Restoring a Patent Era Brigham Executive Statesman

Spotlight: Ladies Pipes, Part 7/7, Concerning the Summit of Diminutive

Blog by Robert M. Boughton

Member, International Society of Codgers
Member, North American Society of Pipe Collectors
Member, Facebook Gentlemen’s Pipe Smoking Society
https://www.facebook.com/roadrunnerpipes/
http://about.me/boughtonrobert
Photos © the Author except as noted

For Liz B. Smith: this one’s for you

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
— Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain), 1835-1910, U.S. humorist, writer, editor and extraordinary adventurer

The word ‘American’ terminates in ‘I can,’ and ‘dough’ begins with ‘do.’
— Attributed to Alfred Carl Fuller (1885-1973), founder of the Fuller Brush Co.

INTRODUCTION

A great American rock group called The Doors summed up this blog in the most famous couplet from the 1967 song “The End.” The rest of the brilliant yet rambling lyric poetry, alas, is too morose and even sinister to cobble together a quote for the occasion, no matter how many annoying ellipsis marks might be used by, say, someone with the skill set to edit negative book reviews so they sound glowing on the dust jackets. Hence the more merry samples above, which still bely the sadness I feel at the close of my attempt to serialize various facets of the ways women enjoy the pleasures of pipes as much as do men. (Twain, I’m sure, would have despised Fuller’s aphorism and hated being associated with a salesman.) The nine months since my first installment seem more like years given the travails I’ve faced and overcome. But fret not; I won’t go there now – at least not in great detail.

I had two more conventional instruments for savoring pipe tobacco set aside for the seventh and last part of the series and was still deliberating which to use. As circumstances transpired, they were lost to the most shameful, unscrupulous and downright worthless excuse for a human I have ever encountered in a slumlord, and with whom I am still engaged, in ever-escalating legal battles. The dispute is now poised to escalate from civil to criminal for the felony property conversion perpetrated by the contemptible principal of several offenders. But I will write more about that in a future blog detailing the loss of almost every material possession I held most dear. Suffice it to say for now that the devastating event has proved to be the single most unnerving and excruciating test of my ability to come to terms in my own mind with any set of undeniable facts, to discuss the odious injustice of the whole despicable experience with family and friends and, perhaps most difficult of all, even to brooch the subject in this forum, I have ever experienced. The memories still sting and I believe will even after the full weight of the law crushes the scoundrel.

And so, after careful consideration, I decided to combine a look at salesman samples, a separate blog of which I began drafting some months ago, with the culmination of my ladies pipes series. In the span of a few years I amassed an admirable collection of these little gems of tobacciana and still have several, thanks to the fact that they were stashed in my go-bag, as I call the portable kit of rotation pipes, tobaccos, restoration tools and odds and ends. They were snug in a small box of restorations in progress or just completed when the slime ball who is now the central focus of my ever more litigious life made the premeditated decision to lock me out of my home with the purpose of converting my property to his own gain. After all, he was sued twice in the past on the same grounds and only had to pay for one of them. At any rate, in my research into female pipe enjoyers, I found a greater incidence of affinity for these tiny pipes among women compared to men, despite the frequent common ground of the two genders viewing them as impractical for loading with leaf and lighting up. I shall do my best to dispel the myth.

While I am aware of the unusual interest in salesman samples in recent contributions to this forum, all of which included good information on the peculiar items, I will give my two cents worth for those who may have missed the others six parts and, I hope, add a little more context and color. I would also like to celebrate some of the collection that was mine and those that remain.

Salesman samples were not toys – nothing like the Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars many of us collected as children. They were not knickknacks such as thimbles or figurines of people, animals, castles, super heroes and creatures from fantasy and mythology. Salesman samples came into existence as marketing tools for manufacturers of almost every mechanical and non-agricultural commodity and were most popular in the early 20^th century. Few folks nowadays remember a time when cars and airplanes were not the standards of transportation, and products could not be shipped in viable ways, often overnight, to showrooms all over the country and world.

Enter the intrepid peddlers of every type of ware – baseballs, coal stoves, violins, furniture, upright carpet cleaners and, of course, tobacco pipes, to name a fraction of the goods they offered – and who had no mode of travel better than trains, and in some more remote locales, stagecoaches and even by horseback. Think about that. How could one person carry many samples of the items he sold, which were either huge or fragile, to convince prospective buyers to purchase them?

Then some merchandising brainiac came up with the idea of exact replicas that could be conveyed in valises. Giants like Sears & Roebuck were made as much by direct salesmen as mail order catalogs, to be sure. The reality of traveling salesmen is that they covered vast and perilous territories going “door-to-door,” which in those days was farm to farm, and they were often far between. For anyone who complains about road conditions now, thank your lucky stars you weren’t around back in the day. Then again, maybe a few old curmudgeons were! True, there were also small general stores to be pitched, but most folks had few chances to make the dusty, jarring journey into town. Some salesmen even had to pay in advance for their merchandise and keep the profits. Here’s the real kicker: back then, bartering was the name of the game, and with little cash on hand, the yokels and mercantile proprietors tended to trade with eggs, butter, vegetables and other what-have-you. In short, the life of the traveling salesman was rough and grungy long before the latter word was coined in the 1960s, yet today he is remembered in popular movies and cheesy novels as a fast-talking bespectacled dandy from “sumwer back east.”

Remember, all of the following genuine salesman samples are about the size indicated in the photos with a tape measure and a ruler.Now for some pipes I’d like to own. And here was my own collection of salesman samples. William Demuth & Co. (WDC) Bent Pot with screw-in rim guard, before and after

WDC Wellington Bent Apple, before and after

Yello-Bole Straight Billiard

“Mahjong” Bent Billiard, probably made of Bakelite

Kaywoodie Straight Apple

Custombilt Porcelain (filled mouthpiece – not smokable)

No-Name Rhodesian

La Grande Bruyere Bent Apple, Czech, before and after. This was my first restore.

Only three of the diminutive but intricate works of craftsmanship in my promising and cherished sub-collection of these fading pieces of tobacciana and history survived theft by the slumlord: the Mahjong, which at an astounding length of 2½” with a chamber diameter of ⅜” x ¾” may indeed be the smallest functional tobacco pipe ever made, as the seller hinted; the WDC bent billiard, mere fractions larger in every respect, and last but by no means least, the Yello-Bole, at a whopping 3¾” long sporting a ⅜” x ½” chamber. To emphasize the point, their salvation was by the sole grace of my having them with me when the illegal lockout was executed.

The subject of this final Ladies Pipes blog is the restoration of the Yello-Bole, which, I’m sorry to report, was not all that difficult, beyond Plato’s maxim, “Better a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly.” Steve wrote a wonderful blog concerning a no-name carved apple salesman sample (3¼” long, 1″ tall with a ⅞” outer bowl diameter and a ⁷∕₁₆” inner bowl diameter). In the first photo, my favorite, he contrasts the dinky apple with a giant KBB Yello-Bole Imperial 3068C Bent Billiard (length 10″, height 2¼” and inner bowl diameter ⅞”). See https://rebornpipes.com/2016/12/26/a-tiny-salesman-pipe-what-a-contrast-to-those-giant-house-pipes/.KBB Yello-Bole Giant vs. Tiny Carved No-Name, courtesy S. Laug

Steve also summed up the relative natures of a standard pipe restoration and that of a salesman sample when he wrote, “It takes as much work to clean and restore a tiny pipe as it does a big one and the steps and process [are] the same regardless of size.”

And so, as I begin again to practice the wonderful disorder that is pipe acquisition, with the three salesman samples and a handful of other survivors to my name, I have a strong desire and need to share. My good friend and mentor emeritus, Chuck Richards, taught me that. Therefore, in light of the kindness and encouragement she has shown me on the Smokers Forums UK, her invaluable guidance in this series and the interest I know she has in mini pipes and salesman samples, to repeat my opening dedication with a tad more emphasis: this Yello-Bole is for you, Liz – literally.

RESTORATION The Yello-Bole, to be honest, was a cleanup job. The most troublesome aspect of rejuvenating the delicate little working scale example of a pipe that would likely measure 5½” long was stripping the old stain and replacing it, and as a consequence removing a bad discoloration on the front. Confident an Everclear soak would not harm the nomenclature, I began with that and an OxiClean bath for the bit. Stripping the original stain did a fine job of revealing the rough edges, so to speak, of the briarwood. To be still more honest, after perhaps ten minutes of immersion in Everclear, the stummel might just as well have cried to me through the depth, as I recall even now the mental flash of eradicating that all-important if carbon-obscured facet of the chamber, being “CURED WITH REAL HONEY.”

