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Restoring a Lovely Danish Pickaxe

Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is a beautiful Danish pipe from Scandia. This terrific pipe came to me from an antique shop in the Fraser Valley (an area to the east of Vancouver). The price was reasonable, so I had to have it. The pipe is beautiful and a great example of Danish pipe-making. The pipe is a Danish pickaxe pipe by Scandia, produced from the esteemed pipemaker, Stanwell. The pickaxe is a very attractive shape and this one is no exception. It really makes an impression. It has beautiful, sandblasted briar from the bowl, down the shank and transitions into the vulcanite ferrule. It also has a fantastic push stem. The underside of the shank reads Scandia [over] Made in Denmark. There is a faint marking on the ferrule, which appears to show “10” or possibly “1C”. I don’t think this is a shape number, for reasons I will explain momentarily. Finally, the stem’s top also has the SC, indicating the Scandia make. Both Pipedia and Pipephil list Scandia as being a Stanwell sub-brand or second (and not much else), as per the photo below.Meanwhile, Pipedia has a good amount of information on the Stanwell brand and its history. I certainly recommend looking it over: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell.Despite the (possible) number 10 on the ferrule, I went to check the list of Stanwell shapes, here on Reborn Pipes, and I found that this definitely did not match. However, I did find something that was a match! Shape 1b is listed as “Freehand, Pick Ax, push mouthpiece, by Sixten Ivarsson. (1975)”. To further confirm this, here is a page from an old 70s or 80s Stanwell catalogue which clearly shows the same shape of pipe with the matching shape number. I think we can safely assume that this is a pickaxe, designed by the legendary Sixten Ivarsson.Anyway, this really is a good-looking pipe. No major issues to resolve – just a few minor ones. The stem was dirty, and some small scratches. There were a couple of significant bite marks, as well as some oxidation and calcification on the vulcanite. The rim on the stummel was blackened and burnt – that would need to be addressed. The insides were fairly dirty and would need some work to clean out. There was also a small nick along the inside edge of the rim. The stem was first on my list. I wiped down the outside of the stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame in order to lift the bite marks and dents. Unfortunately, this didn’t really work, but I have ways of sorting this out. Then, I cleaned out the insides of the stem with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol.Once this process was done, I used SoftScrub and cotton pads to wipe down the stem before throwing it in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover overnight. The following day, I cleaned all of the de-oxidizing mess and again scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation. This worked well. I used some nail polish to restore the letters SC on the stem. I painted the area carefully and let it fully set before proceeding. These letters were too worn to be fully restored, but they definitely looked better after I worked on them.Before I moved on to the Micromesh pads, I built up the dents on the stem with cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure.I used my miniature files to ensure that the repairs keep the shape and look like they should. I then sanded the stem down with 220-, 400-, and 600-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. I did the same to the remaining tooth marks. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing.I repeated all of the above procedures for the vulcanite ferule, which only came off the stummel after applying heat and some gentle force. On to the stummel, and the usual cleaning procedures were in order for this pipe. I used both the PipNet Reamer and the KleenReem to remove the built-up cake and take the bowl down to bare briar, as I wanted to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the walls of the bowl. Fortunately, there were none.I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and isopropyl alcohol. There was lots of filth inside this stummel, and it took a good number of pipe cleaners etc. to sort that out. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes. I then moved on to cleaning the outside of the stummel with Murphy’s Oil Soap and some cotton pads. That removed any latent dirt. I decided to de-ghost the pipe in order to remove any lingering smells of the past. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this.As I mentioned earlier, there were some small burn marks on the rim of the stummel that also needed to be addressed. Some of this was removed by the Murphy’s. For the burns that remained, I took some oxalic acid on a Q-tip and rubbed and rubbed. As you will see, the treatment worked reasonably well and the rim was improved. Some would remain, but that is part of the history of this pipe. I completed this step by gently sanding the interior rim edge to remove any remnants that remained. Then I addressed the nick on the rim by filling it with cyanoacrylate adhesive and briar dust. I sanded it down and made it look great. After this, the entire stummel was treated to a rub-down with all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit). A light application of Before & After Restoration Balm brought out the best in the stummel’s sandblast. There is some beautiful wood on this Danish pipe! In fact, as I was working, my youngest child came to watch me for a bit and said, “Is that a doggy?” I wasn’t sure what she meant, but she grabbed the stummel and pointed this out. That’s pretty funny!I glued the ferrule back I place and then it was off for a trip to the buffer. A dose of White Diamond and a few coats of conservator’s wax were just what this pipe needed. I had to be especially careful with the bench polisher, since the edges had a tendency to catch on the buffing wheels. This pipe was a delight from the start and its beauty only increased through the restoration process. This pipe is elegant, light, and incredibly comfortable to hold. Finally, I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘Danish’ pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the Stanwell are as follows: length 5½ in. (140 mm); height 2½ in. (64 mm); bowl diameter 1⅝ in. (41 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅝ oz. (47 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

