Restemming and Reclaiming an Old, Unsmoked Rex Bulldog

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This is the second of the old unsmoked pipe bowls I picked up on EBay. It is one that I can find absolutely no information on anywhere. Some have thought it was a Barclay Rex but I can find nothing that would link it to that shop in NYC. It is stamped Rex in cursive script on the right side of the shank and also stamped Rex over Sterling on the band. It has the look and feel of an older English-made pipe. But I am not sure. The seller said it was from the late 1800’s but all attempts to contact them on the source of that information have remained unanswered. So it remains a bit of a mystery to me. It is one though that I will continue to hunt down until I can come up with something. This shape is what is called in some of the older catalogues a Bulldog. I personally am not sure what to call it. It has the shape of a bulldog on the bowl and the double ring separating the bottom of the bowl from the cap. The shank however, is oval. It has a factory installed band on it that is also stamped Rex. The script on the shank is in gold leaf. The bowl is very clean. There was a small crack in the shank on the shank at about one o’clock looking toward the bowl. This may have been the reason for the band or the band may have been decorative. There was no stem with this pipe so I was not sure of the length of the stem to make for it. The drilling is very interesting. It is drilled like some of the calabash bowls or bowls that were screwed onto Bakelite shank and bases in the late 1800s. It is directly in the bottom of the bowl and seems to have a small hollow chamber under the hole. The airway meets it directly underneath. I have not seen this drilling on briar pipes of newer eras. The bowl is smooth inside and almost polished. The briar is quite nice and sports mixed grains from cross grain to birdseye to flame around the bowl. The double cut rings are clean and are not clogged with wax or dirt. There appears to be a thin coat of shellac on the outside of the bowl to give it a shine as it shines with or without the application of wax. The silver band is interestingly shaped as well. It is somewhat conical – wider toward the bowl side and narrower on the stem side. There is also a stepped down lip on both sides of the band. Where it is on the bowl is stepped down to a small ring around the shank. On the stem side it is also stepped down. This would make fitting a stem to the shank a challenge. It was not too badly oxidized so it would clean up very easily. The first series of five photos are those taken by the Ebay seller and give a good idea of the look and condition of the pipe. The one thing not clear to me was the size of the pipe. I took a chance on it as the apparent age and the assumed age stated by the seller made the likelihood of it being smaller was very high. When it arrived it was indeed quite small. The bowl and shank are roughly 3 inches long without the stem. The height of the bowl is 1 5/8 inches. The inside diameter of the bowl is ¾ inches and the outside diameter is 1 ¼ inches.

Once I started working on it the first decision that needed to be made was on the type and length of the stem to be used. I fitted several oval stems to the bowl – a standard length billiard type stem, a thicker and a thinner oval Canadian stem and a Lovat style saddle stem. The longer stem did not work well with the longer shank on the pipe. The thicker Canadian stem also made the stem look quite chunky and large as did the saddle stem of the Lovat. The stem I settled on was the thinner Canadian oval. Even this one would require considerable thinning to make for a proper fit against the bevel of the band. The first photo below shows the two Canadian taper style oval stems. I chose the bottom stem in the photo.

I used the PIMO tenon turning tool to turn the tenon so that it would fit in the shank. The next three photos show the initial fit of the stem. You will note in the photos the gap where the bevel of the band lies. I had to make a decision to either leave the gap or work on the stem size so that it fit against the bevel and thus was slightly thinner than the shank prior to the band.

I decided to thin the stem to fit against the bevel. I used the Dremel with a sanding drum to bring it close to the finished size. I then sanded it with medium grit emery paper to smooth out the scratches and grooves from the Dremel. Once I had most of the scratches removed I sanded it with a medium grit sanding sponge to further shape the stem and remove excess material. The next series of three photos show the fit of the stem after it was sanded with the sanding sponge (pink square in the photos).

At this point in the process I had to take it back and sand off some more material with 340 grit sandpaper. It still was too thick to fit well. I also had to finesse the fit against the band with needle files as in some places it was not quite straight. When I had it fitting well I moved on to sanding with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad (the next two photos). I also did a small repair on the crack in the top of the shank. I pried it open slightly and dripped some clear super glue into the crack. It did not go all the way through into the shank which was interesting. It seemed to be a surface crack. The repair worked well. I polished that portion of the shank with the 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad as well to remove the slight excess of glue left behind (third photo below).

After the repair I continued sanding and polishing the stem with 1800-12,000 grit micromesh sanding pads. The next four photos highlight the sanding/polishing process. Notice the slight hip on the stem at the band edge. In the photos this appears to be more drastic than it is in actual life. The fit is more of a pinched look.

The final series of four photos show the finished pipe. I buffed it with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I really like the stem and fit against this long shanked “Bulldog” bowl. The pipe glows with an age and patina that calls out to be smoked. This is yet another who will soon fulfill the purpose for which it was made.

Restemming and Reclaiming an Older, Unsmoked GFB Briar Calabash

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Blog by Steve Laug

I bought three unsmoked pipe bowls from the same seller on EBay. One of them was a GFB calabash. With the first of this brand I bought a while back I did some digging on the web and found very little information. So this time I did a bit more searching and I was able to get some information on the brand. Many of the links I found through Google took me to others who were looking for information on the brand. I came across one that gave the information that the GFB brand was an older French Trademark and that it came from Saint Claude, France. With that information I did a more focused search for GFB French Briar Pipes and came across a post that said GFB stood for Great French Briar – that seemed a little farfetched to me so I continued to look and finally came across the following advertisement from a Sears Catalogue. It shows a full page of GFB pipes and the header says GENUINE FRENCH BRIAR. That made much more sense to me and the pipes in the catalogue matched the ones that I have in my collection and the ones that I have seen. For me that gives a better picture into the meaning of the brand letters.

