A National Washington, D.C. Straight Rhodesian from the Bertram Collection

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Blog by Steve Laug

Give the previous blogs a read to have an idea about the Bertram Collection that I am working on these days. I can’t adequately describe how overwhelmed I am when I look at the 200+ pipes that need to be restored but there is only one way to move ahead – 1 pipe at a time. Jeff is doing the major cleanup on the lot as that would be more than I could handle by myself in moving through this many pipes. From his cleaned pipes the next one I chose is a National Washington, D.C. straight Rhodesian to be the next pipe that I would work on. It has some amazing straight grain around the bowl and shank. The bowl had cake in the chamber that was no problem. The rim top had some darkening and lava overflow on the back side. The inner edge of the bowl looked like it might have some burn damage and the outer edge of the bowl appeared to be in good condition but we would know more once the bowl had been reamed and cleaned. The exterior of the briar looked lifeless and was dusty with the grime of years of storage. The stem had some oxidation, tooth chatter and marks near the button on both sides. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he began his cleanup work on it. Jeff took close-up photos of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe when it arrived. The rim top had a thick coat of lava and the bowl had a thick cake. It was hard to see what the inner and outer edge looked like with the cake and lava. Jeff took a picture of the bowl side and the heel to show the marvelous grain on the bowl. It really is quite stunning and very dirty!The next photo shows the stamping on the left side of the shank. The left side is stamped with National over Washington, D.C. The stamping on the shank is very readable.The next two photos show the condition of the stem surfaces. The stem was oxidized and had some calcification on the surface as well as tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.I have already done the work on one of the National pipes in the Bertram lot so I turned to that to have another look at the history of the brand (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/05/21/doing-some-cosmetic-work-on-a-national-pipes-rhodesian/). I quote in full from that blog.

Before I started my restoration work I wanted to refresh my memory about the brand. I remembered from previous National Pipes that I had worked on that there was a tie to the Bertram Pipe Company in Washington, D.C. I also knew that it was a very different company than the National Briar Pipe Company of Jersey City, New Jersey but that is where all the trails let in terms of Pipedia and Pipephil’s site. I turned back to a previous blog that I had written on the brand when I restored a pipe with the same stampings to review the history and connection of the brand to Bertram. https://rebornpipes.com/tag/national-washington-d-c-pipes/. I knew that the fact that there were several of these included with the large lot of Bertram pipes that Jeff and I purchased was not accidental. Here is the link to that previous blog. I quote in part:

I had a gut feeling that the pipe had some connection to Bertram Pipe Company of Washington DC but only the vaguest memory of that connection. I could not remember where I picked that up but just had the memory. I did some searching on the Internet and found a National Briar Pipe Company of Jersey City, New Jersey with no clear ties to Washington DC on the Pipedia site. This was the company that purchased the Doodler after Tracy Mincer died. I could see that the Jersey City pipes were stamped differently and all had line names stamped on them. On the Pipephil site I found an English version that had very different stamping on the left side of the shank as well as Made in England on the right side of the shank.

Thus I was reminded of the non-connection to the New Jersey Pipe Company. The blog went on to record some information that tied the National Washington, D.C. Company to Bertram more definitively. I quote

I…posted a question on Smokers Forum (SF) and Pipe Smokers Unlimited regarding the brand. I received several responses that gave me information. One of them on SF came from Ed Klang and provided me with some confirmation regarding my memory of the connection with Bertram. I quote him in full, “In the history of the Bertram company, after the fire at the Washington, D.C. facility and the decision was made to discontinue Bertram production a group of employees and a few investors wanted to buy the rights to the Bertram name, which was turned down and it was then proposed that they would rebrand the pipes as National, no mention was made whether anything ever came of that proposal. Supposedly this group did produce pipes for a while but the effort was finally abandoned and I have never been able to reliably confirm this. Just bits and pieces here and there.” Thanks Ed. This is the random memory that I was trying to dig up.

I also received a reply on SF from Radiobob that read as follows: “National Pipe and Tobacco was located on the 1700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., just about a block from where I worked. I still have two Canadians that I bought there, as well as a Comoy’s Patina Apple. In my recollection, it closed down–much to my regret–in the mid to late 1980s.”

Those responses gave me the kind of details that I always find helpful in my restoration work. I will continue to do some digging on the company and see what I can find but that bit confirmed the visual tie to the Bertram Company of DC. Thank you for your help Ed and Bob.

When I received the pipe Jeff had already reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He had scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He had scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He had rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove lava build up on the rim top and you could see the great condition of the bowl top and edges of the rim. There was still some damage on the back inner edge and some darkening to the rim top toward the back of the bowl. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took a close up photo of the rim top to show the condition of the bowl and rim after Jeff had cleaned up the grime and lava. You can see the damage on the inner edge of the rim at the back side and the darkening on the rim top. The stem photos show that the oxidation is gone. The surface of the vulcanite looked very good. There were some light tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside of the stem near the button.I also took a photo of the stamping on the left and right side of the shank showing how the stamping was laid out.I worked on the inner edge of the rim and the darkening on the backside of the top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage and remove the darkening. I polished it further with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper to smooth out the scratches in the briar.I polished the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris. After the final sanding pad I hand buffed it with a cotton cloth to raise a shine. (I forgot to take photos of the bowl and rim top after I polished it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads.) I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into finish of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The Restoration Balm really makes the grain stands out beautifully. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to blend the tooth marks and chatter into the surface of the stem. Once the surface was smooth I sanded out the scratch marks and started the polishing of the stem with a folded piece of 400 grit sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wetsanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and gave it a final coat and set it aside to dry. This is the part of the restoration process that I really look forward to! When all the parts are finished and the pipe is clean then I put the stem and bowl back together and buff the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I polish the briar and any minute scratches still in the vulcanite of the stem until there is a rich shine. This National Washington, D.C. pipe is a classic straight Rhodesian shape with a natural finish that highlights some amazing straight and flame grain on a proportionally well carved pipe. Buffing the pipe made the briar come alive and the grain popped with polishing. The black vulcanite stem had a rich glow. The finished pipe is a beautifully grained National Straight Rhodesian that feels really good in the hand and sits right in the mouth. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 3/4 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/4 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as it was a pleasure to work on.

I can’t believe it – rebornpipes is seven years old…

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Blog by Steve Laug

One morning toward the end of May I was greeted by an Anniversary message from WordPress stating that rebornpipes was 7 years old. I was surprised that it was that had been that long to be honest. I have long since forgotten the exact year when the blog started and had no real idea of how long it has been going. I know that I started it in May and put up the first posts throughout the month. I had no recollection of the year I had done that. I find that the older I get the more quickly one year slides into the next and I lose track. With all that I am doing with work and home, remembering that kind of thing is not one of my priorities. I explain it to my wife and kids that it is like forgetting addresses but not forgetting locations. You ask me for an address and I typically don’t remember it but ask me how to get there and that is a different story. Ah well, it is good to have computer generated reminders of this kind of thing for folks like me.

After reading this reminder I have been thinking about the seven years that have passed. If I look at just the many pipes have re-entered the smoking rotations of people that alone is amazing. I looked at the stats on the Admin page and was a bit surprised to see that there are over 2800 individual blogs on rebornpipes. That means that we have recorded the restoration or refurbishing of over 2000 pipes from all levels of pipe craftsmanship. There are blogs on high-end pipes and on low end manufactured pipes and everywhere in between. These are solely the pipes belonging to folks who write blogs for rebornpipes or have sent us write-ups of their work. When you think about it in terms of pipes put back in use after being refurbished it is a lot of pipes.

That does not even begin to take into account those who have started their own blogs. Charles Lemon of DadsPipes and Dal Stanton of ThePipeSteward are two that come to mind. Those gentleman are doing great work and are bringing pipes back into service. (I know that Dal submits his work here and then reblogs it on his own site. However, when you consider he also lists pipes that can be commissioned for restoration it adds even more to that number.) I know that there are others who have also started their own blogs and pipe restoration businesses from our number that add to the mix. It is exciting to watch this community expand. The impact of rebornpipes continues to grow and develop and it is hard to know where it will go in the years ahead.

On top of those known individuals within our community are also the unknown ones. I cannot begin to give you numbers for the individuals – male and female who have entered the hobby after reading the blog. I know there are many because of the emails that I receive in thanks and with questions. There is rarely a day that goes by that I do not receive several emails from blog readers who have questions about restoration procedures or brands. This an exciting part of the blog for me because it is the outcome that I had hope for when I started. I remember when I started restoring pipes there was little information available online. I had to reach out to kind and helpful pipemen who answered my questions willingly. I know that rebornpipes fills a niche that has contributed to making pipe restoration and refurbishing accessible to anyone who wants to give it a try.

Another part of the over 2800 blogs is that of making information available on brands and makers. I have scanned dozens of pamphlets, catalogues and brochures that have been sent to me and added them to the information that it available. I have also received many scanned documents as gifts to be added to the blog. The beauty of this is that there is a lot of research that has been done on brands pulling together information from a variety of sources online – Pipedia, pipephil, pipemaker websites and Patent sites. This is easily accessible to anyone searching for information. There is a repository of booklets, brochures and pamphlets that have been made available on a lot of different brands. rebornpipes blogs and materials are often high on the Google searches that folks do and for that I too am thankful. It has been a process to get here but it is also something grand to celebrate as it is also an outcome I had dreamed of when I started.

Finally rebornpipes also includes other pieces of pipe information such as reviews of books, tools, supplies and pipes. These are brief and experiential reviews to enable the readers to peruse them prior to investing in them personally. I have also included some of my own contributions to pipe lore through Father Tom stories, short stories and personal reflections on the art and craft of pipe refurbishing. This was also an outcome I had dreamed of when I started the blog. rebornpipes really does have a broad range of information available to the reader who uses it. Sometimes I forget the breadth of material that is stored on the blog.

As I close these reflections I want to thank each of you readers for faithfully being part of our community and also submitting your work to be included. It is great to be a part of this community of people that really make distance quite irrelevant. I realized that seven years is a remarkable time for a blog to be active and growing. Each year is marked by growth of daily readership and also materials. It surprises me that the readership continues to grow with people following us from around the world. I had no idea when I began of the reach the blog would have nor of the community of refurbishers that would be built. For that I am truly grateful.

