New Life for a BBB Short Dog

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I picked up this little BBB Bulldog on EBay and knew it would take some work. In the photo below you can see the cut in the stem – a groove or channel that served as a dental grip for the pipe. It is just in front of the button. There was some minor oxidation on the stem as well. The button had an orific opening (round hole in the button) rather than a slot. The rim and sides of the bowl were dirty and there was some darkening around the edges. The bowl was caked with a thick cake that would need to be reamed. The photo below is the one that was on EBay.
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When the pipe arrived it was smaller than I had imagined. No problem there as I like these pocket sized pipes. The stamping on the shank only had the BBB logo in the diamond. No name or other identifying marks were on either side of the shank. The stem did not have the BBB stamp or roundel. The finish was not too bad. The majority of work would need to be done on the rim and the top edges of the bulldog bowl. The stem was going to take some work to get rid of the trough that had been cut in it by a previous owner as a kind of dental bit. The bowl was not as caked as it had appeared in the original picture but had been over reamed and was out of round. The walls at the top appeared to be thinner than normal on a pipe of this shape.
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You can see the size of the pipe from the photos above with the ruler. It is four inches long and delicate in the hands. I went to work on the stem first with my needle files and sandpaper to remove the trough on the top of the stem and the underside of the stem. This took some work as it could have radically changed the slope of the stem. I worked to keep the angle looking right from the saddle to the button. It took quite a bit of time to remove the excess vulcanite and reshape the blade of the stem. I sanded the stem smooth and then progressed through the micromesh grits 1500 through 12000. I put it back on the pipe and took it to the buffer and buffed it with White Diamond until it shone. Then I removed the stem and set it aside while I worked on the bowl.

The bowl needed most of the work on the area of the rim and the edges following down the bowl. There was lava and also darkening. I worked on the rim and the darkening with acetone on a soft cloth. It removed the majority of the darkening and grime. I decided to top the bowl minimally to smooth out the surface. I chamferred the inner rim with a folded piece of sandpaper to minimize the chatter from the over reaming. The pipe was given a coat of medium brown aniline stain, flamed and then buffed gently with White Diamond. The entirety was given multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed with a soft clean flannel buff. The final picture below has a Canadian penny included to give an idea of size. This will be helpful to those who are familiar with US and Canadian money. To others who are not you can refer to the photos above with a ruler. This is a nice little pipe that smokes very well. It also fits nicely into a coat pocket or shirt pocket!
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Do something crazy, I dare ya! – Piet Binsbergen, 27 October 2012

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Well I am a painter by trade. www.art.co.za/peterbinsbergen

I have not painted in some time as I have taken time out to work on a PhD in the field of art. I must admit, the timing is good as I kind of painted myself into a corner over the last 10 years. My passion is pipes. For some years I have been learning the trade of repair which was born from the need to be self-sufficient. I came to learn that imitating textures on canvas has become limiting. I surround myself with exotic woods and various metals which have tickled my senses and opened doors. I have no idea where I will be going in future but my research may reveal the way ahead.  For now I am having fun, and here is my way of expression.

It started in the form of Hot Rods. Pipes I could express myself with and push the boundaries. I have still felt that I am holding back. I spend much time with the South African pipe maker Jean du Toit, aka Jan Pietenpauw (www.pietenpauw.co.za). We get into interesting debates about pipes and pipe lore and I have learnt much from him over the past few years. Sometimes we collaborate, sometimes argue about shape and form but in essence the man is a sculptor. For this reason I will not carve pipes from scratch. I simply cannot compete with master carvers of our time. Besides, my interests lie elsewhere.

While working on my Hot Rod pipes I came to realise that I may be dabbling in art of some sort. The conceptualization process is the same, the medium differs. I decided that the pipes need to tell a story, places I have been, found objects I may have collected while being out and about. This idea came to me while making up the S.A.Y. 15 Plumbing pipe after a visit to my father-in-law out of town. I have nothing to lose; the pipes belong to me and not my clients.

