This one was a labour of love – A Custombilt Bullmoose

Blog by Steve Laug

My brother sent me a pipe that is a shape I have had two previous times and always sold or gifted. It is a Bullmoose or a Scoop shape. Tracy Mincer did a great job with this shape and it is one I have never seen repeated as chunky as he did them. This one was stamped on the right side of the shank with the words Custombilt over Imported Briar. The pipe was solid but dirty. The stem would not push into the shank and the grooves and trails in the briar were dusty. The bowl had a thin, uneven cake in it and the lava overflowed slightly onto the rim leaving a thin coat of tars and oils. There were some dings and dents in the smooth parts of the pipe and the finish was worn. There were some fills in the grooves that showed through the worn finish. Overall it was in good shape. The stem had tooth chatter on the top and bottom sides with a few deeper tooth marks near the button. The photos below show what the pipe looked like when I started working on it. I took a few close-up photos of the bowl rim, front and back views and the stem to show what I had to deal with in the restoration of this one. The stamping gave me a bit of information on the date of the pipe. The one word Custombilt stamping rather than the Custom-Bilt stamping would help to pin down the date a bit. I decided to pause a few moments and do a bit of reading to help narrow down the date. I looked on one of my go to resources – Pipedia.org. I also have Bill Unger’s book but it is packed away at the moment and this article on pipedia quotes extensively from the book. Here is the link to the article: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Custom-Bilt

Under the heading, Custom-Bilt History is the following information.

“The book (Bill Unger’s Book, my comment) opens up with an intriguing statement that unfortunately is never fully followed up: Before beginning this history, I need to emphasize an important fact and to ask the reader to keep it firmly. Spelling-Custom-Bilt, Custombilt, and other variations-is extremely important to the various aspects of the following discussions. It was not, however, important to many people in the company’s early days. [Emphasis mine] {Page 9}.”

“Tracy Mincer started the original Custom-Bilt pipes it appears in 1934. Bill meticulously details the start of the Company, how it was financed, the changes in the original ownership, how the company distributed its product, the manufacturing process, certain patented items, and other interesting stuff… In 1946, the name was changed to Custombilt after Mincer began an association with Eugene J. Rich, Inc. (my emphasis). There were some big changes in advertising and distribution. The slogan “AS INDIVIDUAL AS A THUMBPRINT” began at this time as well.”

“In the early 1950’s, Tracy Mincer developed severe financial problems that caused him to stop making the Custombilt, and he lost the name. In 1953, Leonard Rodgers bought the company and emphasized tobacco pouches and butane lighters. (However, it appears Mincer was working on his new pipe, the Doodler.) In 1968, Rodgers sold the Company to Consolidated Cigars. In the early 1970s, Wally Frank Co. bought the Custombilt trademark and began to produce their version of the pipe in 1974 or 1975. Hollco Rohr owned the Weber pipe factory, located in New Jersey, and produced the Custombilt pipes there. In 1987, the pipes were made out of the Butz-Choquin factory (France) and then Mexico until the late 1990s. Currently, the Custombilt name is owned by Tobacalera of Spain.”

From this information I am pretty sure my pipe is made after the change in 1946 and before Tracy Mincer lost the name in the early 1950s. It has the characteristic Mincer like rustication patterns and shape. It could very well be from the Rich era of the brand.

I went to work cleaning up this old timer. I scrubbed the bowl with a toothbrush and Murphy’s Oil Soap. I was able to clean out the rustication and the grooves with this method. I rinsed the bowl under warm water to remove the soap and the grime. The first picture shows the soap on the bowl and the second through the fifth picture that follows show the cleaned and dried bowl. You can see the putty fills in the grooves. Fortunately all of them were in the grooves and not in the smooth portion of the bowl. I scrubbed out the airway in the shank, mortise and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until they came out clean. I thought about using the retort but chose not to on this pipe as it smells sweet and clean. To clean up the scratches and lava on the rim of the bowl I used a medium grit sanding sponge and “topped” the bowl on it. I find that this sponge removes the grime and leaves the rim intact with no briar removed. I worked it on the sponge until it was clean and then used a cotton swab and alcohol to clean up what remained. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth chatter and deeper tooth marks as well as the small gouges and oxidation on the vulcanite. With the internals of the shank and mortise cleaned I was able to put the stem back in place. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and took the cake back to briar. I used a Black Sharpie Permanent Marker to stain the rustication patterns on the bowl and shank. Once I finished with that I wiped the bowl down with alcohol to soften the black and prepare the surface for the contrast stain. I warmed the briar with a blow dryer and then stained it with Feibings Dark Brown that I had thinned with alcohol 1:1. I applied the stain and then flamed it with a lighter to set it. I repeated the process until I got good coverage. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the wheel to give it a shine and even out the stain coat. The next photos show the bowl at this point in the process. The contrast of the dark in the grooves with the brown really gives the briar a bit of pop. I was careful with buffing around the stamping as I did not want to damage the pristine stamping on this pipe.With the bowl done I turned my attention to the stem. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads until the majority of the scratches left behind by the sandpaper were gone. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit micromesh pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished by sanding it with the 6000-12000 grit micromesh pads and giving it a final coat of oil. I set it aside to dry while I worked on another pipe. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond to raise the shine and then gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and then buffed both the bowl and stem with a clean flannel buff. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I love the finished look of this old timer and the feel of the hefty bowl in the hand. In my opinion it turned out to be a beautiful pipe. Thanks for looking.