Here’s to the next seven years and more….

A National Washington, D.C. Bent Billiard from the Bertram Collection

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Blog by Steve Laug

Give the previous blogs a read to have an idea about the Bertram Collection that I am working on these days. I can’t adequately describe how overwhelmed I am when I look at the 200+ pipes that need to be restored but there is only one way to move ahead – 1 pipe at a time. Jeff is doing the major cleanup on the lot as that would be more than I could handle by myself in moving through this many pipes. From his cleaned pipes the next one I chose is a Made in London National Washington, D.C. 33 Bent Billiard to be the next pipe that I would work on. It has some amazing straight grain around the bowl and shank. The bowl had cake in the chamber that was no problem. The rim top had some darkening and lava overflow on the back side. The inner and outer edge of the bowl appeared to be in good condition but we would know more once the bowl had been reamed and cleaned. The exterior of the briar looked lifeless and was dusty with the grime of years of storage. The stem had some oxidation, tooth chatter and marks near the button on both sides. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he began his cleanup work on it. Jeff took close-up photos of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe when it arrived. The rim top had a thick coat of lava and the bowl had a thick cake. It was hard to see what the inner and outer edge looked like with the cake and lava.Jeff took a picture of the bowl side and the heel to show the marvelous grain on the bowl. It really is quite stunning and very dirty! There is also something mis-stamped on right side of the bowl. Under a magnifying lens it reads England.The next two photos show the stamping on the sides of the shank. The left side is stamped with National over Washington, D.C.  over Made in London. At the shank/bowl junction it is stamped 33. The stamping on the shank was slightly double stamped and had some white paint in it.The next two photos show the condition of the stem surfaces. The stem was oxidized and had some calcification on the surface as well as tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.I have already done the work on one of the National pipes in the Bertram lot so I turned to that to have another look at the history of the brand (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/05/21/doing-some-cosmetic-work-on-a-national-pipes-rhodesian/). I quote in full from that blog.

Before I started my restoration work I wanted to refresh my memory about the brand. I remembered from previous National Pipes that I had worked on that there was a tie to the Bertram Pipe Company in Washington, D.C. I also knew that it was a very different company than the National Briar Pipe Company of Jersey City, New Jersey but that is where all the trails let in terms of Pipedia and Pipephil’s site. I turned back to a previous blog that I had written on the brand when I restored a pipe with the same stampings to review the history and connection of the brand to Bertram. https://rebornpipes.com/tag/national-washington-d-c-pipes/. I knew that the fact that there were several of these included with the large lot of Bertram pipes that Jeff and I purchased was not accidental. Here is the link to that previous blog. I quote in part:

I had a gut feeling that the pipe had some connection to Bertram Pipe Company of Washington DC but only the vaguest memory of that connection. I could not remember where I picked that up but just had the memory. I did some searching on the Internet and found a National Briar Pipe Company of Jersey City, New Jersey with no clear ties to Washington DC on the Pipedia site. This was the company that purchased the Doodler after Tracy Mincer died. I could see that the Jersey City pipes were stamped differently and all had line names stamped on them. On the Pipephil site I found an English version that had very different stamping on the left side of the shank as well as Made in England on the right side of the shank.

Thus I was reminded of the non-connection to the New Jersey Pipe Company. The blog went on to record some information that tied the National Washington, D.C. company to Bertram more definitively. I quote

I…posted a question on Smokers Forum (SF) and Pipe Smokers Unlimited regarding the brand. I received several responses that gave me information. One of them on SF came from Ed Klang and provided me with some confirmation regarding my memory of the connection with Bertram. I quote him in full, “In the history of the Bertram company, after the fire at the Washington, D.C. facility and the decision was made to discontinue Bertram production a group of employees and a few investors wanted to buy the rights to the Bertram name, which was turned down and it was then proposed that they would rebrand the pipes as National, no mention was made whether anything ever came of that proposal. Supposedly this group did produce pipes for a while but the effort was finally abandoned and I have never been able to reliably confirm this. Just bits and pieces here and there.” Thanks Ed. This is the random memory that I was trying to dig up.

I also received a reply on SF from Radiobob that read as follows: “National Pipe and Tobacco was located on the 1700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., just about a block from where I worked. I still have two Canadians that I bought there, as well as a Comoy’s Patina Apple. In my recollection, it closed down–much to my regret–in the mid to late 1980s.”

Those responses gave me the kind of details that I always find helpful in my restoration work. I will continue to do some digging on the company and see what I can find but that bit confirmed the visual tie to the Bertram Company of DC. Thank you for your help Ed and Bob.

Now I have a different one that has the National stamp and also is stamped Made in London. There is also a mistaken stamp on the side of the bowl that says ENGLAND. This is another piece of the puzzle for me. I know National had other pipe companies in Europe make there pipes. This one has a very Barling like look to it. I wonder if it was not made by them for National? On with the cleanup and restoration on this Bent Billiard.

When I received the pipe Jeff had already reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He had scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He had scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He had rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove lava build up on the rim top and you could see the great condition of the bowl top and edges of the rim. There was still some darkening to the rim top toward the back of the bowl. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took a close up photo of the rim top to show the condition of the bowl and rim after Jeff had cleaned up the grime and lava. The inner edge of the rim has some damage and nicks on it. The out edge of the rim looks good. There is some rim darkening on the back side of the bowl. The stem photos show that the oxidation is gone. The surface of the vulcanite looked very good. The tooth marks and chatter are near the button on both sides. I also took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank showing how the stamping was laid out. It appeared to have been double stamped and the stamping whitened. There was also a strange mistaken stamping on the right side of the bowl – it read ENGLAND.I worked on the inner edge of the rim and the darkening on the backside of the top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage and remove the darkening. There were two noticeable divots in the otherwise flawless briar – one on the left side of the heel of the bowl and the other on the right side of the shank. I darkened them with a black Sharpie pen and then filled them in with clear super glue. Once the repair cured I sanded it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and smoothed further with 400 grit sandpaper. I polished the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris. After the final sanding pad I hand buffed it with a cotton cloth to raise a shine. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into finish of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The Restoration Balm really makes the grain stands out beautifully. Between the polishing with the micromesh pads and the balm I did not have to stain the repaired areas. They blend in very well. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to blend the tooth marks and chatter into the surface of the stem. Once the surface was smooth I sanded out the scratch marks and started the polishing of the stem with a folded piece of 400 grit sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wetsanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and gave it a final coat and set it aside to dry.  This is the part of the restoration process that I really look forward to! When all the parts are finished and the pipe I clean then I put the stem and bowl back together and buff the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I polish the briar and any minute scratches still in the vulcanite of the stem until there is a rich shine. This National Washington, D.C. pipe is a classic English looking bent billiard shape with a natural finish that highlights some amazing straight and flame grain on a proportionally well carved pipe. Buffing the pipe made the briar come alive and the grain popped with polishing. The black vulcanite stem had a rich glow. The finished pipe is a beautifully grained English Made National Bent Billiard. The pipe feels really good in the hand and sits right in the mouth. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/4 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as it was a pleasure to work on.

 

A Bent Diamond Shank Billiard Bertram 25 from the Bertram Collection

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Blog by Steve Laug

Once again rather than repeat myself with the repetition please refer to the previous blog posts on the collection of Bertrams and other brands that Jeff and I purchased. I can’t adequately describe how overwhelmed I am when I look at the 200+ pipes that need to be restored but there is only one way to move ahead – 1 pipe at a time. I am glad Jeff is helping with the clean up on the lot as that would be more than I could handle by myself in moving through this many pipes. From his cleaned pipes I chose a Diamond Shank Bent Billiard Bertram 25 with mixed grain to be the next pipe that I would work on. It was a1/2 bent Billiard with a saddle stem. The bowl had cake in the chamber that was no problem. The rim top had some darkening and lava overflow on the back side. The inner and outer edge of the bowl appeared to be in good condition but we would know more once the bowl had been reamed and cleaned. The exterior of the briar looked lifeless and was dusty with the grime of years of storage. I am still trying to figure out Bertrams numbering system as some of the higher number pipes seems to have more fills than the 25s. The stem had some oxidation and tooth marks near the button on both sides. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he began his cleanup work on it. Jeff took a close-up photo of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe when it arrived. The rim top had a thick coat of lava and the bowl had a thick cake.Jeff took pictures of he bowl sides and the heel to show the great looking grain around the sides of the bowl. It really is quite stunning and very dirty! Jeff took a photo to capture the stamping on the top and left side of the shank. It shows the stamping on the topside which read Bertram over Washington, D.C. The stamping on this pipe is clear and readable. It also shows the number stamp 25 which shows the quality of the pipe.The next two photos show the stem surface. They show the oxidation and the chatter on both sides near the button. The tooth marks are visible on the underside next to the button. There is also some wear on the underside button edge.If you have read the previous Bertram blogs I have posted about the pipes that I have cleaned up so far you can skip the next bit. But if you have not, then I include the link to Bertram history and information. I would recommend that if you don’t know much about them do some research on them. I include a link to the write up on Pipedia (http://pipedia.org/wiki/Bertram). Bertram pipes were based out of Washington DC. They were popular among famous politicians and celebrities of the time. They made many products for them from FDR’s cigarette holders to Joseph Stalin’s favorite pipe. They were considered some of the best America had to offer till they finally closed their doors in the 70s. They graded their pipes by 10s, the higher the grade the better. Above 60s are uncommon and 80-90s are quite rare. I’ve never heard of or seen a 100 grade. I have several blogs that I have written on rebornpipes that give some history and background to Bertram pipes. (https://rebornpipes.com/2015/06/16/an-easy-restoration-of-a-bertram-grade-60-217-poker/).

I have included the following link to give a bit of historical information on the pipe company. It is a well written article that gives a glimpse of the heart of the company. http://www.streetsofwashington.com/2012/01/bertrams-pipe-shop-on-14th-street.html#

From this information I have learned that the shape and grade Bertram I have in front of me now was made before the closure of the shop in the 1970s. This Bertram Diamond Shank Bent Billiard with a darker finish is different from the other Bertram shapes I have worked. With a grade 25 stamp it is a lower range pipe.