I admire Ollie Sylvester for doing what he does. Steven Downie is the Guru. These are people who are really pushing the boundaries. In no way do I compare myself to these people; I just set about doing what I do.

Here is my “Davey Jones” pipe inspired by watching “Pirates of the Caribbean”, I noticed that “Mr. tentacles” himself smokes a real basic pipe. Here is my version.

This is a collaboration piece between Jan Pietenpauw and myself. He is in the process of carving the BIPS form 2013 poy’s. This stummel was misjudged on his part while in the jig on the lathe. The shank cracked in the process and it landed up in his trash box. Now I love his trash box. I have lifted many “Not good enough” stummels from that box in the past. Nothing wrong with them at all, they just do not fit the master’s creative bill, but they sure fit mine at times.

The shank ring is aluminum. It was polished at first but it looked to new so that too ended up under the Dremel. The idea was to create something that looked like it came from Davey Jones’ locker, polished and cleaned. It is the first time I have taken a Dremel to a stem. This is a pre-moulded stem with an olive shank ring added. I went crazy trying to create the same texture as on the pipe so it would eaten or drift wood rotten. The contrast between the textured area and the high polished stem was a little close so I got the needed contrast by adding an oil paint white wash to the textured are before polishing the stem. Finally, to add to the craziness I heated the stem and formed the bend.

Here is the craziest pipe I have ever done!

Enjoy.
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Polishing Stems (PART 1) Piet Binsbergen

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I have had some questions about polishing stems.

I must warn that I will not be held responsible for any damage you may cause to pipes following this method. The process is relatively fail safe but certain circumstances that may be beyond my control, I simply cannot be held accountable for. I do suggest that you do a couple of trial runs using old or broken stems before you attempt this process with your beloved birth year Dunhill.

I will share with you my process. Please bear in mind that there are many ways to skin this cat, this is my way of doing things but this does not mean that I reject any other processes that other pipe repairman use.

I use two approaches. Firstly it is important when doing up a pipe to try and save the stems at all costs. So process 1 involves cleaning and polishing stems that have tarnished.

Secondly, especially when it comes to hotrods, I use pre-moulded stems. I am able to hand cut stems from rod stock but I find the process way to involved and time consuming for what I am doing. Call me a cheat but I find this works really well for me. My preferred medium is vulcanite and ebonite but I do not turn down Lucite stems if they come my way. Lucite is problematic in the sense that it has little give and little room for error. On the up side of it Lucite does not tarnish.

Part 1

Saving Original stems

As most of you know vulcanite is compressed rubber, the same stuff your car tyres are made of to a point. This rubber is just compressed way more. I have found different qualities of the stuff over the years and have notice some being more superior to others.

I do not have much to add here due to the fact that Steve Laug is doing some ground breaking work with regards to original stem repair. He manages to remove teeth marks and patch holes in bits. I have studied his technique but will need to pick his brain a little more before I perfect this process. For me, as soon as a stem has a hole in the bit, I replace it with a pre-moulded stem. (This process of his is archived on this blog.) I love tapered stems. There seems to be more ‘meat’ to work with and more ‘meat’ means there is room to open up the draft holes, file out teeth marks and restore the stem as good as new. Saddle stems prove to be a bit of a challenge due to the fact that there is not much room to move.

Most stems look like this, and believe me these are good ones!
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What I usually do is drop them into a bleach bath. Household bleach does the trick for me. Here in RSA I use a product called ‘Domestos ‘.
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WARNING: Be sure to coat the tenon and nomenclature (If any, like say the GBD rondelle) with Vaseline (Petroleum Jelly).
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This protects the stem material from coming into contact with the bleach. If you do not do this you will end up needing to resize the tenon as the bleach may eat away at it. As soon as the needed parts are coated, I drop the stem into the bleach. It will bubble a little and you will immediately notice the liquid turning brown. Depending on the extent of tarnish and the quality of the vulcanite will depend how long I leave the stem in the bleach.  A good average for me is 20 min.