Simple Restoration of a Stanwell Freehand

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Blog by Aaron Henson – 2/20/16

I have had my eye on this pipe for several months. It has been languishing in a local antique shop since last summer and was priced as if it were fully restored. To my surprise it was still there at the end of January and the shop had lowered the price. I talked with the owner for a while and eventually got his rock bottom price (which was my top end price). After all, it is a beautiful piece of briar.

This is big pipe: the chamber is 7/8” (22 mm) diameter and 1¾” (45 mm) deep and the walls are more than 3/8” (10mm) thick. Inspecting the pipe I did not find much wrong. The stem was heavily oxidized and had very little tooth chatter. The briar was free from dent, gouges and the like. A few minor scratches and the worn stain was all that needed to be addressed. And there was only a light cake in the bowl. As for markings, there were none on the stem and some double markings on the bottom of the shank. It read STANWELL over de Luxe (double stamped) over MADE IN DENMARK (also double stamped). From what I could find, I estimate this pipe was made sometime in the 1970’s. If anyone can date it better please let me know. I set the stem to soak in an Oxyclean solution and began working on the stummel. I cleaned the outside of the briar with a tooth brush and Murphy’s oil soap, rinsing with water then quickly drying with a paper towel. I repeated the process on the plateaux several times. Next I reamed the chamber back to bare wood and inspected the internals. Then the internals of the shank cleaned up easily with cotton swaps and bristled pipe cleaners.

All-in-all, other than a micro crack on the outer surface, the briar was in great shape. There was one long scratch near the stamping but I didn’t want to touch that and risk damaging the stamps. I wanted a very smooth finish so I sanded the outside of the pipe with 1500 – 3200 micromesh pads and set it aside.

Returning to the stem, I scrubbed off the oxidation with a green pad and scrubbed the airway with a series of alcohol soaked pipe cleaners – bristled then soft. The tooth chatter was raised with heat from a lighter and the deepest tooth mark was filled with black superglue. When cured, the stem was sanded and polished with 1500 – 12000 micromesh pads. I wet sand with the first six pads and dry polish with the last three. A little mineral oil between sets of three pads seems to help too.

Next the pipe was assembled and taken to the alcohol retort. Even thought I had scrubbed the internals thoroughly, it took 3 test tubes of Everclear until I no longer smell the ghosts of the previous owner’s tobacco. In my research of the Stanwell pipes, I found that Stanwell used a walnut stain. This was consistent with the remnants of stain that I found on this pipe and I wanted to restore the original look. I began by applying and undiluted Feibing’s dark brown. After it set I realized that Feibing’s brown dye have too much of a red base and it was not direction I wanted to go.

I wiped as much off as I could with an alcohol soaked cotton pad and sanded the surface with the 2400 micromesh pad again to remove a bit more. Returning to my local Tandy Leather, I searched for a walnut stain. After looking at stain samples on leather (which responds much differently than briar) I placed my bets on Eco-Flo’s Bison Brown. This time the results were much more like what I had seen in pictures of similar Stanwell pipes. I applied the stain at full strength and flamed it. After the second coat dried I wiped the excess off with an alcohol soaked pad.

With the smooth surfaces done I stained the plateaux with Feibing’s black dye. Once it dried, I wiped the entire wipe down with mineral oil then set it aside to soak in. It was two days later that I found time to return and take the pipe to the buffing station. I buffed the entire pipe with red diamond then applied three coats of carnauba.

Thanks for reading and I would like to hear your comments.