By now if you have been a reader for long you have Jeff’s cleaning regimen pretty well memorized. If you know it you can skip right to the pictures. If not I will include them once more. Jeff reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove lava build up on the rim top and you could see the great condition of the bowl top and edges of the rim. There was still some darkening to the rim top toward the back of the bowl. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took a close up photo of the rim top to show the condition of the bowl and rim after Jeff had cleaned up the grime and lava but the rim top had some light damage, some pits and darkening on the inner edge of the rim. The stem photos show that the oxidation is gone. The light tooth chatter is hard to see but I should be able to sand it out quite easily. Every one of the pipes that I have worked on from this Bertram Collection has had tooth marks on the underside of the stem and some on the topside as well. The tooth marks on the underside will take a little more work to remove.I also took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank showing how the stamping was laid out.I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to cleanup the light damage to the inner edge of the rim. I would address the darkening when I polished it with micromesh sanding pads.I used a black Sharpie pen to put a black spot in each of the fills on the bowl sides. Once I had done that I filled in the dents with clear super glue. Once the repairs had cured I sanded the repaired spots with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the briar. I polished the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris. After the final sanding pad I hand buffed it with a cotton cloth to raise a shine. I know I have mentioned it before but I really like the balm that Mark Hoover created. It really does wonders on a dry piece of briar. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into finish of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The Restoration Balm really makes the grain stands out beautifully. I set the bowl aside to work on the stem. I used a folded piece of 240 grit sandpaper to blend the tooth marks and chatter into the surface of the stem. Once the surface was smooth I sanded out the scratch marks and started the polishing of the stem with a folded piece of 400 grit sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wetsanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and gave it a final coat and set it aside to dry. I am having fun doing these pipes from the Bertram Collection. Each one presents different challenges but all are well laid out classic shapes. This is no exception. I put the stem and bowl back together and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I polished the briar and the minute scratches still in the vulcanite of the stem until there was a rich shine. This Bertram is a classic Bent Billiard shape with a diamond shank and saddle stem. The stain really highlights some amazing grain on a proportionally well carved pipe. Once I buffed the pipe the briar came alive and the mixture of grain popped with polishing. The black vulcanite stem had a rich glow. The finished pipe is a beautiful grained Billiard. Like the other Bertrams I have worked on this one fits well in the hand and sits right in the mouth. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This one will soon be on the rebornpipes store. If you are interested let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as it was a pleasure to work on.

A Zulu Shaped Bertram 30 from the Bertram Collection

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Blog by Steve Laug

Once again rather than repeat myself and give readers grief with the repetition please refer to the previous blog posts on the collection of Bertrams and a smattering of other brands that Jeff and I purchased. I can’t adequately describe the sense of being overwhelmed that I have when I look at the 200+ pipes that need to be restored but there is only one way to move ahead – 1 pipe at a time. I am glad Jeff is helping with the clean up on the lot as that would be more than I could handle by myself in moving through this many pipes. From his cleaned pipes I chose an interesting Zulu with cross grain on the sides of the bowl and some birdseye around the front and back to be the next pipe that I would work on. It was a1/8 bent Zulu with a tapered stem. The bowl had cake in the chamber that was no problem. The rim top had some darkening and lava overflow on the back side. The inner and outer edge of the bowl appeared to be in good condition but we would know more once the bowl had been reamed and cleaned. The exterior of the briar looked lifeless and was dusty with the grime of years of storage. I am still trying to figure out Bertrams numbering system as some of the higher number pipes seems to have more fills than the 30s. This is one of those pipes that look really good. The stem had some oxidation and tooth marks near the button on both sides. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he began his cleanup work on it. I have included them below and they tell the story and give a glimpse of the pipe before clean up. Jeff took close-up photos of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe when it arrived. The rim top had a thick coat of lava and the bowl had a thick cake.Jeff took pictures of he bowl sides and the heel to show the great looking grain around the sides of the bowl. It really is quite stunning and very dirty!Jeff took 2 photos to capture the stamping on the top and left side of the shank. The first photo shows stamping on the topside which read Bertram over Washington, D.C. The stamping on this pipe is clear and readable. The second photo shows the grade number stamping on the left side toward the shank/bowl junction. It read number 30 which shows the quality of the pipe. The next two photos show the stem surface. They show the oxidation and the chatter on both sides near the button. The tooth marks are visible on the underside next to the button. There is also some wear on the underside button edge. If you have read the previous Bertram blogs I have posted about the pipes that I have cleaned up so far you can skip the next bit. But if you have not, then I include the link to Bertram history and information. I would recommend that if you don’t know much about them do some research on them. I include a link to the write up on Pipedia (http://pipedia.org/wiki/Bertram). Bertram pipes were based out of Washington DC. They were popular among famous politicians and celebrities of the time. They made many products for them from FDR’s cigarette holders to Joseph Stalin’s favorite pipe. They were considered some of the best America had to offer till they finally closed their doors in the 70s. They graded their pipes by 10s, the higher the grade the better. Above 60s are uncommon and 80-90s are quite rare. I’ve never heard of or seen a 100 grade. I have several blogs that I have written on rebornpipes that give some history and background to Bertram pipes. (https://rebornpipes.com/2015/06/16/an-easy-restoration-of-a-bertram-grade-60-217-poker/).

I have included the following link to give a bit of historical information on the pipe company. It is a well written article that gives a glimpse of the heart of the company. http://www.streetsofwashington.com/2012/01/bertrams-pipe-shop-on-14th-street.html#

From this information I have learned that the shape and grade Bertram I have in front of me now was made before the closure of the shop in the 1970s. This Bertram Zulu with a darker finish is one of the more usual shapes in terms of the Bertram pipes I have worked on. With a grade 30 stamp it is a lower mid-range pipe.

By now if you have been a reader for long you have Jeff’s cleaning regimen pretty well memorized. If you know it you can skip right to the pictures. If not I will include them once more. Jeff reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove lava build up on the rim top and you could see the great condition of the bowl top and edges of the rim. There was still some darkening to the rim top toward the back of the bowl. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took a close up photo of the rim top to show the condition of the bowl and rim after Jeff had cleaned up the grime and lava but the rim top had some light damage, some pits and darkening on the backside of the inner edge of the rim. The stem photos show that the oxidation is gone. The light tooth chatter is hard to see but I should be able to sand it out quite easily. Every one of the pipes that I have worked on from this Bertram Collection has had tooth marks on the underside of the stem and some on the topside as well. The tooth marks on the underside will take a little more work to remove.I also took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank showing how the stamping was laid out. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to cleanup the light damage to the inner edge of the rim. I would address the darkening when I polished it with micromesh sanding pads.I polished the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris. After the final sanding pad I hand buffed it with a cotton cloth to raise a shine. I know I have mentioned it before but I really like the balm that Mark Hoover created. It really does wonders on a dry piece of briar. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into finish of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The Restoration Balm really makes the grain stands out beautifully. I set the bowl aside to work on the stem. I used a folded piece of 240 grit sandpaper to blend the tooth marks and chatter into the surface of the stem. Once the surface was smooth I sanded out the scratch marks and started the polishing of the stem with a folded piece of 400 grit sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wetsanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and gave it a final coat and set it aside to dry. I am having fun doing these pipes from the Bertram Collection. Each one presents different challenges but all are well laid out classic shapes. This is no exception. I put the stem and bowl back together and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I polished the briar and the minute scratches still in the vulcanite of the stem until there was a rich shine. This Bertram is a classic Zulu or Yachtsman shape with a darker finish that really highlights some amazing grain on a proportionally well carved pipe. Once I buffed the pipe the briar came alive and the mixture of grain – cross grain and birdseye – popped with polishing. The black vulcanite stem had a rich glow. The finished pipe is a beautiful grained Zulu. Like the other Bertrams I have worked on this one fits well in the hand and sits right in the mouth. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 1/2 inches, Height: 1 7/8 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This one will soon be on the rebornpipes store. If you are interested let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as it was a pleasure to work on.

New Life for an A. Garfinkel Washington, D.C. Lovat

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Blog by Steve Laug

Rather than repeat myself and give readers grief with the repetition please refer to the previous blog posts on the collection of Bertrams and a smattering of other brands that Jeff and I purchased. I can’t adequately describe the sense of being overwhelmed that I have when I look at the 200+ pipes that need to be restored but there is only one way to move ahead – 1 pipe at a time. I am glad Jeff is helping with the clean up on the lot as that would be more than I could handle by myself in moving through this many pipes. From his cleaned pipes I chose another interesting little Lovat with great grain to be the next pipe that I would work on. It was a small Lovat with a saddle stem. The bowl had a medium cake in the chamber that was no problem. The rim top had some darkening and a little bit of lava overflow on the back side. The inner and outer edge of the bowl appeared to be in good condition but we would know more once the bowl had been reamed and cleaned. The exterior of the briar looked lifeless and was dusty with the grime of years of storage. There were some fills on the sides of the bowl and shank. The stem had some light oxidation and tooth marks near the button on both sides. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he began his clean up work on it. I have included them below and they tell the story and give a glimpse of the pipe before clean up. Jeff took a closeup photo of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe before his work on it. You can see the cake in the bowl and some of the lava on the rim top. He took photos of the sides and the heel of the bowl to show the grain and the overall condition of the pipe.He also took a photo of left side of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is readable in the photo below and is as noted above – A. Garfinkel over Wash. D.C. The underside of the stem read France. I have seen many stems stamped France and in the past it does not necessarily mean that the pipe was made in France as much as that the stem was French made. The mystery remains and I suppose we will never know for sure.He took photos of what the stem looked like before the clean up and soak in the deoxidizer.I have done a bit of research to see what I could learn about the brand when I worked on the other A. Garfinkel Pipe. I quote from that blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/05/28/new-life-for-an-a-garfinkel-washington-d-c-large-billiard/).

I turned first to the Pipephil website and did not find any information on the brand. That surprised me a bit but such is the hunt for information. I turned next to the Pipedia website and was more successful. Here is the link to the article – https://pipedia.org/wiki/Garfinkel. I quote in full below.