Below is a picture of the stem in the bleach for a minute or so. It looks scary I know, but it works.
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Remove the stem from the bleach and rinse in warm water. Wipe off the Vaseline from the tenon. This process has an added bonus as it tends to eat the muck out of the draft hole in the process.

PROBLEM: But fear not. If you draw on the stem you will taste 2 things. Firstly, you are going to get a strong taste of bleach, secondly, you may taste the left overs from the ghosting of the previous owners blend. If it were aro’s you will really taste it. This is easy to get rid of.

The next step involves scrubbing out the daft hole. I use bristle brushes and bristle pipe cleaners. If I choose to open the stem to my preferred 4mm, I do it at this stage.

Interesting Observation: I have had clients complain that a pipe ghosts flavours of tobacco even when the bowl has been well refinished. Did you know that vulcanite is porous and will hold the ghost in the same way the bowl does. If you do not believe me remove a stem from an old pipe and draw on it, you will taste the ghost! The bleach bath cures this problem to a point. Further manual scrubbing aids the removal of the ghost.

The picture below shows how much dirt and grime is loosened and scrubbed out of the draft hole during this process.
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In order to remove all ghosting of tobacco, bleach and in order to sanitize the stem, I soak the stem in alcohol for an hour. I use Isopropyl alcohol (96%). Now this stuff is poisonous in a big way if ingested but research has proven that as soon as it has evaporated it is harmless. This is the same stuff used by hospitals to clean and sanitize operating theatres and equipment so go figure. After an hour remove the stem from the alcohol bath and rinse with clean water.

Here is a picture of the colour of the alcohol once the stem has come out a soaking for an hour.
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Notice the stem may turn white, light green or matte black depending on the type of vulcanite used by the manufacturer. I have noticed that most Peterson stems for example turn white. If you draw on the stem at this stage will taste nothing. I will be as good as new.

Sanding and polishing: You may notice the following, the stem may be smooth with colouration or it may look matt black and be rough textured. Start sanding. I use 400 and work my way up to 800 grit sand paper. This is a time consuming process, do not take any short cuts here. The last thing you want is a stem with a high polish that is full of surface scratches.

By the time I reach 800 grit I move to the buffer. I use Tripoli (Brown wax) which is equivalent to 800 grit sand paper and move onto White Diamond which is the same as 1200 grit. If you do not own a buffer, you can still get the same finish but the process will just take longer as you will hand sand up to 1200 grit and beyond.

The pictures below show the buffing process. Note that the picture of the stem on the right is not the finished product but shows what the stem looks like after buffing.
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By this stage the stem should shine and you should be able to see your reflection in the material. If not revert back to sanding, you have taken short cuts!

Depending on the type of material, as vulcanite differs in hardness, I continue hand sanding with 1500, 1800, and finally 2000 grit. Here you may notice the stem may start to dull a bit. The final polishing stages involves Brillo, or what we call Silvo here in RSA.  Silvo is a jewellery polish. Polishing is now done by hand using a soft duster cloth.
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Finally, and you may laugh, but, I use tooth paste as the final step. This is a trick I learnt from a flute maker who high polish silver. Think about it, it really is quite logical. Toothpaste is a fine, very fine, rubbing compound. This process is also done by hand using a soft duster cloth.
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A final word of advice: Vulcanite is light and air sensitive. The more light the faster the tarnishing process will start. To avoid further tarnishing I run the stem including the bowl over a slow spinning buffer using carnauba wax. This forms a protective layer on the vulcanite keeping the oxidation process at bay. When done smoking your pipe, wipe the bit clean with a soft cloth. Saliva (Ph levels) mixed with the smoke is what makes pipes so yukky around the bit area. My stems are always clean and oxidation free. Besides standard cleaning after smoking I run the stem over the buffer to seal them up again from time to time.