Armed with this new information I went to work on the GFB Calabash pipe bowl that I purchased. The bowl itself was in astonishingly great shape for being over 100 years old. The pipe was unsmoked – new condition. The bowl was dusty but raw briar. The shank was clean and also pristine. This was an unsmoked – new old stock pipe bowl. The silver band was very tarnished and loose. There was no stem to be found. I wrote to the seller and asked what had happened to the stems for this old timer and two others I purchased from them. I did not receive an answer. The first four photos below are the seller’s photos as the pipe appeared on EBay. The first two are out of focus but give an idea of the bowl shape. The last two give close up photos of the stamping and the clean bowl. It was pretty hard to know the size of the pipe from their information. But it looked to be of similar age as an older 1912 BBB Calabash I have so I put in a bid and won.

The right side of the shank is stamped America and the left side is stamped Premier. The band has three stars *** over the GFB in an oval and under that is the Sterling stamp. The stamping led me to assume incorrectly that this was an older American made pipe. I was wrong. The stamping America obviously is the name of the pipe.

I looked through my box of old stems to find one that would be not just a proper fit but of an age that was appropriate to this old pipe. I found one that did not have a tenon, it had either broken or fallen out somewhere along its journey. I have a bag of Delrin threaded tenons that I use regularly for replacing broken tenons. I chose the smallest one as it would fit the mortise with a little bit of work. The stem was oxidized but in good shape with no tooth marks or dents. The button was a slight slot and the stem was quite narrow at the button end. It would look perfect on the pipe once I had the tenon replaced.

I drilled out the stem so that the threaded tenon would fit into it. I used a tap to thread the stem. The first photo below shows the drilled and tapped stem ready to receive the new tenon. I coated the threads with some black super glue and threaded it into the stem (second photo). The third and fourth photos below shows the tenon screwed into place. The tenon is now repaired. I needed to remove some of the Delrin to reduce the diameter of the tenon to get a good fit on the shank. I used my Pimo Tenon turner to do this. It was a little tricky in that the stem was bent but I proceeded slowly to turn it down until it was close. I finished reducing it by hand until it fit snugly in the mortise.

Once the stem fit snugly in the shank I needed to reduce the diameter of the stem in order to get a good match with the band on the shank. I sanded it with medium grit emery paper to bring it down to size. The next two photos show the stem in place. At this point the band had not been glued into place. It was still loose, so I removed the stem and used Weldbond white carpenters glue (which is non-toxic) to glue the band in place. I cleaned up the old glue lines on the shank with micromesh sanding pads.

The next four photos show the silver band after it had been glued in place and cleaned and polished with some Hagerty Tarnish Preventive Silver Polish. I have used this bottle for years and it works extremely well. I purchased it at a jewelry shop along with a polishing cloth that I used on the band as well. Once the band was polished the hallmarks were very visible. I have described the stamping on the band above. After shining they stood out clearly. I am not able to ascertain a date from the stamping as there are no date stamps. I also polished the bowl with a quick buff of White Diamond on the buffer and then I gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax.

With the bowl and band finished it was time to work on the stem. I sanded it with 220 and 340 grit sandpaper followed by sanding with a medium grit sanding sponge and then a fine grit sanding sponge. This series of sandpapers and sanding sponges has worked well for me in removing the scratches left by the emery paper as well as the remaining oxidation on the stem. I then sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12,000 grit to bring out the sheen on the stem and polish it. Between the 4000 and the 6000 grit I polished the stem with Maguiar’s Scratch X2.0 plastic polish. I finished with the last grits of micromesh sanding pads. The next series of six photos show the progressive shine on the stem with the various grits of micromesh.

I buffed the stem and bowl with White Diamond and then gave the pipe several coats of carnauba wax. The finished pipe is pictured below in the last series of four photos. It is amazing that this old pipe has existed this long since it was made and has not been smoked. That will change soon!

Leonard’s Pipe Shop – Portland, Oregon.

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Blog by Steve Laug

When I bought this old Leonard’s Sea Rock billiard on EBay I did a bit of hunting around the web to find out what I could about the brand. There was not a lot of information available but this is what I found out. I have edited it and added and adapted the material that I found on the web. I am unable to find who originally wrote this material. If anyone knows please leave a comment and I will acknowledge the work that person has done on gathering this helpful information.

The pipe I purchased is a shop pipe that came from one of America’s great old pipe shops – LEONARD’S PIPE SHOP which was located in Portland, Oregon, USA.The shop and the brand never was as famous as Peretti’s, Ehrlich’s, The House of Robertson, Bertram’s, Garfinkel’s, Drucquers or some of the other great names from the past, possibly because of its’ location. But in terms of stature among the world’s greatest pipe makers, Leonard’s had no equal. While some pipe shops catered to the rich and famous, served politicians or visiting emissaries,or made pipes for actors, entertainers or stars in one field or another, Leonard’s catered to the other end of the pipe chain – the all-important source of supply! The shop was founded by Arthur Leonard in 1936 who worked hard to establish close relationships with the world’s biggest and best pipe maker’s — Charatan, Barling, Sasieni, Kaywoodie and others.

In 1936, Kaywoodie was the most important name in pipes producing top-quality pipes and the most expensive pipes then available. So, it was natural for Arthur Leonard to establish a relationship with the makers of Kaywoodie. It is fairly recent that some of the greatest Kaywoodie’s ever made returned to the marketplace. For example the Leonard-owned Kaywoodie Magnums dated from the late 1930s which were displayed and ultimately sold by the family at the Chicago Pipe Show a few years ago. It will always be a question how they wound up in Portland, Oregon rather than New York, Chicago, Washington DC or the “hometown” of any of the other great pipe shops in America. The answer must lie in the relationships that Arthur Leonard established with pipemakers!