Garfinkel Inc. was a celebrated Washington, D.C. importer and retailer of pipes, tobaccos and cigars. The founder was Arnold Garfinkel (1903-1988). Arnold was originally from Germany, and the family had already been in the tobacco trade for two generations before he was born; his father sold tobacco to Kaiser Wilhelm in Berlin. Fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938, Arnold soon settled in the District of Columbia; in 1940 he established his first tobacco shop there, although it closed a few years later during the Second World War.

It wasn’t until July of 1960 that Arnold established A. Garfinkel. Originally located at 720 14th Street, N.W., in April of 1980 the shop advertised its move to 1585 Eye Street, N.W. The new location of was a block from Lafayette Square and not much further from the White House. In 1972, author Hugh Sidey wrote in Newsweek that while interviewing then President Richard M. Nixon he spotted some pipes and a tin of Garfinkel tobacco on Nixon’s desk.

Among aficionados the shop remains well known to this day for the imported tobacco blends sold under its own name; these were manufactured by Robert McConnell and Sobranie. In addition custom blending was done for customers both domestic and foreign, with Arnold sometimes using recipes he had brought with him from Europe. A. Garfinkel carried pipes under its own name as well; these too were apparently manufactured elsewhere. Pipes were stamped A. Garfinkel, Wash D.C.; some are marked Algerian Briar and others simply Imported Briar. Many appear to be Made in France. Finally, A. Garfinkel was renowned for its selection of cigars.

In 1940 Arnold married Esther Kolker. One of their three children, Larry, was managing A. Garfinkel by May of 1980 and eventually took over sole responsibility for running the shop. Notwithstanding Arnold remained active at A. Garfinkel throughout his life, with son Larry noting that “He had a great personality and a great smile…and a very good head for business.”

A victim of declining demand reflecting both increased pressures on smokers and changing tastes, A. Garfinkel shut its doors in the summer of 1992.

Once again I knew for certain that Garfinkel’s Pipe Shop did not make its own pipes. It is noted above that “many appear to have been Made in France. However, I have reason to believe that this is another pipe that was made for them by Bertrams. The style of the stamping, the wording of the stamping, the shape of the pipe and the layout of the grain to the shape all signal a connection to Bertrams. I can find nothing definitive about that connection but it certainly seems likely. Perhaps some of you who are reading this blog can help with the connection. Is there one or not?

Jeff reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove lava build up on the rim top and you could see the great condition of the bowl top and edges of the rim. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took a close up photo of the rim top to show the condition of the bowl and rim after Jeff had cleaned up the grime and lava and the rim top looked flawless. The bowl was clean and there was not any cake left in the bowl. There was some light damage to the backside of the inner edge of the rim. The outer edge of the rim looked good. The stem photos show that the oxidation is gone. The light tooth chatter is hard to see but I should be able to sand it out quite easily. I took a photo of the stamping. It is clear and readable but there is a fill between the D and C of the second line. I should be able to darken the fill and hide it a bit.I decided to address the shrunken fills around the sides of the bowl first. I used a black Sharpie pen to fill in the spots first then filled them in with clear super glue and set the bowl aside until the glue cured. I used a needle file to flatten the repaired areas on the sides of the bowl. Once they had been flattened I sanded them with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the briar. Once they were smooth to touch I could move on to the next step in blending them into the surface of the surrounding briar. I used a black Sharpie Pen to touch up the light areas of the fills and then stained the sanded area with a Walnut stain pen. It looks dark in the photos below but it will blend in once I have finished. I decided to clean up the damage to the inner edge of the rim. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the nicks and marks in the edge. When I finished it looked much better.To further blend the repairs and the rim work on the bowl, I polished the rim and the outside of the bowl with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads and wiped the bowl and shank down after each pad with a damp cloth. The photos show how the repaired areas look at this point in the process. I am pretty happy with the results. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into finish of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The Restoration Balm really makes the grain stands out beautifully. With the bowl finished I set it aside and turned my attention to the stem. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to blend the tooth marks and chatter into the surface of the stem. Once the surface was smooth I sanded out the scratch marks and started the polishing of the stem with a folded piece of 400 grit sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I polished the entire stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I further polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped it down with a coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. With the parts finished it was time to polish up this interesting piece of American pipe history. In talking with the guy we bought the pipes from he said he got all of the pipes at an auction at Bertrams when they closed the shop. One more interesting piece for this mystery. Did Bertram carve these pipes for A. Garfinkel? I suppose we may never know. It was time to finish this pipe. I put the stem and bowl back together and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I polished the briar and the minute scratches still in the vulcanite of the stem until there was a rich shine. This A. Garfinkel has a classic thick shank Lovat shape that has a darker finish than the other pipes I have worked on from the shop. The finish really highlights some amazing grain and hides the fills on a proportionally well carved pipe. Once I buffed the pipe the briar came alive and the mixture of grain popped with polishing. The black vulcanite stem had a rich glow. The finished pipe is a beautiful grained Lovat. Like the other pipes in this lot that I have worked on this one fits well in the hand and sits right in the mouth. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 7/8 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This beautiful A. Garfinkel Lovat will soon be going on the rebornpipes store. If you are interested let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as it was a pleasure to work on.

Restoring an Algerian Briar Lovat from the Bertram Lot

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Blog by Steve Laug

Rather than repeat myself and give readers grief with the repetition please refer to the previous blog posts on the collection of Bertrams and a smattering of other brands that Jeff and I purchased. I can’t adequately describe the sense of being overwhelmed that I have when I look at the 200+ pipes that need to be restored but there is only one way to move ahead – 1 pipe at a time. I am glad Jeff is helping with the clean up on the lot as that would be more than I could handle by myself in moving through this many pipes. From his cleaned pipes I chose an interesting little Lovat with amazing grain to be the next pipe that I would work on. It was a small Lovat with a saddle stem. There was a thick cake in the bowl and heavy lava overflowing on to the rim top. It was hard to know the condition of the edges due to the cake and lava. The stem showed some light oxidation and some tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside. The photos below tell the story and give a glimpse of the pipe. Jeff took close-up photos of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe when it arrived. The rim top had a thick coat of lava and the bowl had a thick cake.Jeff took pictures of he bowl sides and the heel to show the marvelous grain on the bowl. It really is quite stunning and very dirty!Jeff took a photo to capture the stamping on the left side of the shank. The photo shows the stamping on the shank which read ALGERIAN BRIAR. The stamping on this pipe is clear and readable. The next two photos show the stem surface. They show the light oxidation and the chatter on both sides near the button. The tooth marks are visible next to the button on both sides.On the previous blog on the Algerian Briar – the Lumberman, I mentioned that Jeff and I have been working through the collection of Bertram pipes. Many of the other pipes in the lot are also from pipe shops in Washington, D.C. There are A. Garfinkel pipes, Ansell Pipes, National Pipes along with the Bertrams. Also included in the lot are pipes that have no other stamping than “ALGERIAN BRIAR”. This is the second of those pipes and while there is no way to be sure about the shop that these pipes came from I think it is safe to make a few conjectures. This pipe is stamped in a way very similar to the A.Garfinkel pipes that I am working on. Some of them have the stamp Algerian Briar along with the shop name. The lettering on the stamp is the same on both pipes. This one does not have FRANCE stamp on the underside of the stem. I thought I would I quote some of the information I included in the blog on the A. Garfinkel pipe once again (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/05/28/new-life-for-an-a-garfinkel-washington-d-c-large-billiard/). In the fourth paragraph below I have highlighted in Dark Blue the pertinent section that links this Algerian Briar pipe to the A. Garfinkel shop.

Before I started my part of the restoration I did a bit of research to see what I could learn about the brand. I turned first to the Pipephil website and did not find any information on the brand. That surprised me a bit but such is the hunt for information. I turned next to the Pipedia website and was more successful. Here is the link to the article – https://pipedia.org/wiki/Garfinkel. I quote in full below.

Garfinkel Inc. was a celebrated Washington, D.C. importer and retailer of pipes, tobaccos and cigars. The founder was Arnold Garfinkel (1903-1988). Arnold was originally from Germany, and the family had already been in the tobacco trade for two generations before he was born; his father sold tobacco to Kaiser Wilhelm in Berlin. Fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938, Arnold soon settled in the District of Columbia; in 1940 he established his first tobacco shop there, although it closed a few years later during the Second World War.

It wasn’t until July of 1960 that Arnold established A. Garfinkel. Originally located at 720 14th Street, N.W., in April of 1980 the shop advertised its move to 1585 Eye Street, N.W. The new location of was a block from Lafayette Square and not much further from the White House. In 1972, author Hugh Sidey wrote in Newsweek that while interviewing then President Richard M. Nixon he spotted some pipes and a tin of Garfinkel tobacco on Nixon’s desk.

Among aficionados the shop remains well known to this day for the imported tobacco blends sold under its own name; these were manufactured by Robert McConnell and Sobranie. In addition custom blending was done for customers both domestic and foreign, with Arnold sometimes using recipes he had brought with him from Europe. A. Garfinkel carried pipes under its own name as well; these too were apparently manufactured elsewhere. Pipes were stamped A. Garfinkel, Wash D.C.; some are marked Algerian Briar and others simply Imported Briar. Many appear to be Made in France. Finally, A. Garfinkel was renowned for its selection of cigars.

In 1940 Arnold married Esther Kolker. One of their four children, Larry, was managing A. Garfinkel by May of 1980 and eventually took over sole responsibility for running the shop. Notwithstanding Arnold remained active at A. Garfinkel throughout his life, with son Larry noting that “He had a great personality and a great smile…and a very good head for business.”

A victim of declining demand reflecting both increased pressures on smokers and changing tastes, A. Garfinkel shut its doors in the summer of 1992.

Given that information I think the link can be made to the A. Garfinkel pipe shop in DC. I think that there is also a tenuous tie to the Bertram shop in DC as well as all of the pipes in this lot are very similar in terms of finish and style. I suppose we will never really know for sure but I think it a pretty good surmise.