An Igloo in Algeria

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Pull up a chair and light your pipe – let me tell you the tale of an involved pipe restoration. This pipe arrived from France in a large lot. It certainly caught my eye with its idiosyncratic name and shape. I don’t know anything about the previous smoker of this pipe, but it certainly has travelled the world. Many things about this pipe are unusual, but most unusual of all is the shape! What would you call it? From the side it looks a bit like an igloo. It’s not a freehand, it’s not a classic shape – what on earth is it? I’m not sure, but I do have a soft spot for it so I’m going to call it an igloo.This is a Skikda pipe, made in Algeria. The only marking on the pipe was on the left of the square shank, which simply had the word ‘Skikda’. Igloo shape or not, it has a squared, tapered stem. As you can see, the stem of the pipe is made of vulcanite and the width of the stem narrows to the button. This indicates that the pipe is likely pre-war. My educated guess is that the pipe was made between 1932 and the beginning of World War II. Why 1923? Read on… As is often the case with pipes from the early 20th century, the information I have on Skikda Pipes is slim indeed. What does the word “Skikda” mean or refer to? Skikda is a region and a town in northeastern Algeria. Between the 1830s and 1960s (when Algeria was under French rule), the town was known as Philippeville, after the French king at the time the town was founded. Pipephil had no information at all under the name, Skikda, and Pipedia had a mere three short sentences – but the sentences were significant in their own way:

“It seems likely that Skikda pipes are connected to the Amiel brand founded (1923) [sic – this should read 1932] by Raoul Amiel in Philippeville (Skikda, Algeria). The factory employed about 30 persons in the early 1960s when it closed down. It is the only known pipe producer to have been headquartered in Skikda.”

This was significant because I had independently come to the same conclusion about Skikda and Amiel, before reading the Pipedia article. In other words, I was pleased that someone else had made the connection between Skikda and Amiel.

Pipedia also has an article on Amiel Pipes, with information gleaned from an email of Jacques Le Moigne, great-grandson of Justine Amiel, Raoul Amiel ‘s sister. I quote some (but not all) of that information:

The factory of Raoul Amiel near Philippeville in Algeria is the result of the briar industry there. By 1900 the French and Italian sources of briarwood in the Mediterranean are becoming rarer. The pipe industry had grown in a short period of time and a gigantic demand for this special rootwood was there. In 1905 rich fields of briar were discovered in Algeria, at that time still part of France. Within some years Algeria became an important exporter of so-called ebauchons that were exported world-wide. About eighty percent of the briar used in the pipe industry of that time originated from Algeria. We had previously indicated that French undertakers together with English investors were considering to set up the industry of pipe making in Algeria. The raw material was sufficient available, moreover cheap labour was easy to get. The Amiel family reports the factory was originally financed by the Wassas Family. Unfortunately things changed after 1929. The Amiel family was a traditional pipe family. They had their origins in Nancy, France, which they left in 1870 during the German invasion. They first moved to Florence Italy before moving to Philippeville in French Algeria. Raoul was a gifted engineer and designed and built the factory, which was very modern for the time. In 1932 the first pipe factory in Algeria opened its doors under the name Raoul Amiel. A mysterious factory of which little history is known. Certainly the techniques for making the pipes came over from Saint-Claude so that the pipes are hard to distinguish from the French counterparts. The factory named Amiel is heading with success. The product soon reached a high grade of perfection and soon competed with the French products. Even so, Amiel was selling a greater deal of his products in Saint-Claude, where the pipes received a French mark to be exported world-wide. Despite of the large production and the excellent trade the success of the factory is unclear to us now. After the founding the factory worked till the late 1950’s. Possibly the mark thereafter was sold and the production moved to another place. Anyhow, pipes under the name Amiel were kept alive till they disappeared from the marked somewhere around 1980. Certainly that fact is related to the declining interest in the tobacco pipe in general.

On to the pipe — and it was a bit of a nightmare. This stem may be the most badly oxidized stem I’ve ever worked on. The brownish-greenish-yellowish colour was oppressive and it was unclear whether it could be fully returned to its original glossy black. Inside the stem was quite dirty but not unusually so. The surface of the stem had scratches, marks, and dents as would be expected of a pipe this old, but worst of all — as the photos show — a big chunk of vulcanite was missing on the underside. As for the stummel, it was no better. It was nasty, grungy and dull. The left side had a couple of significant nicks, the underside of the shank had a crack, and the rim of the pipe was badly damaged by burns and was damaged enough to look like a meteor crater. Clearly, it had had a long, hard life. This turned out to be a more challenging restoration than I had anticipated. Part of the difficulty was as a direct result of my own inexperience; I had to redo some of the steps more than once to achieve the desired result.

It was time to fix this pipe! First up — the stem. There was some paper mush (or something similar) on (and adjacent to) the tenon. I later found out that this was to repair yet another problem in the stummel, but I digress. I removed all of that paper debris before proceeding with the usual procedures. I wiped the outside down with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame in order to lift the bite marks and dents. Then I cleaned out the inside with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. Because of the extreme oxidation, I used SoftScrub and cotton pads to wipe down the stem before throwing it in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. The following day, I cleaned all of the de-oxidizing mess and again scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation. This worked quite well. I built up the smaller dents on the stem and button with black cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure.The major gouge would need far more work. I made a patch out of a new-to-me product — a type of cyanoacrylate adhesive strengthened with carbon and rubber (I also mixed a little activated charcoal in). I’d heard good things about this product and wanted to try it out for myself (Spoiler alert: it worked very well!) This repair was a perfect opportunity to test drive this adhesive. I first plugged up the stem’s draught hole with a folded pipe cleaner coated in petroleum jelly. This ensured that any of the CA glue would not accidentally plug up the air passage in the stem. This was a tricky business and it took some real patience and effort to make it work. As the photos show, after I applied the cyanoacrylate, it looked pretty darn ugly, but I was expecting that. After the curing, I ended up sanding down the end of the stem to reduce some of the excess material. To carry this process on, I used some miniature files to further shape the button and make it suitable for sanding. I used another file on the inside to ensure there were no rough edges in the bore.I then sanded the stem down with 220-, 400-, and 600-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. This ensures that it keeps its shape and looks like it should. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. It is worth noting that a repair this big on a stem will never be completely invisible, but I was pleased with how I managed to make it look reasonably good.