Another huge “GROUP 6” or “ODA” sized KW billiard also came on the market. It no doubt originated from a special order placed by Arthur Leonard. But the question with this pipe and others that Leonard’s had was who made it? As many collectors who visited his shop know (as well as those who have met the last generation owners, Lou and Betty Leonard) this was once one of America’s greatest pipe shops! It operated on the same corner location from 1936 through 1983 before moving to an uptown location for another six years. On display the Leonard’s had the longest and largest Kaywoodies ever made, unsmoked Dunhill Magnums and a host of pre-1900 Barlings! Arthur Leonard had established a powerful relationship with the great pipe maker’s of the last century and his shop retained the bounty of those relationships.

It is interesting that when the Barling family sold out, they called the Leonard shop and Arthur Leonard responded- – -buying every single Barling on hand at the time of sale so no inventory was acquired by the new owners (ending speculation that “Transition” Barlings were really older pieces acquired by the new owners)! Leonard did the same thing for the Sasieni family when they sold out! The Leonard’s Shop was perhaps the most well-known American smoke shop in Europe! The Leonard Shop ONLY carried high grades, so when the craze for meerschaum pipes occurred in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, (and the Turkish government restricted the exporting of raw meerschaum) the Leonard shop placed an order with Charatan for 50 meerschaum-lined Charatans! (At that time, the Supreme was the top-of-the-line Charatan! Imagine meerschaum-lined Selected’s and Supreme’s! Lou Leonard says that only about 35 were ever delivered and Charatan said they would make no more!)

I read that those who saw the Leonard’s display pipes at the Chicago Show a few years ago marveled at the quality of the uncirculated, unsmoked pipes. He had acquired the original Barling Meerschaum’s from a company that made Meerschaum pipes before making Briar pipes! The Dunhill Magnums were unsmoked in their original cases. The Kaywoodie Magnums were displayed in a specially made case. And the Sasieni’s, Charatan’s, Comoy’s and all the rest were pipes of historical importance. You see, Arthur Leonard nurtured his relationship with the supplier’s rather than the movie stars and politicians who bought pipes. In fact, Betty Leonard told stories about the vast inventory of pipes kept out of the public eye in a back room from which they were produced on an occasional basis to meet the needs of a specific customer’s request.

Like the other great American pipe shops, Leonard’s is gone. They closed their doors in 1989. Their inventory was slowly liquidated by the last family owners of the shop. It is sad that yet another piece of American pipe history is gone. It would be grand to have seen that back room filled with a huge inventory of beautiful old briars of renown. Ah well, we have to use our imaginations to enter that room now. As I go there in my mind, I load a bowl of good tobacco from Drucquer’s (another American Pipe Shop that is gone) in my Leonard’s Sea Rock and lift it in both of their memories.

ADDENDUM & CORRECTION: Please read the response below by Pete. He has added some great information that focuses and corrects some of the information above. Thank you Pete.

What’s the Story to be told by 3 Old Unsmoked Pipes without Stems?

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I bid on these three pipes on Ebay based on the pictures I have included in this post. They were two different lots from the same seller in California. They were unsmoked according to the seller and as best as I could tell from the photos they looked at least very clean if not unsmoked. They arrived yesterday in the post and they are amazingly clean. All three are unsmoked and what I would label as New Old Stock. I am curious as to how they were separated from their stems and when this happened. They all came from the same seller and I asked what happened to the stems and was told that they were that way when they bought them. That is not a problem as I can easily restem them. They are all older pipes – my guess for the second and third pipe is that they came from the early 1900’s. Not sure about the BBB.
The first is a BBB Hand Made Dublin shape with an oval shank. In the photos the bowl looks dark, but upon examination it is unsmoked. It may have stain in the bowl that I will have to remove before it is smoked. The finish is very good with no fills. There are a few small scratches and dings that come from sitting unused for so long. I am guessing but I would say that the three and several others that the seller had all must have been kept in the same box for years. This one has a very clean shank mortise area so it should be fairly easy to match a stem to it. I am waiting on a BBB stem but in the mean time I have fit it with a vulcanite stem. I have to clean the stem up and finish the fit and the polish but it looks good.

The second pipe is a GFB calabash. It is stamped Premier on the left side of the shank and America on the right side. The band says GFB in an oval with 3 stars above that and Sterling underneath. The band was loose when it came. The photos made it a bit hard to tell what the size of the pipe was and also what the grain was like on it because of the lack of focus. When I took it out of the package I was glad to see that it was smaller than expected. The finish is great and the bowl is pristine. The shank and bowl are raw smooth briar. The silver was tarnished but the pipe was unsmoked. Like the one above it has some small scratches and dings from sitting in a box for so long. I am pretty sure this is an early 1900’s pipe. It is identical in shape to a 1912 BBB calabash I have here. The beauty is that I will get to break in this ancient old pipe. It is incredibly light weight. I worked on a stem for it last evening and have it fitted and the first stage of sanding and polishing finished. I will write it up when I am finished on the weekend.

The third pipe was a bit of a mystery to me. It is stamped with a gold filigree – REX in a script on the right side of the oval shank. It has a long shank and a factory fit silver band that is also stamped REX and Sterling. It too is unsmoked and very clean. Again like the others it has a few dings and scratches but otherwise is in good shape. There are several very small sandpits on it but they do not detract from the look and finish. I tried several lengths of stems on it before settling on an oval stem that would go on a Canadian. It looks right on this old guy. I can find out nothing regarding the REX stamping though my guess would be that it is an American made pipe. The seller noted that this one is an early 1900’s pipe as well but I got no response on how they know that. The look and feel of the pipe, the size and shape, the silver band all would argue for that age but there is no way to know for sure that I can tell. Do any of you recognize the brand? Some thought it might be an early Barclay-Rex pipe but I cannot find any back story that would make that certain. So for now the mystery remains. I will finsih polishing and shaping the stem over the weekend and then do a write up on the threesome. They are all beautiful examples of well made bowls.