Here are a couple of pictures to wet your stem polishing appetite. These are a herd of refurbished GBD that belong to “Muddler”. Stems can look better than new if you take the time and put in the effort.
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A Peterson Kildare.

Before and after
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Good Luck and enjoy!

Leah’s Gift – A Handmade Pipe from China

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A good friend of mine was in China visiting her grandparents for a month. She emailed me from there with an update of her trip and ended with PS. The PS had my attention as soon as I read the first words – “I discovered a pipe shop! And found you a Chinese handmade pipe by a local company called “Brothers” started up by two brothers.” Anytime I get an email like this one I get a bit excited. A gift pipe from a good friend is always special. And I cannot wait to hear why she chose the pipe she did. To me that makes the choice very personal and even more unique. I know some folks struggle with other people picking out pipes for them but I have found that when I remember why they picked it out, what the pipe is like really does not make that much difference.  She picked the pipe out because for some reason she thought about me and wanted to do this for me. She knows I love the pipe and she wanted to acknowledge that! I find that an amazing thing.

I am the kind of person that likes to connect a pipe to a place, so once I read her email I did a Google search for the Two Brothers Tobacco Shop. I wanted to see the place she found the pipe. I like seeing first hand that kind of thing and I love collecting photos of the shops I have visited or friends have visited for me. It gives me a sense of place for the pipe once it arrives. I still had no idea what the pipe would look like or whether it would even be briar. All I knew was that it was a handmade Chinese pipe. Fairly quickly I found what I was looking for and saved the following picture. I emailed her the picture and asked if this was the shop. She laughed and said it was indeed the place where she purchased it. She was amazed that I had found the shop. At that point my wait began. I would not get to see the pipe she had picked out until she returned later in October.
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She also sent me a link to the painting below. She said the painting inspired her to go hunting for a Chinese pipe for me. I found that interesting so I went to the website she sent and read about the painting. It is called Ode to the Red Candle and was painted by Wen Lipeng, a Chinese painter who was the son of a freedom fighter, poet and scholar named Wen Yiduo. Yiduo is the author of the poem The Red Candle. In this poem, he expressed his genuine love for the country, and his hatred, and protested against the corrupted rule of KMT. He was killed by KMT because of anti-civil war in 1946. Wen Lipeng is the son of Wen Yiduo. He portrayed Wen Yiduo, a figure with the elegance of scholar and the spirit of a freedom fighter. The contrast between red and black, stillness and movements endows the picture with charisma beyond ordinary figure paintings. The burning candles, fierce fire, and other symbolic language highlights Wen’s spirit of serving the country and fight for the truth. I really like the painting and thought I would pass it on in this post.
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A month went by quite quickly and we exchanged a few updates on her trip and her work throughout the time she was away. We did not talk about the pipe at all. Then on the weekend I got an email from her. She was back in Vancouver and had caught up from her case of jetlag. She wanted to connect so she could give me the pipe. I have to say I was looking forward to seeing what she had found. It would be good to reconnect with her and catch up AND to see the pipe of course.

We met for dinner and caught up on her trip.  It was good to hear how the trip had gone and how her family in China were doing. As we settled in to wait for dinner she took my gift from her purse and handed it to me. It was in a beautiful deep blue box with pipes stamped on the outside. When I opened the box there was a suede pipe bag that had the pipe inside. I love it when pipes are wrapped this way – a bag within the box – as it is like opening two presents! I took the pipe out of the pipe bag and it was beautiful. It was made out of a Chinese wood that I later learned was called Chicken Wing wood and its shape is a hexagon. My friend loves bees and chose this pipe because the hexagon shape reminded her of bees. So combined with the impetus of the painting and the desire to gift me this pipe was the shape that her passion caused her to choose. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank with the same Chinese characters that appear on the sign in the photo of the shop. I believe they read Two Brothers. On the stem there are two hands facing each other with thumbs up in white. On the right side of the shank it is stamped 0009/1000 and Handmade in China. It is comfortable in the hand and the mouth.