Since Jeff follows the same pattern of work in his cleanup we do not include photos but rather just a simple summary. Jeff reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove lava build up on the rim top and you could see the great condition of the bowl top and edges of the rim. There was some darkening on the rim top at the rear of the bowl but the edges were in good condition. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work. I took a close up photo of the rim top to show the condition of the bowl and rim after Jeff had cleaned up the grime and lava. The burn damage on the front and back inner edge of the bowl is visible in the first photo below. The rim top has some darkening but otherwise looks very good. The stem photos show that the oxidation is gone. The light tooth chatter is hard to see but like the other pipes in this lot that I have already restored; I should be able to sand it out quite easily.I also took a photo of the stamping on the right side of the shank showing how the stamping was laid out.I worked on the darkening on the rim top and back edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage and the darkening. I polished the rim top with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper to remove the scratches. The photo shows how the rim looked at this point.I polished the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I used the micromesh dry this time as I wanted to preserve the original patina on the bowl. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris. After the final sanding pad I hand buffed it with a cotton cloth to raise a shine. I really have come to appreciate Mark Hoover’s Before & After Restoration Balm for its restorative properties with dry briar. I worked it into finish of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it as I usually do at this point in the process. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The Restoration Balm really makes the grain stands out beautifully. I set the finished bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I used a folded piece of 240 grit sandpaper to blend the tooth marks and chatter into the surface of the stem. Once the surface was smooth I sanded out the scratch marks and started polishing the stem with a folded piece of 400 grit sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wetsanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and gave it a final coat and set it aside to dry. I put the stem and bowl back together and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I polished the briar and the stem until there was a rich shine. This Algerian Briar Lovat has a classic shape and a rich oil finish that highlights the amazing grain on a proportionally well carved pipe. Once I buffed the pipe the grain just popped. The black vulcanite stem had a rich glow. The finished pipe is actually quite stunning in my opinion. It is a beautifully grained Lovat and like the other pipe in this Bertrams lot it fits well in the hand and sits right in the mouth. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 1/2 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/4 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. I will be putting this pipe on the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as it was a pleasure to work on.

Restoring another from the Bertram Collection – an Algerian Briar Lumberman

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Blog by Steve Laug

Rather than repeat myself and give the blog readers grief with the repetition please refer to the previous blog posts on the Bertrams to learn about how we got this collection. Just know that we have a collection of Bertrams and a smattering of other brands that when they were unwrapped filled three boxes. The photo below is included to show the size of the collection we had purchased. To be honest it was a bit overwhelming to see all of the collection in boxes. We were looking at a lot of work to bring these back to life.I am really glad that Jeff is working through the clean up on this lot as they are really quite dirty and there are so many! It would be a more daunting task than it already is if I had to clean and restore all of them. I am leaving it to him to choose which pipes to work on. He has chosen some interesting shaped ones to restore. I chose an interesting little Lumberman to be the next pipe that I would work on. This pipe was another dirty one! The smooth finish was grimy and dusty but some beautiful grain shone through showing a stunning pipe. It was a small Lumberman with stubby tapered stem. There was a thick cake in the bowl and heavy lava overflowing on to the rim top. It was hard to know the condition of the edges due to the cake and lava. The stem showed some light oxidation and some chatter on the top and some tooth marks on the underside. The photos below tell the story and give a glimpse of the pipe. Jeff took close-up photos of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe when it arrived. The rim top had a thick coat of lava and the bowl had a thick cake.Jeff took pictures of he bowl sides and the heel to show the marvelous grain on the bowl. It really is quite stunning and very dirty!Jeff took 2 photo2 to capture the stamping on the right side of the shank and the underside of the stem. The first photo shows stamping on the right side which read ALGERIAN BRIAR. The stamping on this pipe is clear and readable. The second photo shows stamping on the underside of the stem that reads FRANCE. Interestingly this is the same stamp that is on the A. Garfinkel pipe that I just finished.The next two photos show the stem surface. They show the light oxidation and the chatter on both sides near the button. The tooth marks are visible next to the button on both sides.Jeff and I have been working through the collection of Bertram pipes. Many of the other pipes in the lot are also from pipe shops in Washington, D.C. There are A. Garfinkel pipes, Ansell Pipes, National Pipes along with the Bertrams. Also included in the lot are pipes that have no other stamping than “ALGERIAN BRIAR”. While there is no way to be sure about the shop that these pipes came from I think it is safe to make a few conjectures. This pipe is stamped in a way very similar to the A.Garfinkel pipes that I am working on. Some of them have the stamp Algerian Briar along with the shop name. The lettering on the stamp is the same on both pipes. They also have the FRANCE stamp on the underside of the stem. I quote some of the information I included in the blog on the A. Garfinkel pipe below (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/05/28/new-life-for-an-a-garfinkel-washington-d-c-large-billiard/). In the fourth paragraph below I have highlighted in Dark Blue the pertinent section that links this Algerian Briar pipe to the A. Garfinkel shop.

Before I started my part of the restoration I did a bit of research to see what I could learn about the brand. I turned first to the Pipephil website and did not find any information on the brand. That surprised me a bit but such is the hunt for information. I turned next to the Pipedia website and was more successful. Here is the link to the article – https://pipedia.org/wiki/Garfinkel. I quote in full below.

Garfinkel Inc. was a celebrated Washington, D.C. importer and retailer of pipes, tobaccos and cigars. The founder was Arnold Garfinkel (1903-1988). Arnold was originally from Germany, and the family had already been in the tobacco trade for two generations before he was born; his father sold tobacco to Kaiser Wilhelm in Berlin. Fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938, Arnold soon settled in the District of Columbia; in 1940 he established his first tobacco shop there, although it closed a few years later during the Second World War.

It wasn’t until July of 1960 that Arnold established A. Garfinkel. Originally located at 720 14th Street, N.W., in April of 1980 the shop advertised its move to 1585 Eye Street, N.W. The new location of was a block from Lafayette Square and not much further from the White House. In 1972, author Hugh Sidey wrote in Newsweek that while interviewing then President Richard M. Nixon he spotted some pipes and a tin of Garfinkel tobacco on Nixon’s desk.

Among aficionados the shop remains well known to this day for the imported tobacco blends sold under its own name; these were manufactured by Robert McConnell and Sobranie. In addition custom blending was done for customers both domestic and foreign, with Arnold sometimes using recipes he had brought with him from Europe. A. Garfinkel carried pipes under its own name as well; these too were apparently manufactured elsewhere. Pipes were stamped A. Garfinkel, Wash D.C.; some are marked Algerian Briar and others simply Imported Briar. Many appear to be Made in France. Finally, A. Garfinkel was renowned for its selection of cigars.

In 1940 Arnold married Esther Kolker. One of their four children, Larry, was managing A. Garfinkel by May of 1980 and eventually took over sole responsibility for running the shop. Notwithstanding Arnold remained active at A. Garfinkel throughout his life, with son Larry noting that “He had a great personality and a great smile…and a very good head for business.”

A victim of declining demand reflecting both increased pressures on smokers and changing tastes, A. Garfinkel shut its doors in the summer of 1992.

Given that information the link is made to the A. Garfinkel pipe shop in DC. I think that there is also a tenuous tie to the Bertram shop in DC as well as all of the pipes in this lot are very similar in terms of finish and style. I suppose we will never really know for sure but I think it a pretty good surmise.

Jeff reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove lava build up on the rim top and you could see the great condition of the bowl top and edges of the rim. There was some damage to the inner edge at both the front and the back of the bowl. The rim top was in good condition. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work. I took a close up photo of the rim top to show the condition of the bowl and rim after Jeff had cleaned up the grime and lava. The burn damage on the front and back inner edge of the bowl is visible in the first photo below. The rim top has some darkening but otherwise looks very good. The stem photos show that the oxidation is gone. The light tooth chatter is hard to see but I should be able to sand it out quite easily.I also took a photo of the stamping on the right side of the shank showing how the stamping was laid out.I worked on the inner edge of the bowl, sanding out the burn damage and rough areas with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage and the darkening. I polished the edge with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper to remove the scratches. The photo shows how the rim looked at this point.I polished the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris. After the final sanding pad I hand buffed it with a cotton cloth to raise a shine. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into finish of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it as I usually do at this point in the process. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The Restoration Balm really makes the grain stands out beautifully. I used a folded piece of 240 grit sandpaper to blend the tooth marks and chatter into the surface of the stem. Once the surface was smooth I sanded out the scratch marks and started polishing the stem with a folded piece of 400 grit sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wetsanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and gave it a final coat and set it aside to dry. I put the stem and bowl back together and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I polished the briar and the minute scratches still in the vulcanite of the stem until there was a rich shine. This Algerian Briar Lumberman has a classic shape and a rich oil finish that highlights the amazing grain on a proportionally well carved pipe. Once I buffed the pipe the grain just popped. The black vulcanite stem had a rich glow. The finished pipe is actually quite stunning in my opinion. It is a beautifully grained Lumberman. Like the other pipe in this Bertrams lot that I have worked on this one fits well in the hand and sits right in the mouth. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 4 3/4 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/4 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. I will be putting this pipe on the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as it was a pleasure to work on.

Quick Shank Repair for a Trypis Canted Dublin

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Charles gives a great rationale for using and external shank repair on this one. He does a great job also showing the process of band. Well done.

Charles Lemon's avatar

This restoration was fairly simple – just what I was looking for after tackling a run of trickier repairs.

This Trypis pipe hit the worktable in fairly good estate condition. The rim was hidden under a coat of lava but looked to be in decent shape otherwise. The stem was a bit oxidized and the alligator-skin rustication was dirty and packed up with old wax, grease and other goodies.

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When I twisted off the stem for the above pic, I found a crack in the top of the shank – actually two small parallel cracks. This sort of spiral stress fracture is usually caused by putting too much torque on a stuck stem while trying to remove it – one good reason to keep your pipes clean.