With these three in hand from the same seller I am very curious as to their stories. Where did they come from? Who had them? Were they always without a stem? Were they purchased and set aside for a special time and then got separated from their stems? Did their stemless condition guarantee their not being smoked? Or maybe they came from a shop somewhere and the stems just were never put in place after they arrived from their makers. Who knows? All I know is that they will soon be put to the use they were intended for. I wish they could tell their stories. I for one would love to sit and listen. Wouldn’t you?

I just finished the initial work of restemming them. Here is a photo of the three bowls with their new stems inserted. A lot of work remains in terms of fitting the stems but the idea is clear from these photos.

Breathing New Life into a Dr. Grabow Riviera

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Blog by Steve Laug

When I am refurbishing pipes I take the same care on older factory made pipes as I do on the more collectible ones. To me this is part of the stewardship of refurbishing. It does not matter what the original price of the pipe was – it is worth redeeming and bringing back to life. The refurbishing of the next pipe is one of those. It is an older Dr. Grabow Riviera. It was given to me by a good friend in Ponoka, Alberta. He gave it to me as a gift when I visited him recently. It is stamped Riviera over Dr. Grabow on the left side of the shank and Imported Briar over Adjustomatic over a patent number – PAT. 2461905 on the right side of the shank. The stinger apparatus in this one is an insert into the metal tenon. It is tube with a scooped portion on top that has a hole in the bottom of the scoop. The air/smoke circulates in the shank and is drawn into the stem by the smoker. The surface area of the apparatus acts as a condenser and filter. The beauty of this design is that it can be removed. The stem was badly oxidized and also had tooth dents on the top and bottom near the button. The finish was shot and the varnish was peeling from the bowl and shank. The rim was darkened and dirty and had a small crack on the top left side. The four photos below show the state of the pipe when I brought it home.

I love doing research on old patents and with US made pipes it is very simple. The following website is a simple way to find data and diagrams. http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm In the search parameters you enter the patent number from the pipe and click on the search button. Generally, these older patents have been made into PDF files that can be downloaded. Here is a copy of the information I found there. It is a patent for the Adjustomatic connector. I always find reading through these patent application documents gives me a feel for why the designer came up with invention. This proved true of this application as well.

After reading through the patent information I was ready to restore this old pipe. It appeared to be made somewhere around the time of the Patent as it had the patent number stamped on it. That dated it somewhere around 1949 after the patent was given. I began by reaming the bowl with the PipNet reaming set to clear up the uneven and broken cake. I decided to work on the externals first. I wiped down the bowl and shank with acetone on a cotton makeup pad to remove the finish. There was some very nice grain poking through the mottled finish and very few tiny fills that made it even more attractive to me. The acetone removed the varnish very well and also took away the dirt and filth on the exterior. The first two photos below show the process of wiping down the bowl. The old finish is visible on the cotton pad.

Once the finish was removed from the bowl as much as possible with the acetone, I sanded it down with 340 grit sandpaper and a fine grit sanding sponge to further remove the finish. The next series of four photos show the bowl after the acetone wash and the sanding. The grain on this one is very nice. The inner rim would need to have some attention to smooth out the rough edges and the darkening.

I sanded the metal shank band as it had some deep scratches and gouges in it. I could not remove the damage but I minimized its look. I worked on the tooth marks in the topside and the underside of the stem surface. I heated the stem with a Bic lighter – passing the flame over the tooth marks to lift them to the surface. I then sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the remaining marks that were present (Photos 1 – 4 below). I followed that by sanding with a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches left behind by the 220 grit sandpaper (Photos 5 – 6 below).

I sanded the entire stem with the sanding sponge to remove the oxidation from the vulcanite. I took the pipe apart and cleaned the stinger apparatus with a cotton swab and alcohol. The next two photos show that design of the stinger. It is a two part piece and the extended tube can be removed from the screw in metal tenon. I cleaned the inside of the stem and also the inside of the stinger to remove the buildup of tars and oils inside.

I sanded the bowl with 1500 – 12,000 grit micromesh sanding pads, being careful around the stamping on the shank. Once the scratches were removed and the bowl was smooth I restained it with a dark brown aniline stain thinned 2:1 with isopropyl alcohol. Doing this makes the stain less opaque and also several shades lighter. I wanted to highlight the grain not hide it so this was the perfect mix to do that. I applied the stain with a cotton swab, flamed it with a lighter to set the stain and then repeated the process a second time. The next three photos show that process. You will note that I also cleaned up the inner edge of the rim with the sanding process noted above. Most of the roughness is removed. A small crack remains on the top of the left side of the bowl rim.

I set the bowl aside and worked on finishing the stem. I sanded it with 1500 – 12,000 grit micromesh sanding pads until it was smooth and finished. I rubbed down the stem with Obsidian Oil to protect and remove the oxidation. I reattached it to the bowl and buffed the stem and bowl with White Diamond on the buffer. I gave the entirety several coats of carnauba wax to bring out the shine and protect it. The final four photos show the finished pipe – cleaned, restored and ready to smoke. The photos show tinges of brown/oxidation still remaining in the stem under the flash of the camera. To deal with that I polished the stem some more and gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil and let it soak in. Upon finishing I buffed it again with carnauba.

A Review – Ozark Mountain Briars, Craftsman Series, Straight Egg

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Blog by Steve Laug

I am fairly certain that many of you have not heard of either Ozark Mountain Briars or of the carver, David Johnson. I have had two of David’s pipes in my collection since 2007 and have found that both of them are well made and aesthetically beautiful. The first one I purchased was a rusticated ball or apple shape. The second is this straight egg shaped smooth that I am reviewing today. Both were reasonably price and promptly delivered. I am not sure if David is still making pipes, I hope so. I see his pipes appearing on EBay periodically so if you have the opportunity to get one I don’t think you will be disappointed.

