Getting Rid of a Foul Smell in a fourth pipe – a Schulte’s Canadian

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Blog by Steve Laug

This is the last of the foursome of pipes that I have from a box of some 25 pipes that I am working through for a friend here in Vancouver. This last of the four came to me in a sour, stinky condition. With this one I am finishing the last of them. Alex had smoked them once or twice each and found that as he smoked them each became fouler. From my experience this happens when a pipe has not been thoroughly cleaned in the process of restoration. Sometimes even if it has been cleaned, the first few smokes draw out a foul taste and in this case an odor that made me put the four pipes in a zip lock bad to keep the odor contained. They really stunk! On Sunday evening I decided to give the foursome a cotton ball and alcohol treatment to draw out the oils and tars in the briar. I pushed cotton balls into the bowl and a folded pipe cleaner in the shank and used an ear syringe to fill the bowl with isopropyl alcohol. I set the pipes aside to let the alcohol do its work overnight. I know many of you use kosher salt and alcohol and that certainly is your choice. For me however the cotton balls work just as effectively in providing a medium for the foul juices drawn out of a pipe to be deposited. They are also easier to clean up and they do not leave residual salts in the briar. In the morning I took a photo of the finished work. You can see the effectiveness of the treatment.I took the cotton out of the bowls of the pipes and wiped the bowl down with pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to dry them out. The last pipe I decided to work on is the beautifully grained Canadian, the first pipe on the right in the photo above. It is stamped on the topside of the shank SCHULTE’S and on the underside of the shank it is stamped BCER. I know something about Howard Schulte who is a pipe repairman in Florida but could not remember much about the brand. It was another pipe that the seller said was clean but after several smokes Alex deemed it unsmokable. It was now up to me to figure out what was going on.

I examined the pipe when I took out the cotton balls and alcohol and I learned a few things about it that would need to be addressed. The rim top and inner and outer edges of the rim were in excellent condition and would not require a lot of work. The finish was spotty but the pipe had some beautiful grain. The biggest issue was that there was a crack on the heel of the bowl where it looked like the pipe had been dropped. Fortunately it did not go all the way into the interior of the bowl so it would be a pretty straightforward repair. The bowl was the cleanest of the lot with a very light cake inside that could easily be reamed out. The stem was lightly oxidized near the stem/shank junction but it was clean and was free of tooth marks or chatter. I wondered what the airway was like but that is an easy clean up. I took some photos of the pipe at this point. I took a close up photo of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the rim top and light cake in the bowl. The rim top was in excellent condition and free of damage to the inner and outer edges. The cotton ball alcohol treatment had rid the pipe of the rank smell. The stem was in excellent condition with light oxidation near the shank end. At least it did not have tooth chatter or marks.I took a photo to capture the stamping on the top and underside of the shank. The first photo shows Schulte’s on the topside of the shank. The second photo shows the stamping on the underside and reads BCER. It is clear and readable.The pipe has some amazing grain! BUT…. Here is the real issue after the stench of the bowl and shank.There was a crack running across the heel of the bowl. It looked a lot worse than it actually was fortunately. This kind of crack generally comes when a bowl is dropped. In this case it did not go deep in the briar. Upon examination with a light there was no sign of it in the interior of the bowl. I probed the crack with a sharp pick and it did not go too deep in the briar.I needed to refresh my memory about brand so I turned to Pipephil’s site and did not find anything. On Pipedia I was more successful. The article had a series of comments from former customers that gave a sense of the shop and the pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/). I quote in part from that article.

Max Schulte – the name is sometimes misspelled “Shulte” – operated a pipe & tobacco shop in Newark and later in Maplewood, NJ. A customer remembers:

“My first pipes and tobaccos came from Max’s shop in Maplewood (I think it was on Bloomfield Avenue near Hy’s Cheesecake) back around 1965. The smell on entering either of these stores was sublime. I remember him well standing at the polishing wheel just off the counter, wearing a long workman’s apron, working on one of his characteristic classic shapes. The wall behind his tobacco counter was filled with rubber clips holding these as well as Savinellis, Sasienis, and Stanwells. I think he was actually on the front edge of the Danish trend. Max could polish a pipe in five minutes & have it come out looking new. He also blended an Oriental/Balkan blend (I think) called “Maritza” that was the finest of its kind (that I ever encountered) in those days. Max was always willing to share his extensive knowledge of pipes and tobaccos with any customer, even a young know-nothing like me, and seemed genuinely glad of the company. BTW, the going price for a half-pound of Maritza in those days was about seven dollars. It was worth every single cent.”

Now that the stink was gone once again I did not even think of cleaning the shank and airway I just immediately went to the most irritating part of this pipe – crack on the heel of the bowl. I used a microdrill to drill small pin holes at the end of each of the cracks. I did the drilling under a bright light so I could see the extent of the damage and make sure put a small hole at the end of each line of the crack. The large crack had a small crack branching of each end. I put a pin hole at the end of the main crack and one on the end of each small branching crack. I used a sharp point to trace the crack and give me some surface to fill with the repair of briar dust and super glue. The first photo shows the groove I carved. I filled in the groove and crack (along with the pin holes) with super glue then used a dental spatula to put briar dust on top of the glue and press it into the groove.Once the repair cured I sanded it smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to blend it into the surface of the surround briar. The photos below show the repaired scar on the heel. I sanded it further with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper to polish out the scratches. I polished the repaired heel and the rest of the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I used the wet sanding on the first three pads to give me the traction to remove the scratches in the briar and the dry sanding to polish the briar. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. It was beginning to look really good. The scar on the bottom of the bowl was very obvious so I would probably need to stain the bowl to blend it into the finish but the polishing would make that clear for me. The finish was looking pretty good but I knew that I would need to do more to blend the repair into the rest of the bowl. In preparation for staining the bowl I decided to wipe it down with isopropyl alcohol to remove the uneven finish. This way when I put a stain coat on at least the undercoat will be even. I looked through my Feibing’s stains to find one that would help to hide the repair but also let the grain shine through. I have found that the tan stain brings out the reds in the briar and once polished allow the grain to shine through. I stained it with the tan stain, flamed it and repeated the process until the coverage was even. I set the pipe aside for the night to let the stain cure. In the morning I wiped it down with alcohol on cotton pads to remove the heavy top coat and begin the process of unveiling the grain. I was also anxious to see how the repair scar looked on the heel of the bowl. I was pleased with how it blended in. It was not invisible but it did not stick out either. I buffed the bowl on the wheel with Blue Diamond to polish the new stain and get a feel for what the grain and the scar would look like. I was pretty happy with the results. I took it back to the worktable and worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the bowl and shank 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 following photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. Once again it was at this point that I realized that I had not reamed the bowl or done any cleaning of the internals after the cotton ball and alcohol treatment. I had been so intent on cleaning up the damaged rim that I totally skipped my normal pattern of work. So I went back to ream the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I was surprised at how clean it was. There was no carbon on the walls and what I had seen as a light cake was not. I turned then to clean out the internals. I cleaned out the airway in the shank and stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. I cleaned out the mortise in the shank with cotton swabs and alcohol until the mortise walls were clean and looked bare. The pipe smelled clean and fresh.The stem on this Schulte’s was flawless. There were no tooth marks and no chatter. There was some oxidation near where the stem sat against the shank. I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it one more final coat of Obsidian Oil to protect and deepen the shine. I put the stem back on the bowl and polished the pipe with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain came alive with the buffing. The rich brown finish on the briar works well with the polished black vulcanite stem. The finished pipe is a beauty and feels great in the hand. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: 3/4 of an inch. This one will be going back to Alex to join the other three foul pipes that I had given back to him. Thanks for walking through the restoration on this now great looking Schulte’s Canadian. The repaired crack on the heel came out well and is blended into the darker colour of the pipe. It is really a beauty. I think Alex will enjoy it and he should get a better smoke from it now as that is ultimately what is most important to me. Aesthetics is important but if it does not smoke well it fails for me.