When I returned home I contacted a friend who confirmed the kind of wood the pipe was made of and then I did a bit of hunting on the net to see what I could find out about it. The wood is evidently used in furniture and also smaller boxes and gift items. I even found an Iphone cover in Chicken Wing wood. I also found this lot with similar grain on EBay. They are not as nice as the one I received as the finish on mine is very smooth. http://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.html?_nkw=Beautiful%20Natural%20Chicken%20Wing%20Wood%20Smoking%20Tobacco%20Pipes%20filter%209mm%20J80636&_itemId=140797543935

I found this description of Chicken Wing Wood. It is an interesting Chinese hardwood.
China3I brought it to work with me and I will load up a bowl of a favourite tobacco and give it an inaugural smoke. Thanks Leah for the thoughtful gift. It is indeed well chosen and a pipe that I will enjoy and take pleasure in for a long time.
china4china5china6china7Here are some photos of the nomenclature close up

I just received these two photos from pipephil that he has composed for his site on pipe logos and stamping http://www.pipephil.eu/

A Few Pipe Rests – More Pieces of Tobacciana

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The first of them is a great old piece that is ceramic. It has a green and yellow glaze and is the shape of an easy chair with arms and legs. It holds several sizes of pipes very comfortably. It is hollow on the inside and has a felt pad on the bottom.
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The second rest is a great ceramic piece. It is an old pipe man in a track suit and runners. He is carrying a sports bag. The glaze on it is a soft pastel colour. It holds a pipe very easily and is a great rest on a desk top or in a pipe cupboard.
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The third pipe rest is a resin piece. It is cast in the shape of a monk or friar. He is hold a book in his hands and is either reading or singing. I can picture him doing a Gregorian chant. The resin is a brown wood colour and has the appearance of a carving. This is one that sits on the shelf in my office/shop. From the picture I can see that I need to dust it off and clean it up.
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The fourth pipe rest is a sleeping hound dog. It is also a cast resin that looks like a brown wooden carving. It also sits on the desk top and is a great place to lay a pipe when I am smoking it while I work on things. I also use it to hold pipes that I am in the process of restoring.
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I have a few others but these give you a feel for some of the interesting pipe rests that are available.

Hot Rods – next round please, Basket briar massacre. (October 2012) Part 2 – Piet Binsbergen

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Ok, so here is the silly bit.

These 2 pipes I did not photograph before I started. Once again apologies!

Die Braaivleis pyp (Afrikaans for the BBQ pipe)

This is my opinion. I guess that basket briars are not that bad. What makes them unattractive is that they are drilled skew and full of putty. Now skew drilling sucks and these pipes are laid to rest. When I do find pipes that look like the drilling is solid enough I often find the bowls to be full of putty fills hence they become basket briars. So why do they do it then? Well, time is money and to fill a pipe and sand it, covering it with a dark stain seems to be fast and cost effective.

I have found that if one spends time and uses the right tools, with some practise you can rusticate the bowl and the fills become part of the character of the pipe. So why do the pipe manufacturers not do it then? The answer again is a simple one! Time versus money. A solid rustication job may take me some hours. Now hours I have, low end pipe manufacturers do not!

In time I will put together a photo essay of my rustication process.

With this pipe, the bowl was semi rusticated. I added a silver shank ring and fitted a green Lucite shank ring for contrast. The stem was replaced.
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The Bushveld Poker

Before you all have a stroke, this is NOT a CASTELLO but a Purex basket briar.

