is good for the soul. She has been proved right over and over again. However, this confession is one that I have never had to do before. Thankfully, I have had this particular “mess” happen to me only once in 30+ years. I sold a Peterson Irish Second 05 Calabash to a fellow in Michigan. It was a hefty piece of briar and quite beautiful even with the flaws and fills around the bowl. He fell in love with it and wanted it. As is my habit, I went over it carefully before I sent it to make sure that it was sound both inside and out. I was happy with it, so I packed it up and sent it out to him. A few days after he received it I got an email from him asking me to give him a call as he wanted to chat about his pipes.

I called and after the normal pleasantries were exchanged, he told me what had happened. He had smoked the pipe twice and on the second smoke he noticed smoke coming out of a crack under his thumb on the back side of the bowl. That made him notice that it was also coming out of a crack on the left and front of the bowl. He examined them and saw some cracks that had formed in those places during his smoke.

I was blown away as I had carefully checked it over both inside and out and did not find anything even close to cracks. This is why I ream the bowl back to bare briar to check it carefully! The best that we could figure out was that the removal of the cake had allowed the heat from the burning tobacco to open cracks that were not visible before. From his description they seemed to be quite large and long. I offered him a replacement and suggested that he use this one for firewood but he would not be persuaded. He wanted me to repair the pipe so he could keep smoking it! He was quite certain this was the course of action he wanted. I sent him the replacement anyway and asked that he mark the cracks for me when he sent it back so I could make sure I was not missing anything. He agreed and said he would have it out that week.

Let me tell you waiting for that pipe to arrive seemed like it would never end. Finally after at least 10 days his package arrived. I had to laugh when I saw the package. The box he chose was great. It was printed with Dr. Sasquatch smoking a pipe and wearing a great smoking jacket. I took it to the worktable and opened the box. I unpacked the well packed pipe from its protective wrappings. True to his word he had marked the areas on the bowl with yellow chalk so I would not miss them. I took photos of the bowl when it arrived. I include those below. I went over the entire bowl with a bright light and a lens. I checked the inside of the bowl for cracks and crevices as well as the outside. I marked the ends of each crack that I found on the outside of the bowl with a black Sharpie pen. When I finished there were 16 marks on the briar both within and on the edges of the yellow chalked areas.I double and triple checked the briar to make sure I found them all. The good news was I had! I then used a microdrill bit in my Dremel to drill a small pilot hole at the end of each crack to keep it from spreading further. These cracks seem to have spidered with the heat and I was hoping to stop that process from continuing. I used a dental pick to trace the cracks along the surface of the briar. I filled in the cracks and the pilot holes with briar dust and clear super glue. I used a dental spatula to press the dust into the holes and the cracks. The process is pretty simple – I spread a little CA glue first and then use the spatula to push the dust into the glued areas. At this point in the process I dropped the ball and forgot to take photos! My words will have to tell the story. I sanded the repaired areas with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them out and blend them into the surrounding briar. I polished the bowl with micromesh sanding pads to polish the areas. At this point I was not trying to hide them just smooth them out. Once I finished I rubbed the bowl down with some Before & After Restoration Balm and let it sit for ten minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The bowl looked pretty good.

Now it was time to address the inside of the bowl. I needed to fill in the cracks in the bowl walls and the only way I know that works is to use JB Weld. It dries hard and does not gas off in heat. It is neutral and provides a good heat barrier when smoking the pipe. I wiped out the inside of the bowl with alcohol and cotton pads to make sure it was clean.I mixed up a batch of JB Weld on a piece of paper using a small tooth pick to combine the two parts of the product. I put a pipe cleaner in the airway to keep it clear of the product and to make sure I did not fill in the airway with it. I then applied it to the walls of the bowl with a dental spatula.I checked the coverage on the inside of the bowl with a bright light. It had been evenly applied to walls and the bottom of the bowl. Now it had to cure. I set it aside in a pipe rest for two days until it had hardened. Once the repair had cured and was hard I sanded it with my Dremel and a sanding drum. I took it back so that the JB Weld was in the cracks and crevices and the briar around was smooth. I sanded it further with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. I wanted the bowl surface to be smooth touch but rough enough that a cake would build and adhere to it. It is hard to describe but I know what it feels like. I wiped the bowl down with a cotton pad and alcohol to remove the sanding debris.Once the bowl was clean – more clean than the above photo! I mixed up a batch of my bowl coating. I used sour cream and charcoal powder. I mix them together into a black paste. I use two capsules of charcoal for one teaspoon of sour cream. This coating, as strange as it sounds, dries without a smell and facilitates the build up of a natural cake. I put a pipe cleaner in the airway and use a folded pipe cleaner to paint the walls and bottom of the bowl with mixture. I set the bowl in a pipe rest and let the coating dry.The beauty of the mixture is that as it dries it turns black. Once it had cured to touch I took the following photos to show what it looks like. You can still see the light grey streaks in it so it is not completely hardened yet but once it is these disappear. I gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise a shine. I had buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. I will let it sit for a few more days to thoroughly dry and then it will be on its way to Michigan for my patient customer to smoke again and enjoy.