Getting Rid of a Foul Smell in a third pipe – a Malaga Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have a box of some 25 pipes that I am working through for a friend here in Vancouver. The next group of four pipes that I am working on came to me in a sour, stinky condition. Alex had smoked them and found that as he smoked them each one became fouler. From my experience this happens when a pipe has not been thoroughly cleaned in the process of restoration. Sometimes even if it has been cleaned, the first few smokes draw out a foul taste and in this case an odor that made me put the four pipes in a zip lock bad to keep the odor contained. They really stunk! On Sunday evening I decided to give the foursome a cotton ball and alcohol treatment to draw out the oils and tars in the briar. I pushed cotton balls into the bowl and a folded pipe cleaner in the shank and used an ear syringe to fill the bowl with isopropyl alcohol. I set the pipes aside to let the alcohol do its work overnight. I know many of you use kosher salt and alcohol and that certainly is your choice. For me however the cotton balls work just as effectively in providing a medium for the foul juices drawn out of a pipe to be deposited. They are also easier to clean up and they do not leave residual salts in the briar. In the morning I took a photo of the finished work. You can see the effectiveness of the treatment.I took the cotton out of the bowls of the pipes and wiped the bowl down with pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to dry them out. The pipe I decided to work on is the beautifully grained straight pot, the third pipe from the right in the photo above. It is stamped on the left side of the shank “MALAGA” and on the right side of the shank is stamped Imported Briar. Alex has grown to love Malaga pipes and continues to pick them up on eBay and other places on his journey. It was another pipe that the seller said was clean but after several smokes Alex deemed it unsmokable. It was now up to me to figure out what was going on. I examined the pipe when I took out the cotton balls and alcohol and I learned a few things about it that would need to be addressed. The rim top and inner and outer edges of the rim were in rough condition. It looked like the pipe had been used for a hammer. The finish was spotty with nicks and marks. The bowl had some cake inside and it too would need to be reamed out. The stem was the best of the lot. It was clean and was free of tooth marks or chatter. I wondered what the airway was like but that is an easy clean up. I took some photos of the pipe at this point. I took a close up photo of the bowl and rim to capture the damage to the rim top and light cake in the bowl. The rim top was in bad condition with nicks and cuts. The inner and outer edges were rough. The bowl was out of round. It needed some more work to clean it up but at least the cotton ball alcohol treatment had rid the pipe of the rank smell. The stem was in the best condition of the four pipes. It did not have tooth chatter or marks and was not oxidized.I took a photo to capture the stamping on the right and left side of the shank. The first photo shows “MALAGA” on the left side of the shank. The second photo shows the stamping on the right side it reads Imported Briar. The stamping on this pipe is readable.Now that the stink was gone I did not even think of cleaning the shank and airway I just immediately went to the most irritating part of this pipe – the beat up rim top and edges. I topped it on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage to the rimtop and to try to minimize the damage to the inner and outer edges. The rim top looked significantly better as can be seen in the second photo below. I cleaned up the outer edge with some sandpaper and wiped it down. I filled in the deep nicks in the edge with briar dust and super glue.I sanded the edge repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the briar. I would polish out the scratches later but for now the edge was at least smooth. Once the outer edge was cleaned up I worked on the inner edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and smoothed out the edge. I gave the edge a slight bevel to take care of the rim damage and darkening that was present.I polished the rim top and the rest of the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I used the wet sanding on the first three pads to give me the traction to remove the scratches in the briar and the dry sanding to polish the briar. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. At this point in the process the finish looked very uneven to me – even spotty. I decided to wipe down the bowl and shank with isopropyl alcohol to remove the uneven finish. I was able to even out the look of the finish to a point where I was happy with the look.  I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the bowl and shank 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 following photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. The bowl and the rim top look really good and the damage is gone. I am very happy with the results. It was at this point that I realized that I had not reamed the bowl or done any cleaning of the internals after the cotton ball and alcohol treatment. I had been so intent on cleaning up the damaged rim that I totally skipped my normal pattern of work. So I went back to ream the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the inside of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to remove all remnants of the cake. When I was finished the bowl walls were smooth and clean.I cleaned out the airway in the shank and stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. I cleaned out the mortise in the shank with cotton swabs and alcohol until the mortise walls were clean and looked bare. I stopped and checked out the smell of the pipe and it was clean and fresh smelling.The stem on this Malaga was flawless. There were no tooth marks and no chatter. The stem absolutely glow it was so clean so there was nothing to be done with it. I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil to protect and deepen the shine but otherwise it was perfect.

I put the stem back on the bowl and polished the pipe with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain came alive with the buffing. The rich brown finish on the briar works well with the polished black vulcanite stem. The finished pipe is a beauty and feels great in the hand. 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 9/16 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. This one will be going back to Alex with the other two previously foul pipes that I worked on. Thanks for walking through the restoration on this now great looking “Malaga”. It is really a beauty. I think Alex should get a better smoke from it now.

Crafting a Churchwarden for a Lord of the Ring’s Enthusiast

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Blog by Dal Stanton

After restoring 3 pipes which Tina chose to gift special men in her life, the final request was to fashion a Churchwarden for her oldest son Thomas, who is a Lord of the Rings “groupie” and of course, he wants a ‘Gandalf Pipe’ to aid in blowing inspired smoke rings!  Tina’s son has been married for a few years and apparently, he and his wife have a Lord of the Rings movie binge at least once a year!

In my research on the Churchwarden shape, as the story goes, there were men back in the days when they didn’t lock churches at night, who were employed as ‘wardens’ of the church – whose responsibility was to guard the premises.  To be faithful to their charge, they were not allowed to leave the walls of the church.  That created an unusual dilemma between guarding the holy confines and the desire to enjoy one’s evening smoke.  The moral dilemma was creatively solved by a stem.  The length of the stem enabled the church wardens to tend to their evening bowls as they stood vigilantly inside the church walls while the stems extended through the windows…so the story goes (see Pipedia’s article).  Of course, everyone knows that Churchwardens were prevalent in Middle Earth as Gandalf spun up fireworks and smoke rings!

I found a bowl that I put aside quite some time ago that

Courtesy of Gonzalo Kenny https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Balrogs