Restoring an Interesting Older XXXX’d out Sitter

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Blog by Steve Laug

When my brother Jeff sent me the photos of this pipe I could see what had attracted him to purchasing it. The unique sitter shape with the angled bottom, the interesting grain patterns and the clean though oxidized stem all pointed to a pipe that would clean up very well. The stamping on the left side of the shank was XXXX’d out so he could not read it to see who had made the pipe. There was something about it however, that niggled at my memory and the shape had a quintessential British made pipe look. When it arrived I examined it under a bright light and was able to make out the stamping under the XXX’s. It read MAJESTIC over Danish Crown. From research on the web I found that the brand was made by Ben Wade in England. In person the pipe was quite nice. There were scratches and nicks in the bowl that would need some work. On the left side toward the bottom of the bowl were two marks joined by a line. At first glance it looked like a crack but it was not. There were two flaws in the briar and a long horizontal scratch in the surface of the briar. Even if it had been a crack the two flaws stopped it from spreading so it was not a problem.

There was beautiful grain on the sides and bottom of the bowl. The dirty rim promised some interesting grain underneath the tars and lava build up. The outer edge of the rim had damage on the front and the rear. It had been tapped out on something solid and had rounded and damaged the edge. The inner edge looked good though the crumbling cake would need to be reamed to know for sure.

I reamed the bowl with the PipNet reamer and completely removed the cake. I wanted to clean up the inner edge of the rim and check the bowl walls for cracks or damage. (In the top view photo you can see the rounding on the front and back outer edges of the rim.)

I cleaned out the airways from button to bowl with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I used a dental pick to clean out the slot.

I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the grime and the damaged finish.

I scrubbed the rim and then used the topping board to remove the damaged top of the rim. A light topping took the surface down and sharpened the edges on the front and back side of the bowl.

I used the dental pick to clean up the line and the two end points that marked the bowl on the left side. I used clear super glue to fill in the flaws and the groove in the line. I sanded the repairs to the bowl until the surface was smooth. I sanded it and the rim with micromesh sanding pads 1500-6000 grit. I used a black marker and a dark brown stain pen to prepare the bowl for staining. I decided to use a Cherry Stain and Danish Oil on the briar on this one. It would highlight the grain and make it shine.

I laid the pipe aside to dry over night. In the morning I buffed it with some Blue Diamond and then gave it a coat of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a flannel buffing pad and then took the next photos.

The stem still needed attention. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the nicks and deep oxidation in the vulcanite. I followed that by wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and rubbing it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and repeated the oil. I finished by dry sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of oil. I set it aside to let the oil soak into the vulcanite.

I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond and then gave it several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The unusual shape and the unique grain on the briar really stand out with the finish I chose. The slight bend to the stem gives it a jaunty look. The stem is too heavy for the bowl to sit flat on the angled base but it balances on the point.

Thanks for looking.

Brebbia Clean Up

Happy International Pipe Smoking Day to all my friends, readers and fellow bloggers. For the day I wanted something new, well new to me . She came in on Friday just in time for a Saturday puff. The Brebbia Fat Bob is a pipe I’ve been in search of in my price range for two year’s. Now I’m unsure if that’s what I have here but if it’s not it’s a close match. The pipe itself is unmarked but the stem has the Brebbia inlay. I have seen other unmarked Brebbia’s in the past made for private B&B’s.

As Received

I got a little ahead of myself with this refurb and began working without stopping to take before and after photos, the photo above is from the auction. It was listed as clean and ready to smoke apparently my standard’s are a little higher than others. The pipe was badly reamed ( out…

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Easy Restoration of a 3-Star Pipes by Lee Rhodesian

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Blog by Aaron Henson – 2/20/16

I have found that writing up my pipe restorations is handicapped by my in-ability to remember to take pictures as I am working. On this Pipes by Lee Rhodesian I did a little better job at taking pictures. Although this was a simple restoration I thought I would take the opportunity to share my experience.

I found this 3-star Lee with two other pipes (a Mastercraft and a Grabow) in a lot at a local antique shop. I wanted to know more about the Lee brand but I found there is not much out there. But here is what I found:

The Pipes by Lee brand was distributed by Stewart-Allen Co, Inc., NY. The pipes were graded by stars: 1 to 5 stars (5 being the high end). Early pipes have seven pointed stars; the middle run have five pointed stars and later pipes are stamped with colored gold stars. (the preceding content from the “Pipes: Logos & Markings” website and the 1947 Ad, courtesy Doug Valitchka).