He carved this pipe as one of his higher lines, the Craftsman series, in 2007 and I picked it up at a discounted price because of some very small sand pits on the bottom of the shank. When it arrived in the mail I opened the package and took out the suede leather pipe glove that the pipe was placed in for protection and storage. I was amazed at its beauty. As I held it in my hand I could not believe how light it was. The 1.32 ounces / 37.4 grams make it light enough to be a comfortable clencher. The length of the pipe is 5.45 inches / 138.4 mm. The chamber diameter is .80 inches / 20.3 mm and the chamber depth is 1.50 inches / 38.1 mm. It is comfortable to hold in the hand.

The pipe has a smooth finish and is stained with a 3-step process to bring out the grain. The bowl is egg shaped but slightly canted forward with elements of a Belge shape. The grain is decent on the pipe. I am not sure which stain David used first but the understains are darker and serve to make the grain stand out. The overstain is almost a yellow. The combination gives a dimensionality to the finish that is fascinating. The trim bead on the end of the shank is made of Marblewood and adds a nice finishing touch. The unique grain and shape of the bead is distinctive and feels great in the hand when held during a smoke.

The stem is a hand cut Ebionite half saddle or half taper depending on your point of view! The top half is saddle and the bottom is tapered. The saddle portion is well done. It is soft cut on the saddle and then tapers back to the button. The saddle is rounded and has a very gentle cut to it. On the underside the stem blade tapers gradually back to the button where it flares to the same width as the flare on saddle. It is just the right thickness at the portion that rides in the mouth – not too thick or too thin. It is made of quality material as it has not oxidized in the years I have had it. The tenon is an integral part of the stem and is chamfered inward to form a dished end that is well-polished. The button is the size and shape that I really like – thin at the edges with a very slight rise to the centre top and bottom, forming an eye shaped end view. The lip on the button is very not to thick and fits well behind the teeth for a comfortable feel. The slot in the end of the button is also funneled and flattened to deliver a mouthpiece that has the same diameter from start to finish. David also rounded the ends of the slot giving it a finished look. The attention to detail shows the love of his craft that is transmitted into each of his pipes. It is a comfortable and well executed pipe. A pipe cleaner passes easily through the pipe with no obstruction.

I have two Ozark Mountain Briar pipes and both are identical in terms of internal mechanics. David has well-crafted airflow dynamics in his pipes. The draught is clean and easy with no whistling or tightness. It has an easy draw that makes smoking it a pleasure. The bowl chamber is drilled to slightly over 3/4 of an inch with a .80 inch diameter. The tobacco chamber was coated with what David calls a Pre Carbed coating. It was neutral in taste and did not distract from the tobacco that was smoked. The cake built up on the bowl very easily. The draught hole is centered slightly above the bottom of the bowl and seems to have a slight funnel leading into the shank and stem. The fit of the stem to the shank is excellent – smooth and tight with no light showing at the joint. The tenon fits well in the mortise and sits deep in the mortise against the bottom. The airway is in the centre of the mortise and aligns with the airway in the tenon. The edges of the tenon have been polished and rounded and the airhole countersunk so that it meets the airway in the mortise. Looking at the airways with a flashlight it is clear to see that they are smooth and polished with no rough edges. The interior of the pipe is smooth and polished from the button to the bottom of the bowl.

I broke this pipe in with some aged McClellands 5100. It is a dedicated Virginia pipe and always delivers a good tasting smoke. I have found that David’s other pipe also is a Virginia machine. It also smokes cool and dry and deliver good flavor with the Virginias that I choose to smoke in it.

Repairing and Repositioning a Sterling Silver Band on a Peterson Deluxe

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I received this older Peterson Deluxe 11S to refurbish for a project that I am involved in and in the process of going over the pipe noting the things that needed to be repaired. I got to the shank end and noted the 1/8 inch gap between the chamfered edge of the band and the end of the shank (Photo 1). From the marks on the shank it was obvious that the band had been removed and glued with the gap. It then had been chamfered inward toward the shank to give it a dish effect and allowing the stem on the Deluxe to sit closer to the shank. It was not too badly done though it obviously had been modified and there were some dents in the surface of the edge.

I decided to return it to its original position on the shank. I cleaned off the band with silver cleaner and cleaned out the shank (Photo 2). I wanted the surface to be smooth so that when I heated it I could press it into place on the shank. To return it to that place would be a two-step process, if I was to do it without damaging the surface of the band. The first step in the repair was to bring the band back to a position where the gap was gone. The second step would be to press down on the chamfered edge and flatten it into place.

Photo 2 Side view of the chamfered top of the band

I heated the band with my heat gun to warm the glue and also the band (Photos 3 – 4). The heat would loosen the glue and allow me to adjust the band on the shank so that the stamping was in place and I could easily press it into place. For this first stage in the process I was only interested in getting the gap between the band and the top of the shank closed (Photos 5 – 6).

Photo 3 Heating the band

Photo 4 Heating the band

Photo 5 Pressing the band into place

Photo 6 Closer view of the chamfered band pressed into the shank

Photo 6 Closer view of the chamferred band pressed into the shank

To flatten the chamfered surface of the band would take a slightly different approach. I reheated the end of the shank band with my heat gun. I used the lower heat setting as I was holding the bowl with the shank down over the heat and did not want to get burned. I heated it for as long as I could hold it in place and then took it to the work table. Once there I pressed it down onto a metal plate that I use for pressure fitting bands on shanks. I repeated this process until I had pressed the band flat and removed the chamfering (Photos 7 – 8).

After it was pressed flat I used the micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12,000 grit to repolish the silver end cap. I pressed it downward into the pad and twisted it and also ran it across the pad to remove the scratches from the metal plate. With that finished the end is flush against the shank and there are just three small dents that I was unable to remove. The band is in place as it was when it left Peterson’s Factory (Photo 9).

Photo 7 Heating the band to flatten the chamfering

Photo 7 Heating the band to flatten the chamferring

Photo 8 Pressing the face of the band onto a flat metal plate

Photo 9 The face of the band after flattening

To finish the band after sanding it, I wiped the entire band down with a jeweler’s cloth and polished it until it shined like new (Photos 10 – 12). The band was back in its correct place and ready for the stem once it was repaired.