I believed would serve well as a repurposed stummel to be mounted as a Churchwarden.  I know that there are strict Warden purists out there who question the validity of repurposing a bowl for use in fashioning a Churchwarden.  Yet, I appeal to Bill Burney’s description of the Churchwarden in his excellent Pipe Shapes Chart published in Pipedia where he says: “Interestingly, all the other styles of pipe are identified by the shape of their bowls, but the churchwarden is identified by its long stem.  The stem can be bent or straight, but it is always very long – 9” to 18” long.”.  There may be ‘true born’ Churchwardens and there are also those Churchwardens who are adopted into the ranks through the promotion of a discarded and forgotten stummel surviving from another lifetime where they served among other mere mortal pipes that they used to be.  For a common bowl to be remounted onto a Warden stem and to experience that metamorphosis is perhaps like when Gandalf transformed through fire in his mortal combat with Balrog – transforming from The Grey to The White….  Perhaps, only Gandalf knows for sure!  The bowl and stem I chose for this transformation are now on my table.The pre-molded Warden Stem comes from my main supplier, Tim West at http://www.jhlowe.com/bits.htm.  The stummel has ‘Real Briar’ stamped on the side of the shank, but what I like a lot is the 1/2 bent shank.  This will yield a very nice sweeping bend in the Warden stem.  The bowl’s size is not too large – perfect for a Churchwarden. Looking closely at the stummel, I see potential grain underneath the dark, marred surface.  The rim has lava flow but has an attractive inwardly slanted rim.  The chamber has light cake.  I take some pictures of the stummel in its current condition. Before I start working on fashioning the new preformed stem, I clean the stummel.  I start by reaming the chamber using the Pipnet Reaming kit.  I only use the smallest of the blade heads and then transition to the Savinelli Fitsall Tool to fine tune the scraping and cleaning.  Then I sand the chamber using a piece of 240 grade sanding paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen.  Finally, after wetting a cotton pad with alcohol, I wipe the chamber cleaning it from the carbon dust.  I inspect the chamber after finishing and all looks good. Next, turning to the external surface, I take a few more pictures to show the nasty layer of grime over this stummel!  I use Murphy’s Oil Soap undiluted on a cotton pad and begin the scrubbing process.  I also utilize a brass wire brush to clean the rim. The results are good, but the reality is revealed by the cleaning!  The reality of the condition of the stummel is the reason it was in the box with other lonely stummels having given their all and discarded!  The finish is shot and the rim in mangled. Restoring this stummel to fashion a Churchwarden will be a noble endeavor! Next, I turn to cleaning the internals.  Using cotton buds and pipe cleaners wetted with isopropyl 95%, I go to work.  The internals are nasty.  I also utilize and small dental spatula to scrape the mortise walls.  There was a lot of resistance, but the buds started lightening until I was satisfied that the largest part of the cleaning was accomplished.  I’m not too concerned at this point because I’ve already made the decision to put the stummel in a soak of acetone to totally remove all the old finish which will also take care of residual internal tars and oils. The next morning, I fish the bowl out of the acetone bath.  Some of the finish was removed during the soak, but with the use of 0 grade steel wool, I’m able to dispatch the old finish easily after the night’s soak softened the old finish.  The pictures show the raw briar that allows me to start over. With the stummel cleaning process completed, I turn now to fashioning the preformed Churchwarden stem.  I use an electronic caliper to measure the diameter of the mortise to mark the target sizing of the tenon of the preformed stem that will eventually be seated.  The mortise measurement is 7.38mm in diameter.  Using Charles Lemon’s (of Dad’sPipes) methodology, I add 50mm to this exact measurement to give me my ‘fat’ target.  The ‘fat’ target is what I will aim for when bringing the tenon down to size using the PIMO Tenon Turning Tool.  The ‘fat’ target is 7.88mm.  From this point, I will sand the tenon by hand which gradually and patiently custom fits the mortise. The first thing needed is to pre-drill the tenon airway with the drill bit provided by the PIMO tool.  This enlarges the airway slightly enabling the insertion of the PIMO tool guide pin.  I mount the drill bit to the hand drill and drill out the airway.Next, the PIMO Tenon Turning Tool is mounted on the hand drill and I cut a small test sizing to measure to give me the distance between the test cut and the ‘Fat’ target.  After cutting the test, I measure it with the caliper and record 8.72mm and subtract the ‘Fat’ target, 7.88mm leaving .84mm to remove using the PIMO tool. Using the Allen wrench provided with the PIMO tool, I close the gap of the cutting arm and cut again.  The measurement of the next cut after closing the gap of the carbide cutter arm took off more than I wanted – the measurement is 7.47mm – beyond the 7.88 fat target.  This is why you only to partial cuts at the beginning!I enlarge the gap of the cutter arm a small amount and cut again.  The next measurement is 7.75mm – much better, just falling under the 7.88mm fat target.With this measurement reached, I cut the entire tenon down to the 7.75mm width.  I take the cut to the stem shank facing so a nice straight edge is created, and a ‘shoulder’ is not left from the rough preformed stem.I begin the sanding process by wrapping the tenon with 240 grade paper and rotating the stem and applying pressure strategically with my finger and thumb. I smooth and shorten the tenon a little so that it looks better and doesn’t butt into a ridge that I detect in the mortise which would block the full insertion of the tenon.  I use a flat needle file to do this.The process is slow with a lot of tests and sands… But in time the tenon seats very nicely in the mortise.  Nice!With the tenon snuggly seated in the mortise, the work is far from finished!  The picture shows the offset of the stem and the lip of briar hanging over the stem.  No stem fits automatically!The preformed Warden stem also is not straight but bows to the left through the reach of the stem.  I’ll work on this when I bend the stem later.Using 240 grade paper I begin the process of sanding the junction of the stem and shank.  My goal is to have a seamless transition from shank to stem with no overhanging ridges.  The other issue I see is that both the shank and stem have high spots that need to be sanded down and blended into a uniform flow.  What I want to avoid is the bloomers or stuff-pants look – where the shank balloons out when the sanding has not tapered the flow of the shank from the stem width as it transitions into the shank. It takes time, but in time the ridges have been removed and the tapering through the shank to the bowl looks good. I continue sanding the entire stem with 240 grade paper.  The precast stem is full of ridges and the casting seam down both sides – all of which needs to be sanded away and smoothed.  I also use the flat needle file to form and shape the new button.  I want to retain the curved button slot.  It looks classy! After sanding out the main issues with the new precast Warden stem, I transition to wet sanding using 600 grade paper.  With the bowl and stem united, I sand not only the stem including the shaped button, but also the junction of stem and shank to continue to smooth and blend the tapered transition.  After completing the wet sanding with 600 grade, I use 000 grade steel wool to sand in the same way.  The distance pictures with a Warden stem are always too far away to see detail, but a close-up shows some progress.With the main fabricating and sanding completed with the Churchwarden’s stem, the next step is to bend it.  The 1/2 bent shank of the stummel provides a wonderful trajectory for the bend and sweep of the stem – which emulates more directly Gandalf’s style of Warden.  My goal is to bend the stem so that the final orientation of the bit is generally on a parallel orientation with the plane of the stummel rim which is what is suggested by the ruler in the picture. I remarked earlier that the stem is also a little catawampus to the left as you look down the shaft toward the bowl.  Interestingly, I set up a renewed picture to show this looking down the shaft and my second look at this isn’t as pronounced as it appeared to me before.  The sanding and shank tapering may have mitigated this to some degree. Bending the stem is usually by trial and error to get it right, but the good thing is that the vulcanite stem is very forgiving!  To be on the safe side, though I don’t really believe it to be necessary, I put a pipe cleaner into the end of the stem to protect the airway integrity.I use the hot air gun to warm the vulcanite.  As it’s warming, I gently apply pressure to the bend as the rubber compound becomes supple.  When the stem becomes pliable enough and the bend reaches what appears to be at the right place as I eyeball it, I transfer the pipe to a chopping board where I can use the flat surface and the overhang for the bowl and button expansion at both ends, I press down to straighten the shaft orientation as I hold the bend.  This works very well. The first time around, I decide I need a bit more bend, so I reheat, bend further and then hold the stem firmly against the chopping board until the vulcanite sufficiently cools so that I don’t lose the bend.  To make sure the bend holds I run cool tap water on the stem to seal the bend.I like the results!  The bend is perfect and will present a true Gandalf experience for the new steward of the Churchwarden taking shape.Before I put the newly bent Warden aside to turn to the stummel, I apply paraffin oil to vitalize the vulcanite.Turning now to what was a ‘throwaway’ stummel, I like the grain that made an appearance after the cleaning.  It’s in there!  It just needs some TLC to restore it to the condition that allowed for more beauty to come through.  The briar surface is in surprisingly good condition. There are a few dents and nicks to be expected. There’s a more significant heel bruise where it appears the bowl was thumped on a hard surface.The rim has an attractive inwardly sloping cant which will serve to my advantage in dealing with the residual burn marks and the right side (top in the first picture) of the rim.  The outer edge of the rim is also chewed up a bit. Starting with the rim, I begin by using a coarse 120 grade paper to clean and remove the scorched wood and the dents on the edge.  I follow this with 240 grade paper sanding the canted rim surface.  I’m hopeful this will remove the blemishes but also serve to freshen the rim canted pitch and lines.  I then fine tune with 600 grade paper. The results are great.  The transformation is more than hoped for!  The rim is actually very attractive and some grain peeking out.I do the same with the heel bruise.  I dispatch the blemish quickly with 240 grade paper followed by 600 grade paper.Continuing the sanding, I now sand the entire stummel using sanding sponges.  I start with a coarse sponge, followed by a medium grade then finish with the light grade sanding sponge.  The briar grain is showing up!Following the sanding sponges, I apply the full regimen of 9 micromesh pads.  First, I wet sand using pads 1500 to 2400 then dry sand with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000.  For a ‘throwaway stummel’ this piece of briar is looking very nice. Throughout the micromesh process, I knew I was approaching a decision point.  The natural briar came out way more than I had thought possible when I began with this stummel.  I can remain with the natural briar or apply a dye.  I decide to apply Fiebing’s Saddle Tan Pro Dye to the stummel not for the purpose of covering blemishes but to bring out the briar grain more which is still somewhat subdued as I look at it.  I assemble my desktop dying components.  After I wipe the stummel with alcohol to clean the surface, I insert two folded pipe cleaners into the shank to serve as a handle.I then heat the briar stummel with an air gun.  As the briar heats, this expands the grain enabling the grain to be more receptive to the dye when it’s applied.Using a folded pipe cleaner, I paint the bowl with the aniline based dye in sections and flame each section as I go.  I use the lit candle to combust the painted section of wet dye and it immediately combusts the alcohol in the dye leaving the pigment to set in the heated wood.  I eventually apply the Saddle Tan dye to the entire stummel and repeat the painting and flaming process again to assure full coverage.  I then put the dyed and flamed stummel on the cork to rest through the night. With the dyed bowl resting I take the Churchwarden stem through the full micromesh regimen.  I wet sand using pads 1500 to 2400 and then dry sand with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000.  Between each set of 3 pads I apply a healthy coat of Obsidian Oil to the stem to vitalize the vulcanite.  The newly polished vulcanite pops!  I take one concluding picture instead of the usual 3 because the picture shows no detail because of the size of the stem!The next morning, I’m ready to unwrap the flamed bowl.  After mounting a felt cloth buffing wheel on the Dremel, I set the speed to the lowest possible to reduce the heating factor.  I then apply Tripoli compound to the bowl to remove the flamed crust to reveal the briar beneath. With the assistance of my wife, she takes a few pictures to show the initial removal of the flamed crust.  It takes me a good bit of time to slowly and methodically go through this ‘plowing’ and polishing process.  I remove dye blotches to make sure what is revealed is the minutia of the grain texture.  Not pictured is after I complete the process with the felt wheel (pictured below) I change to a cotton cloth buffing wheel and increase the speed of the Dremel to 40 % of full speed and again go over the entire stummel with Tripoli compound.  I do this first, to reach into the crook of the shank that is too tight for the felt wheel to reach.  Also, I like the further fine tuning of the Tripoli compounds polishing of the briar surface.  The grain sharpens even more providing the contrasts between the harder and softer woods of the briar.I then wipe the bowl with a cotton pad wetted with isopropyl 95% to blend the dyed finish.  The wipe of alcohol evens out the finish and blends it.  Wiping with alcohol will also lighten the finish if I continue to wipe, but I like the tone of the hue where it is so I only to a light wipe for blending purposes.I switch to another cotton cloth buffing wheel, keep the speed on the Dremel and 40% and apply Blue Diamond compound to the stem and stummel.  I don’t join the two because it is easier to work with each individually.  After completing the application of the compound, I wipe both stem and stummel with a felt cloth to remove the compound dust left behind.Finally, I reunite the Warden stem with the repurposed stummel and apply a few coats of carnauba wax to the Churchwarden.  When finished, I give the pipe a vigorous hand buffing with a microfiber cloth to bring out the shine.

Wow!  When I think of where this throwaway stummel was at the beginning of the process and what I see now, it is truly amazing. This Churchwarden’s 1/2 bent shank provides the perfect trajectory for the stem’s gentle, flowing bend to project a pipe that is truly Gandalf worthy!  The grain of the bowl is varied from a vertical flame, a knot with outwardly flowing concentric circles and some bird’s eye thrown in for good measure!  This Churchwarden is certified for Middle Earth distribution for Tina’s son, Thomas.  Tina commissioned  this Churchwarden project along with 3 other restorations (to learn more about commissioning pipes see: For “Pipe Dreamers” Only! ) and each will be boxed and heading to Birmingham, Alabama, USA, from Bulgaria.  All these pipes benefit our efforts here in Bulgaria working with women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited – the Daughters of Bulgaria.  Thank you, Tina!, and thank you for joining me!