This pipe has three 7-point gold/brass stars set in a line in the top of the stem. I could not find the dates of the different runs/eras mention above but based on the ad I would have to guess my pipe dates to the late 1940’s to 1950’s.

The Pipe
The outside of the pipe was in very good condition. The briar was clean and the stem was moderately oxidized. The stamps on the shank were very clear: left side read ‘Pipe by Lee’ over ‘Limited Edition’. The right side of the shank is stamped ‘An Authentic’ over ‘Imported Briar’. The stem was slightly over-clocked and the previous owner had placed a couple of sheets of paper between the stem and shank to act as a spacer. There was one divot in the bottom stem near the button but otherwise was free from tooth chatter.

The internals were a different story; the chamber had a healthy cake buildup and good amount of tar on the rim. The shank was full of tar and the stinger was coated in dried tar. The internals of the stem itself were not as bad as the shank and I will attribute this to the removable filter/stinger. I began the restoration by cleaning the rim. I moistened a little powdered Oxyclean and placed it on a damp green-pad. I laid the pad on a flat surface and worked the bowl much like I was topping it. I don’t have a picture of the result but this worked very well.

The cake was very hard and resisted my attempts with the reamer so set the bowl to soak in alcohol overnight. I also set the stem to soak in an Oxyclean bath using a pipe cleaner to hold the stinger out of the solution.With the cake nice and soft, I reamed the bowl back to bare wood with little difficulty. An inspection of the inside of the chamber showed that the briar to be sound and without burnouts or cracks. The airway was clear and located precisely at the bottom center of the chamber. The alcohol soak also removed much of the stain and revealed three small pink fills that would have to be addressed.I finished up the internals by cleaning the shank with cotton swabs and pipe cleaners until they came out as clean as they went in.

I neglected the pictures during this next part but in summary I used a dental pick to remove fills and packed the voids with briar dust. A dab of clear CA (cyanoacrylate) glue set the dust in place. After drying, the fills were sanded smooth. I also sanded the entire bowl (except around the stamps) with 1500-3200 micromesh pads.

Returning to the stem, I removed the aluminum ‘filter’ and cleaned it and the threads with 0000 steel wool and alcohol. Then I tried to raise the divot out of the stem with flame from a lighter. I didn’t expect to completely eliminate the divot but wanted to reduce it as much as possible before filling it. The fill was made with black CA glue and charcoal powder then sanded smooth when cured.

I polished the stem by wet sanding with 1500-4000 micromesh pads, rubbing down with mineral oil after each group of the three pads. A plastic washer was placed between the stem and the stummel at this stage to prevent damaging the wood and to keep from rounding the shoulder of the stem. At this point I set up the alcohol retort. It took three test tubes until the alcohol was clean; note that I left the filter off during the retort. I won’t describe the retort process because that can be found in other posts but I do want to comment on one point. I have found that heating the alcohol often time lead to an explosive boiling – not a very controlled process. The smooth surface of the test tube and purity of the alcohol does not provide a surface for bubble to form on. However, if I add a small foreign object to the bottom of the tube the boil is much more controlled. I small piece of cake or charred candle wick gives the bubbles a place to form and eliminate the possibility of super-heating the alcohol.Now that the pipe was cleaned and sanitized I finished the stummel by applying two coats of Feibing’s light brown aniline stain. I flamed the stain to set it and then wiped off the excess with a cotton pad and alcohol. While reassembling the pipe I heated the threaded tenon and re-align the stem. Then I coated the entire pipe with mineral oil and set it aside to soak in before applying three coats of carnauba wax.

Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think.

Didn’t Break a Sweat Cleaning this London Briar Brandy

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Blog by Steve Laug

My brother sent me this nice brandy shaped pipe. It has a Lucite stem that is a swirled black and olive or brown depending on the light. The bowl was in good shape with a light cake and some rim lava. There was a scratch on the left top of the rim top. The finish had a coat of varnish over the briar and it was cloudy and dirty. The stem had some tooth chatter and was dull. Otherwise the pipe was in very good shape. The only stamping on it is LONDON BRIAR on the right side of the shank.

I had not seen the stamping London Briars before so I did some hunting on the web for the brand and found that the brand was made by/for Gauntleys of Nottingham. They sold new for £31.95 Here is the link to their site: https://cigars.gauntleys.com/uk/offer/gauntleys-london-briar-pipes

I quote directly from the site:
Gauntleys London Briar Pipes – Our London Briar pipes have become very popular since we introduced them just a few months ago. Each is made from selected second briar blocks from one of the country’s largest and most respected pipe makers.