This was fun as I could get the stummel into the lathe chuck and work it back into true. The drilling was good but the tobacco chamber was off set to the outside of the bowl (Welcome to the wonderful world of basket briars). I was able to turn the bowl down just a bit to bring it back into true. I also added some rings. As the bowl was full of fills lower down on the stummel I used the same rustication process as above. I added a silver shank ring for contrast. The stem is a screw in type fit with one of those nasty stingers fixed to the tenon of the stem. Here I removed the stinger and saved the stem. This is one of the few pipes that had a stem which was saveable so I went through the motions of bleaching soaking and polishing. All the pipes have draft holes open to 4mm.
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Hot Rods – next round please, Basket briar massacre. (October 2012) – Piet Binsbergen

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Hi guys, you know some times I am really dumb. I am so excited to get going that I fail to take some before pictures. I have come to realise that posting the end product only does not do the process or the hobby any justice. I have done 2 more pipes for which I do not have any before pictures, my apologies.

Well I got a batch of basket briars sent to me by my good friend and tobacconist Alan from Sturks in Cape Town. These pipes are really low enders with nothing much going for them. I like this, here I can go mad and be myself as there is nothing to lose and much to gain. I am under the impression that these putty filled beauties may hold some magic, and after all, they do seem to look like some old briars. Most of them are just nameless, others are Medico ‘Frank’ pipes and the odd one marked Purex, (Sounds like a contraceptive, juck, LOL)

I have been on the quiet side for a bit as my PhD title defence was looming and I needed to get that done and dusted. When I needed a solid break from my studies I took time out to do up some pipes. Hope you like them.

The DAMASCUS PIPE (LA Mort)

This is a Medico Frank, Maple I suspect or maybe some of you can help me out here? Either way I wondered what it would look like in its blasted form. It came out fantastic. The blast is fine and delicate so I decided to stain the pipe black and laid off heavy carnauba waxing. I added a Hippo bone shank ring for contrast and replaced the stem.

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The S.A.Y. 15 Plumbing Pipe

Well my father-in-law is a plumber by trade. I spent some time with him last weekend. He lives far away so I do not get much time to spend with him. I decided that if I was going to do crazy things to old pipes they might as well tell a story. This is another Medico ‘Frank’ with a cracked shank. The pipe is briar with plenty of ‘meat’ for me to go mad with. The crack in the shank caused the stem (screw fit) not to align. I cut off the shank, and had some fun.

The shank extension is stained cherry wood, the shank ring is a S.A.Y. 15 Copper plumbing pipe coupling. I rusticated the pipe and fitted a shorter ‘Lovat’ style saddle stem. The cool part is I managed to get a matt finish on top of the stem and polished the sides. The black ring next to the copper ring was burnt with a fine soldering iron.

Before:
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After:
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The Jockey

This is a no name briar. It is in a nasty state but under all that dirt and grime I found some really good wood. Here I did a full refurb as I always do and sanded the bowl starting at 150 grit and working it up to 2000. If you are after a good finish on smooth pipes you have to be prepared to put in the hours. My rule of thumb is that the pipe should shine before you add the final buffing and polishing wax. Carnauba wax will never hide your short cuts.

Stain is applied at the 600 grit sanding stage and a fresh layer of stain is added as the grit number climbs. In this way I get a deep stain, rich in colour. Steve has recently published his staining and sanding method in detail. It is published here on the blog and in the latest issue of the NASPC Pipe Collector. It is well worth checking out.

3 Shank extensions (rings) were added, Red ivory wood, Aluminium and African olive wood.  The stem was replaced.

Before:
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After:
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Kleen Reem Pipe Reamer Instruction Booklet

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Blog by Steve Laug

I had this instruction booklet for the Kleen Reem pipe reamer in my files and thought I would post it here. It is the best explanation in words and pictures that I have seen for the use of the reamer – regardless of whether it is marketed as a Kleen Reem Reamer or a Senior Reamer. The diagrams are applicable to both.
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Stem Repair Just for the Practice