 

Getting Rid of a Foul Smell in a second pipe – an Ehrlich Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have a box of some 25 pipes that I am working through for a friend here in Vancouver. The next group of four pipes that I am working on came to me in a sour, stinky condition. Alex had smoked them and found that as he smoked them each one became fouler. From my experience this happens when a pipe has not been thoroughly cleaned in the process of restoration. Sometimes even if it has been cleaned, the first few smokes draw out a foul taste and in this case an odor that made me put the four pipes in a zip lock bad to keep the odor contained. They really stunk! On Sunday evening I decided to give the foursome a cotton ball and alcohol treatment to draw out the oils and tars in the briar. I pushed cotton balls into the bowl and a folded pipe cleaner in the shank and used an ear syringe to fill the bowl with isopropyl alcohol. I set the pipes aside to let the alcohol do its work overnight. I know many of you use kosher salt and alcohol and that certainly is your choice. For me however the cotton balls work just as effectively in providing a medium for the foul juices drawn out of a pipe to be deposited. They are also easier to clean up and they do not leave residual salts in the briar. In the morning I took a photo of the finished work. You can see the effectiveness of the treatment.I took the cotton out of the bowls of the pipes and wiped the bowl down with pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to dry them out. The first pipe I decided to work on is the beautifully grained straight Dublin the second pipe from the right in the photo above. It is stamped on the left side of the shank Ehrlich over Imported Briar. The right side of the shank is stamped Boston which tells me that the pipe is Ehrlich’s Pipe Shop in Boston, Massachusetts, US. Alex had picked it up eBay and was drawn to the grain and the shape which were very nice. It was another pipe that the seller said was clean but after several smokes Alex deemed it unsmokable. It was now up to me to figure out what was going on. I examined the pipe when I took out the cotton balls and alcohol and I learned a few things about it that would need to be addressed. The exterior of the bowl was in excellent condition and had been waxed and polished. The rim top had some light dents but was otherwise clean. The bowl had the thickest cake of the foursome and would need to be reamed out. The stem looked pretty good – the E logo on the left side of the tapered stem was in good shape. There was one nick in the topside of the button but the stem looked good otherwise. I took some photos of the pipe at this point. I took a close up photo of the bowl and rim to capture the damage to the rim top and light and the lava on the right side. The bowl had a malformed cake that needed to be cut back. It needed some more work to clean it up but at least the cotton ball alcohol treatment had rid the pipe of the rank smell. The stem itself was an interesting mess. It had been shinned and polished but there was still some light tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside just ahead of the button.I took a photo to capture the stamping on the top and underside of the shank. The first photo shows Ehrlich over Imported Briar stamping on the left side of the shank. The second photo shows the stamping on the right side it reads Boston. The stamping on this pipe is readable. I started my work on the pipe by reaming the bowl with a PipNet reamer to get rid of the cake and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the inside of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to remove all remnants of the cake. When I was finished the bowl walls were smooth and clean. I cleaned out the airway in the shank and stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. I cleaned out the mortise in the shank with cotton swabs and alcohol until the mortise walls were clean and looked bare. At this point in the process the stink was gone.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the bowl and shank 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 following photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. The bowl and the rim top look really good and the darkening is gone. The finish looks very good with the rich contrasting brown stain finish on the bowl and rim. I am very happy with the results. With the bowl finished I set it aside and turned my attention to the stem. I rebuilt the button with clear super glue to fill in the deep tooth dent on the top side and the lesser dent on the underside. Once the repair cured I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper and polished it with 400 grit sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth after each pad. The micromesh pads took care of the light tooth chatter and light tooth marks. 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. Both parts of the pipe are finished and the pipe smells clean, I polished the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain came alive with the buffing. The rich brown finish on the briar works well with the polished black vulcanite stem. The finished pipe is a beauty and feels great in the hand. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 5/8 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. This one will be going back to Alex with the rest of his pipes that I am working on. Thanks for walking through the restoration on this great looking Ehrlich Dublin. It is really a beauty. I think Alex should get a better smoke from it now.

A Challenging Restoration of my Grandfather’s WDC Stratford Pipe

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

This is the third pipe which I received from Abha, my wife, which has been cleaned, reamed and with no “before” pictures!!

I have inherited a large collection of my grandfather’s pipes; a few of them are unique and quite collectible. There are many WDC pipes in this collection and the one now on my work table is a “WDC STRATFORD” in its original case (in fact there are quite a few pipes in their original cases!). This smallish bent billiards displays gorgeous densely packed straight grain all round the stummel, including the shank and a sterling silver band adorns the shank end. It is stamped on the left side of the shank as “STRATFORD” in sentence case over the trademark “WDC” in an inverted equilateral triangle. The sterling silver band bears the American hallmarks of a STAR, EAGLE AND LETTER ‘D’ over “STERLING”. There are no other stampings visible on the entire pipe. The leather case, though worn by age and weather, is still solid and the inner golden hued felt lining is intact. This lining is stamped in deep red square with black border on the lid as “WDC” in a triangle and “STRATFORD”.INITIAL VISUAL INSPECTION
This pipe is third pipe that Abha, my wife had sent me after she had reamed the cake back to the bare briar and cleaned the stummel exterior and rim top surface with Murphy’s oil soap. She had also cleaned the sterling silver band using Colgate toothpowder. She followed it up with cleaning the mortise and the shank using regular and hard bristled pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol. The felt lining inside the case was painstakingly cleaned up by repeated wiping with a cloth and warm soap water. The cleaned up pipe on my work table now, can be seen in the following pictures. It really feels nice to work on a clean pipe; I must admit and cannot help but thank her for doing all the dirty work. Unfortunately, she did not click any pictures of the condition of the pipe before she worked her magic on them. When I enquired about the condition before she had cleaned it, her one line reply was “it was in the worst of condition of all the pipes seen till date!!!” For those who have been reading my previous write ups would recollect that my grandfather never really believed in cleaning his pipes, he would rather buy new ones when the old pipes clogged up and became unsmokable.

The cake was so thick that even her little finger would not go in and there was heavy and sticky overflow of lava all over the stummel and shank. This lovely little pipe must have been his favorite and has been extensively used. There are a few issues which are immediately noticed. Firstly, the stem is shorter than the case and does not sit flush in the mortise. The tenon end of the stem appears to be unevenly cut. Secondly, the brass tenon, though it fits snugly in to the mortise, is clearly not original to the stem. The tenon end is also uneven (circled in violet).Thirdly, there are two dings on the right side of the stummel and this will have to be addressed. There is not a single fill on the entire stummel.Fourthly, the bowl is completely out of round with the left side of the rim and chamber wall thinner than the right side. Topping the bowl rim surface should address this issue to an extent. As regards the comparatively thin wall on the left side, I shall decide once I reach that stage of restoration.Fifthly, the vulcanite stem has a round slot which is correct for the vintage of this pipe. However, from the shortened length, the brass tenon and the fact that the stem does not sit flush with the shank end are all pointers to the fact that the stem has undergone extensive repairs at some point in its existence. My assumption is that this pipe must have fallen down on a hard surface and the tenon must have broken at an odd angle. While fitting a new brass tenon, the repairman had to cut a small portion of the stem at the tenon end, drill a new hole for the shaft of the tenon and fix it afresh. Even though the cut to the stem is not a clean one, the repairs are solid. This, and the assumption that this pipe was my grandfather’s favorite, is evident from the damage to the upper surface of the stem. There are two large gaping holes, one near the lip edge (which is understandable and attributed to clenching) and the other is nearly half way down the stem towards the tenon end (and can neither be explained at this stage!!). The stem is oxidized. THE PROCESS
Since in this project, the stem has the most number of issues to be addressed, it is where I start the restoration. I flamed the surface of the stem with a Bic lighter to raise the tooth indentations and scratches on the stem. The heat from the flame of Bic lighter causes the vulcanite to expand and regain its natural shape, reducing the marks. I wiped the stem surface clean with a cotton pad dipped in alcohol to remove all the dust and dirt from the surface. I had a closer look at the tenon and its fit in to the mortise. I realized that the length of the tenon is slightly longer than the mortise and that is the reason why the stem did not sit flush with the shank end. Also the tenon end was uneven as can be seen in the above pictures (circled in violet). I addressed this issue by grinding the tenon end on a grinding disk, frequently checking the seating joint of the stem and the shank end. Before proceeding with any further stem repairs, I decided to run a pipe cleaner through the stem to clean out the fine dust left behind due to grinding of the tenon end and it was then that I understood the possible reason for the second hole on the stem upper surface. The pipe cleaner did not pass through the airway cleanly!! There seems to be some kind of protrusion in the airway. On further close scrutiny, I realized that the tenon end inside the stem airway was thicker than the airway and thus obstructing the passage of the pipe cleaner through it causing repeated slamming of the pipe cleaner on the stem upper surface. That explained the probable cause of the second hole!!