Photo 10 Sanding the flattened surface with micromesh sanding pads

Photo 11 After sanding

Photo 12 After polishing

Crafting a Briar Calabash Sitter

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Blog by Steve Laug

After reading Sid Stavros’ blog, http://pipe-smoke.blogspot.ca/ describing his process of converting older briars into meerschaum calabash pipes I decided on this rainy Saturday it was time for me to work on one. I had an old briar pipe bowl here that was a strangely shaped briar pot shaped sitter with a bit of a Rhodesian like top. It was in rough shape and was stemless so I restemmed it a while back. It has a pretty rough band on it so I am still undecided what to do with that. I also had a meerschaum bowl from an EBay group I picked up. It was without a gourd bowl so I just cleaned up the bowl and decided to set it aside until such a time I knew what I wanted to do with it. So on this rainy Vancouver Saturday afternoon I took the pipe bowl out and the meerschaum bowl out and put them side by side. I did some measurements in terms of the depth of both and the diameter of the inside of the briar and the outside of the meer cup to see if it would even be feasible. The measurements said it would work. So taking a deep breath I got out my Dremel and set up the parts for the “new” re-envisioned pipe.

The first two photos show the meerschaum cup when I received it and after I had finished cleaning and polishing it. The third and fourth photos show the briar pipe that I chose to be the calabash for this cup. For the fourth photo I placed the cup on top of the bowl to give an idea of what I was aiming for.

I used the Dremel with a sanding drum on it to open the bowl of the briar. I had to open the bowl quite a bit in order for the meer cup to fit in the bowl. I also had to top the bowl considerably to allow the bowl to sit properly. I sanded the inside of the bowl until the cup fit snuggly. I also had to reshape the bowl in order for a proper seat for the cup. Once I had the bowl opening fit to size with the Dremel I sanded it with 340 grit sandpaper to smooth out the inside walls of the bowl. I had sanded carefully with the sanding drum to maintain the roundness of the bowl. I did not want the cup to sit to one side or toward the front or back. I wanted it centered in the bowl. This took some careful and slow sanding with the sanding drum.

I sanded the bottom of the cup to flatten it rather than leave it in a point. This would also buy me some depth in the bowl and allow me to shorten the height of the bowl. I used the sanding drum to remove ¼ inch of the height of the bowl. I proceeded slowly to keep the top as flat as possible. Once I had removed the amount I wanted I topped it on with my normal topping procedure – sandpaper anchored on a flat board. I used the Dremel to remove a bit more of the height and then topped it a second time.

With the topping I also had to open the bowl a bit wider. I used the Dremel to open the bowl and resanded the inside. I measured the height of the cup and the depth of the bowl and determined I could take it down until there was a ¼ inch of briar between the top ring and the rim. I sanded it to meet that measurement with the Dremel and then topped it again to even out the rim surface. I sanded it with a fine grit sanding sponge. The cup fit nicely in the bowl. The angled crown of the Rhodesian style top actually looks good with the flat edge of the bottom of the cup.

I still had room at the bottom of the bowl so I took some more of the briar off of the top of the bowl to bring the flat bottom edge of the meer bowl closer to the rings on the briar. I used the Dremel to remove the briar and then topped it on the board. I also opened the bowl a bit more as each time I remove from the top of the briar I had to open the diameter of the bowl to accommodate the change. The next series of photos show the pipe as it stands at the moment.

Once the bowl of the briar was clean and smooth I pressed the meerschaum cup into the briar. It was a perfect pressure fit. In talking with Sid via email, he suggested that I add rubber gasket between the meerschaum and the briar to separate the two materials. I removed it from the bowl and cut a rubber gasket from a piece of large/thick rubber band that I bought for the purpose. I glued it to the meerschaum bowl and set it aside to dry.

I measured the new diameter of the meerschaum bowl with the gasket and used my Dremel with a sanding drum to sand the briar bowl to match that new diameter. I sanded with the Dremel, checked the fit, sanded some more and check until I had removed enough of the diameter of the briar to make a good snug fit.

Once the bowl fit well, I took the pipe back to my work table and sanded the inside of the bowl to smooth out the ridges left by the sanding drum. I wiped down the inside of the bowl with Everclear to remove the sanding dust from and make sure the fit of the gasket against the briar was smooth and unimpaired.

A part of the gasket came loose from the work so I reglued it and once it was dry pressed it into the briar bowl. The next five photos show the fitted meerschaum bowl in place in the briar cup. The pipe is now ready to smoke. The draught is good and open. The newly fit stem works well with the combination. I polished the briar and the meerschaum bowl and loaded a bowl and fired it up. It is a great smoking machine delivering a cool and dry smoke with a clean tobacco taste.

Still a little work to do polish the meerschaum bowl but the idea is clear in the photos. I will polish it with micromesh sanding pads and then use beeswax to wax the bowl for enhancing the colouration of the bowl.

ADDENDUM:
The look of this one still bugged me and I was not happy with the bowl fit. I also did not like the rubber gasket I formed as it did not really give a snug fit. A friend gave me a sheet of thin cork so I cut a piece of cork to use as a gasket. To accommodate the cork and still give the bowl a fit I needed to remove more of the briar in the bowl of the pipe. I used a Dremel with the sanding drum and took the bowl down enough to accommodate the cork and the pressed in meerschaum bowl. I glued the band of cork around the inner edge of the briar bowl and when it had dried I pressed the bowl into place. Here are a few photos of the renovation.

The cork gasket glued into the bowl with carpenters white glue

The gasket in place with the glue drying

The gasket it dry and the bowl is ready to press in place

The bowl is in place and the pipe is much more fit looking to me!

What’s Inside The Cupboard?