If the briar was flawless these pipes would sell for over £250. These are from briar with small flaws in the grain or needing small amounts of filler so are great value. The briar is some of the finest in the world and can be up to 80 years old.

Each pipe is hand made in a range of classic English shapes and comes in a number of finishes from Smooth Brown to Black (Shell Briar) Sandblasted.

If you are looking for a first pipe or something to use around the house or garden the Gauntleys London Briars are very affordable and smoke like an entry level premium briar. Each pipe comes boxed with a silk bag.

Here is the state of the pipe when I brought it to the worktable today. There is not a fill or a flaw that I can find in the briar. It is a light weight and clean pipe. I took a close up photo of the rim top to show the build up and scratches. I scrubbed the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish coat. There was some nice grain under the varnish coat.

I lightly topped the bowl to remove the scratches and the lava. The cake was uneven so I reamed it back to the briar to facilitate the building of an even cake.

I cleaned out the shank, mortise and airway with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe cleaners and cotton swabs came out clean. I scrubbed out the airway and the slot in the stem at the same time.

I used a light brown stain pen to stain the rim to match the bowl. I sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then wiped it down. I continued to sand it with 3200-12000 grit micromesh to polish it.

I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and then gave them multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff and then hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below.

Comoy’s Shape 43 Tradition Restoration

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Blog entry by Al Jones

I can’t resist pre-Cadogan, Comoys Tradition grade pipes. They are readily available and decent examples needing restoration don’t sell for exorbitant prices. This Shape 43, Large Bent Billiard was well loved, but showed promise. I’ve worked on a few Shape 42 Medium Bent Billiards, but this is the first Shape 43 that I’ve encountered. Curiously, this shape is not on any of the on-line Comoy’s shape charts (pipepages, etc.). It is on the shape number list on the Pipepedia site.

The stem was heavily oxidized, but the drilled, 3 piece “C” logo was readily identifiable. The stem had some teeth marks on both sides of the stem and some small sections of button were worn. Tars in the shank kept the stem from being inserted all the way. The bowl had a heavy layer of tar on top.

“Before” Pictures

I used some 800 grit wet paper to carefuly remove the thickest coating of tars from the bowl top. Then, 1000 grit and finally a wet cloth with oxy-clean water. The tars came off completely and showed no scorched briar. The Comoys trade-mark beveled bowl top was worn but intact. There was one dent in the bowl top and one small crease on the front of the bowl. Using an iron set on “High” and a wet cloth, I was able to steam most of the bowl top dent out and raise the crease as well.

The bowl was soaked with isopropyl alcohol and sea salt. After the soak, I used a series of bristle brushes and alcohol to clean the interior of the shank.

The stem was soaked for several hours in a mild Oxy-Clean solution. I use a lighter to lift out the dents on the top and bottom of the stem. There was one tooth prick that was repaired with Black Superglue. I used the Black Superglue to rebuild the worn sections of the button. I blended the button in using 800 grit paper. The oxidation was removed starting with 800 grit paper, then 1500 and 1000 grades. This was followed with 8000 and 12000 grade micromesh. The stem was then buffed with White Diamond rouge and auto plastic polish. I’m very pleased with the condition of the stem.

The bowl was buffed lightly with White Diamond and several coats of Carnuba Wax. The excellent nomenclature was buffed by hand.

Below is the finished pipe.

The Peterson Flat Bottom Shapes: A Visual History

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Great information that I wanted to pass on to rebornpipes readers.

This one was a challenge for me – a 1981 CAO Bekler A La Rodin No. 7 of 100

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

A fellow Canadian contacted me about working on a Bekler that he had picked up. He said it was pretty rough. He sent me these photos for a quick look. I loved the look of this pipe. It is stamped CAO Bekler on the darkened shank. On the foot it is stamped ’81 over A La Rodin no. 7 of 100. Above the darkened shank is an insert of carved roses. Above that is a bi-colour spool. The stem was pushed into the spool. There are threaded connectors between each piece of the shank. When the pipe arrived it was in worse shape than I had expected. Joe had said that the stem needed work but I did not expect the mess that came. Someone had hacked the stem with files and left behind an uneven surface with many deep file marks and scratches. Some of the flaws were raised and some were indents. It looked as if they had tried to thin the mouthpiece down and narrow the width of the stem. The button was intact but had file marks. The file marks went every direction across the stem. The slot in the end of the stem was off centre with the drilling in the slot slightly to the left. The stem itself was twisted to the left as well. The inside of the stem had a dark sludge in it that pretty well hid the tortoise shell look of the Lucite. The bowl and shank were badly scratched and the rim was a mess. The bowl was out of round and the same person had used the file on the rim leaving behind deep gouges in the top of the rim. On top of the scratches there was a thick coat of lava that covered the top from the inner edge out to about the middle of the top. The foot had some nicks out of it. This would take some tedious work to clean up.