I decided to smooth out the inside of the tenon to match the stem’s airway. Using a drill bit which was slightly larger than the tenon opening, I increased the tenon bore. With a round needle file, very carefully I filed the tenon end inside the stem till the pipe cleaner passed through it very easily. This was followed by sanding the stem surfaces with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation. I again cleaned the internal and external surface of the stem and proceeded to reconstruct the damaged upper surface of the stem. Once I was satisfied with the internal cleaning, I wiped the stem surface, particularly the damaged area, with a cotton pad and alcohol to remove any traces of dirt and grime. To begin the stem repairs, I smeared a pipe cleaner with petroleum jelly and inserted it in to the stem airway. I prepared a mix of CA superglue and activated charcoal and generously applied it over the gaping hole in the button of the stem and set it aside for curing overnight. While the stem repairs were curing, I decided to address the two dings on the stummel. I wiped the area with a moist cloth to remove the dust from the surface and spot filled it with a mix of briar dust and super glue. I use the layering technique, first fill with briar dust followed by super glue and again a layer of briar dust. I use this method since the moment super glue comes in contact with briar dust, the mix hardens instantaneously. I set the stummel aside to cure overnight and call it a day!!Once the filling of charcoal and CA superglue had cured, using a needle file, I sand the fill to match the surface of the stem. For a better blending, I further sand the entire stem with 220. At this stage, I observed air pockets in both the fills. This is the most dreaded observation for me as addressing this issue costs me more time and repeat of the entire process. Nevertheless, I again coat the damaged surface with clear super glue. While the fill was curing, with a flat needle file, I sand the stummel fill to achieve a rough match with the rest of the stummel surface. I further blend the fill with a 220 grit sand paper. This fill turned out satisfactory. I shall completely blend this fill during the micromesh cycle.Next issue to be addressed was the out of round rim top and the comparatively thin left side of the chamber wall. I approached this issue by first topping the rim on a 220 grit sand paper. This process also addressed the thinning of the rim observed on the left side to some extent. To further even out the inner rim edge, I created a bevel using a 220 grit sand paper. I am pretty satisfied with the way the rim surface appears at this stage. The uneven thickness on the left side is still apparent and to address this I had an option of increasing the thickness by lining the chamber wall with J B Weld followed by coating with a mixture of activated charcoal and yogurt. However, since I am not going to smoke this pipe ever, I decided to keep the appearance as it is, which incidentally does not look as glaring as it appears in the description.The next step in the process was to bring out the shine and highlight the beautiful grain on the stummel. I had an option of using more abrasive 220 grit sandpaper followed by micromesh pad cycle and loose the patina or straight away go to the micromesh cycle. Using the more abrasive sand paper, minor dents and dings would be further addressed but I would lose out the old sheen which the briar has taken over the years.  I decided on keeping the old sheen and went straight for the micromesh cycle. I wet sand the stummel with 1500 to 2400 grit pads and follow it up by dry sanding with 3200 to 12000 grit pads. The stummel, at this stage, looks absolutely stunning with the straight grain popping out from every inch. The natural finish and hues on this pipe is something that I have not seen before on any pipes. The very dark brown hued straight grains contrast beautifully with the dark browns on the rest of the stummel giving it a very antique appearance. I rub a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to briar and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. In my enthusiasm to finish this project, I forgot to take pictures of the results at this stage.

Once the second filling of charcoal and CA superglue had cured, using a needle file, I sand the fill to match the surface of the stem. This time around the results were much more disastrous!!!! The entire filling collapsed in to airway, leaving the same gaping holes on the stem surface. I was so frustrated that I just did not have the heart to take pictures. To cut the rambling, I again repeated the procedure and made a fresh filling for both the holes and set it aside for curing. Once cured, I file the fillings with a needle file. For a better blending, I further sand the entire stem with 220 followed by 600 and 800 grit sandpaper. This helps to reduce the sanding marks left behind by the more abrasive 220 grit paper. To bring a deep shine to the vulcanite stem, I went through the complete set of micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200 to 12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem with alcohol after each pad and rubbed it down with Extra Virgin Olive oil. The internals of the stem was cleaned out using alcohol and pipe cleaners. The finished stem is shown below. To finish the restoration, I re-attach the stem with the stummel. I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel to the Dremel (actually it is not the brand machine, but a local machine which is similar).  I set the speed at about half of the full power and applied White Diamond compound to the entire pipe. I wiped/ buffed the pipe with a soft cotton cloth to clear it of any leftover compound dust. I then mounted another cotton cloth wheel on to the polishing machine and applied several coats of carnauba wax. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further.The completed pipe looks fresh, vibrant and ready for its next innings with me. This piece of briar will find a place of pride in my collection, if not as part of rotation, as a part of the memories left behind by my grand old man. If only it could tell me stories it had witnessed and why did my grandfather love this pipe so much?!! PS:  There is one contentious issue which I have deliberately raised and left it open for discussion. I would like to encourage the readers to express their views in a frank manner as it will help me in understanding the minds of the esteemed readers while clearing my own thought process. The issue that I am talking about is my decision (temporary!!!!) to let the unequal thickness of the chamber wall on the left side to remain addressed to the extent I have managed and not address it completely as well as the way I had thought of completely addressing it, if at all I decide to do so. Cheers……….!

Getting Rid of a Foul Smell in a Tobaccobowl Canadian

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have a box of some 25 pipes that I am working through for a friend here in Vancouver. The next batch I am working on came to me in a sour, stinky condition. Alex had smoked them and found that as he smoked them each one became fouler. From my experience this happens when a pipe has not been thoroughly cleaned in the process of restoration. Sometimes even if it has the first few smokes draw out a foul taste and in this case an odor that made me put the four pipes in a zip lock bad to keep the odor contained. They really stunk! On Sunday evening I decided to give the foursome a cotton ball and alcohol treatment to draw out the oils and tars in the briar. I pushed cotton balls into the bowl and a folded pipe cleaner in the shank and used an ear syringe to fill the bowl with isopropyl alcohol. I set the pipes aside to let the alcohol do its work overnight. I know many of you use kosher salt and alcohol and that certainly is your choice. For me however the cotton balls work just as effectively in providing a medium for the foul juices drawn out of a pipe to be deposited. They are also easier to clean up and they do not leave residual salts in the briar. In the morning I took a photo of the finished work. You can see the effectiveness of the treatment.I took the cotton out of the bowls of the pipes and wiped the bowl down with pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to dry them out. The first pipe I decided to work on is the Canadian on the far right of the photo above. It is stamped on the top of the shank TOBACCOBOWL which I am assuming is a pipe shop. The underside of the shank is stamped Imported Briar which tells me that the pipe is American made. There are no identifying shape numbers of other stamps on the pipe so that is the extent of my information. Alex had picked it up eBay and was drawn to the grain and the shape which were very nice. It was purported to be clean by the seller but after his first smoke Alex deemed it unsmokable. It was now up to me to figure out what was going on. I examined the pipe when I took out the cotton balls and alcohol and I learned a few things about it that would need to be addressed. The outside of the bowl was oily and dirty – a thin film of oils was all over the bowl surface and had darkened the rim and the right side of the bowl. The rim top had some burn damage and some lava on the inward beveled top. It was messy. The stem, though it was said to be clean, had a lot of junk in the slot at the button. The airway entered the bowl toward the right side rather than the center and the shank was black with tars and oils. The bowl had a light cake that was oily to touch and would need to be reamed out. I took some photos of the pipe at this point. I took a close up photo of the bowl and rim to capture the damage to the rim top and light and the lava on the right side. The bowl had a malformed cake that needed to be cut back. It needed some more work to clean it up but at least the cotton ball alcohol treatment had rid the pipe of the rank smell. The stem itself was an interesting mess. It had been shinned and polished but there was still some light tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside just ahead of the button. I took a photo to capture the stamping on the top and underside of the shank. The first photo shows TOBACCOBOWL stamping as noted above. The photo is slightly out of focus but it was hard to capture the stamping. On the underside it reads Imported Briar. The stamping on this pipe is readable. I started my work on the pipe by dealing with the damage to the beveled rim top. Because of the bevel I could not use a topping board so I had to work on the damage with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage and smooth out the rim top. I had to be careful not to damage the rim top and make it uneven but I wanted to get it back to bare briar so I could polish it and restain it.I polished the rim top that I had sanded and the rest of the bowl with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the rim and bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the grime and sanding dust. Each successive grit of micromesh removed more of the darkening and started bringing the grain to the surface. The rim top looked considerably better but it was slightly lighter in colour than the rest of the briar so I stained it with an Oak coloured stain pen to match the colour of the bowl and shank.Once the stain was dry I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the rim top and the rest of the bowl and shank 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 following photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. The bowl and the rim top look really good and the darkening is gone. The finish looks very good with the rich oil finish on the bowl and rim. I am very happy with the results. With the externals cleaned and well on the way to being finished I turned my attention to the internals. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to get rid of the cake and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the inside of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to remove all remnants of the cake. When I was finished the bowl walls were smooth and clean. I cleaned out the airway in the shank and stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. I cleaned out the mortise in the shank with cotton swabs and alcohol until the mortise walls were clean and looked bare. At this point in the process the stink was gone.With the bowl finished I set it aside and turned my attention to the stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth after each pad. The micromesh pads took care of the light tooth chatter and light tooth marks. 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. Now with both parts of the pipe finished, I polished the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain came alive with the buffing. The rich brown finish on the briar works well with the polished black vulcanite stem. The finished pipe is a beauty and feels great in the hand. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 3/4 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/4 inches, Chamber diameter: 3/4 of an inch. This one will be going back to Alex with the rest of his pipes that I am working on. Thanks for walking through the restoration on this interesting TOBACCOBOWL Canadian.

 

RESTORING MY GRANDFATHER’S PIPE; “THE DOODLER”

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

The early Transition Era Barling #2639 that was recently restored was a breeze to work on and finished in real quick time, including the write up. The next pipe now on my work table has a lot of similarities to the Barling #2639; it is cleaned and spruced up by Abha, comes from my inheritance of pipes, has no serious issues to address (apparently) and in this instance too, she has not taken pictures before she commenced her cleaning regimen!!

“The Doodler” pipe on my work table is definitely not a looker by any stretch of imagination!!!! It is a simple straightforward billiard with a vulcanite saddle stem. What is unique though, is its design contribution in the ever progressing quest in the pipe world for a cool smoke and the man behind its design and development. The characteristic features of this pipe are a Custom-Bilt like worm rustications on the heel and shank, even and equally spaced out drilled holes and vertical slats which can be seen through the three rings of briar. From the design itself, it is apparent that all these features that have been incorporated in construction is with one and only purpose and that is to increase the dissipation of heat from the chamber while providing a nice cool smoke. The only stamping seen on this pipe is “THE DOODLER” in fancy block letters over “IMPORTED BRIAR”, on the right side of the shank. The saddle straight vulcanite stem is devoid of any logo.While restoring one of the 5 (or 6) Custom-Bilt from my inherited pipes, I had read about the legendary pipe maker from America, Mr. Tracy Mincer and his second innings after Custom-Bilt, The Doodler!!! To refresh my memory, I revisited rebornpipes.com and pipedia.org. These sites have all the information that one is looking for on “THE DOODLER”. Here are the links from these sites; https://rebornpipes.com/2013/05/22/a-unique-piece-of-pipe-design-history-doodlers-by-tracy-mincer/

https://pipedia.org/wiki/The_Doodler

From both the above articles, it is amply evident that the pipe that is on my work table is from the 1953 to 1960s era and is an integral part of history in mankind’s eternal quest for a cool smoke!!!!