After all of that, it was time to work on the stummel. First, I reamed out the bowl. I used the KleenReem to remove the built-up cake and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as I could. I took the chamber down to bare briar, as I wanted to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the wall. Fortunately, there were none. One thing to note is that this stem has an unusually wide draught hole and I’m not sure whether it was originally constructed that way, or if it was widened later. Either way, that (coupled with the crack in the shank) is why the stem’s tenon had that paper stuff on it – to ensure that the pipe fit together properly.Since the draught hole was unusually wide, I used some drill bits to help remove the detritus inside. Just to be clear: I did NOT use these drill bits in a drill! I used them with my hands. Using a drill here would be catastrophic for the pipe.I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. It was fairly dirty, but not extraordinarily so. I used cotton rounds and some Murphy’s Oil Soap to scrub the outside of the stummel and a toothbrush with Murphy’s for the lava on the rim of the pipe. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes. Because this pipe was so filthy, I decided to bypass the usual “ghosting” altogether, and go straight to a bath! I opted to soak the stummel in isopropyl alcohol overnight. This will usually remove the sort of goo, grunge, and ghosts I was faced with. Next day, I took it out of the bath and left it to dry. As you can see in the post-bath photos, some filth remained in the recesses of the pipe, so I took a bit of acetone on some Q-tips and rubbed. This worked like a charm!Having completed that, I could move on to fixing up the wounds on the stummel; there were three significant ones on the left side. They were large enough that I would not be able to make them disappear entirely, but I wanted to make them solid and smooth, and meld into the rest of the wood. I used a dental tool to dig out the remaining fill-material and replaced it with a mixture of cyanoacrylate adhesive and briar dust. These would get sanded down later. I then moved on to the crack on the underside of the shank. The first step in dealing with this was to ensure that the crack would not continue to creep after I had repaired it. To that end, I took a micro-drill bit, inserted it in my Dremel, and very carefully drilled a hole right through the wall of the shank, into the mortise. I then needed to apply cyanoacrylate adhesive in order to seal and repair it. First, however, I used a Q-tip and a folded pipe cleaner to coat the inside of the shank with petroleum jelly. This would prevent the adhesive from dripping inside the shank and creating further problems. That done, I carefully applied a tiny bead of adhesive to the hole and the length of the crack. Finally, I clamped it shut and let it cure. This was a great success – obviously, the crack would always be visible, but I was really pleased with how the repair looked. I took out my topping board and sanded the three planes of the pipe to both flatten the repairs and also level out the surface. I also wanted to resharpen the edges and corners a little. Next was to work on that meteor crater of a rim. I actually argued with myself for some time about this damaged rim. I seriously considered the idea of leaving the damage as it was (as part of the pipe’s history) because I was adamant about not changing the profile of the rim by sanding it. However, I felt that I couldn’t just leave the pipe as it was. It needed some help. I took some 600-grit sandpaper, wrapped it around my wooden sphere and gingerly sanded the rim. The circular shape and motion of the sphere gradually smoothed and returned the edge to a perfect circle. I think I managed to achieve a good balance between removing the damage but still keeping the original look.I took some oxalic acid, used several Q-tips, and rubbed, but this did not do much towards removing the burn. So, I brought out the big guns and used acetone, which achieved better results. Then I used all of my Micromesh pads over the entire stummel, including the rim.But just when I thought I was done the stummel — I wasn’t. I was reminded that there was that awful paper stuff on the tenon of the stem because it didn’t fit correctly, so I needed to rectify this too. I built up the bottom part of the mortise of the shank with CA glue and briar dust. After letting it cure, I sanded it down with my needle files, made it look good and, most importantly, ensured it fit well with the tenon. Finally, I gave the pipe a light application of Before & After Restoration Balm and let it sit for 15 minutes or so. I then buffed it with a microfibre cloth. After that, I took it to my bench polisher and polished it with white diamond and carnauba wax. This brought out the best in the stummel’s grain. The Skikda igloo with a long, hard life has been brought back from the dead! It an unusual and uncommon piece of Algerian and French pipemaking. It looks so much better than when I started and is ready to be enjoyed again by the next owner! I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘French’ pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5½ in. (140 mm); height 1 in. (25 mm); bowl diameter 1¼ in. (32 mm); chamber diameter ⅝ in. (16 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅛ oz. (33 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Giving Life to an Old Smokewel of Mysterious Origin

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is a bent billiard sandblast Smokewel (one “L”), which I acquired in a lot of pipes from a gentleman living on Vancouver Island. He had quite an assortment of pipes and they ranged from utterly horrible to surprisingly beautiful – fortunately, this was of the beautiful variety. The pipe is very well made: the proportions are right, the drilling is accurate, and it just oozes competence. This is a sandblasted bent billiard, with a tapered, vulcanite stem. And what a wonderful, rugged blast on this one! On the underside of the shank, the markings read ‘Smokewel [over] London Made’, and, off to the right, the shape number ’26’. This pipe had been well-loved and well-smoked, as it arrived with some marks and general wear, and the stem was pretty nasty. There were also beautiful indications of “hand erosion” on the right-hand side, where the previous owner’s hand had lovingly rubbed the pipe over the years. There were also a couple of tiny nicks, but, fortunately, nothing overly complicated.