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Blog by Steve Laug

Sometimes I just repair a stem because it is there and I can get the practice working with it. Such was the case with the pipe below. It is a very low end pipe with a nylon stem and a metal tenon that holds a paper filter. The bowl of the pipe was rusticated and definitely not a favourite shape or style of mine. This one would not be a pipe I kept or would be tempted to add to the collection. It was solely a pipe that would provide me an opportunity to work on the tooth dents, the bite through holes on the top and the bottom of the stem near the button as pictured in the two photos below. A decision had to be made whether to fill the hole with super glue or to cut of the bitten through end of the stem and reshape a new button. The dents and holes were very big and the stem was truly a mess.
I used heat from a heat gun and boiling water to raise the tooth dents in the stem and then sanded it to provide a smooth surface in front of the button. I wanted to minimize the amount of the stem that I would have to cut off should I choose that method.
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I used heat from a heat gun and boiling water to raise the tooth dents in the stem and then sanded it to provide a smooth surface in front of the button. I wanted to minimize the amount of the stem that I would have to cut off should I choose that method.
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Once I had leveled the stem out, I again studied the bite through areas. It was clear to me that I was going to cut off the stem and reshape the button. I used a Dremel to cut back the button and the damaged area of the stem. The next three photos show the result of the cut back. I did not have to remove nearly as much as I originally thought I would as the heat had raise many of the tooth marks in the stem. I sanded the stem to smooth out the flow and slope of the stem and remove the remaining tooth damage. Even though the photos are a bit out of focus you can see the work that was done on the stems. If I had doubted that the stem was made of nylon it became very clear as I sanded it. The grey hue of the material can be seen in the photos below.
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Once the stem surface was smooth and the remaining dents were minimized it was time to take out the needle files and begin to cut the new button on the stem. I used a square bladed needle file to do the initial cuts in the button. I am always concerned to make a clean straight edge on the button so I find that a square blade with no taper or tip makes that task simple. I then clean it up with a flat bladed file and smooth out the transition between the button and the slope of the stem. The other files in the pictures below are used to shape the button and to define its final form. The three photos below show the files and the progress in cutting the new button. You can also see that the small dents that remained are disappearing in the shaping of the button. Care must be taken not to cut the edge too deeply and recreate the hole in the stem again. In this case I had enough meat on the stem to allow me to cut a well defined button.
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Once I had the button cut and defined I put the stem on the pipe to continue the process of refining the line of the stem and smoothing out the transition to the button. I wanted to taper the button toward the lip rather than leave it flat so you can see that in the profile picture below. The stem is just about finished by the time these photos were taken and only needed the final sanding to bring the stem to completion.
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The stem was then sanded with 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper to remove the deep scratches and then followed that with micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12000 grit. The finished stem is picture below both in profile and from a top view. The new button is comfortable and the slot is open and passes a pipe cleaner easily.

The pipe provided a great opportunity to work on a stem restoration and the recreation of a button and it has since found a new home in the rack of a happy pipe smoker who needed some pipes for working outside and in the yard. This is a perfect yard pipe and should continue to deliver a great smoke to him as long as he chooses to keep it.
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Another Piece of Tobacciana – A Hammered Metal Pipe Tobacco Humidor


I finally took some pictures of this piece of pipe history – or pipe accessories that I have in my collection. I love the look and feel of this jar. It is relatively useless in keeping tobacco humidified as it is not even close to air tight. Over the years that I have had the humidor I have tried various tobaccos in it. I have even put humidifying disks in the lid and in the tobacco itself with no success. I even tried some aromatic that seemed to never dry out on its own and in the jar it dried within a week to a nice crisp dry corn flake like consistency! So it is no good for tobacco. The look and feel of the piece is nice though. I have no idea of the age of the piece. I call it metal in the title as I do not know what metal it is made of. It does not feel like aluminum so I am guessing steel.
humidor1

humidor2

In the past I also used it to hold pipe tools and baggies of tobacco but I decided to jar them instead as the humidor did not keep them from drying out even that way. So it has been retired from that activity and currently resides on my desk in the office at the Foundation. It holds some of the candy that I keep on hand for myself and the folks we work with. It works well for that!
humidor3