INITIAL VISUAL INSPECTION
This pipe is another that Abha, my wife had sent me after she had reamed the cake back to the bare briar and cleaned the stummel exterior and rim top surface with Murphy’s oil soap. She had also cleaned out all the nooks and crevices resulting from the design of the pipe. She followed it up with cleaning the mortise and the shank using regular and hard bristled pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol. The cleaned up pipe on my work table now, can be seen in the following pictures. It really feels nice to work on a clean pipe; I must admit and cannot help but thank her for doing all the dirty work. Unfortunately, she did not click any pictures of the condition of the pipe before she worked her magic on them. When I inquired about the condition before she had cleaned it, her one line reply was “surprisingly different from his (grandfather’s) other pipes!!!” For those who have been reading my previous write ups would recollect that my grandfather never really believed in cleaning his pipes, he would rather buy new ones when the old pipes clogged up and became unsmokable. However, in this case, there was a very thin layer of cake and the stem was in good condition. From the present condition of the pipe, there are only two issues that I would need to address on the stummel; a heat fissure on the wall of the chamber and the heel has thinned out (or so it appears to me). To err on the positive, I intend to coat the chamber wall and heel with a mix of activated charcoal and yogurt. This coat will not only protect the chamber wall from direct heat, but will also aid in faster build up of the cake.

The vulcanite stem is surprisingly clean with only a slight damage to the lip on the upper surface. This issue should not be a major headache to address. The lip edge on both sides is distinct but will have to be sharpened. Also, the upper surface of the slot has thinned out. Why, I fail to comprehend!! The quality of vulcanite is good. The fit of the tenon in to the mortise is slightly loose. This is usually observed in pipes where the mortise wall has dried out due to non usage for a long time. THE PROCESS
Since in this project, the stem has the most number of issues to be addressed, it is where I start the restoration. I wiped the stem surface clean with a cotton pad dipped in alcohol to remove all the dust and dirt from the surface. To address the issue of thinned out upper surface of the slot, I layered the upper lip edge with a mix of activated charcoal and clear CA superglue and I set it aside to cure overnight. I applied a layer of this mix to the lower lip edge to ensure an even thickness on both surfaces.Once the filling of charcoal and CA superglue had cured and I was satisfied with the thickness, using a needle file, I sand the layers of the fill to match the surface of the stem. For a better blending, I further sand the entire stem with 220 followed by 600 and 800 grit sandpaper. This helps to reduce the sanding marks left behind by the more abrasive 220 grit paper. To bring a deep shine to the vulcanite stem, I went through the complete set of micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200 to 12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem with alcohol after each pad and rubbed it down with Extra Virgin Olive oil. The internals of the stem was cleaned out using alcohol and pipe cleaners. The finished stem is shown below. I rub a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to briar and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. To finish the restoration, I re-attach the stem with the stummel. I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel to the Dremel (actually it is not the brand machine, but a local machine which is similar).  I set the speed at about half of the full power and applied White Diamond compound to the entire pipe. I wiped/ buffed the pipe with a soft cotton cloth to clear it of any leftover compound dust. I then mounted another cotton cloth wheel on to the polishing machine and applied several coats of carnauba wax. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further.The completed pipe looks fresh, vibrant and ready for its next innings with me. This piece of briar will find a place of pride in my collection, if not as part of rotation, as a part of history of pipes. If only it could tell me stories it had witnessed and why did my grandfather not smoke it as heavily as his other pipes?!!!! Thank you for having the patience to reach this far while reading the write up. PS:  The only issue that needed to be addressed was that of the thin line of heat fissure. I mixed activated charcoal and yogurt to a consistency where the mix is thin enough to spread evenly but thick to the point that it is not runny at all. Using my fabricated bamboo frond, I apply an even coat all along the chamber wall and drop a thick blob of the mix over the heel. I tap the foot of the stummel with my fingers to ensure an even spread of the mix over the heel and expel air bubbles.

 

Restoring the 2nd of Jennifer’s Dad’s Pipes – A 1960 Dunhill Shell Briar FE Prince

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the worktable is another one from the estate of George Rex Leghorn. I received an email from his daughter Jennifer who is a little older than my 64+ years about whether I would be interested in his estate. My brother Jeff and I have been picking up a few estates here and there, so I was interested. Here is the catch – she did not want to sell them to me but to give them to me to clean up, restore and resell. The only requirement she had was that we give a portion of the sales of the pipes to a charity serving women and children. We talked about the organization I work for that deals with trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and their children and she decided that would be a great way to carry on the charitable aspect of her Dad’s character. With some great conversation back and forth she sent the pipes to Jeff and he started the cleanup process on them. Once he had finished cleaning them all he sent them to me to do my work on them.

The second pipe I chose to work on from the lot was a craggy looking Dunhill Shell Briar Prince. It had a beautiful sandblast on the bowl sides and shank. It had the Dunhill Shell Briar rich brown stain. The stem was badly oxidized with tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside near the button. The transition to the button was worn to almost an angle. There was a thick cake in the bowl and it was dirty and tired looking. It had been sitting in boxes for a lot of years and it was time to move ahead with the restoration. Jennifer took photos of the pipes she was sending. I have included the two she included from this pipe.When the box arrived from Jennifer Jeff opened it and took photos of each pipe before he started his cleanup work on them. This rugged looking Dunhill Prince appeared to be in great condition underneath the grime and oxidation on the bowl and stem. The finish looked intact under the grime. The bowl had a thick cake that had hardened with time. The lava overflow on the rim could very well have protected the rim from damage. We won’t know what is under it until Jeff had cleaned it off. The stem was worn looking with a lot of deep oxidation and some tooth chatter and bite marks on both sides at the button. As mentioned above the button was worn. The danger of working on so many estates is the overwhelming desire to add yet another to my own collection. We shall see. Jeff took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava build up on the edges of the bowl. It was thick and hard but hopefully it had protected the rim and edges from damage. You can also see the grime down the sides of the bowl.The sandblast grain around the bowl sides and heel was quite beautiful. Lots of interesting patterns in the blast that would clean up very nicely. It was a beautiful pipe. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable. It read FE on the heel of the bowl which is the marking for the Prince shape. That was followed by Dunhill over Shell Briar. Next to that it read Made in England with a superscript 0 after the D making this a 1960 pipe. The final stamping was a circle 4 followed by an S which gave the size of the pipe and the fact that it is a Shell Briar.Jeff took photos of the stem – first the White Spot on the top side and then the top and underside of the stem at the button. You can see the tooth damage to the stem surface and the wear to the edge and top of the button. I am once again including the tribute that Jennifer consented to her Dad for the blog. She is also sending along some photos and an article that her Dad wrote for Jeff and me to be able to get a feel for him. When it arrives I will post the photo with the other blogs on his pipes and will add it to this one as well. In the meantime I asked her to also send me an email with a brief tribute that I can use until then. Here is her email to me.

Steve, I want to thank you again for accepting my dad’s pipes.  They were so much a part of my dad’s life that I could not simply discard them. But as his daughter, I was not about to take up smoking them either. *laughing* I think my dad would like knowing that they will bring pleasure to others.  I know that I do.

I’m not sure what to say about his pipes.   I always remember Daddy smoking pipes and cigars.

First a bit about my dad. Though my father, George Rex Leghorn, was American (growing up in Alaska), he managed to join the Canadian Army at the beginning of WWII, but in doing so lost his American citizenship.  He was fortunate to meet a Canadian recruiting officer who told him the alphabet began with “A” and ended with “Zed” not “Zee”, and also told him to say that he was born in a specific town that had all its records destroyed in a fire.  When the US joined the war my dad, and thousands of other Americans who had made the same choice*(see the link below for the article), were given the opportunity to transfer to the US military, and regain their citizenship.

After WWII, my dad, earned his degree at the University of California Berkeley and became a metallurgist. There is even a bit about him on the internet.

He loved taking the family out for a drive, and he smoked his cigars on those trips. (As a child, those were troubling times for my stomach.)

I most remember my father relaxing in his favorite chair with a science fiction book in one hand and a pipe in the other… Sir Walter Raleigh being his favorite tobacco… and the pipes themselves remind me of him in that contented way.  If I interrupted his repose, he’d look up, with a smile on his face, to answer me.

It seemed he smoked his Briarwood pipes the most, though he had others.  At the time, it was only the Briarwood I knew by name because of its distinctive rough shaped bowl.  And it was the Anderson Free Hand Burl Briar, made in Israel, which I chose for his birthday one year, because I thought he might like that particular texture in his hand.

At least two of his pipes, he inherited from his son-in-law, Joe Marino, a retired medical laboratory researcher (my sister Lesley’s late husband)… the long stemmed Jarl (made in Denmark), and the large, white-bowled, Sherlock Holmes style pipe.  I believe Joe had others that went to my dad, but Lesley was only sure about those two.

The Buescher, corncob pipe my older sister Lesley bought for Daddy while on one of her travels around the States.