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While I was deciding what to do about the crack, I removed the very dirty stinger from the stem and dropped in into…

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West Meets East in India to Restore a Grandson’s Treasure – an 1846 BBB

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Blog by Dal Stanton

This story is about the restoration of perhaps, one of the oldest BBBs in the world today – but it’s much, much more.  Every pipe man and woman has discovered this and within that even smaller subgroup of the pipe community, vintage pipe restorers, the experience is perhaps even more heightened.  The love of pipes – their former stewards, provenances, shapes, grains, stems and especially their restorations, creates a unique bond and fellowship among those who have experienced the joy of seeing one’s hands bring about a pipe’s restoration.  Whether a high-end Dunhill or a common ‘No-Namer’, to bring a crippled pipe back to life brings a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction to those whose skill, hands and purposeful patience have wrought.

So much in our world today divides people of race, religion, politics, and station of life, but my amazement is kindled by how often these barriers are overcome within this community of pipe lovers and restorers.  With the internet in full bloom, people in this world-wide community have come together in amazing ways.  This happened when Steve Laug (aka: rebornpipes, Vancouver, Canada), Jeff Laug (Steve’s brother – pipe procurer and cleaner, Idaho, USA) and I, (aka: ThePipeSteward, Sofia, Bulgaria) converged in Pune, India, at the invitation of Paresh Deshpande (aka: rebornpipes contributor and the grandson who has become the steward of a treasure trove of pipes left to him by his grandfather).

I began this write-up with a full and thankful heart on the flight from Pune (Poo’-ne) to New Delhi on my return trip to Sofia.  Steve and Jeff were able to stay a few extra days and so I said goodbye to them at the flat where our fellowship took shape several days earlier.  I also said goodbye to Paresh’s daughters, Mudra (17) and Pavni (11), whose equally opposite personalities and dispositions were a wonderful composite reflection of their parents’ care and love.  Mudra impressed us with her elegant sophistication and Pavni, well, she earned the nickname of ‘Bollywood’ – she entertained us and brought much laughter.

Paresh and Abha took me to the airport and I found myself surprisingly reflective and quiet as Paresh navigated the choked Pune streets heading to the airport – cars, scooters and Tuk Tuks (motorized rickshaw taxis) dodged here and there like swallows on wheels in a chaotic purposeful swarm.  Only the day before I was helmeted on the back of Paresh’s classic 1980 ROYAL ENFIELD 535 CC motorcycle and videoed with my iPhone while Paresh became one with the swarm!  Oh my….  As I sat in the back seat of the car on the way to the airport, Paresh asked me why I wasn’t smiling – that I was serious.  It was true that navigating through the Pune Airport’s security was on my mind and wondering if they would remove my prized Savinelli pipe lighter, an unbelievable gift from my landlady, Rozie, in Sofia, left behind by her now departed husband.  My concerns about the lighter fortunately, were proven to be unfounded, but I found myself reflecting on the past week under the watchful care and rich hospitality of Paresh and Abha.  How do I describe it?  How do I tell this story to capture not only the unbelievable pipe our special cohort restored together, but the bond that we discovered along the way?  I think I can safely speak for Steve and Jeff in saying that the hospitality we experienced from our Indian hosts was none like we had experienced before.  For the most part, we started as acquaintances but through the week experienced a deeper bond that is more reminiscent of a family.  Steve and I have known each other for some time because of our work with women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited (Servants Anonymous Foundation and Daughters of Bulgaria), but through the internet was how our pipe lore fellowship was formed and based upon this, Paresh invited us to come to Pune coinciding with Steve’s trip to nearby Nepal in concert with his work.  When I heard of this ‘Fellowship of the Pipe’ developing, I couldn’t bear to be left out, especially after hearing that Steve’s brother, Jeff, whom I had never met, was also coming.  Steve had traveled to this part of the world several times.  I had traveled to Cambodia previously, but never to India.  Jeff, also, was experiencing his first trip to this area of the world.  So, from Vancouver (via Nepal), from Sofia and from Idaho Falls, the ‘West’ converged in the ‘East’ in India, for the first convocation of this Pipe Fellowship.

This ‘Fellowship’ also included others that were unable to respond to Paresh’s invitations to come.  Several months ago, Paresh formed a FaceBook Messenger group of pipe restorers that included the four of us but also Mark Domingues (aka: LoneStarBriarWorks Texas, USA) and Victor Naddeo (aka: Naddeo Pipes, Belo Horizonte, Brazil). This group, as you might guess, was the online ‘Pipe Man Cave’ where pipes, nomenclatures, techniques were discussed, and questions entertained – of course, Steve is recognized as the undisputed pipe sage and guru of this diverse and eclectic group of pipe men.  The weeks before the convocation in Pune, this group was actively involved in shaping the convocation.  It was in the FaceBook group that Paresh proposed what became the anchor activity of our time in Pune – the restoration of one of the oldest and most precious of Paresh’s trove of pipes he inherited from his grandfather, whose collection could possibly rival any personal collection in the world.  Steve and Paresh told the story of Paresh’s grandfather in Steve’s earlier restorations of some of these pipes on rebornpipes (see: Paresh’s Grandfather’s Pipe #7 – Charatan’s Make De Luxe 140 Billiard).  Paresh had so many of his grandfather’s pipes, that Steve (as he has done with many of us!) began to encourage (coerce 😊) Paresh to start dabbling in restoration.  Paresh didn’t dabble long and has become an excellent restorer and contributor to rebornpipes.  As Jeff does for Steve, Abha cleans many of the pipes that Paresh restores.

One of the highlights of our time in Pune was going through Paresh’s entire collection of pipes – from his grandfather as well as his own additions.  During the hot(!) part of the Indian day, Paresh unwrapped each pipe to show and to pass around.  To hold and examine these pipes was a treat.  If this were not enough, we (Dal, Steve and Paresh – Jeff’s not a smoker just a collector and journeyman cleaner!) also smoked 3 very special pipes from Paresh’s grandfather that Paresh had restored – classic pipes with albatross bone shank extensions and horn stems.  At the beginning of the convocation, we decided we would smoke these pipes together in celebration of the completion of our communal restoration project.  On the Fellowship Facebook group, Paresh proposed restoring one of his grandfather’s pipes together.  His idea was that we would do the restoration as a group, but that we would each share that part of the restoration that focused on strengths of each: Jeff and Abha, (cleaning), Pavni (sanding the chamber), Steve (main restoration work), Dal (final buffing and polishing with the Dremel), and Paresh would be the project manager!  Paresh also appointed me as the scribe – the one who would do the write-up and take pictures of the restoration because of my ability to spin a good tale!  After the 1846 BBB was chosen to be our restoration project, this was the discussion on the Fellowship FB Group that revealed Paresh’s deeper hope of what would result from the group restoration:

Paresh: Steve Sir, what say about working this pipe…

Mark: You can handle it Paresh!  It’s no different than a Dr. Grabow!

Paresh: More than the value of the pipe, it’s worth its weight in gold working together with Steve Sir and Dal Sir on this oldest heirloom piece that I desire.  And not to mention Jeff Sir and Abha doing the initial cleaning…lol

Steve: Sounds like an interesting proposal Paresh… I am game.  But I also know that you can handle it

Paresh: Thank you Sir. I appreciate your confidence in my abilities. But just think, you shall be meeting up with Mudra and Pavni, my daughters. They would see all of us working together on this very very old pipe. We shall be handing over these memories to them. Kids will always associate this pipe as THE ONE which belonged to their Great Grandfather and was worked on by their father and his friends from across the oceans…. wow wouldn’t that be great.

Paresh:  So that’s decided. 1846 made BBB project postponed to 03 May 19 and now back to square one! Which pipe should I work next? Fresh suggestions requested please.

When I discovered I was to be the writer of this grand project before coming to Pune, Paresh sent pictures of the 1846 BBB.  Here are the pictures of the BBB Bent Billiard with its classic amber stem. The nomenclature is stamped on the left flank of the shank with the classic stacked BBB ensconced in the diamond.  The diamond is centered above ‘OWN MAKE’.  The silver ferule repeats the BBB diamond stamp over hallmarks providing information on the provenance which will be unpacked below.With a pipe dated so early, it qualifies as one of the first pipes produced by BBB.  I look to Pipedia’s article on BBB to set the stage for understanding the origins:

BBB

The initials once stood for Blumfeld’s Best Briars after Louis Blumfeld, who took over the management of the Adolph Frankau Company in 1856. After his death, the BBB gradually became known as Britain’s Best Briars. Soon to be the oldest English trademark in current use and the first pipe ever to have a registered trademark. “Britain’s Best Briars”, often called BBB, is one of the oldest brands still in production and has always been the most popular foreign brand in Denmark. Earlier pipes included a metal rondel with a diamond shape including BBB embedded in the stem top, and later post-Cadogan went to a stamped-on logo, similar to the GBD pipes.

Dating and History:

I have been doing some digging into BBB pipes for some we have for VPC auctions and I found an article online in French. Here is a Babelfish translation of a history of BBB from http://www.fumeursdepipe.net/artbbb.htm

Genesis and history of the company. Adolph Frankau & Co Ltd In 1847, Adolph Frankau arrived in London and quickly understood opportunities that the market of tobacco presented, in full expansion. He created the company “Adolph Frankau & Co” and became an importer of meerschaum pipes and supplies in connection with the tobacco. It takes under its wing young a 14 year old boy, Louis Blumfeld. The business thrives quickly until the death of Adolph Frankau in 1856. His widow prepares to sell the company.

The dating we’ve placed on the BBB is 1846.  The formation of the Adolph Fankau & Co. Ltd is said to be 1847 in London from the article above.  The seemingly contradictory information creates part of the mystery uncovered in the research – the origins of BBB and a pipe apparently dated before it began!  Fortunately for me, the Pipe Man Facebook Group tackled the research for me.  With only slight editing, here is the ‘research wing’ dialog in toto.  I repeat the dialog because it captures the thrill of discovery of a treasure and the process leading to it:

Paresh: From my grandfather’s collection…. unable to decide my next project. Please suggest…… It’s nice to be spoilt for choice.

 

 

Jeff

 

Steve: Here’s my vote… marked with the check .

 

 

Paresh: BBB it is then….. thank you.

 Paresh:  The BBC….. just for the record you all have chosen the dirtiest one for me to work on. Other three pipes….. Abha, my wife, had done the initial cleaning……Lol. It’s BBB and not BBC….. you have chosen wisely as in Indiana Jones and the Last crusade!!!!