With a reflexive thrust of a hand toward the Tupperware bowl in which the minuscule bit of wood had sunk to the bottom like lost treasure, I plucked it out and wrapped it in a soft cotton cloth. I wiped it. I turned and scrubbed it, inside and out. I ran an end of a cleaner through the shank and bent it in half to dry the chamber walls. I did everything short of CPR. Observing the miraculous near perfection of the coat of whatever cured honey concoction the factory applied so many years earlier, I’m here to tell you, the full comprehension of the reprieve I was granted in the nick of time was acute and profound. The bit came out of its cleaning solution some time later, a little better for the bath. I used the white end of the same cleaner as before to dispel the insignificant impurities that remained.

Super fine “0000” steel wool and 320-grit paper got rid of the unpleasant large light blotch on the bowl’s front and gave the whole spotted but rich wood a nice shine. The gamut of micro mesh from 1500-12000 elicited the highest sheen the briarwood would achieve before the final electric buffing. Several minutes after staining the stummel with Fiebing’s Brown leather dye and flaming out the alcohol with a Bic, I gave the surface a gentle buff with 8000 grade micro mesh.A retort was neither needed nor called for under the circumstances I described earlier with my nearly disastrous soaking of the stummel in Everclear. Micro meshing the bit was so simple I forgot to mention doing it until now. And so, all that remained to do was buff the wood with red and white Tripoli, White Diamond and carnauba, and the bit with white Tripoli and carnauba. The final shot I took is some sort of weird view I found by accident with a cell phone camera toggle switch marked “NG.” So far I haven’t a clue what it stands for, but it seems to show the inner pipe. I offer it for entertainment purposes more than anything else. Maybe someone can explain it to me.CONCLUSION

My ideal for the series was, in the language of college essays, to compare and contrast the primary topic of tobacco pipes and their attraction to men and women in general through some key aspects of the pastime, and to gain potential insights into what differences in tastes and interests, if any, might exist. I knew from the beginning that my hopes were overambitious, but I have at least made some headway. Perhaps a book is in order.

At times I was disheartened by the apparent lack of interest in the topic. But comparing reactions to the first six, looking at votes, comments and likes, I see they all average out to one of my typical blogs here. My primary objective was to bring the men and women of the pipe community more together. Only time will tell.

Now I just need to get Liz’ address to send her the pipe.

SOURCES

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/advertising/salesmans-samples
http://www.amiright.com/parody/90s/deepbluesomething11.shtml WARNING: SOME OFFENSIVE LYRICS
https://rebornpipes.com/2016/10/08/a-living-tiny-kbb-yello-bole-salesmans-pipe/
https://rebornpipes.com/tag/yello-bole-pipes/
http://buckcreek.tripod.com/salesman.html
http://www.sloperama.com/majexchange/id.html

THE REST OF THE SERIES

https://rebornpipes.com/2016/05/04/spotlight-ladies-pipes-part-17-a-frasa-french-bent-billiard/
https://rebornpipes.com/2016/05/07/spotlight-ladies-pipes-part-27-a-clinton-straight-oval/
https://rebornpipes.com/2016/05/14/spotlight-ladies-pipes-part-37-a-tiny-medico-acorn/
https://rebornpipes.com/2016/05/20/spotlight-ladies-pipes-part-47-a-real-briar-bounty/
https://rebornpipes.com/2016/06/17/spotlight-ladies-pipes-part-57-a-vintage-dr-grabow-carved-duke/
https://rebornpipes.com/2016/09/26/spotlight-ladies-pipes-part-67-an-albertson-baby-bent-brandy/

A Gold Banded Bent Dublin Eldorado Lucite of Italy

8 Replies

Blog by Dal Stanton

When I first saw this Eldorado Lucite, I believed it to be a Zulu or Woodstock, the Dublin’s smaller cousin. In the end, I settled on it being a bent Dublin because the stummel was larger than I would expect a Zulu’s to be. When I saw the Eldorado Lucite bent Dublin on the eBay auction block, two things, no, three things drew my attention motivating me to slog through the bidding and bring this pipe home to Bulgaria. First, the shape is very attractive – I like the curve of the Dublin’s natural ‘nose-forward’ stummel flowing to and through the stem; an attractive pipe, I wanted to try it out in my palm. Secondly, the briar’s potential. I love taking smooth briars and bringing out the grain to encourage a double-take. The straight grain of the Eldorado is nice. Thirdly, the band – a touch of class for any pipe, but for this pipe, also raises some questions. The following eBay photos from the seller show what I saw. When I retrieved this pipe out of the “Help Me!” basket in Sofia, I take a fresh look at the Eldorado over Lucite – stamped distinctly on the left shank. The right shank shows Imported Briar over Italy. Both stamps are obstructed/hidden somewhat by the band which immediately brings into question the possibility of the band being part of a cracked shank repair. I would not think the original design would include a band hiding part of the nomenclature, but I might be wrong! After removing the stem, I inspect the mortise and conclude that a crack may be there, but it’s not conclusive – at least to me. The band is gold and stamped with hallmarks of 1/20 14KT (ensconced in a diamond) G.F. Looking on the internet, I discover from RareGoldJewelry.com these hallmarks indicate the ratio of gold in the band is at about 1 to 20. Rated at 14 karats means that it’s approximately 58% gold and the band is ‘gold filled’ rather than ‘gold plated.’ Regarding gold filled and gold plated, eBay’s buyers’ guide jewelry describes the difference:

Gold-filled jewelry is much more valuable than gold-plated. In fact, there is almost 100 percent more gold in gold-filled items than is found in gold-plated items. Just as gold-plated jewelry is plated with gold, gold-filled jewelry is as well, but there is a big difference between the ways these products are made. Gold-filled items have a much thicker layer of gold on them, and the gold is a much higher quality. In fact, it is just a step down from solid gold when it comes to quality and value. Speaking of solid gold, pure gold is very soft and is not a good choice for jewelry; that is why an alloy is almost always used for gold jewelry items, even in jewelry pieces worth an incredible amount of money.

If this band is part of a cracked shank repair, which doesn’t appear to be the case, it seems that whoever had this pipe valued it quite a bit to add a gold band. Another question is raised regarding the name – Eldorado Lucite. According to the compilation of Herb Wilczak & Tom Colwell (3/3/97) ‘Who Made That Pipe’ (Yes, Santa brought this!) lists Eldorado as Maker or Seller as the Linkman Co./ Parker Pipe and country USA/ENGL. My subsequent research into Linkman turned up the connection to Dr. Grabow pipes – ‘Eldorado’ is a high-end pipe of Dr. Grabow – which doesn’t fit the pipe before. Dr. Grabow pipes are usually marked as such. Parker Pipe Company turned up nothing too. This pipe is also stamped, Italy, but does this mean country of manufacturer or source of the briar in this case? – as the right shank has the marking ‘IMPORTED BRIAR’ over ‘ITALY’. Would the ‘Imported Briar’ indicate a US manufacturing – the usual US marking and spelling? But this, I found is not always the case. One more question that doesn’t find answers in my research – Eldorado Lucite – does ‘Lucite’ refer to a unique pipe name or is it referring to the stem material with which it was originally outfitted? If this is the case, is the stem now with this Dublin a replacement because it certainly isn’t Lucite but vulcanite? Yet, as I look at the stem, it works VERY well with the stummel and shape – it doesn’t appear to be a replacement stem. So are the many questions this beautiful pipe creates, but now I turn to the pipe itself and take more pictures to fill in the gaps! The stummel appears to be in good condition except I detect what might be an acrylic finish with normal wear marks and scratches on top of it. I’ll want to clean the old finish off. The bowl has moderate cake build up and old dottle flakes left in the bottom. I’ll remove the cake bringing the bowl down to the briar for a fresh start. The rim looks to be in good condition structurally, but has light lava flow and possibly some scorching. I need to clean the rim to assess this fully. The stem is attractive. I’m not sure if it has a special name, but it flays out from the shank and the button is fanned – a fish tail? It has minor oxidation. There are tooth dents on the upper and lower button area and a possible crack on the slot side through the button lip pictured above. I’ll need to look closely at this. The band is in good shape – I’ll polish it simply with a clean cloth, no more!