A note on the spelling of my sister’s name…

My dad met my mother, Regina, during WWII and they married in Omagh, Ireland.  My mother was English and in the military herself.  The English spelling of Lesley is feminine, and Leslie masculine, in the UK… just the opposite of here in the United States.  I guess my mom won out when it came to the spelling of the name.

I’ll send you photos of my dad soon, along with his WWII experience story.

Jennifer

*https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/10/22/the_americans_who_died_for_canada_in_wwii.html

Once again Jeff cleaned the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked very good. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took some close up photos of the rim top and stem surface. I wanted to show what an amazing job Jeff did in the cleanup of the rim top and the great condition it was in under the thick lava coat. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the tooth marks and chatter in front of the button on both sides. I also took a photo of the stamping on the pipe – to capture the stamp in one photo. It read as noted above.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I worked it deep into the sandblast finish with a horsehair shoe brush. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. The contrasts in the layers of the blast really stand out. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The pipe really looks good at this point. I am very happy with the results. I set the bowl aside at this point and turned back to address the damage on the stem surface. I used a needle file to redefine the sharp edge of the button and in doing so was able to remove much of the tooth damage. I followed that by sanding the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to blend the file marks and tooth chatter into surface of the rubber and also to remove the oxidation that remained after Jeff’s cleanup. I polished it with 400 grit sandpaper to smooth out some of the scratching that was left behind by the earlier sanding. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I wiped it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the bowl and polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The Shell Briar sandblast finish on this briar is absolutely beautiful and the shine on it makes the variations of colour really pop. The pipe polished up really well. The wax and the contrasting stain on the bowl made the grain just pop on the briar. The polished black vulcanite seemed to truly come alive with the buffing. The pipe is perfect in my hand and when it warms with smoking I think it will be about perfect. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 3/8 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/4 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This is one that will likely go on the rebornpipes online store shortly. If you want to carry on the pipe trust of George Leghorn let me know. Thank you Jennifer for trusting us with his pipes. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners, we are pipemen who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.

A Simple Restoration of an Early Transition Era Barling 2639

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

Having worked on a few difficult projects from my Mumbai Bonanza, involving major stem reconstruction and addressing flaws in the stummel (read refreshing fills!!) taking a lot of time and heartburn and efforts which had left me drained, I decided to work on something simple and relatively quick refurbishing of pipes from my inherited collection.

The Barling pipe on my work table is an exquisite bent billiards with beautiful and very tightly packed bird’s eye grains on either side of the bowl and shank, extending over to more than half of the front of the stummel. Equally tightly packed cross grains are seen on the front left and back of the bowl and also on the upper and bottom surface of the shank. It is stamped on the left side of the shank as “BARLING” in script hand over the numeral “2639” over “LONDON ENGLAND”. There is no other stamping seen on the stummel. The double bore vulcanite saddle stem bears the trademark Barling stamped in cross on the upper surface of the saddle.Even though there are quite a few Barlings in my grandfather’s collection, this beauty is the second of the Barling’s that I shall be restoring. During my reading while working on my first Barling, I had read about this brand, its passage through times and pointers towards their dating. To refresh my memory about the brand, the lines offered by the maker and attempt to date this particular pipe, I visited Pipedia which has a wealth of neatly cataloged heading-wise information on Barling’s pipes. From the stamping seen on this pipe and correlating it with my information, it was immediately apparent that this one is definitely not a Family Era pipe, but a later era pipe. Luckily, on the same page, towards the end, there is a link to 1962 Barling catalog, courtesy Yuriy Novikov. This catalog, on page 7 shows the pipe which is on my work table, here is the link to this catalog: https://pipedia.org/images/d/d9/BARLING_CATALOG_1962.pdf

From the above information, it is conclusive that this piece is a size 2, flat bent billiard from the Transition period/ Corporate era and was made during 1962. The minimalist stamping and the double bore stem indicate that this pipe was intended to be sold in the local markets.

INITIAL VISUAL INSPECTION
This pipe was one of the pipes that Abha, my wife had sent me after she had reamed out complete cake back to the bare briar and cleaned the stummel exterior and rim top surface with Murphy’s oil soap. She had also cleaned out the mortise and the shank using regular and hard bristled pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol. The cleaned up pipe on my work table now, can be seen in the following pictures. It really feels nice to work on a clean pipe; I must admit and cannot help but thank her for doing all the dirty work and saving me time while sharing my hobby. Unfortunately, she did not click any pictures of the condition of the pipe before she worked her magic on them. When I inquired about the condition before she had cleaned it, her one line reply was “no different from his (grandfather’s) other pipes!!!” For those who have been reading my previous write ups would recollect that my grandfather never really believed in cleaning his pipes, he would rather buy new ones when the old pipes chocked up and became unsmokable. From the present condition of the pipe, there are only two issues that I would need to address on the stummel; one is the darkened rim top surface with an uneven inner rim edge and the other is slightly deep gouges on the chamber walls. The vulcanite stem is heavily scratched and shows deep oxidation on the surface. Some heavy tooth chatter is seen on both surfaces of the stem towards the lip with few deep bite marks on the upper and lower surfaces. This issue should not be a major headache to address. The lip edge on both sides is distinct but damaged showing tooth marks. The quality of vulcanite is good.THE PROCESS
I flamed the surface of the stem with a Bic lighter to raise the tooth indentations and scratches on the stem. The heat from the flame of Bic lighter causes the vulcanite to expand and regain its natural shape, reducing the marks. I followed it up by sanding the entire stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper to reduce the tooth chatter while removing the oxidation from the area to be filled. I wiped the stem surface clean with a cotton pad dipped in alcohol to remove all the dust and dirt from the surface. The tooth marks which were visible after the flaming and sanding were filled with a mix of activated charcoal and clear CA superglue and I set it aside to cure overnight. While the stem fill was set aside for curing, I decided to address the darkened rim top surface and the uneven inner rim edge issue observed on the stummel. I did not resort to topping straight away, but decided to try scrubbing the rim top with Murphy’s oil soap and scotch brite pad. The result of this scrubbing far exceeded my expectations. The rim top is now clean and there are no traces of rim darkening. To address the issue of an uneven inner rim edges, with a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper, I created a slight bevel to the inner edge. The rim top and inner edge issues are now pristine. The next step in the process was to bring out the shine and highlight the beautiful grain on the stummel. I had an option of using more abrasive 220 grit sandpaper followed by micromesh pad cycle and loose the patina or straight away go to the micromesh cycle. Using the more abrasive sand paper, minor dents and dings would be further addressed but I would lose out the old sheen which the briar has taken over the years.  I decided on keeping the old sheen and went straight for the micromesh cycle. I wet sand the stummel with 1500 to 2400 grit pads and follow it up by dry sanding with 3200 to 12000 grit pads. The stummel, at this stage, looks absolutely stunning with the grain popping out from every inch. I rub a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to briar and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. Turning my attention to the stem, I first covered the stamping on the stem with whitener using a whitener pen. The filling of charcoal and CA superglue had cured and using a needle file, I sand the filling to match the surface of the stem. For a better blending, I further sanded the entire stem with 220 followed by 400, 600 and 800 grit sandpapers. This helps to reduce the sanding marks left behind by the more abrasive 220 grit paper. To bring a deep shine to the vulcanite stem, I went through the complete set of micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200 to 12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem with alcohol after each pad and rubbed it down with Extra Virgin Olive oil. The internals of the stem was cleaned out using alcohol and pipe cleaners. The finished stem is shown below. To finish, I re-attach the stem with the stummel. I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel to the Dremel (actually it is not the brand machine, but a local machine which is similar).  I set the speed at about half of the full power and applied White Diamond compound to the entire pipe. I wiped/ buffed the pipe with a soft cotton cloth to clear it of any leftover compound dust. I then mounted another cotton cloth wheel on to the polishing machine and applied several coats of carnauba wax. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The completed pipe looks lovely, fresh and vibrant; the photographs in this case, do not do justice to the appearance of this beautiful little pipe. This beautiful piece of briar, without a single blemish to the stummel, will find a place of pride in my collection. If only it could tell me stories it had witnessed and experiences, trials and tribulations and joyous moments in my grandfather’s life journey!!!! Thank you for having the patience to reach this far while reading the write up. PS: This project was a welcome break from the previous difficult stem reconstruction and stummel restoration projects that had posed a challenging obstacle at every stage in the process. I must thank my wife, Abha, who had done all the dirty work and presented a simple and quick refurbishing project.

 

Refreshing a Leather Clad Classic Billiard

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Blog by Dal Stanton

I acquired this Leather Wrapped Classic Billiard as part of what I call the French Lot of 50.  I landed 50 pipes which included some long-forgotten treasures dating back to before WWII as well as a plethora of pipes mounted with horn stems.  In this French Lot of 50 I discovered French pipe manufacturers that were all but forgotten within the pipe world.  My restoration of the petite EPC Majestic Bent Horn Stem Billiard which earned me my first contribution to the repository of pipe information on Pipedia with the research on the A. Pandevant & Roy Co. of Paris.