I took some photos after I initially sanded the stem. I wanted to document the condition of the pipe. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out all of the cuts and file marks. It took a lot of sanding and shaping to smooth out the stem surface. I found that under the file marks there were some tooth marks in the underside of the stem. I sanded that surface smooth and wiped it clean. I used a clear super glue to fill in the divots. Once the glue dried I sanded the entire stem once again and blended the patch into the surface of the Lucite. I reshaped the button and the edge with the sandpaper and cleaned up the slot with needle files.

Once the surface was smooth I cleaned out the inside of the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol. I scrubbed the interior with both smooth and bristled pipe cleaners. I was able to clear out the darkening and tar in the airway. With the stem cleaned up and the surface smooth I took a picture of all of the parts on this pipe. The connectors look rough but upon examination I found that they were solid and needed to be cleaned up. You can also see the file marks on the top of the rim and the tars and lava that filled them.

I scrubbed the spool insert with Murphy’s Oil Soap and then rinsed it off with water. I cleaned out the inside of the spool and the threaded connector with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I used a topping board to clean up the ends of the connector as it was poorly done. It looked like someone had shortened it with a pair of cutters and left the residual chips and flakes on the connector. The tars had caught on them giving the end a rough look. The threads were also caked with tars and oils. I scrubbed the next shank insert, the carved rose piece with the Oil Soap and a tooth brush and rinsed it with water. I cleaned out the interior with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I also cleaned the longer connector inside and out. I used a dental pick to clean out the threads. I also used the topping board to smooth out the ends.

The next photo shows the two shank inserts joined together with the smaller of the two connectors. I gave them a light coat of Conservator’s Wax and buffed them with a shoe brush to raise a shine. I decided to work on the stem with the micromesh pads to see what the surface looked like with some shine. I find that the first three grits of micromesh pads – 1500-2400 – tell a lot. I could see the spots that I needed to still work on but I could also see the lovely tortoise shell Lucite beginning to show its colours. I put the stem on the two inserts to get a feel for the look of this part of the pipe. I took the next two photos to show the progress. The stem was getting there. I still needed to heat it and straighten out the twist in the bend and bend it slightly more as it did not fit snugly in the case. Before I heated the stem I examined it carefully. There was a small flaw in the swirls of the material on the top surface of the stem at the bend so I would need to be careful in the heating and bending. Fortunately the flaw did not go too deeply into the stem material but sat on the surface. I heated the tip of the stem and straightened out the twist in it as I bent it slightly to match the case. I repaired the flaw with super glue and sanded it with 20 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repair.

I cleaned the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I set the bowl aside to dry out and I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished with dry sanding it with 600-12000 grit pads and gave it one last coat of oil.

I polished the stem with Meguiars Scratch X2.0 and then gave it several coats of wax. I scrubbed the surface of the bowl with the Scratch X2.0 and hand buffed it with a cloth. I sanded the file marks on the rim to bring it back to smooth. The deep gouges were blackened and took quite a bit of sanding to remove them. I started sanding with 220 grit sandpaper and worked on the surface of the rim. I was careful to not change the profile of the bowl or the angles of the rim. I sanded the rim with micromesh pads from 1500-12000 grit to smooth out the surface and give it a shine. I gave the bowl several coats of Clapham’s Beeswax Polish and buffed it by hand with a cloth.

With the buffing the bowl began to shine. The carving on the foot of the bowl stood out clearly. The rim surface looked far better than when I began.

I lightly buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond on the wheel being careful around the blackened shank. The shine rose in the meerschaum and the pipe looked good. Though there were still nicks and scratches they now looked like marks of honour and age rather than abuse. To me it is always a fine balance between restoring a pipe and reworking a pipe. On a beautiful pipe like this one I opted to work on the big issues and leave some of the war wounds on the sides of the bowl. To me the pipe has been around long enough to earn those marks. I want a pipe that is finished to look better than when I started but I am not aiming at making a 35+ year old pipe look new. I want it to look cared for and well smoked. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below.