Victor:  Oh man! I love BBB’s, it’s my favorite brand ever!

 

Paresh: Where have you been my friend?

Victor:  This pipe looks to me like Pamela Anderson ….[edited by scribe 😊]…. with a suitcase full of dollars and a bottle of champagne.  I’ve been working hard this days my friend, and my head was a little bit away from the pipes

Paresh:  And me….. [edited by scribe]…. it happens….

Victor:  Hahahaha I’ve 12 BBB’s in my collection

Paresh:  On this selection, there was a unanimous vote from all parts of the world…….and the bigwigs wonder how to bring the world together……………….. It’s this simple.

Victor:  i just LOVE all of them.

Paresh:  All vintage?

Victor:  yeah!

Paresh:  I need to check how many I have. Never bought one BBB, except for one commissioned from ThePipeSteward…..  All my BBB are my grandfather’s.

MAR 15, 2019, 2:02 AM

Steve: Victor and I share a love of BBB pipes…one of my favourite brands

Paresh:  I haven’t been able to identify my favourite brand!! My present rotation includes Farida’ s dad’s Dunhill, GBD International, BIJOU, Hilson Viva and two Somersets.

MAR 15, 2019, 5:53 PM

Paresh:  Found this stamp on 1858 BBB Meer….. exact same stamp on my BBB but letter D. This makes it from 1852. Did they make Briar pipes then?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Need help in dating this pipe based on hallmarks….

MAR 15, 2019, 7:08 PM

Victor:  I need a close picture of the hallmarks and I could say precisely the year

Paresh:  I shall try. But as I said earlier, the only difference between the meer stampings above and mine is letter capital D…

Victor:  Oh, I thought you said the meer had the letter D – ok! But i must say the frame around the letter influences too

Paresh:  Hallmark stampings are slightly worn out.  Understood. I wish I had an iPhone…..

Steve:  Anchor is Birmingham, lion is the mark for 925 silver,

Victor:  Yes, exactly. And L&B the silversmith.  If your pipe has the exactly same square frame around the D as this meerschaum, You have a 1852 pipe in your hands.  And i must say this is probably the oldest briar pipe i ever seen.

 Paresh:  Does this help?

Victor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Could L-B stand for Louis Blumfield?

Victor: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or this 

Paresh:  More like the upper one but more decorative but less than the second…..

Victor:  Maybe like the third one?This is the oldest briar pipe i ever had Its 1873 Samuel McLardy

Paresh:  Neither the third. Look for the J letter in 1858 and in same chart look for D. More or less same. 80% match….

Victor:  I must admit I’m little envious about you BBB hahaha.  What a lucky guy you are!  Hahahaha

Paresh:  Mclardy letter not clear…..

Victor:  The first one is the D from the same chart of this J

Paresh:  The different is “moustache” like shape at the junction……..on my pipe.   Where the vertical line of D meets the horizontal line towards the right….

Victor:  Looking close to your picture. I don’t think it’s a D

Paresh:  Could you please enlarge the last pic that I sent you, Victor?

Victor: 

 

 

 

 

 

I think it’s an “r”

Paresh:  Wow…..that’s….. Let me check again.

Victor:  And if is this one it’s a 1846 pipe

Paresh:  You may be right Victor, it could be an ‘r’What do you think? Enlarge the picture please.

 Steve:  I think it is an r as well

Paresh:  Steve Sir, what does the letter appear to you?

 

Mark:  Lower case R

 

 

Steve:  Lower case r

Victor:  Now I’m sure.  It’s an 1846 pipe.  Congratulation

Mark:  So what year is that?

Victor: !!

Mark:  No way!

Victor:  Yes it is sir!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark:  When did they start?!?

Victor:  Actually its a lower case x – Hahahhaa

Mark:   BBB?

Paresh:  Okay. That settles it. So let me check again if it’s a repair band…… hearts thumping like nuts…

Victor:  BBB it’s one of the oldest factories in England – Wait, Pipedia says it was founded in 1847 But they could be wrong.  I’ve seen this kind of mistake before in pipedia

Steve:  Remember silver hallmarks date the silver…

Mark:  Amber stem?

Paresh:  NO REPAIR BAND…… summary of all discussions?

Agreed, hallmarks date silver. But the other stampings on the silver, like BBB and L- B?

Mark:  Louis Blumfield? Amber stem, it must be old!

Paresh:  As asked before, could LB stand for Louis Blumfield?

Mark:  Maybe that’s one of the first after Frankau’s death in 1846?  Sorry, 1856

Paresh:  So am I holding a BBB which dates back to 1846? Remember, Louis Blumfeld joined him much earlier than 1856 before his demise.

Victor:  Man

Steve:  Man…

Victor:  This is probably one of the first Frankau era pipes ever made!

Paresh:  Concrete summary requested please, before I hit the Bar!!!

Victor:  Maybe the silver was made in the end of the ear of 1846, few months before the factory made the pipe.

Year* Concrete summary?

Steve:  That was my thinking Victor

Victor:  You’re a [edited by scribe 😊] lucky bastard! Vavavavava Hahahahaha*

Paresh:  Yes!!! Drinks are on me gentlemen….

Victor:  Congratulations.  Probably the oldest BBB in the whole world.

Steve:  Congrats

Paresh:  Good that I sought your advice on selection of the pipe to work on. My what a thrilling experience this was. Thanks again gents. Dal Stanton has missed this frenzy…

Paresh:  Victor, you started this……

Steve Sir, would you like to work this pipe with me when you reach? This will be an epic project together or you want me to proceed ahead? It will be a significant project.

Victor:  W8, Steve is going to India? (You live in India, right?)

Paresh:  Yes Sir. Even Dal Stanton will be with us.

Victor:  I wanna go too! Hahahaha

Paresh:  Really?

Victor:  I’m just kidding, I can’t afford a trip like this

Paresh:  Okay. U will not be spending a dime here.

Steve Sir, what say about working this pipe…?

Mark:  You can handle it Paresh!

It’s no different than a Dr. Grabow!

Paresh:  More than the value of the pipe, it’s worth its weight in gold working together with Steve Sir and Dal Sir on this oldest heirloom piece that I desire.  And not to mention Jeff Sir and Abha doing the initial cleaning…lol

Steve:  Sounds like an interesting proposal Paresh… I am game.  But I also know that you can handle it

I did miss the frenzy of the discovery of the dating of this BBB treasure Paresh inherited from his grandfather, but I experienced the thrill of having a part in its restoration – and what a restoration it was!  One of the fun parts and challenges was to use only the tools available to Paresh in India.  Each restorer is used to his own tools and techniques.  The restoration of the 1846 also became a time of sharing and seeing how each of us approached the different phases of the restoration.