I begin the clean-up of the Eldorado Lucite by plopping the stem into the Oxi-Clean bath to work the oxidation to the surface of the vulcanite. I take the Pipnet reaming kit out and discover that the conical chamber is too tight and angled in the Dublin’s shape to employ the reaming blades. I’ll use the Savinelli pipe knife instead to ream the bowl. With the Savinelli pipe knife I make good progress removing the cake in the tight quarters of this chamber. Following the reaming, I sand the chamber walls with 240 grit paper wrapped around a Sharpie pen and then finish by wiping the chamber with cotton pads and isopropyl 95% to remove the carbon dust. The chamber looks good. The pictures show the progress. Before continuing with cleaning the external stummel, I tackle the internals with pipe cleaners and Q-tips and isopropyl 95%. The cleaning job proves to be a bit more than I expected. I’m not positive about the internal layout and drilling of the mortise but it ‘feels’ like there is a gunk trap slightly below the air passage leading out toward the draft hole in the chamber. After building a good mountain of expended Q-tips and pipe cleaners, and after looking at the lateness of the hour, I decide to give the stummel a salt soak, and let the Kosher salt and alcohol do some of the work for me. I put the stummel in an egg crate to keep it stable, and fill the bowl with kosher salt which is not iodized – iodine can leave a taste (Thanks to Charles Lemon of Dad’s Pipes for this information). I cover the bowl with my hand and give it a bit of a shake to displace the salt. After corking the shank side, I fill the bowl with isopropyl 95% and turn out the light. The next morning I see that the salt has darkened a bit and I toss the used salt into the waste basket. I take a paper towel and wipe out the remaining salt from the bowl and use a bristle bush both in the bowl and the mortise making sure that salt residue is purged. I then return to cleaning with Q-tips, pipe cleaners and isopropyl and finish the internals very quickly. Done! The pictures show the progress. Time to retrieve the stem from the Oxi-Clean bath and I see that the oxidation has risen to the vulcanite surface which is shown very nicely in the first picture below. I attack the oxidation by wet sanding with 600 grit paper. I follow this by using 0000 steel wool to remove more oxidation and begin the smoothing process as well. Following this, I work on cleaning the internals of the stem with pipe cleaners and isopropyl. It was going so well until it wasn’t! Earlier, you recall, as I was doing the initial inspection of the stem, I identified what appeared to be a crack on the left side of the button. The pressure exerted by the pipe cleaners exacerbated this crack and now I see fissures developing in the vulcanite – not only at the original crack sighting but now also on the right side of the button. It would not be difficult to project the path of the fault line and the ultimate stem break if not addressed. Ugh! The pictures tell the story. Oh, ‘the best laid plans of mice and men’ – my plan is to apply thin CA Instant Glue to the cracks to seal them and hopefully to stop the fissure’s progress. I fold a piece of index card and cover it with tape and insert it in the slot to keep glue from possibly entering the airway. It also serves to ‘torque up’ a bit, and opening the cracks a hair to allow better glue penetration. After this, I will build up the button with a mixture of charcoal dust and super glue and redefine the bit hopefully to reinforce the area. I put the stem aside for the glue to cure. The pictures show the progress. After the initial CA glue cures, I start the button rebuild. I use 240 grit sanding paper to rough up the button area, upper and lower. Then I clean the area with a cotton pad and isopropyl to prepare for the charcoal/glue putty. While in the States for Christmas, I picked up a bottle of activated charcoal capsules. In the past, using a mortar and pestle, I had to grind up granulated charcoal which was sold for an aquarium filtration application for use with charcoal patches. Generally, I was not satisfied with the results. After the patches were applied, sanded/shaped, and polished, etc., I found a very porous and speckled result – not smooth as I wanted. I suspected the cause was that the charcoal grade was not fine enough. So, we’ll see if better results are realized with current charcoal powder. I decide to re-use the ‘slot insert’ that I earlier made from an index card. With the crack going through the lip of the button, I make sure I have sufficient ‘overage’ of charcoal putty to cover the crack. After opening a charcoal capsule, I empty it onto the index card and then add a puddle of Hot Stuff Special ‘T’ CA glue next to the charcoal. The ‘T’ stands for extra thick. Using a toothpick, I begin to draw the charcoal into the glue puddle to form the putty. I’m aiming at a honey-like viscosity for the putty – not to thin that it won’t remain where I put it and not to thick that it doesn’t shape well. When I arrive at what looks good, I use the toothpick as a trowel and apply the putty to the button – the top receiving the most attention. With charcoal putty applied to the button, I put the stem aside giving time for the curing process. The pictures show the progress. I return to the stummel to clean the externals. I’ve not worked before with a gold band and I don’t believe that any cleaning agents I use will deface the gold, but to stay on the safe side, I cover the band with a few layers of masking tape. I then take undiluted Murphy’s Soap and cotton pad and clean the stummel surface and rim. With the help of a brass brush, which will not scratch the briar, the light lava flow on the rim becomes history. I rinse the stummel with warm tap water keeping the internals dry. After the Murphy’s Soap, I still can detect the acrylic shine of the finish which is not what I like (2^nd picture below). I prefer the shine of the natural briar and not what I have referred to as a ‘candy apple’ shine finish. To remove the finish, I use acetone with a cotton pad. After a few unsuccessful rounds of this, I utilize 0000 steel wool to add a little abrasion to the acetone removal process. This does the trick, though the candy apple finish did not come off easily. The pictures show the progress. To remove nicks and some pitting in the briar I use a medium grade sanding sponge on the stummel and rim. I follow this with a light grade sanding sponge. To remove some damage in the inner rim edge and to clean it up, I use 240 grit sanding paper rolled tightly. I again follow the 240 grit paper and use the light grade sanding sponge on the rim to smooth things out. Before I move forward with sanding and finishing the stummel, I return to the stem and the shaping and repair of the button and slot. I take another close-up of both the top and bottom to mark the progress. I begin using a flat needle file and a pointed half-circle needle file to re-shape the slot and to redefine the end of the stem. I will work from stem end, having established a base line. When I finish the basic shaping with the needle files I then continue shaping the button with 240 grit paper then 0000 steel wool. The pictures show the progression. Near the completion of the button rebuild, I use K-150 Black Medium glue to fill pockets and unevenness in the upper bit area. After cured, I re-sand the area with 240 grit, then 600 grit papers then complete the process with 0000 steel wool. The last two pictures show the finished button rebuild. It took some time, but I think it looks good as well as refortifying a formerly, weak and cracked button. With button rebuild completed, I begin the micromesh sanding process first by wet sanding the stem with pads 1500 to 2400 and follow with an application of Obsidian Oil over the entire stem. I then dry sand the stem using pads 3200 to 4000 and again with pads 6000 to 12000, following each set with a fresh application of Obsidian Oil. The stem looks great and the button repair has blended well. I put the stem aside to dry. The pictures show the progress. Turning again to the stummel, I wet sand the surface with micromesh pads 1500 to 2400, then 3200 to 4000, and then 6000 to 12000, taking a picture after each set to show the progress. The micromesh pads’ work is spectacular by teasing out the beautiful briar straight grain. The briar on this Eldorado Lucite is very nicely showcased cascading down the elongated Dublin canonical stummel. A very nice choice of briar for this pipe style. As I moved through the micromesh cycles, my usual thought processing is to ponder the finish and what approach will best showcase the briar. Should I leave the natural grain color and apply carnauba wax or apply a stain? With the 14K gold band on this sleek Dublin, I decide to leverage toward a darker brown than the original. I think the black stem and the darker stummel will give the gold band an extra pop – standing out very nicely. To expand the briar and enabling the grain to be more receptive to the dye, I warm the stummel using my wife’s hair dryer. Then, using a pipe cleaner folded in two, I apply Fiebing’s Light Brown Leather Dye liberally to the stummel and rim. I cover the surface thoroughly. When covered, I flame the wet dye using a lit candle and the alcohol in the dye immediately evaporates setting the dye hue in the grain. After a few minutes, I repeat the process including flaming the dye. I set the stummel aside for the night to rest. The picture shows the dye-crusted stummel.The next morning, I’m anxious to ‘unwrap’ the crust of the fired dye from the night before. Since I live in a flat on the 10^th floor of former Communist block apartment building, I do not have a lot of room for my work shop. The Dremel high speed rotary tool is how I solve the problem of not having regular high speed buffing wheels. To unwrap the stummel, I mount the Dremel with a felt polishing wheel and set the speed of the Dremel to the slowest speed. The felt material is abrasive and I don’t want to over-heat the wood with the higher speeds. Each polishing wheel is dedicated to a specific compound used in the buffing process. I mount the Tripoli wheel, and after purging it from old compound with the edge of the metal wrench, used to tighten the wheels on the Dremel, I apply Tripoli compound to remove the flamed residue of the light brown dye. I rotate the wheel around the surface of the stummel slowly, not applying much vertical pressure on the surface but allowing the RPMs, felt and compound to do the work. I use the sheen created on the surface of the briar (reflecting the bright overhead work lamp) to observe the compound’s behavior, which enables me to distribute the compound evenly over the surface. See my essay, ‘My Dremel Polishing Technique’ if you want more detail. I took a picture of the ‘unwrapping’ with the Tripoli compound and wheel. You can see the before and after comparison very easily which demonstrates my typical approach.I follow the Tripoli compound with Blue Diamond. Again, using a dedicated Blue Diamond wheel mounted on the Dremel, I work the compound into the surface in the same manner as Tripoli. After the Blue Diamond cycle, I hand-buff the stummel with a cotton cloth simply to remove the powdery residue of the compounds from the briar surface. I do this before applying carnauba wax. Next, I mount the cotton cloth polishing wheel onto the Dremel, increase the speed of the Dremel from 1 to 2 (5 is the fastest) and apply several coats of carnauba wax to both stummel and its reunited stem. I finish with a rigorous hand-buffing with micromesh cloth not only to deepen the shine but to distribute any pockets of unintegrated carnauba wax.