The next pipe to catch the eye of someone searching through the ‘Help Me!’ baskets in my For “Pipe Dreamers” Only! collection is a nice looking Leather Wrapped Classic Billiard shape which I’ve targeted with an arrow in the picture of the French Lot of 50.  Tina chose this pipe along with 2 others from the ‘Help Me!’ baskets to commission for special men in her life and to benefit our effort here in Bulgaria, Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited not only here in Bulgaria but throughout Europe.  Tina was visiting us from Birmingham, Alabama, USA, with a group of other ladies.  This Leather Wrapped Billiard was chosen with her son, Matthew, in mind who’ll be graduating from college in May and has plans to utilize his degree in Landscape Design and Turf Management by moving to Big Sky, Montana working at the Moonlight Basin Resort. Tina said that he will be over a team that keeps the golf course in tip-top shape! I’m thinking that this Leather Wrapped Billiard will be a perfect partner for Mathew on the golf course!  A special gift from a proud mother for a special son soon to graduate.  I love it!  Here are pictures of the Leather Wrapped Billiard now on my work table. There is no nomenclature stamped on the pipe or identifying marks on the stem.  As with the most the other pipes that came with the French Lot of 50, there is a very good chance that this Leather Wrap also is French.  The practice of wrapping briar bowls with leather started in France as a creative and economically savvy way to sell sub-par bowls that were part and parcel of France’s austerity measures during WWII.  Pipedia’s article uncovers this bit of pipe history in the article devoted to Longchamp:

In 1948 Jean Cassegrain inherited a small shop near the French Theater on the Boulevard Poissonnière in Paris, called “Au Sultan”. Articles for smokers and fountain pens were offered there. Now, the absolute bulk of the pipes Cassegrain found in the inventory was from war-time production and due to the sharp restrictions on pipe production the French government had enforced in 1940, these pipes were of very poor quality and showed large fills. Strictly speaking, they were not marketable now that the French pipe industry produced pipes of pre-war standards again. In this situation Cassegrain had the probably most enlightened moment in his life: he took some of these pipes to a leather worker who clad bowls and shanks in leather. Only the rims of the bowls and the shanks’ faces remained blank.

E voila – the pipes looked pretty good now and were eye-catching enough to become an instant success in sale. Above all among the thousands of Allied soldiers who populated Paris in those days. The thing worked well, and even unexperieceid pipesters liked the covered pipes very much for they did not transmit the heat to the hand. Very soon Cassegrain had sold the old stock of pipes, and the leather-clad pipes became his only product. He began to place orders with renowned firms like Ropp or Butz-Choquin.

I love stories of innovation like the story of Jean Cassegrain and the creation of the Longchamp name which came from the name of a horse racing park near Paris.  Pipedia concludes the article with this comment:

After 1970 the interest in leather-clad pipes slowly diminished. The Longchamp pipes were offered for the last time in the 1978 catalog though previously placed orders were delivered until 1980.

The splendid success inspired many other renowned producers to offer their own lines Ropp, Butz-Choquin, Gubbels, GBD… Maybe Savinelli was the very last producing them for the label of the famous designer Etienne Aigner.

Without identifying markings, it’s not easily determined the origins of the Leather Wrapped Billiard on my worktable.  Yet, the origins of this type of pipe are French and it seems likely that this pipe shares this origin, but a manufacturer remains a mystery.  The pipe itself is in good shape and for this reason I’m calling it a refresher. The chamber barely has any cake build up, but the rim shows some discoloration and is need of a cleaning.  The condition of the leather wrapping the bowl looks great.  The stem has minor oxidation and negligible tooth chatter on the stem.  I do notice that the stem is a bit tight in the mortise.  We’ll see how this snugness progresses during the cleaning.  To begin refreshing the Leather Wrapped Classic Billiard, I use pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl 95% to clean the stem’s airway.  I then add the stem to a soak of Before & After Deoxidizer along with other pipes in the queue.After several hours I fish out the Leather Wrap’s stem and I push another pipe cleaner through the airway wetted with isopropyl 95% to clear the Deoxidizer from the airway.  I then wipe off the oxidation that has surfaced through the soak using cotton pads wet with isopropyl 95%.  The Deoxidizer does a good job and much oxidation is removed.To begin the stem rejuvenation, I apply paraffin oil with a cotton pad and set the stem aside to dry and to absorb the mineral oil.Now, turning to the stummel, I first clean the chamber using the Pipnet Reaming kit I jump to the second smallest and work up to the largest blade head as I ream the chamber followed by using the Savinelli Fitsall tool.  After scraping the chamber walls with the Fitsall tool, I sand the chamber using 240 grade paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen to give leverage and reach as I sand.  Finally, I wipe the chamber with a cotton pad wetted with isopropyl 95% to remove the carbon dust.  I inspect the chamber and it looks great – no cracks or heat fissures. Next, I clean the rim using undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a cotton pad.  To work more directly on the lava flow I employ a brass wire brush and scrape the area carefully with a Buck pocket knife. I’m careful to keep the soap and work with the brush on the rim.  I don’t want to damage the leather wrap. I then rinse the rim with cool tap water. The general results of the cleaning are good, but there remains discoloration which I will address later.Now to the internals. Using pipe cleaners and cotton buds wetted with isopropyl 95%, I scrub the internal mortise and airway.  It doesn’t take long, and the buds are emerging lighter.  I’m thankful for a small skirmish!I start cleaning the stem by wet sanding using grade 600 paper and follow using 000 grade steel wool.I move directly to the micromesh regimen by wet sanding with pads 1500 to 2400 and dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and pads 6000 to 12000. After each set of 3 pads I apply Obsidian Oil to condition the vulcanite.  The pop on this stem is nice. With the stem now waiting in the wings, I turn back to the stummel.  To address the residual dark area on the rim, I will give the stummel a very light topping.  I’m hopeful that this will erase the lion’s share of the scorching and refresh the rim.  I take out the chopping board and put 240 grade paper on it.  Keeping the inverted stummel firm and steady, I rotate the rim a few times on the paper. When it seems enough is taken off, I switch the paper to 600 grade paper and smooth out the 240 sanding.  There is just a bit of the darkening remaining after the topping.To dispatch the remainder of the scorched rim briar, I introduce a very mild bevel on the internal rim.  I first use a tightly rolled piece of 120 paper to cut the initial bevel.  I then follow with 240 then 600 grade papers in succession.  In each case, I pinch the tightly rolled piece of sanding paper between my thumb and the internal rim and rotate evenly around the circumference.  The result is exactly what I wanted – the rim is now clean.Next, to bring out the grain on the rim, I wet sand with micromesh pads 1500 to 2400 and follow by dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000.  I’m anxious to see how the grain is teased out. As you can see in the picture immediately above, the lip of the upper leather encasing is packed with dust after the micromesh sanding.  I take a narrow dental spatula and clean the dust out by gently sliding the spatula under the leather lip.The next step is to reunite the stem and stummel to apply Blue Diamond compound.  As I noticed before, the tenon/mortise fit is too tight – taking too much pressure to seat the tenon.To address this, I sand down the tenon by wrapping it with a piece of 240 sanding paper and rotate the paper evenly around the tenon.  I sand and then test a few times to make sure I’m not taking off too much.  When the fit is appropriately snug and the tenon seats, I then switch to 600 grade paper to smooth the tenon.  Now it fits perfectly with a good snug fit, but not too tight.I now mount a cotton cloth buffing wheel to the Dremel, set at 40% of full power and I apply Blue Diamond compound to the rim and the stem.Next, I’ve been thinking about how to clean and condition the leather wrap encasing the stummel.  I use Weiman Leather Wipes to do the job.  I follow the directions by using the wipe that cleans and applies the preservative and then I buff the leather with a microfiber cloth.  Wow!  It’s looks great.  The leather darkened to a newer looking richness – very nice.  The pictures show before and after. Since my day is closing, I want to further the internal mortise cleaning by giving the bowl a kosher salt and alcohol bath.  I use the highest grade isopropyl 95% available here in Bulgaria.  I first create a ‘wick’ from twisting and stretching a cotton ball.  The wick serves to draw out the remnant of tars and oils.  I use a stiff wire to help push the end of the cotton wick down the mortise.  I then fill the bowl with kosher salt, set it in an egg carton and fill it with isopropyl 95% until it surfaces over the salt.  In a few minutes I top off the alcohol that has absorbed and set it aside and turn out the lights! The next morning, the salt and wick are soiled – the wick not as much which is good if it shows that the mortise is already clean.  I clean the chamber of the salt, wiping it out with paper towel and blowing through the mortise.  To make sure all is clean, I use one cotton bud wetted with alcohol and it demonstrates that the mortise is clean.  Moving on. I rejoin stem and stummel and mount another cotton cloth buffing wheel on the Dremel, maintain 40% speed and apply carnauba wax to the rim and stem.  To further condition the leather wrapping one more time, I apply a very light coat of paraffin oil and then rub it in well.  I follow by buffing the entire pipe with a microfiber cloth to bring out the shine of stem, leather stummel and the briar rim.

Perhaps, I should have done this before waxing the rim, but to add a starter for a new protective cake and for aesthetic reasons, I coat the chamber walls with a mixture of natural yogurt and activated charcoal.  When cured, the mixture provides a very durable surface providing a buffer for the fresh briar until a natural cake develops.  The new steward just needs to be careful not to scrape the chamber with a metal tool, but simply to rub the chamber with a folded pipe cleaner will be sufficient to clean after use.  I mix the activated charcoal and the natural yogurt until it thickens enough to not run – being too liquid. I then use the pipe nail to spread it on the chamber wall.  I then set the stummel aside for a few hours for the mix to cure. This Leather Wrapped Classic Billiard cleaned up well.  The leather is dark and rich looking and the butterscotch colored rim pops in contrast to the leather.  The fine, delicate grain of the rim is pleasing to the eye as the leather is to the touch.  This is Tina’s third commissioned pipe which she chose for her son who is soon to graduate from college.  She will have the first opportunity to acquire the pipe from The Pipe Steward Store.  This pipe benefits the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited.  Thanks for joining me!