The day we determined would be THE day for THE restoration arrived.  We three are in the flat that Paresh had provided for us during our stay.  On this day set for THE restoration, we were up early before Paresh arrived from his home.  After our tea and coffee, we were ready to go and decided to start on the cleaning phase to get a jump on things. Here we go!  Jeff and Steve set up camp to begin the cleaning phase laying out the tools of the trade – no Savinelli Fitsall Tool this time around! The BBB had very thick cake and lava flow over the rim – very characteristic of Paresh’s grandfather’s other pipes where the practice seemed to be smoke, never clean and toss in the box when they were unsmokable and buy another! Steve started with reaming the chamber.  Starting with the reaming blade heads he reams with the smallest blade and then works to the next larger. He uses two of the four blades available and then switches to the long pen knives available in Paresh’s arsenal and continues clearing the thick cake. After scraping the chamber walls with the pen knives, he follows by using ‘230’ grade paper (I can’t remember what the grading was in India – it could have been 220 to 240, mid-range) to clean the walls of the carbon further and wipes the chamber with paper towel. After wiping, Steve evaluates the condition of the chamber and the 173-year-old chamber is in good shape from what we can see at this point.Switching now to the rim, Steve carefully employs the sanding paper over the rim to begin removing the thick lava flow. Continuing on the rim, next he uses a flat blade and pen knife and continues carefully scraping the rim. Using a spatula tool, he switches attention to the mortise and scrapes out the old oils and grime buildup. With the lava excavated from the rim, Steve identifies what looks like a hairline crack running over the rim.The crack isn’t easy to see.  It runs across the rim and over and down the stummel a bit.Steve continues smoothing the rim using 230 grade paper in order to get a better look at the rim’s condition.The crack is now more clearly seen. We paused when Paresh and Pavni arrived and I got more practice perfecting my selfie technique.  Pavni enjoys helping her father in his restoration adventures.  Her specialty in the restoration process, which has become a unique trademark in Paresh’s restorations, is sanding the chambers to a smooth perfection.As the project manager, Paresh receives an update on the progress on the 1846 BBB which includes the news about discovering of the crack after the rim cleaning.After conferring with the master restorer, the decision is made to take the 1846 to the topping board.  In this case, a piece of 230 paper on the flat, glass table serves well as Paresh begins the topping process.  The debate using the topping board is always weighing the loss of briar verses the needed corrections in the restoration process.  The rim needs refreshing and redefinition, and the hope is that some topping will improve the situation with the crack. The first revolutions show the progress and revealing more distinctly the rim crack. After another few revolutions on the topping board, it is time for a conference and Steve again takes the stummel to the topping board. Paresh harvests the briar dust off the sanding paper, which appears to be a 150 grade from this view.  Under Pavni’s watchful eye, Steve takes the stummel a few more rotations and we arrive at a satisfactory point. From the picture above, the inner rim edge is rough and uneven.  There is also a dark scorched ring remaining around the inner perimeter. Paresh goes to work cleaning the inner rim edge with a roll of sanding paper.  We’re hoping that the sanding will take care of the minor hairline crack. Across the table, Jeff takes a close look at the amber stem with the Henry Hughs Son LTD London magnifying glass.  The night before we were all squinting looking at the nomenclatures of many pipes and this morning Paresh remembered to bring this classic lens!  Looking at the 1846 BBB through this antique lens seemed only right! Jeff goes to work on cleaning the delicate bone tenon but waits on the airway of the amber stem.  We don’t want to use alcohol on the amber which could potentially damage it causing it to shatter or craze – making spider web-like cracking.  During the week, Paresh had a young man on call to respond to all our needs.  We needed a natural acidic cleaner for the amber stem and lemon juice is a good choice for the job.  Paresh made a call to the young man to bring us lemons.…  Waiting for the lemons, Jeff gave Murphy’s a try on the bone tenon and airway with some results. On the other side of the table, Steve isn’t satisfied with the rim and adds a few more turns on the topping board and follows with a light sanding touch on the external rim edge to soften the rim edge and clean remaining nicks. The threads of the bone tenon have years of debris compacted and Jeff starts with a bristled brush to help clean and then passes the stem across the table and Paresh continues the delicate thread cleaning probing and scraping with the flat blade. With Paresh working on the tenon, Steve passes the stummel to Jeff who starts his cleaning regimen using Murphy’s Soap and a paper towel.  The towel shows the first layer of grime coming off.  He also gently scrapes the shank shaft with a blade where the band was mounted removing grime softened by the Murphy’s Soap. Paresh hands the stem off to Steve who continues working on the bone tenon threads using a stationary inverted wire brush.  This does the job and the stem goes back to Jeff for his inspection. Jeff continues cleaning the BBB stummel with more Murphy’s Soap and gently scrapes the lava buildup on the stummel surface just over the rim. Next, Jeff furthers the cleaning by taking the stummel in the kitchen and giving the stummel a cleaning using warm water and liquid dish soap, which in India came in a paste form, and scrubbing with a bristled toothbrush.  I was very interested in seeing Jeff’s cleaning process.  He has developed an interesting system of which even Steve was not fully aware! With Jeff’s cleaning, he’s not concerned to allow water in the internals but washes the internals as well using a shank brush to clean – rinsing with warm water – external surface and internals. With the stummel clean, Steve takes the stummel to work on the primary restoration issues.  Using a 1500 grade micromesh pad, Steve dry sands the upper part of the stummel around the rim and the rim surface to work on some rough areas and to clean the area of the crack identified earlier.  The challenge is to preserve the 1800s patina while applying some abrasives to the surface.  Steve employs the micromesh for this reason. While Steve is working on the stummel, our young helper man arrives with the lemons needed for Jeff to continue his internal cleaning of the amber stem!Steve’s fine sanding with the micromesh pad on the rim brings into focus two cracks, the original and a lesser one – in the picture below at the 4 o’clock and 6:30 o’clock positions. To address these issues, Steve decides to drill a counter-creep hole with the Dremel on the original lone crack which creeps down the stummel and then apply CA glue shoring it up.  To begin, to create a hole to guide the drilling, using the magnifying glass, Steve presses the corner of the flat blade into the briar where the crack terminates creating the guide hole for the Dremel drill bit. With the area cleaned, the crack is clearly seen now on the external side as well as internally looking in the chamber. After a very short discussion with Paresh, it’s decided that Steve will do the honors of drilling the counter-creep hole.  Mounting a 1 or 2mm (not sure which now!) drill bit in the Dremel, with nerves of steel preparing to drill on the 1846 BBB, Steve does the job.  This part of the restoration is critical – drilling the hole keeps the crack from advancing as the bowl heats and cools – expands and retracts.  During the drilling, one does not want to drill too far punching through into the chamber! Next, after Steve applies CA glue over the crack and count-creep hole, Paresh is ready to apply briar dust over the wet repair area to enhance the blending on the vintage briar surface. With the main crack glued and briar dust applied, the secondary crack receives a spot drop of the thin CA glue as well to create a strengthened reinforcement. After the CA glue cures, Steve strategically files and sands the repair areas removing the excess glue and bringing the patches flush with the briar surface. To again freshen the rim after the crack repairs, Steve lightly tops the stummel and the results look good. Following the topping, again using the 1500 micromesh pad, Steve sands both repair areas on the stummel surface as well as topping the stummel with the micromesh pad. This smooths and blends the repair area well with little impact on the ancient briar’s patina. Now armed with a natural cleanser, lemon juice, Jeff continues the cleaning of the amber stem’s airway. You get a better idea now why this write up seems a bit like watching a ping pong tourny!  Paresh now continues the application of micromesh to the rim of the 1846. The results are great for Jeff’s stem cleaning utilizing the lemon juice.  The pipe cleaner reveals the buildup in the airway. Steve continues to work on the rim and repair areas with micromesh pads 1800 and 2400. With a sense of having worked the areas enough with the micromesh pads, Steve applies Before & After Restoration Balm to the rim and the crack area where he had been applying the micromesh pads to see how the briar will snap to.  The result is phenomenal as the following pictures show. This marks the completion of micromesh pads 1500 to 2400 on parts of the stummel and rim.  The cracks are still visible but have blended well in the darkening briar hues. Paresh follows by dry sanding with 3200 grade micromesh on the stummel. Jeff declares that the stem internals are now clean.  After thinning a thick pipe cleaner with the pen knife, Paresh runs the pipe cleaner through the stem and bone tenon for one final pass. The amber stem bit has experienced chipping and this is next up for repair.  Steve begins the repair by spot dropping clear CA glue to fill the divot.  After applying, he puts the stem aside for the CA glue to cure. The BBB silver band is next.  The band shows the normal coloring as the silver oxidizes over time.  Paresh tackles this project by using a dry powdered silver cleaner that he has available in India.  I had never seen anything like it before and watched with interest as Paresh pinched the powder and applied it to the band and rubbed the powder in the metal. The results were stellar as the pictures show. While Paresh worked on cleaning the band, Steve pressed forward applying the next set of micromesh pads to the stummel and rim of the 1846 BBB.  Using pads 3600 to 4000 he dry sanded. The emergence of the beauty of this aged patina was amazing to watch as Steve teased it out by dry sanding with pads 6000 to 12000. With the micromesh phase completed, Steve attaches the newly shined BBB silver band with its identifying hallmarks, using a bit of CA glue.  After applying a small line about midway up the shank underneath where the band will rest, Steve positions and slides the band over the shank until it tightened. All I could say was, ‘Wow!’.  The vintage band adds that touch of class that the 1846 BBB already had in spades!Next, we’re all anticipating the results of applying Before & After Restoration Balm to the entire bowl.  The Balm does a great job coaxing out the deeper hues of the briar.  Often, the changes are subtle, but distinctive.  This picture shows the stummel before application.Steve applies the Balm by putting some on his finger and thoroughly working it into the briar surface.  I have often described the texture as thinner, or cream-like when first applied, then thickens into a wax-like texture as it is rubbed in.  After allowing the Balm to set a while, Steve buffs it off with a cloth to reveal the great results!  The vertical grain on this stummel is beautiful with a smattering of bird’s eye grain on the heal. It’s true, we may have done this a bit out of order, but Jeff and Paresh team tag working on cleaning the internals of the mortise.  Cotton buds and pipe cleaners are used, after dipping in alcohol.  Paresh excavates some gunk with a small scoop tool which was part of his arsenal. Meanwhile, after the first round of CA glue cures (it didn’t take long), Steve continues to work on the bit of the amber stem.  He uses a file on the button and also files out a chip on the side of the stem, next to the button. He applies another round of CA glue to chipped area on the side as well as to the previous divot to continue building up the surface.  The pictures show the progress. Jeff declares, ‘Clean!’ after a plethora of cotton buds and pipe cleaners bear witness to the tars and oil he removed from the stummel internals.The 1846 BBB was the main show of the day’s restorations, but several other projects were going on as well.  Here, Steve and Paresh confer and Pavni works on doing what she does best – patiently sanding and smoothing another stummel – this one a Meerschaum! Steve completes filing the stem repairs and sands down the patches so that they are invisible.With the stummel cleaned, I finally get the nod from the project manager to put down my iPhone (actually, Paresh takes over the picture taking) and pull out the Dremel and to begin the fine polishing phase.  I use White Diamond compound with a cotton cloth buffing wheel mounted with the speed set at about 40% of full power and apply the compound.While I disappear into the ‘zone’, Paresh takes a picture. While I’m in the zone, Paresh captures the progress Steve is making on the amber stem.  The CA glue patches have been fully sanded out and are invisible.  Steve did a great job smoothing, blending and filling the chipped area on the side of the stem.  He had to apply several coats of CA to build out the surface so that it again blended naturally.Zone….The amber stem is then treated to the full regimen of micromesh pads, dry sanding from 1500 to 12000. Zone…. After completing application of the compound, I mount another cotton cloth wheel maintaining the same speed and apply carnauba wax to the stummel.  I’m please the way the grain is popping!Then, to add the finishing touches, I apply White Diamond compound to the amber stem – appreciating the work that Steve did. After the White Diamond, I decided not to apply carnauba to the stem – it was already glistening and the pure, raw amber was more than ample to present this classic pipe.After I completed applying the compound to the stem, I rejoined stem and stummel and passed the 1846 to Paresh who had the privilege of doing the final handbuffing to raise the shine and complete the restoration of the 1846 BBB.  Woohoo! As we had planned, in celebration of the completion of the restoration together we smoked 3 unbelievable vintage pipes with albatross shank extensions and horn stems – all from the 1800s.  Oh my…. We each thoughtfully packed our bowls with our choice of blends and lit up and, well….  What a treat for Paresh to share the treasure trove of pipes left to him by his grandfather.  Jeff did the honor of commemorating this event with pictures. To further commemorate this amazing experience, we took a portrait of everyone who had taken part in the restoration of the 1846 BBB – notice Abha will have the first use of this grand old BBB! Mudra did the honor of taking the picture.There are not enough words to describe all that we experienced together while in India with Paresh’s family.  Steve, Jeff and I were treated literally like royalty!  We were taken to many different places to see the sites and to enjoy different cuisines, even pizza!  We all stored up memories which we’ll value all our days.Before heading to the airport, I took one more picture of Paresh and his family, Abha, Mudra and Pavni.  We arrived in India as acquaintances and we parted as family. And now the story has been told. West met the East in India for the restoration of the star of this story, the beyond classic 1846 BBB Own Make – a treasure from a grandfather to his grandson.  Thanks for joining us!