I was hoping to create a pop with the classy gold band linking a slim, gently curving stem with the rich darker brown hues of the Dublin’s cascading briar patterns. I think what I now see before me effectively does just that! This gold banded Eldorado Lucite of Italy is an elegant Dublin which feels very comfortable in the hand. It will be a great addition to some new steward’s collection.

Below, in the comments, I reposted this blog of Reborn Pipes to my new blog site, http://www.ThePipeSteward.com This site is serving not only as a ‘store front’ for pipes I’m selling, but it also describes the work we do in Bulgaria with the Daughters of Bulgaria Foundation – rescuing and restoring women and children who have been trafficked and sexually exploited. To help with this work, the profits of my sales go to the Daughters. So, if you’re interested in adding this Eldorado Lucite Bent Dublin of Italy to your collection, jump over to The Pipe Steward, and check it out! Thank you for joining me!

Savinelli Capitol Bruyere 6001

7 Replies

Blog by Johan Viviers

I received an email not too long ago while I was traveling in India for work from Johan. He wrote of his love or pipe restoration and how he had come across rebornpipes. After replying to his email about his work I asked him to send me a few photos of what he had done. He promptly did so. I asked him to submit a blog for the site and what follows after his brief introduction is his first blog for rebornpipes. Welcome Johan. It is great to have you here.

Introduction

I am Johan Viviers. I was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. As a child I was surrounded by pipe smokers. All of them had a Kaiser, because a man was not a man without a Kaiser!. My one grandfather though had a rotation.

I bought my first pipe at 28 from a Belgium man who had shop in Pretoria. He sold me a Peterson and sample tobaccos at first until we discovered my preference… and then after a further twenty or so years of wandering (a bit like Parsival did), I made a home in Portugal; and a home is not a home without a pipe being smoked in it.

So, the Why and the How of getting into pipe sanitation, recovery and refurbishment… I suppose I evolved into it. Maybe there are a “few roots” to be found in my dream of opening a pipe smokers’ lounge. Then too, the rest of the “roots” may also probably be found in the creativity that is born from the curiosity and wonder that surfaces when smokes a new tobacco blend or from a new pipe.

Last summer whilst sipping a beer on the local esplanade with a fellow piper, I told him that it is time for me to plant tobacco, figure out the bit between harvesting and blending and then to explore and create a blend. All for personal consumption of course. A 78 year old friend who’s a pipe smoker too, offered some land in exchange for a share of smoking tobacco.

I then spent most of my free time reading everything I could find on tobacco. And on a day my favourite pipe broke. It happened on the same day that I discovered Dad aka Charles Lemon, which led me to rebornpipes. Well, all your stories filled me with such curiosity and excitement that I somewhat altered my priorities. As I am in the habit of recovering vintage furniture, floors in old buildings etc., it seemed that pipe refurbishing may deliver an even greater level of happiness and satisfaction.

So I set out by first buying three pipes at the local flea market and experimenting to find a “studio practise”. I had to discover for myself the materials and mechanisms of a pipe and also determine whether the natural products I work with every day is suited to briar. Well three experimental pipes later and I made my first refurbishment, the Capitol 6001. I worked on it for five days and on day six I sold it and reinvested the profit in other estates. I now own seventeen estates that are either refurbished or at various stages of recovery. And I have to confess that I do not wish to sell any of them because I am still marveling at their transformation, whether it being the sweet smell of the briar when I rendered it, or the smoothness of its surface before I finish it or its final transformation/outcome that I want to hold onto a little longer.

Even so, I will continue and grow the seventeen estates I have acquired and if I sell none of them now, I will put them to good use when I find the capital to open the Pipe Smoker’s Lounge that I am thinking of naming Maria do Purificacão: Where Ladies Without Beards Smoke Pipe.

The Restoration

Sand blasted and stamped Capitol over Bruyere with 6001 to the right on the underside of the bowl with no stem markings.

This Capitol according to both Savinelli and the young lady who sold me this pipe, is a 50’s production. The pipe belonged to her grandfather Fernando a property developer and it was his “thinking aid” she told me, hence the tooth chatter on the stem. He passed away ten years ago and since then this pipe remained in his desk drawer. Fernando’s home remained unoccupied for ten years, where this pipe remained until now.

Lisbon being a very humid city left it’s mark on both the bowl and stem. The stem was greenish yellow due to oxidation and the outside of the bowl was soft in places due to what I belief to be exposure to moisture in the air. There was no cake in the chamber, but the unevenness to the rim of the bowl made wonder whether Fernando may have been a “pipe knocker” like my friend Adam or whether it was the actual design by Savinelli. The tenon, however, was a snug fit regardless.

Given that this was my second attempt at an actual recovery of a smoking pipe I though long and hard as to how i will approach its recovery and given my fascination with “the story” an estate pipe arrives with, I decided to keep the uneven organic shape to the rim and even the tooth chatter on the stem.

To start I hung the bowl out in a an area that receives no direct sunlight and a natural flow of air until felt the bowl has expelled all the surface moisture it had collected. At the same time the stem was soaking in a solution of cider vinegar and coarse salt to loosen up oxidation.

I then filled the bowl with salt and alcohol and let it stand overnight as I have seen you guys do and the next morning I reamed the chamber a little and gave it a light sanding with 400 grit paper until I could detect the sweet smell of the briar. Once this was done I cleaned out the airway of the stummel with a dental tool to remove the oils and tars after which I passed 400 grit paper rolled into a tube through the airway to be certain it is clean. Once this was done I washed the bowl and chamber down with a lukewarm solution of natural Marseille soap (a method to raising the grain and open the pores of the wood when I restore furniture) and rinsed it down with clean lukewarm water. I then filled the chamber and airway with tissue paper to absorb the excess water and wiped the outside of the bowl dry before I hung it out to dry for a couple of days (again in an area that receives no direct sunlight with the temperature constant at between 15 to 20 degrees Celsius).

I then took to the stummel and sanded it wet with 500 grit paper. I finished the stem with 00000 steel wool and then cleaned the airway by passing pipe cleaners dipped in a clean solution of the Cider vinegar and coarse salt after which I also washed the stem down with a solution of lukewarm water and Marseilles soap flakes, finishing it with clean water.

To complete I prepared a prepared Carnauba Wax emulsion with 15% natural Green Umber pigment and entered the solution with a lint free cloth into the bowl, stummel and chamber and hung it out to dry. An hour after application, I passed a clean lint free cloth to remove any excess. Then I rubbed the Carnauba wax emulsion into the stem and hung it out to dry alongside the bowl.

Twenty-four hours later I hand rubbed both the bowl, chamber and stem to bring out its lustre and then I got so excited that I had to fill the pipe with Hal O’ The Wynd and smoke it. What a sweet smoke, so much so that I named this here pipe Fernanda

Later that day, Fernanda and I sat in a coffee shop savouring another bowl of Hal O’ The Wynd and I sold her to a fellow piper there and then. This sale financed a purchase of nine other estate pipes.

Repairing a broken Peterson stem

5 Replies

Blog by Joe Mansueto

Joe Mansueto sent me this link to a helpful tutorial on how he repairs broken stems. I thought it would be helpful to post it after I just posted Dal Stanton’s stem repair piece on the blog today. Here is the original link to the Dr. Grabow Web Forum if you want to have a look at the original post and the responses there. http://drgrabows.myfreeforum.org/ftopic9615-0-asc-0.php. Here is Joe’s article.

A new friend snapped his Pete stem… glued it… dropped it… lost some pieces… This is what it looked like when it arrived for me to work on.I drilled some small holes into each face to create ‘roots’ for the patch material…Once the repair dried I sanded it until it was smooth. The photo below shows the stem after sanding. It came out smooth. A bit of a buff is all that’ needed…Back in service… The next photo shows the finished repair. The pipe was ready to go back to its owner for many more years of service.After completing the repair I received a lot of responses and questions about how it was done and if I would make a tutorial for the above repair. The tools/supplies I used (prior to buffing) include 91% isopropyl, a Dremel (with a scribing bit), activated charcoal, and high-quality CA (cyanoacrylate). I say ‘high-quality’ because I get it from a professional wood-turner… and after using his product… the strength and speed of adhesion seems better than anything else I’ve used.