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This beautiful oak cabinet sits on top of my pipe cupboard in my office at home. This cupboard came to me as a gift when I was the president of the Vancouver Pipe Club from a member down on Whidbey Island, Washington. It came as a bit of a surprise and one that was very welcome. It is well made with brass knobs for handles and inset brass hinges on the inside of the doors. The joints are well done and the nails have been hidden well behind putty in a subtle way to make them less visible. The back of the cabinet is also finished and smooth. It is fastened to the back with nails or staples and the holes are filled and the back stained to match the rest of the cupboard. The detail done even on the back side of the cupboard speaks to the fine craftsmanship of the piece. The top of the cupboard is set off with a crown moulding that makes it look far older than it is. The paneled doors also give it an air of antiquity with the decorative beaded moulding around the inside panel. The flat base extends beyond the width and length of the cupboard making a very stable base for the piece. It is designed to be either a free standing piece or to be hung on the wall. Inevitably when people visit me in my office they ask about the cupboard and what might be in it. The closed doors seem to hide something that must be important. Some folks ask right away what it contains while others glance at it throughout the visit and then either in the midst of things or at the end as they are about to leave. It seems that they just have to know. I love the fact that the design is unique enough and secretive enough that it calls forth questions.

Once the doors are opened the quality workmanship continues to be evident. The way the craftsman organized the inside is pretty simple. It is designed to hold 24 pipes facing bowl out toward the front and has two drawers at the bottom for holding other accessories or in my case some of my pocket pipes. The slotted bar at the top third of the first half and the top third of the second half of the cabinet is made up of twelve U shaped cuts in each one that hold stems easily without them turning or being damaged. The U’s are sanded smooth and given a coat of Varathane or varnish so they are well done. The two bases below the slots are also scooped out with a router and sanded smooth for the bottom of the bowl to sit in without damage. The U cut and the scooped base hold the pipes securely. The top base and the bottom one are set into grooves that have been cut into the side walls. The case is very stable and has no side to side play. The drawers are designed to slide easily into the slots cut and polished for them. In my case I use the top shelf for six of my Dunhill pipes (left side of the top) with two others laid behind them, three of my John Calich pipe and one Ashton, one Steve Weiner and a Tinsky Dublin. The second shelf houses the rest of my Tinsky’s. All but one of them has been smoked. The unsmoked pipe in the picture came at a time when I was drawn to smaller bowls. It is being reserved for a time that may not be true!

Once I succumb to the curiosity of my visitors and open the doors on the cupboard all of the ones who are pipemen love looking at the pipes and the workmanship of the cupboard. The non-pipesmoking guests just shake their heads, unable to figure me out. I don’t say anything that would enable them to figure it out. I just reach for a pipe and polish it while they stand looking at me and the cupboard with what appears to be a growing incredulity. One day when I get my shop set up I want to use this cupboard as a pattern and make a few more for my other pipes. I love the way the doors protect the pipe stems from oxidizing in the light and keep the pipes looking pristine. The bottom drawers are a great place to stow away folding pocket pipes that I do not use very often and other pipe paraphernalia that I seem to continue to accumulate.

A New Pipe Born from a Pre-drilled Block

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I purchased a pre-drilled block of briar with a Lucite stem from Burlington on Whyte Tobacconist in Edmonton a few weeks ago. I sorted through the box of blocks they had at the shop and chose this one. It showed some interesting birdseye grain on the sides and some straight grain on the front and back. I also like the angle of the stem on it and figured it might be an interesting project to work on between some of the refurbs that I have going all the time. I put it on my desk in my basement office next to the computer keyboard and looked at pretty much daily trying to figure out a shape that would fit the grain and the angles of the block. I used pencil and scribbled a lot of them on the block, erasing and reshaping the image repeatedly until I finally saw a shape that I kind of liked and figured I could carve it easily enough.

I used a blunt pencil and sketched the rough idea on the block. I have carved enough to know that what the original sketch looked like may be far removed from the finished pipe. As the excess briar was removed there would likely be flaws that would change the shape of the finished pipe until it became quite different from the original concept in my mind. Also I have learned that the height of the bowl can also dramatically change as I carve into the block. But at least I had an idea and was ready to begin the carving. The next series of five photos show the block after I removed the surface material to get a look at the grain. After sketching the drawing on the block I took it into the back yard and began to remove briar from the block with my Dremel and a large sanding drum.

The next four photos show the block after the initial work with the sanding drum. I removed all of the square edges and the excess height of the block and began the rough shaping of the new pipe concept. The grain is actually going to be quite nice as far as I can see at this point. There were also some flaws showing up in the block on the left side near the shank bowl junction and also on the bottom edge of the left side of the bowl. These are visible in the first photo and look like a line across the bottom edge. At this point I brought the block inside and took the photos below before taking it back out to work on rounding out the edges of the bowl and shank.

I took it back outside and used the Dremel and sanding drum to remove the edges and begin to round out the bowl shape. At this point I was not aiming for smoothness only rough shape. The next three photos show the bowl after this shaping was completed. You will note that the inside edge of the shank bowl junction is quite rough. I took a lot of briar off at this point to lengthen the shank and to clean up that junction. A lot more work would have to be done but the shape was beginning to show more clearly. The flaw at the bottom of the left side of the bowl and shank was actually becoming bigger and are visible in the first picture as a darkened line at the bottom of the bowl and shank. I apologize for the lack of clarity in these photos but it was late evening at this point and I did a poor job of focusing.

From this point in the process I used files and wood rasps to remove more of the briar and to refine the shape of the bowl. I also decided to cut the stem into a saddle bit as I thought that look would go well with the shape I was working on. The pipe was becoming a modified egg shape. Where it would go from here would be worked out with the files and the work at removing the flaws in the briar as much as possible. The next four photos show the shaping of the saddle stem with the wrasp and files.

Once I had the rough shape on the stem I used the files and rasp on the bowl of the pipe. I filed away the briar to further round out the shape of the bowl and shank. The flaw in the shank and bowl bottom on the left was still an issue that would take a lot more work to see if I could remedy it or work around it. The next five photos show the rounding of the bowl after working it over with the files and rasp.