Identifying exactly what a “Smokewel” pipe is turned out to be a typical pipe-history morass. There are a few twists and turns in this story, so join me in wading through this mess. As you’ve seen in the photos, the pipe clearly says “Smokewel” – not “Smokewell”. I initially thought that perhaps the terminal “L” had been rubbed off, but, looking closely, one can see that “Smokewel” is perfectly centred over “London Made”, which suggests this odd spelling was not the victim of rubbing. In other words, there is no missing “L”.

There is scant information to be had on both “Smokewel” and “Smokewell” – and none of it could be linked definitively to this pipe. There is this entry on Pipephil for “Smokewell”:As you can see, it is a line of pipes from the John Redman firm of London. There are some examples of these pipes that can be found online, and I have included a photo of the markings of Redman’s “Smokewell” line: This might be significant because I have studied the letters of the markings from my pipe and Redman’s pipe, and they are the same. In addition, a John Redman catalog (supposedly) from the 1960s, lists “Smokewell” as one of their “London Made Briars” (note the wording). I have clipped the specific passage here:All of this is persuasive evidence, but not definitive. The missing “L” on my pipe causes me to pause, if only briefly, before declaring it to be a John Redman pipe. Also, the various iterations of Redman pipe usually had markings on the stem – this one has none and I don’t think it’s a replacement stem. I am aware that Wilczak and Colwell’s Who Made That Pipe? lists “Smokewell” under John Redman – but there is more.

Wilczak and Colwell also list “Smokewell” under a company called Maurice Pipes. The second “L” here could be an error from Wilczak and Colwell – the book is full of them. I also found an old advertisement for Maurice Pipes. Based in London, this firm supposedly produced very fine pipes. Superficially, this ad seems to have nothing to do with our pipe, except that it instructs the reader to use the word “Smokewel” (one “L”) in telegram and cable correspondence with the firm. The word obviously had significance to Maurice Pipes.On the PipesMagazine forums online, I read a thread about early sandblasts and one comment stuck out to me: “The mysterious Maurice was listing blast pipes in the 20’s and as a pipe company they are totally in the dusty shadows, but I’d reckon they were a fine maker, mostly because of their prices – they sold their Sandblast alongside their topline Extra for the very same price, at 16/6 and that’s a fairly high price comparatively.”

The connection between Maurice Pipes and “Smokewel” is tenuous at best, but it was my only connection to the single-L “Smokewell”. If you have information about any of the research above, I would love to hear from you. The stinger is a bit odd – does it ring any bells for you?

And speaking of the stinger, let’s clean it. I heated the stem and stinger with my heat gun and this provided just enough softening of the internal goo to allow me to pull it out. It then went for a soak in some lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. I let it sit for several hours and then cleaned it off and it looked much improved.I wiped the outside of the stem down with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. Though dirty, the outside of the stem was in decent condition and the oxidation wasn’t too bad. On the other hand, the inside was another kettle of fish! I used up a good chunk of the world’s supply of pipe cleaners to clean it out – the pictures only show a fraction of what I used. Next, the stem went for an overnight soak in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. The following day, I cleaned all of the de-oxidizing mess off. The oxidation had migrated to the surface and would be fairly straightforward to remove. I scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation and leave the stem in a dull black colour. Finally, I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. Now for the stummel. It was nicked on the front edge of the rim, and the rim itself had lava and general filth, so, time to work on it! I started with the KleenReem to remove the built-up cake and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as I could. I took the chamber down to bare briar, as I wanted to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the wall. Fortunately, there were none. I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. There was an extraordinary amount of filth inside this stummel and it took an enormous amount of cotton to get it clean. I only have a photo of a small number of pipe cleaners. I can’t imagine that this pipe had ever been cleaned – or, at least, not in many decades. Because the filth in the shank was well-encrusted, I used a couple of drill bits held in a chuck, by hand (not in a drill), to try and loosen up the debris. This worked quite well. I decided to de-ghost the pipe to remove any lingering smells of the past. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton.In fact, the pipe was dirty enough that I then used my pipe retort system on it. I neglected to take photos of that, but it certainly helped clean the pipe. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes. I used some Murphy’s Oil Soap and a toothbrush to scrub the outside of the stummel and the lava on the rim of the pipe. I didn’t scrub too hard – I wanted to keep the nice colour on the wood. Having completed that, I was able to address the small nicks on the rim and the bowl. I used some tiny drops of cyanoacrylate adhesive to fill the nicks, and a metal brush to camouflage the repairs in the wood. Finally, I used only the last three MicroMesh pads to polish the stummel, but I was careful not to damage the sandblast. After that, a light application of Before & After Restoration Balm brought out the best in the stummel’s grain. Then off to the buffer! A tiny dose of White Diamond and a few coats of conservator’s wax were just what this pipe needed. This Smokewel looks fantastic again. It is elegant and handsome, and is ready to be enjoyed by the next owner. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the British pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5¼ in. (133 mm); height 2¾ in. (70 mm); bowl diameter 1¼ in. (32 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅛ oz. (35 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