Here is the step by step process:

‘Rough up’ the faces / areas being joined. I used the scribing tool on a Dremel. This provides a rough surface for the patch material to adhere to.
If you want to use the “roots” process that I’ve used, you simply use a tiny drill bit…or a tiny scribing tool to push some holes into the face…making sure you don’t drill in and back “out” again…lol.

Here is an image showing where I might drill holes. With these ‘roots’…the holes do NOT need to be directly across from the roots being drilled on the face of the other broken piece. If I were inserting some very thin gauge wire into these roots (which would lend even more strength)…you’d have to make sure these holes lined up perfectly across from each other…and that’s a whole ‘nother tutorial! Scrub clean the 2 faces being joined…I used the 91% iso and a toothbrush…and let it dry well.

I used a pipe cleaner as you can see, to keep the 2 faces lined up. Critical to that detail is covering the pipe cleaner in ‘shiny’ scotch / packing tape…because if the patch material gets to the pipe cleaner (and it will), it won’t stick to the shiny tape. The pipe cleaner not only kept these 2 pieces lined up, but also is essentially what “held them together” in place, while the patch dried.
The patch material is made from the CA and activated charcoal. I used medium viscosity CA. The mix is “close to” 50/50 between the 2…the consistency is more like molasses than honey…very thick.
To begin with…I used a sharp ended toothpick to jam the patch down into each root. Then covered both faces…held onto the pipe cleaner at one end…and pushed the broken tip down onto the rest of the stem. I made sure that they were sitting at the correct angle…then I smeared enough of the patch to be sure it was all filled / covered.
Once hard (I let it sit 30 min), I filed off the excess back down near the surface of the surrounding stem…and had to add a 2nd small patch to a spot where it had caved in just slightly.
Dried again…filed it down with multiple needle files.
Wet sand (360, 500, 800, 1000).
Buffed with Tripoli, followed by white diamond.

It is a bit of work just to save a stem…but it’s been a while, I needed the practice….and I preferred doing this instead of refitting the pipe with an aftermarket stem.

A Christmas Gift in need of a stem splice – L J Peretti Squared Shank Billiard

9 Replies

Blog by Dal Stanton

After a wonderful time in the US, sharing Christmas and New Year with our family, and catching up on ‘grandpa time’ with our two grandsons, my wife and I returned to Sofia, Bulgaria, to find as much snow as we left in Denver! Two memorable ‘piping events’ transpired while in Denver. First, the inaugural smoke of the restored 1907 McLardy Gourd Calabash (See: Link) which was filled with a tasty bowl of Dark Star recommended by Steve for the special occasion. It was a wonderful, cool smoke. The McLardy did admirably. The second ‘piping event’ was a pipe-picking expedition several of my family members (guess who this trip was for?) did to Denver’s huge Brass Armadillo Antique Mall! We had a great time in search but unfortunately, I found no treasures to bring home. Yet secretly, my youngest son stowed away his Christmas gift for me which I discovered under the tree a few days later! He got a great deal and I can see why! He knew I would have fun trying to breathe new life into the L J Peretti now before me on my work table in Sofia. I am anxious to get back to work on a pipe and this Peretti is a great starting block for 2017! With the obvious need to solve the issue of the broken and missing stem piece, I can easily see what attracted my son to this stummel. The briar swirls stunningly into fire grain and very distinct and tight bird’s eye knots. There are a few lightened fills that will need attention and the bowl has significant cake and will need to be reamed down to the fresh briar. The rim shows some thick lava flow and has minor dents. Unfortunately, the center swatch of the L J Peretti – Imported Briar marking on the squared shank is worn off – over achieving buffing or wear? The Peretti ‘P’ is visible on the surviving legacy of the original saddle stem. I’ve grown to appreciate the enduring marks of a pipe’s provenance and for this reason, this surviving piece of this pipes history needs to be protected and restored! I’ve been thinking for some days – actually, starting with the opened gift (!) about how to splice a new piece of stem to the survivor? I haven’t done this particular maneuver before, but I’m sure it can be done!

When I began my research on L J Peretti, I was surprised to discover that it is not an Italian pipe as one might expect with such a name! In fact, I discovered the genesis of a significant story of Americana pipe history with the establishment of the L. J. Peretti Company of Boston in 1870 (Pipedia citing: Pipes, Artisans and Trademarks, by José Manuel Lopes), the second oldest tobacco shop in the US, second only to Iwan Ries & Co. of Chicago established in 1857 (See: Link). Going directly to L J Peretti’s website, now president, Stephen L. Willett provides this historical summary of this Boston icon (Link: http://www.ljperetti.com):

In 1870, Libero Joseph Peretti arrived in Boston from Lugano, Switzerland. Filled with an entrepreneurial spirit and a love for fine tobacco, L.J. established the “Peretti Cuban Cigar Co.” in Boston’s historic North End. In the first two decades of business, the company provided a number of contributions to the tobacco industry and began to blend “house cigars”.

1892 marks the establishment of the Peretti Cigar Factory in Park Square, Boston. For over forty years, the company employed fifty rollers who produced some of the finest cigars in New England. Not only did Peretti’s manufacture blended cigars, but they also created Clear Havana Vitolas such as the legendary La Mirendella.

L.J.’s son, Joseph, aka “The Major”, followed his father into the family business. His primary love was pipes and pipe tobacco. Among his notable accomplishments was the creation of the first “English” blend, called British, in the United States; as well as securing the exclusive import rights to Peterson pipes and Sullivan & Powell tobaccos.

After World War II the third generation Peretti’s, Robert, entered the firm. The original store had moved from the North End to the centre of Boston on Massachusetts Avenue and there were additional stores throughout the financial district of Boston. Robert became a tobacco legend in United States and throughout the world. Most of the more than eighty house blends of pipe tobacco were created by Robert Peretti. His reputation as a blender led politicians, actors, celebrities and gentlemen of all callings to seek his tobacco advice.

I enjoyed reading several comments after the interview of Stephen Willett on The Pipes Magazine Radio Show (See: Pipes Magazine Radio Interview) extolling the fact that tobaccos are mixed in house and one could take his pipe to their shop on 2 1/2 Park Square today, and be guided by experienced tobacconists and test several selections before making a decision to purchase. My son and daughter-in-law, formerly of Boston, also had the opportunity to explore this historic tobacco shop!

I was still curious about the name, “Peretti”, and its Swiss (not Italian) origins with the patriarch Libero Joseph Peretti’s arrival in the US in 1870 from Lugano, Switzerland. It did not take long to figure it out when looking at the location of Lugano on a map of Europe thanks to Google Maps. The Italian influence would be inescapable as Lugano is situated in a slender finger of Swiss land on the southern edge of the Alps with greater topographical access to the Italian planes falling away to its south than to Switzerland proper to the north – through the Alps. Curiosity satisfied.One other question hounds me – the question for each pipe: Where was this particular L J Peretti pipe made? In Boston? Per L J Peretti’s website, today pipes with the Peretti stamping are made exclusively by Briar Works in Nashville, TN. This Peretti, however, predates this association. Briar Works began operations in 2012. One possible clue came at the close of Stephen Willett’s interview on the Pipes Magazine Radio Show in April of 2016 referenced above. Willet was asked about relating a ‘favorite pipe story’. Willett commented on being in London smoking pipes with a John Redman, who used to make pipes for L. J. Perretti Co. So, a possible source. The John Redman Ltd. and British Empire Pipe Co. is cited in Pipephil.eu listing the names produced (Aristocrat, Buckingham, Buckingham Palace, Canberra, Captain Fortune, Dr John, Golden Square, Redonian, Richmond, Smokewell, Twin Bore) but no reference to a L. J. Peretti association. I sent an email to the L. J. Peretti Tobacconists shop in Boston regarding the provenance of this particular Peretti names-sake before me. We’ll see if we can learn more.

I was gratified when an email arrived from the L. J. Perretti Co. Tobacconists shop in Boston a few days later. Here is what I found:

Hello Dal,

We have been sourcing our proprietary pipes from a number of different manufacturers. That said, it is most likely that Arlington Briars made the pipe you have in your possession. Photos would help us identify the pipe further. I will have to look through some of our old content and see what I can find. Hope this helps,

Tom

LJP

Thankful to Tom for his response, I sent on photos. Per Pipedia,

Arlington Briar Pipes Corporation was founded in 1919 in Brooklyn, New York, and produced the Arlington, Briarlee, Firethorn, Krona and Olde London brands among dozens of others, primarily acting as a subcontractor making pipes to be sold under other brand names. Among others, in the 1950’s, Arlington turned pipes for the famed Wilke Pipe Shop in New York City. The corporation was dissolved by the State of New York as inactive on December 6, 1978.