After using the files I sanded the bowl with coarse grit emery paper to further shape the bowl, shank and stem. I worked on the shank to round it out and match the diameter of the stem. The next four photos show how far the shape has come to this point. The flaw is also very visible in the first and the fourth photos below. It is very deep at some points and on the surface in others. It does not go into the interior of the bowl or shank so there will be a lot more sanding to see if I can rid the block of the flaws. To me this is always one of the surprises that lie within a block of briar. They never become visible until a lot of work has been done in shaping. At this point I was wondering if I would need to rusticate the bowl or possibly figure out another option or shape to deal with the flaw.

I continued sanding the bowl with the emery paper and then switched to a coarse grit sanding sponge. At this point I was not worried about scratches that would come later. I only wanted to remove more of the briar. I also heated the stem with my heat gun and bent it to shape. I still needed to clean up the junction of the shank and bowl. It needed a little less slope in my opinion. The next three photos show where things were at this point in the process. The pipe is beginning to take shape. I have also removed quite a bit of the briar around the flaws on the bottom edge. The change can be seen in the first photo below.

I used the files and rasp to remove more of the slope on the back side of the bowl and make the angle more in tune with the front slope of the bowl. Once I had removed what I wanted I used my sanding sponge and the emery paper to remove the marks of the files. With removing more of the slope I also decided to define the curve of the back side of the bowl along the shank and make the angle there more obvious and distinct. I used the Dremel with the sanding drum to shape this portion of the bowl on both sides. The beauty of this decision is that it removed a fair piece of the flaw in the shank and bowl. The next three photos show the shape after I worked on defining the angles more clearly. The question in my mind at this point was whether I would be able to make the stem as thin as I would like due to the deeply set tenon in the stem. Nonetheless the finished shape of the pipe emerging from the briar.

The next series of three photos show the bowl after I had sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper. I gave it a quick coat of medium brown aniline stain and flamed it. I buffed it with White Diamond to see where things stood at this point. The grain was very clear on the sides – some nice birdseye on the right side of the bowl, cross grain on the front and back of the bowl and on the top and bottom of the shank. The left side of the bowl was mixed grain toward the bottom and the flaws were glaring. The top half of the left side was covered in birdseye. The top of the rim was cross grain that matched the top of the shank. The stem was bothering me at this point so after taking the photos below I fit a vulcanite stem to the shank. I like the flow and the thinness of the stem. I made the decision to keep the vulcanite stem and put aside the Lucite one.

With the new stem in place I sanded the shank and stem to match cleanly. I also continued to sand the bowl and shank with 220 grit and 340 grit sandpaper. I also used a fine grit sanding sponge on the bowl. Once the visible scratches were gone I took it outside into natural light to inspect for further scratches. I took it back to the work table and wet sanded it with 1500 and 1800 grit micromesh sanding pads. I continued sanding the bowl and shank with 2400-12,000 grit micromesh until the bowl was smooth. I examined it under a bright light and reworked the places where there were still minute scratches. Once that was done I decided to stain the bowl.

I wanted to try something different with the staining process this time around so I first gave it a coat of black aniline stain and flamed it. Once it was dry I sanded and buffed the bowl with Tripoli to remove the stain from the surface. My purpose was to highlight the grain in the briar and make it more visible. The black was to be the first undercoat of stain that I would use on this pipe. The next three photos show the black stain after much of it has been removed. The grain is very visible in the photos. The birdseye and cross grain really stand out. After these photos I wiped the bowl down with a cotton pad wet in Everclear to remove more of the surface stain and prepare the surface for the next coat of stain.

The second coat of stain that I used was an oxblood stain. I applied it with a bent pipe cleaner, flamed it. Once it was dry I polished it by hand with a terry cloth to even out the finish and make sure it would be ready for the next coat of stain (photos 1 and 2 below). I took it to the buffer and buffed it with White Diamond and then gave it a coat of Dark Brown aniline stain thinned 2:1 with Isopropyl alcohol. I flamed the stain and then buffed it again with White Diamond. Photos 3 and 4 show the pipe after that work. The grain is really standing out now and I am pleased with the finished colour of the pipe. It is a rich reddish brown in colour and will deepen once I have waxed it and polished it. The beauty of this combination of stains is that it really served well to blend in the flaws in the briar on the bottom left side. They are still there but are less glaring.

With the staining finished it was time to do more work on the stem. I sanded out the scratches that remain with 340 grit sandpaper and then a fine grit sanding sponge. I worked on the angles of the saddle with the sandpaper and sponge to clean up the cut marks in the vulcanite. I continued wet sanding the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then polished it with Scratch X plastic polish to remove the remaining scratches. The next series of nine photos shows the bowl finish after 4 coats of carnauba wax and a buff with a soft flannel buffing pad. The finish is actually quite amazing and the grain made this work keeping smooth even with the visible flaws in the briar. The stain masks the flaws and blends them into the black of the grain well and though they are present they are not glaring. The stem still needs more work at the point of these photos but it is beginning to take on a shine.

The final four photos show the finished pipe. I continued to wet sand the stem with the 1500-1800 grit micromesh sanding pads until the scratches and rough areas were clean and black. I then dry sanded with the remaining grits of micromesh from 2400-12,000 to polish the stem and give it a mirror like finish. Once that was finished I waxed the pipe and stem several more times with carnauba wax. All that remains is for the pipe to be christened with its first bowl!

rebornpipes

reclaiming old and worn estate pipes

Restemming and Reclaiming an Old, Unsmoked Rex Bulldog

Restemming and Reclaiming an Older, Unsmoked GFB Briar Calabash

Breathing New Life into a Dr. Grabow Riviera

Repairing and Repositioning a Sterling Silver Band on a Peterson Deluxe

Crafting a Briar Calabash Sitter

A New Pipe Born from a Pre-drilled Block

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