A Very Spiffy Peterson Kildare Bent Bulldog

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

How fine it is to come across a pipe as comely as this. I found this republic-era Peterson bent bulldog at a local antique fair and I was charmed by it right away. There is a feeling of satisfaction in just looking at it and a feeling of comfort with it in hand. Despite its rather shabby appearance when I found it, the pipe held great promise – and I was sure that I could tease out its beauty with a little TLC. Let’s have a closer look. This Peterson pipe has the classic bulldog shape: diamond shank and tapered stem. In this case, it also had a very nice bend and the traditional Peterson P-lip stem. The markings on the left side of the shank are Peterson’s [over] “Kildare”. The right side of the shank showed Made in the [over] Republic [over] of Ireland. Further along the right side of the shank was the shape number: 80S. Naturally, the Peterson logo “P” was engraved on the stem. I know something about Peterson pipes, but little about the Kildare line, so I went over to Pipedia to have a look. Obviously, there is a long and very good article about Peterson – here is the link. Here is a brief quotation about the republic-era pipes:

1950 – 1989 The Republic Era – From 1950 to the present time, the stamp for this era is “Made in the Republic of Ireland” in a block format generally in three lines but two lines have been used with or without Republic being abbreviated. During the 1950’s and 60’s the Kapp & Peterson Company was still in the ownership of the Kapp family. However, 1964 saw the retiral of the company Managing Director Frederick Henry (Harry) Kapp.

No mention was made of the Kildare line there, but Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg’s book, The Peterson Pipe: The Story of Kapp & Peterson, did make mention of it:

Kildare (1965–) First issue of line with matte-finish in Classic Range shapes, P-Lip and fishtail mouthpiece. Second issue C.1979 as Kildare Patch, with rusticated patches on pipe surface. Third issue 2010, matte-brown, P-Lip or fishtail mouthpiece, no band. Fourth issue 2011-, burgundy sandblast finish, nickel army mount, fishtail mouthpiece, exclusive to smokingpipes.com.So? Does this mean I have a First Issue Kildare or a Third Issue Kildare (it’s clearly not Second or Fourth). Truth be told: I don’t know for sure. But the First Issue is the only one that specifically mentions the Classic Shapes, of which the 80S is one. So I have no reason to think that this isn’t from the earliest (1965-79) range. I am more than happy to be corrected by someone who knows more than I do!

Let’s have a closer look at this pipe. Someone had clearly attempted to clean the pipe in the past. Their cleaning job was mediocre, but better than nothing. The near side of the rim of the bowl had a clear burn mark. Mercifully, the burn looks quite superficial. The stummel has a couple of small nicks, which are not a big deal. The two grooves which wrap around the bowl were fairly grungy and would need to be cleaned. Fortunately, the stem was in good shape – just some oxidation to address. There was an inner tube in this pipe and it needed to be cleaned. I threw it in some lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol and let it soak for a while. I took it out, cleaned with some SoftScrub, gave it a rinse, and gave it a polish. Much better.Stem next. As usual, I cleaned the insides with lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol and some pipe cleaners. Fortunately, it wasn’t too dirty inside. Then I wiped down the outside of the stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton rounds – that removed some exterior dirt. Then, of course, I stuck it in the deoxidizing solution overnight. The next day, I scrubbed it down with some SoftScrub on cotton rounds. Before moving on to sanding, I wanted to restore the stylized “P” logo on the stem. I could see that the impression was shallower at the bottom than at the top. I painted that “P” in white and let it dry. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing (from 3,600 on). Setting aside the stem, I grabbed the stummel and started on that. Fortunately, this pipe didn’t need to be reamed, but other cleaning still needed to be done. Just like the stem, I cleaned the insides with lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol and some pipe cleaners and Q-tips. One has to keep cleaning until the pipe cleaners no longer show any interior filth.Since I wasn’t sure what was done in the previous owner’s cleaning job, I decided that a de-ghosting session would be sensible. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused the oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this. I then took some 400-grit sandpaper and gently sanded down the inside edge of the bowl. I wanted to remove any remaining detritus. Following that, I grabbed a dental tool and dug out the muck that filled the two grooves on the bowl. I was actually surprised how much stuff was in there. Once done, I thoroughly cleaned the outside with Murphy’s on cotton rounds. I gently “topped” the pipe in order to safely remove the burn on the rim. The burn was very slight, so it didn’t take much. The pipe was really beginning to look beautiful. I followed that up by cleaning the insides of the stummel with some dish soap and tube brushes.Almost forgot the little dents on the underside of the bowl! Those were easily repaired with cyanoacrylate adhesive and briar dust. After this, I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand the stummel smooth. I then applied some Before & After Restoration Balm which I massaged into the wood and let sit for 20 minutes or so. After that, I rubbed it with a microfiber cloth. The balm brings out the best in the beautiful wood. It makes things shine and really shows the lustre. Finally, I took it to the buffer and used some White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax.This Peterson Kildare really came out well. I am proud of the work and I’m sure the new owner will love it! I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘Irish’ pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5⅜ in. (136 mm); height 1¾ in. (45 mm); bowl diameter 1⅝ in. (41 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1¼ oz. (39 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring a Kaywoodie Churchwarden

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is a charming and looooong Kaywoodie Dublin churchwarden (twelve inches long), commissioned by the daughter of a friend, for her fiancé. She was determined to get her beau a churchwarden as a gift. Fortunately, I was able to lay my hands on one and did a nifty restoration job on it. This pipe was made by the well-known American pipe company, Kaywoodie. The markings on the left side of the shank read Super Grain [over] Kaywoodie. On the right side of the shank is the shape number: 95. The left side of the stem has the traditional Kaywoodie logo, a club: ♣. I went over to Pipedia, in order work out a rough date for this pipe. I know that the very old Kaywoodies have four-digit shape numbers – and this pipe obviously only has two digits. On the list of Kaywoodie shape numbers, the following information was shown:

Shape # Description Years Produced

95 Extra Long Dublin Churchwarden 1932-1937, 1947-1972

So, at its youngest, this pipe is a minimum of 50 years old. Having said that, however, I think it’s older because the scant information I could find suggests that the 95 was not produced in Super Grain from at least 1968. I also don’t feel that this pipe falls into the earlier year ranges. My best estimate is that this pipe dates from the period of 1955 to 1968. Sadly, I cannot be more precise than that. The following photo shows the pipe in question from a 1955 Kaywoodie catalogue:The pipe was in decent condition. The pipe had been well-smoked add the bowl and shank were quite dirty, but nothing outlandish. The bowl had notable cake on the inside and some lava on the rim. I felt that some burning was possibly there too. Similarly, the stem was relatively clean – not much oxidation to speak of, and what I would describe as “typical” tooth marks on the bit. The stem was somewhat bent out of shape (in the yaw, pitch, and roll axes) and would need to be corrected. Finally, some previous owner had decapitated the drinkless filter system. Time to get to work. The stem was first on my list. I wiped the outside down with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. I cleaned out the insides with lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol and some churchwarden pipe cleaners. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame to lift the few bite marks and dents. This was reasonably successful in raising the damage. It wasn’t perfect, but it was improved.

As I mentioned, the stinger thing had been lopped off. There was no repairing it – and I didn’t want to anyway! What I did do, however, was to gently sand down the cut edge with metal sandpaper in coarse, medium and fine grits. This worked beautifully and I was pleased with the results. I cleaned off the end with some alcohol on a cotton pad and gave the metal a quick polish. I then heated the stem with my heat gun and gently worked the twisted stem back into place. I have bent many stems before, but this one was by far the trickiest – perhaps because it was so long. There was considerable resistance in the stem and, after correcting the yaw and roll axes, I opted to leave some of the pitch – figuring that discretion was the better part of valour. Or, rather, I didn’t want to break the darn thing!

Fortunately, the stem was in good enough shape that it didn’t need a soak in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. I simply scrubbed and scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads. I built up the remaining marks on the stem with black cyanoacrylate adhesive and then cured it with the aid of some CA glue accelerator. I then carefully sanded the adhesive down with 220-, 400-, and 600-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing (from 3,600 onward). Now for the stummel. I decided to ream out the bowl. I used the PipNet reamer to remove the built-up cake and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as I could. I took the chamber down to bare briar, as I wanted to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the wall. Fortunately, there were none. I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. There was quite a bit of filth inside this stummel and it took a fair amount of cotton to get it clean. I used cotton rounds and some Murphy’s Oil Soap to scrub the outside of the stummel. I soaked the rim of the pipe in Murphy’s in order to soften the lava. This worked well, but burn marks remained on the wood of the rim. I followed that up by cleaning the insides of the stummel with some dish soap and tube brushes. Next, I decided to de-ghost the pipe in order to remove any lingering smells of the past. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this. Often, to remove burn marks, I use oxalic acid, but, in this case, the burning was too extensive. I should say that the burning wasn’t severe or deep – just wide. In order to safely remove the burns on the rim, I “topped” the pipe – that is to say, I gently and evenly sanded down the rim on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. This effectively removed the damage, without altering the look of the pipe.Before sanding, I applied some Before & After Restoration Balm and let it sit for 20 minutes or so. It does lovely things to the wood. Once I polished it with a microfibre cloth, I sanded the stummel down with all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit). Finally, I applied some more Before & After Restoration Balm and buffed it with a microfiber cloth a second time. I then took the pipe to my bench polisher and buffed it with White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax. Wow – the pipe really looks lovely. My friend’s daughter presented her fiancé with the pipe and he seemed quite pleased with it. I met the lucky fellow myself and I know that he will enjoy smoking it for many years to come. I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much I as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring a Classic Custom-Bilt