With a greater appreciation for the pipe before me and the rich heritage of the L. J. Peretti name and company, I take another long, hard look at the surviving stem piece. My goal is to splice the stem by cannibalizing another saddle stem. My original idea was to see if I could find a piece of stainless steel tubing small enough to insert into the airways of both the survivor stem piece and the new cannibalized piece and connect them – providing a firm connection point and reinforcement for the splice. Before returning to Bulgaria, I went to a specialized store in Denver with hope of finding such a tube. They were not able to help me and indicated that I could probably find tubing like I wanted in a medical equipment context…. So, with this idea put aside, my goal is a clean bond using only superglue. I take another picture of the surviving stem piece and the stem candidate. I want to remove the stinger and after it refuses to budge I heat it with a lighter loosening the vulcanite grip. It joins the other retired stingers in the bottle. Using a straight edge, block and sharpie pen, I draw a line across the original stem. It will act as a guide as I cut the vulcanite using the Dremel with a cutting blade. Well, after starting with a cutting blade, I discovered that it was difficult to maintain control over the blade movement. I switched to the sanding drum and that worked much better. I’ll fine tune the cut after cutting the second stem. The pictures show the progress. I want to cut the donor stem very close to the saddle expansion where the stem is thickest. This hopefully will give me more wiggle room as I fashion the two stems together. I use the Dremel blade to do a rough cut to remove the shank side of the stem. I’ll save this piece to fabricate a breather insert later – waste not want not! Key to this stem splice working is a proper aligning of the airways while working on shaping the external stem appearance. Hopefully to accomplish this, to keep the airway stationary, I form a temporary insert stabilizer by cutting off the ends of a Q-tip and wrap the center plastic Q-tip tubing with scotch tape. I do this to enlarge the circumference of the left-over Q-tip to form a tight fit as each end is inserted into the airways of the adjacent stem pieces. It took me a few test Q-tips to get the size right. Now I can gradually shape the external stem and keep things lined up. In the final picture of the set below, you can see the aligning tube. The pictures show my plan materializing. I have hope that it will work! Now to fine-tune the trueness of the cut stem ends. I start with the survivor by standing it and eye-balling it next to a straight edge – not perfect! The first picture shows the leaning tower of Pisa! Working out of our 10^th floor flat, I don’t have all the tools available to me to automate procedures so I must improvise. I have a miter box that might do the trick. I take a strip of 240 grit sanding paper and use the miter’s perpendicular position to create a sanding mechanism that should produce a flat, true end. Moving the sanding paper back and forth while I manually pinch it against the triangle seems to do the job. After patient, easy back-and-forth motion, the end of the survivor stem piece looks good! A comparison shot to the leaning Tower of Pisa shot shows the progress. The new extension also needed some fine-tuning. Since there is a taper in the stem and therefore it’s uneven, I cannot use the miter box like before. I use the topping board with 240 grit paper to bring the angle into proper alignment – I discover that it is not an easy slam dunk to get things right. It takes several spins on the board following each spin by refitting the extension with the original stem and looking for the gaps between the two pieces. I need the junction to be as true, tight, and flat as possible for a good bond and a straight stem. After several cycles, I have it about as good as its going to get. The pictures show the process. I replace the temporary Q-tip stabilizing insert with a pipe cleaner inserted through both pieces and linking them up. The pipe cleaner will serve to keep the airway lined up during gluing as well as guard against glue possibly clogging the airway. I use a narrower, less fuzzy bristled pipe cleaner. After testing I found that a non-bristled pipe cleaner had too much fuzz and inhibited a tight junction between the pieces. I apply a little petroleum jelly to the section of the pipe cleaner that may meet the superglue. This will (hopefully!) keep the pipe cleaner from sticking to the glue. I wipe off excess jelly because I don’t want it interfering with the glue bonding. I then apply Starbond Black Medium KE-150 glue to the original stem piece, not too thick and spread it over the junction surface with a toothpick. My main concern is to allow the bond to settle ‘naturally’ around the airway alignment and have the stem straight. If gaps appear I can add additional glue later as a fill. Pulling the pipe cleaner from the shank side I draw the pieces together, align and compress for a few minutes. I set the spliced stem aside allowing the KE-150 glue to cure. The pictures show the progress. Turning now to the stummel, I take another close-up of the rim and chamber before starting. I use the Pipnet reaming kit and clean out the moderately thick carbon cake formed in the chamber. I use 3 of the 4 blades available to me to remove the harder than usual cake. After the Pipnet blades, I fine tune the chamber surface with the Savinelli pipe knife and then, using my finger and a dowel rod, I sand the internal chamber wall with 240 grit paper. Finally, I wipe the bowl out with a cotton pad dampened with isopropyl 95%. The chamber wall looks good – no problems there. Before cleaning the rim and stummel externals, I take Q-tips and pipe cleaners with isopropyl 95% to clean the internals of the stummel. Following this, I use Murphy’s Oil Soap undiluted with cotton pads and scrub the rim and surface. The lava build up on the rim proved to be resistant so I added use of the brass brush to the cleaning job. The inner rim appears to have burn marks on the front and back of the bowl. I’ll remove this damage by cutting an inner rim bevel later. The pictures show the cleaning progress. After rejoining the curing spliced stem to the stummel to avoid creating shank shoulders, I take a medium grade sanding sponge and sand the entire stummel surface and rim, avoiding the shank panel containing the L J Peretti stamping. I follow this with the same regimen using a light grade sanding sponge. With the sanding sponges, I’m removing small pitting and imperfections from the briar surface. To clean up the rim further, I cut an initial bevel on the inner rim first using a tightly rolled piece of 120 grade paper. I follow this using 240 grit then 600. I closely examine the surface and the sponge sanding did the job so that I did not need to use any super glue for fills. I did use the stain marker and darken fills that had lightened. The pictures show the initial stummel prep. I’m anxious to return to the stem repair to begin the ‘sculpting’ process. I’m sure that the donor stem that I’m using isn’t the best candidate for a match, but it is the only other saddle stem I have that isn’t already claimed by a stummel here in Bulgaria. Oh my – it reminds me that I just saw lots of 100 stems being auctioned on eBay! If only…. I take a few pictures of the spliced stem before I begin. To do the sculpting I use my Dremel high-speed rotary tool and mount the drum sanding tool. With the Dremel speed set on 2 of 5 (1 being the slowest RPMs) I gently and patiently begin removing vulcanite and shape the stem to give it a uniform look. The pictures show the progress until… …You’ve heard me say before, “As they say, it was going so well until it wasn’t.” The new superglue bond between the two stem parts simply gave way. I sat back in my chair looking at the divide and contemplated a visit to my favorite adult beverage. Before starting this project, I researched through the blogs looking for different approaches and techniques to this specific genre of stem repair – splicing. Steve has a very helpful Reborn essay, What are the options for repairing a damaged stem? I could not find anything with the specifics I was facing. Now with the two pieces before me, I decide to shoot an ‘SOS’ to Steve, even though I know he’s somewhere in the world traveling with his work. I press the send button, turn off the light, and head to bed!Gratefully, Steve’s reply arrived the next morning referencing another Reborn Pipes contributor, Jacek A. Rochacki, from Poland. Steve’s email described Jacek’s technique of creating a simple interlocking step between the two stem pieces by filing 90 degree angles out of the upper half of one piece and a corresponding 90 degree angle out of the lower half of the other piece. Essentially creating a juxtaposed and flipped ‘L’ on each stem piece. The step will provide more area for the glue to bond as well as distribute the stummel’s weight across the stem rather than at one tension point. The science behind the technique sounds good, now I need to bring the theory into physical reality! I decide to use the width of a flat needle file to determine the steps’ widths. Starting with surviving stem, I score a line to provide a guide for the edge of the step (first picture). After this, I wedge the stem piece in the miter box and invert the flat needle file and use it as a saw to cut a straight vertical incision half-way into the stem. Pictures 2 and 3 show this in progress. I use the Dremel to gradually remove the vulcanite and finish the fine-tuning with the needle file. The pictures show the progress. The other stem piece follows the same protocol. The whole process took quite a bit of time filing, eye-balling, test fitting and filing again. The junction I have is not a perfect fit. Dealing with the odd matching stem pieces presents its own challenges. The key as before, is to align the airway holes to have as much as possible a seamless airflow. The final picture in the set below shows the pipe cleaner inserted through the pieces and mimics the natural alignment before bonding with superglue. In this position, to test the freedom of the pipe cleaner to move, I compressed the pieces at the ‘step junction’ and then pulled the pipe cleaner back and forth to assure as much as possible a good alignment. The pictures tell the story. As before, I use a bristled pipe cleaner with less fuzz, apply petroleum jelly to the pipe cleaner to avoid sticking to the glue, and apply Black KE-150 Glue to the step surfaces. I pull the pipe cleaner from the shank-side to draw the stem pieces together to allow a natural placement favoring a clear airway. Once the steps fully engage, I compress the steps together to form the bond. While I apply this pressure, I also give a little pull on the pipe cleaner to assure that it is still moving freely and not crimped at the splice junction. After curing for 24 hours, I inspect the junction lines and apply additional KE-150 glue where needed to seal the joint. With the stem splice curing, I turn my attention to the stummel. Staying clear of the L J Peretti nomenclature on the left shank panel, using micromesh pads 1500 to 2400 I wet sand the stummel. Following this, I dry sand the stummel using micromesh pads 3200 to 4000 then again with pads 6000 to 12000. The depth of the briar grain looks good. The pictures show the progress.I like very much the lighter brown, butterscotch tones of the briar. I decide to apply a very light stain made up of one part Fiebing’s Light Brown Leather Dye to 4 parts isopropyl 95%. My desire is to blend the fills on the bowl even though I had already applied stain sticks to these areas. Using a pipe cleaner folded I apply a generous coat of the dye mixture, making sure to cover the entire stummel. After applying the dye, while still wet I fire the dye with a lit candle. This sets the hue of the dye well in the grain. After a few minutes, I repeat the process concluding with firing the wet dye. The alcohol in the dye burns off quickly and normally this does not burn the wood. I did scorch the wood of the rim of a restoration not long ago. I concluded that the problem was the cork that I had inserted in the bowl to manipulate the stummel while staining – the cork itself was saturated with the alcohol and kept ‘firing’ and scorched the thin wood of the rim…. Ever learning! Now, I hold the stummel by inserting a couple twisted pipe cleaners in the shank acting as a handle. The picture shows the final state after the second application of stain.I set the stummel aside to allow it to ‘rest’ through the night. The next day, I’m looking at the stummel and the spliced stem. I decide to jump into the stem work. Honestly, as I look at the stem, the word that comes to mind is ‘Frankenstem’. The stem that I cannibalized was not the best match to begin with. Changing the positioning of the stem pieces to give the ‘step splice technique’ a chance of working, left a spliced stem with a definite limp. Yet, I’m not finished and I’ve discovered along the way, there is a lot of forgiveness and flexibility in working with vulcanite. As the old Timex commercial assured, “Takes a lick’n and keeps on tick’n!” That will be my mindset as I approach the Frankenstem! I take some pictures to show the challenges. The first picture, perspective from the top looking down, shows the greatest challenges. The stem addition is offset revealing the original stem’s protrusion underneath. There is also more taper in the stem addition than in the original stem. My approach as I look at the stem will be to try to create a higher (toward the shank) taper on the original stem (on the lower side in the picture). This hopefully will blend the mismatch.I decide to chronicle the approach I take. I first work on the ‘straight’ side of the stem (lower) by using a rounded needle file to create a ‘dimple’ that would represent the deepest part of the tapered curve. It was adjacent to the protrusion on the right side (above in the picture below). After creating the dimple, I then gradually fan out the dimple with 240 grit sanding paper until I achieve a smooth taper joining the saddle with the button. I’m pleased with the results of phase 1.Phase 2 is creating another dimple on the other side – right at the point of the protrusion sticking out from underneath from the original stem step (pictured better above). Again, after the dimple is formed with the rounded needle file I use 240 grit sanding paper to fan the taper evenly throughout the stem. While the stem still is off center a bit, the tapering gives the allusion of a straighter stem. It seems to me the stem is resembling a fishtail style reminiscent of Stanwell pipes.Next, I sanded the upper and lower stem with 240 grit paper to smooth and blend the splice repair. This is helpful because it enables me to see that there are gaps in the seams of the patch. In the pictures below you can see the vulcanite dust from sanding lodged in the gaps. I decide to apply a bit of the Black Medium KE-150 glue to fill the gaps. Before I do, I wash the stem with water and a bit of dish soap. I apply the KE-150 then spray the joint with an accelerator that I just brought back to Bulgaria from my time in the US for Christmas. Putting the stem on the sidelines to cure a bit, I’m anxious to ‘unwrap’ the stummel and look at the briar underneath the fired dye crust. I take the Dremel and mount a felt wheel and using Tripoli compound, I apply the compound using the slowest speed available on the Dremel. For detailed ‘how tos’ in using a Dremel for this process, see my essay on Dremel Polishing Technique. After I finish the cycle with the Tripoli compound, I wipe the bowl lightly with a cotton pad and isopropyl 95% to blend the stain. After the Tripoli, I change to the Blue Diamond compound felt wheel at the same RPMs and apply Blue Diamond. Then I take a clean cotton cloth and give the stummel a rubdown removing the excess compound residues which is like powder. The stummel is looking great even before the carnauba wax application, but I decide to delay the wax application and again turn back to the stem.

To see the big picture, I unite the spliced stem with the stummel. I like the proportions. I was concerned that the stem might end up being too short and the L J Perretti becoming a nose warmer. This is not the case as the picture shows!Accelerator is God’s gift to the impatient! My first time to use it and it is nice – though I understand the downside of using an accelerator is the potential of a weaker bond, at least as I have read. The Black K-150 glue looks good. I return to sanding the stem to blend the patch and finish the shaping. With 240 grit paper, I smooth out the superglue fill and even though I can still see the lines, the touch test is the goal. I can feel no ridge at the junction seams. Success! With all this rigorous sanding, the verdict is in – the step splice technique is holding! I continue sanding moving down the stem removing the sand marks left by the Dremel drum sanding wheel. I finally arrive at the button and to lower lip is out of line. I straighten this with a flat needle file and I freshen the button lines while I’m at it. I use 240 grit paper again to remove the effects of the needle file use in the button area. Finished with the 240 grit paper, I use 600 grit paper to smooth the stem more and to reveal nicks or gouges that may have been missed. The last two pictures below show the finished shaping project. I’m very pleased with the results – the splice is holding well and the newly shaped stem is passable. Even though the splice seams are visible, they are smooth to the touch and I’m hopeful that as the stem polishing and waxing is completed, the seams will blend more. I think Frankenstem has been transformed well. Before bringing out the micromesh pads on the stem, I drop the newly spliced stem into the Oxi-Clean bath to raise the heavy oxidation left in the original stem piece. Another day is finished. The next morning I fish the soaking stem out of the Oxi-Clean bath. The oxidation has surfaced, and as expected, especially on the original stem piece. Initially I use 600 grit paper and wet sand the stem removing the top layer of oxidation. I use a topping board with 600 grit paper to make quick work of 3 of the 4 panels of the saddle stem block (not sure if there is a special name for this part of the stem). I am careful to protect the Perretti ‘P’ on the other panel by putting my thumb over it as I sanded around it. I repeated the process using 0000 steel wool. As always, the most difficult part to rid of oxidation were the vertical ‘rise panels’ above and below the stem. I’m satisfied with the progress the pictures show. With the new day, I’m in the home-stretch! With so much focus on the stem repair, I only now recall that I have not cleaned the internals of the now spliced stem. Using pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl 95% I work on cleaning the internals. After running 2 pipe cleaners through the airway, for a nice change, I discover that all is clean!I turn now to the micromesh cycles with the stem. Beginning with pads 1500 to 2400 I wet sand the stem and follow the set with an application of Obsidian Oil over the stem. Next, I dry sand using pads 3200 to 4000 followed by 6000 to 12000, following each set with a fresh application of Obsidian Oil. I’m generally pleased with the technique of this splice, but the fine polishing of the two pieces of vulcanite have revealed that not all vulcanite is the same. I assume the original survivor piece was of better quality than the donor piece. The polishing reveals that the original is a darker hue of black and it wasn’t evident only until now. So, we do the best we can with what we have! The pictures reveal this with a close look. The stem still looks good and what I’ve been through with it make it even look better! The pictures show the progress. Before rejoining stummel and stem to apply carnauba wax, I want to re-establish the Perretti ‘P’ stamping on the stem. Checking with the L. J. Perretti Co. stampings on Pipephil.eu, most stem marks are set with white lettering. I want to do the same to emulate how this Perretti most likely was commissioned. Taking white acrylic paint, I dab a bit over the ‘P’ on the stem. After an hour or so, after dried, I gently scrape the top layer of paint off with a pointed Q-tip which I picked up in the US at Hobby Lobby. Pictures show the result. Rejoining stem and stummel, I apply several coats of carnauba wax to both. I use a cotton cloth wheel mounted on the Dremel, increase the speed to a setting of 2 and apply the wax moving the wheel in a circular motion over the surface. After completing the carnauba wax application, I mount a clean cotton cloth wheel on the Dremel and clean buff the stummel and stem. Following this, I give the entire pipe a hand buffing with microfiber cloth to bring out the luster and depth of the grain even more.