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is this handsome and rugged Custom-Bilt Oom Paul. I acquired this pipe with Steve at one of those antique fairs where the term ‘antique’ is most loosely applied. Editorial comments aside, the fair was good fun and Steve and I enjoyed ourselves. This pipe piqued my interest because I know that there are many admirers (or should I say ‘fanatics’?) of Custom-Bilt pipes. Clearly, this one had had an active life and looked awfully tired now, but I felt I could bring it back to its best. As you can see, the pipe has the classic Custom-Bilt rustication on it. These marks are reminiscent of Tracy Mincer’s original work and are seen as something of a hallmark of the brand, nowadays. On the left side of the shank, the markings were as follows: Custom-Bilt [over] Imported Briar. No markings on the right side and no markings on the stem.The history of Custom-Bilt pipes is an interesting one and the most comprehensive source of information comes from The Custom-Bilt Pipe Story by Bill Unger. By all the accounts that I’ve heard, it is a very good book. I haven’t had the chance to read it myself, but it would appear to be the fount of knowledge on these pipes. If you’ve got a copy of Unger’s book that’s you’d like to get rid of, please drop me a line!Pipedia’s article on Custom-Bilt consists primarily of review’s of Unger’s book. It offers a cursory view of the markings and their approximate dating. My pipe’s markings correspond to “Stamp Number Three” as seen below, even though the markings on my pipe are not identical to that one. Thus, this pipe seems to be from the Wally Frank era.Pipephil provided a bit more information on the brand, although not strictly related to my pipe.Finally, the pipesrevival.com website has yet more information on Custom-Bilt pipes. This page seemed to confirm that my pipe is from the Wally Frank era, but my interpretation of the photos, etc. is that this is from the early part of that era – probably the early 70s. It is difficult to be sure, but that seems reasonable. In any event, if you are interested in these pipes, I recommend reading all three websites.I figure that this pipe must have been a good smoker because it had been thoroughly used and there was plenty of wear from its long life. This wasn’t a difficult restoration, but there were a lot of steps and it took longer than usual. The stem was heavily oxidized. There were a few minor scratches and a couple of notable tooth dents, and the inside was definitely dirty. However, the real issues were on the stummel. It had accumulated much dirt and debris over the years. The bowl had tons of cake inside and the rim was coated in lava (and potentially burn marks). The front edge of the rim was damaged, presumably from banging out dottle on a hard surface over the years. The grooves of the rustication were embedded with debris and there was a notable burn mark on the back-right part of the bowl, near the shank. Meanwhile, on the left of the bowl, there were a couple of fills (including a major one) that would need addressing. I haven’t even mentioned the miscellaneous scratches, dents and other marks all over the place! Let’s get restoring. The stem was first on my list. I wiped the outside with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame to lift the few bite marks and dents. However, it did not do much. Then I cleaned out the inside with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. Given the amount of oxidation, this one needed the usual overnight Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover bath. The following day, I cleaned all of the de-oxidizing mess off with alcohol, pipe cleaners, et cetera. The oxidation had migrated to the surface and I scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation. With that done, I built up the dents on the top and bottom of the stem with black cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure. I then sanded the adhesive down with 220-, 400-, and 600-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) all over to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing.You may notice that the stem looked odd – well, you are right. Over time, it gradually straightened itself out. I wanted the end of the stem to be roughly parallel with the rim of the bowl, so I brought out my heat gun and heated the vulcanite stem to make it malleable. The heat gun is very powerful – it doesn’t take long! When soft, I gently curved the stem over a wooden dowel. The dowel provides a firm surface and a proper curve. Once I had the bend I wanted, I left the stem to cool and set itself in place.

When I was done, I noticed some unusual “stretch marks” on the stem where I’d bent it. Then I asked Steve about it and learned that it does happen occasionally. Suffice it to say, it was extremely annoying as I had to go back and sand that section again. Lesson learned: bend the stem before sanding it!All that finished, I set the stem aside and I began work on the very dirty stummel. Firstly, I decided to ream out the bowl. I used both the PipNet Reamer and the KleenReem to remove the built-up cake and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as I could. I took the chamber down to bare briar, as I wanted to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the wall. Fortunately, there were none. As the photos show, there was quite a mound of debris. I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. It was ridiculously dirty and took up the country’s supply of cotton to get it clean. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes. Next, I used cotton rounds and a toothbrush to scrub the outside of the stummel. Due to the lava on the rim, I carefully used a knife to scrape away as much as I could. All that scrubbing accentuated some very ugly fills which had been repaired with typical red putty.To exorcize the ghosts of tobaccos past, I decided to de-ghost the pipe. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. Although it helped, the de-ghosting was not as successful as I hoped. As a result, I plopped the stummel in my alcohol bath overnight. This removes old stain and cleans debris, odours etc. As you can see, after the bath, the stummel looked rather naked but much cleaner. I next used a dental pick to dig out the awful putty in those fills, as I felt I could do better. I redid the fills with a mixture of cyanoacrylate adhesive and briar dust. The main fill on the back of the bowl was in an awkward position for sanding and making it consonant with the surrounding wood was tricky. In any event, I used some miniature files and various grits of sandpaper to make it look good. Next was the burn on the backside. I took some oxalic acid, used several Q-tips, and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed. The burn dramatically improved and any stain I would later apply would cover it up. Fortunately, the burn was very superficial and did not affect the integrity of the wood at all.To remove the nicks on the rim, I “topped” the pipe – that is to say, I gently and evenly sanded down the rim on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. This effectively removed the damage, without altering the look of the pipe. However, since I did not want to top the pipe too much, the bashed-in front edge of the pipe would have to be addressed differently. I dug out my iron and a damp cloth to attempt a repair. The hot and moist steam can often cause the wood to swell slightly and return to shape. There was some movement – not a lot, but it was better than doing nothing. I opted to ever-so-slightly round the rim of the pipe in such a way that looks both natural and handsome. Then I sanded the stummel down with all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit). The smooth areas got all nine pads, whereas the rusticated areas on received only the last four. Although almost all of the nicks were removed, a hint of a couple of wounds remains. This is part of the story of this pipe – it is its history. Due to all the necessary work for this pipe, I needed to restore the colour, so I stained it with Fiebing’s Medium Brown Leather Dye. First, I brought out my heat gun and spent a couple of minutes thoroughly heating the wood, so it would be as receptive as possible to the stain. I needed the brown to penetrate well into the wood, to give the best results. I applied dye with a cotton dauber. I flamed it with my BIC lighter, let it set, then coated it again with dye, flamed it again, and let that set too. I decided to let the pipe sit overnight. This dye is alcohol-based, so I used isopropyl alcohol to wipe down the pipe and remove excess stain. My intent was not to create a new look for this pipe, but rather to restore the original colour. Finally, I took it to the buffer and used some White Diamond and a few coats of Conservator’s Wax. This pipe took a lot of work, but it was worth it. This Custom-Bilt looks fantastic again and is ready to be enjoyed again by the next owner! I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘American’ pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 4¾ in. (120 mm); height 5⅛ in. (130 mm); bowl diameter 1½ in. (38 mm); chamber diameter ⅞ in. (22 mm). The weight of the pipe is 2⅜ oz. (69 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Bringing Back a Ropp Cherrywood