The briar of this L J Perretti is unbelievable – a beautiful display of fire grain and very clear and distinct bird’s eye. The stem isn’t a perfect rendition mainly because of the unmatched vulcanite creating the splice. Yet, the ‘step’ technique Jacek provided (via Steve!) is working very well. The squared shank transitioning into the tapered fishtail-like stem I think is very nice. It works. I’m thankful to my son for gifting me with this L J Perretti! I would have enjoyed my inaugural smoke to have been a bowl of a special hand blended mixture from the L. J. Perretti Co. Tobacconists in Boston! Yet, after taking the presentation pictures following, I settled for a bowl of my favorite Cavendish blend – Lane BCA. Report? The L J Perretti smoked very well, indeed. Thanks for joining me!

1962 Barling’s Sandlast Bulldog Restoration

4 Replies

By Al Jones

I’m not a collector of Barling’s pipes, but when I stumbled over this ebay listing, I thought it was an older, Family era model. We are fortunate on the PipesMagazine.com forum to have the participation and expertise of Jesse Silver. Jesse is one of the key contributors to the Barling’s Pipepedia page. I thought that the pipe was made after 1962, but Jesse was able to tell me that this pipe was made between the Spring and Fall of that year. His comments were:

Jesse Silver wrote:
These particular Barlings with the Block lettered “Barling’s Make” in a smaller size and the revised 4 digit model code, appear in the 150th Anniversary Catalog.
My copy of that catalog includes a price list, dated to June 1962, that references the new model numbering system. Figuring that production of the catalog must have taken a month or more back then, and these pipes were made as early as May or April of 1962, and possibly earlier. They were in production as late as late September, based on a letter from Barling’s new American distributor to its dealer network, which describes the stampings, block Barling’s Make with the new model numbering system.
The completely new nomenclature appears in the Dealers Catalog that was published in November of 1962. So that gives me a range for dating these specific pipes.

I was also a bit puzzled by the meaning of the four digit shape number. Once again, Jesse had the answer:

The first number indicates the chamber size. When the new 4 digit numbering system was set up, the first number replaced the old SS thru EXEXEL size stamps. The new number range went from 2 for the smallest size to 6 for the largest for the standard size range. Occasionally you will see a higher number for an oversized pipe.

The “4” on this pipe indicates that it is equal to the old “EL” stamp, or about a group 4.

The second and third numbers indicate the the bowl shape. In this instance, 73 indicates a Rhodesian shape.

The fourth number indicates the bit shape and length. In this instance, “5” indicates a tapered bit that is between 2 3/4″ and 3 1/4″ in length.

So 4735 would tell you that the pipe is similar to a Group 4 Rhodesian with a tapered stem that measures between 2 3/4″ and 3 1/4″ in length.

The stem was heavily oxidized and there was a deep teeth indention on the bottom of the stem. The briar looked in great shape. The crossed Barling’s stem logo was in poor condition.

I tried using some heat on the teeth indentions and I was able to lift the top indention. The bottom indention was too deep, so I filled in the depression with the black super glue and accelerator product to cure it. I put a dab of grease on the stem logo and soaked it in a mild solution of Oxy-clean. The bowl had a very light cake, which was reamed and I found that the bowl interior was in great shape. The pipe was soaked with alcohol and sea salt. Following the soak, the shank was cleaned and I waxed the bowl by hand with Halycon wax.

I removed the heavy oxidation with 800 grit paper. The area around the faded logo looked terrible, so I decided not to try and save the remnants. You can still see just a hint of the logo. Perhaps one day I’ll have a new Barlings stamped stem made by master repairman, George Dibos. The stem was then polished with 1,000 and 2,000 grade paper, then buffed with White Diamond and Meguiars Plastic Polish.

Below is the finished pipe, which is very compact and weighs 30 grams.

Oddball 9438 – Legacy

2 Replies

By Al Jones

I have a number of GBD 9438’s in my collection and that is probably my most favorite shape. I thought that I had seen all of the different grades and finishes, but this Legacy model is a first. The Legacy finish is one of the lower grades. The Pipepedia site has the description of the Legacy, from the 1976 catalog as:

Legacy — England, unknown if also made in France: Oiled finish, matt “take off” stain, roughened rim, carved worm hole finish. Military style turned stem. -catalog ( 1976 )

At 60 grams, the weight is average for a 9438 but it is easily the longest 9438 in my collection.

The brass rondell and straight line “London, England” stamping identify as being made prior to the merger with Comoy’s in 1982 (or 1981). The pipe had some teeth marks on the stem, but the briar looked nearly new. The pipe was delivered with some mild cake and there were some small teeth indentions on the bottom of the stem.

I reamed the bowl and gave it a light buff with White Diamond and several coats of carnuba wax. The stem was soaked in a mild Oxy-Clean solution, with a dab of grease on the rondell. I used the Stew-Mac black super glue product and accelerator to fill the teeth marks on the bottom of the stem and one small nibble on the top button ride. Those areas were sanded smooth with 800 grade paper, followed by 1,000 and 2,000 grade paper. During this process, the rondell fell off, a first for me. I used a tiny drop of the black superglue to set it back in place. Once dried, the stem was buffed with White Diamond and Meguiars Plastic polish.

As shown in the “before” photos, the military style stem was not seated fully against the shank. After cleaning the interior of the shank, the stem was able to seat fully.

Below is the finished pipe.

Savory’s Argyll 608 Stand-Up Restoration

2 Replies

By Al Jones

This is the second Savory’s Agryll to cross my bench in the past few months. This one, stamped as shape 608, caught my eye as it looked in great shape and the stand-up feature was interesting. Savory’s is known as a Dunhill 2nd’s line but not much else is written about the brand. The pipe was a little dirty had a mildly oxidized stem. Other than that, it looked like an easy restoration.

I put a dab of grease over the stem logo and soaked it in a mild-Oxyclean solution. Unfortunately, the logo paint came right off. It appeared to have just been painted on, with no impression. The briar had only a very mild cake, which was reamed and the pipe soaked with alcohol and sea salt.

The stem was mounted and oxidation removed with 800, 1,000 and 2,000 grade wet sandpaper. Next up was 8,000 and 12,000 grade micromesh sheets. The stem was buffed with White Diamond and Meguiars Plastic Polish. I hand waxed the bowl with Halycon II wax.

Below is the finished pipe (which nicely passes a cleaner, despite the bend).

Comoy’s 109 Tradition Restored

2 Replies

By Al Jones

This Comoy’s was seemingly star-crossed. After two round trips to the US from Portugal, it finally made it to my mailbox on the 3rd mailing. I’d just about given up hope but after getting the pipe in hand, however it was worth the effort. The 109 shape is definitely a classic British billiard, with the nice feature of being a “sitter”. The 3 piece “C” logo and circular Country of Manufactur mark meant that the pipe was made before the merger of 1981.

The stem was mildy oxidized with only minor teeth marks. The briar had a few dings around the bowl and a little rash on the back of the bowl. I contemplated stripping the finish and making a superglue and briar dust repair to the bowl, but I wasn’t confident that I could replicate the finish and patina of the pipe. So, I chose a less evasive process.

The bowl was reamed and I found it to be in excellent condition. The bowl was soaked with alcohol and sea salt. While the bowl was soaking, I put a dab of grease on the stem and soaked it in a mild Oxy-Clean solution.

The stem was mounted and the outer layer of oxidation was removed with 800 grade wet paper, followed by 1,000 and 2,000 grades. Next up was 8,000 and 12,000 micromesh sheets. The stem was then buffed with White Diamond and Meguiars Plastic polish.

The build-up on the bowl top was removed with a damp cloth and then a piece of 8,000 grade micromesh. I smoothed the area of rash with some 2,000 grade paper and then an 8,000 micromesh sheet. The bowl was buffed lightly with White Diamond and several coats of Carnuba wax. The area of rash blended in nicely. Tradition grade Comoy’s usually have a nice, deep luster to the bowl finish and I’m glad that I decided to not strip and refinish this one.