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Bog by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is a Ropp Cherrywood Churchwarden, commissioned by a friend. As you may know, Ropp is possibly best known for their cherrywood pipes, this is one of the more attractive cherrywoods I’ve seen in a while. The key here is that they’ve kept the design simple: a solid, handsome stummel and an elegant, lithe stem. They nailed this one. I’m glad that my friend picked this one out; he made a good choice! Of course, this pipe was made by the venerable French pipe company, Ropp. The markings on this pipe were on the underside of the bowl and read Ropp (encircled in an oval) [over] De Luxe [over] Made in France [over] 919. This number is the shape number, and it was somewhat. From Pipedia, here is a very brief history of the Ropp company:

Eugène-Léon Ropp (1830–1907) acquired a patent for the cherrywood pipe in 1869. In 1870, he established a workshop to manufacture such pipes in Bussang, in the Vosges mountains. Around 1893, his business moved into the former mill of Sicard (part of the community of Baume-les-Dames in Upper Burgundy. The pipes were a big success in export as well. Shortly before 1914, Ropp designated A. Frankau & Co. (BBB) to be the exclusive distributor in the UK and its colonies. Probably in 1917, a workshop in Saint-Claude in the rue du Plan du Moulin was acquired to start the fabrication of briar pipes. In 1923, another small building in Saint-Claude, serving as a workshop for polishing, was added. Cherrywood pipes were the mainstay of Ropp until the company finally closed down in September 1991. The company was taken over by Cuty-Fort Entreprises in 1994. The pipe was in very nice condition. The stummel had been lightly smoked add the bowl and shank were a bit dirty, but nothing extraordinary. There was a sticky substance on the underside, possibly the remnants of a price sticker. Similarly, the stem was relatively clean – not much oxidation to speak of, and only a few tooth marks on the bit. Time to get cracking. The stem was first on my list. I wiped the outside down with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. I cleaned out the insides with lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol and some long pipe cleaners.I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame to lift the few bite marks and dents. This was quite successful in raising the damage. This technique doesn’t always work, but it did here.Fortunately, the stem was in good enough shape that it didn’t need a soak in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. I simply scrubbed and scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads. I built up the remaining marks on the stem with black cyanoacrylate adhesive and then cured it with the aid of some CA glue accelerator. I then carefully sanded the adhesive down with 220-, 400-, and 600-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing (from 3,600 onward).Now for the stummel. It was in nice condition, with very few nicks or scratches, which was a relief! However, I decided to ream out the bowl. I used the KleenReem to remove the built-up cake and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as I could. I took the chamber down to bare briar, as I wanted to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the wall. Fortunately, there were none. I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. There was a bit of filth inside this stummel and it took a fair amount of cotton to get it clean. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes. I used cotton rounds and some Murphy’s Oil Soap to scrub the outside of the stummel. Next, I decided to de-ghost the pipe in order to remove any lingering smells of the past. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this. Following that, I took a solid wooden sphere, wrapped a piece of 220-grit sandpaper around it, and sanded the inner side of the chamber. The circular shape and motion of the sphere gradually returned the edge to a perfect circle. This takes time and patience, but it is quite effective. As you can see, the outside of the bowl still has the original cherrywood bark and I definitely didn’t want to risk damaging it. Although I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) on the top and bottom, I used only 4,000 through 12,000 on the sides. I performed a similar operation on the shank. Finally, I applied some Before & After Restoration Balm and buffed it with a microfiber cloth. Again, to preserve the bark, I didn’t use the bench buffer on the sides of the bowl and shank, though I did apply Clapham’s Beeswax Salad Bowl Finish. However, I did buff the top and bottom with White Diamond and carnauba wax on the bench buffer. All shiny and lovely, I know that the new owner will enjoy smoking it for many years to come. I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much I as I did restoring it. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 11 in. (280 mm); height 1⅞ in. (48 mm); bowl diameter 1½ in. (38 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 2 oz. (58 g). If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Paint It Black!

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is a very pretty, unsmoked bent apple sitter from the French company, Courrieu, based in the Provençal town of Cogolin. A customer of mine wanted an attractive yet inexpensive pipe – he decided on this one, as it was both unsmoked but flawed, and therefore inexpensive. The markings were as follows: on the left side of the shank were the words Vieille Bruyere [over] Courrieu [over] Cogolin. The right side had no markings, but the left side of the stem had the image of a Gallic rooster – a national symbol of France and, subordinately, traditionally associated with Courrieu.Pipephil gave me a brief overview of the Courrieu brand:Ulysse Courrieu started carving pipes in Cogolin in 1802. Courrieu certainly is the oldest French briar pipe factory. The family corporate is managed (2009) by René Salvestrini who married a Courrieu daughter.

This pipe had some fine briar wood and looked like a well-made pipe. However, despite being unsmoked, this pipe still had some issues. The stem was clearly unused but had acquired some minor oxidation over time. The band around the shank was heavily tarnished; so much so that I was unsure if it was tarnished, or actually damaged, and if I would need a new band.There were also some minor abrasions and staining. Most notable, however, was a substantial crack in the shank, as shown in the photographs. The crack extended through the wood into the mortise and would require some careful work to repair successfully. On a pleasant note, the stinger was in immaculate condition. Other than buffing it with a microfiber cloth, it needed nothing else. One of my customer’s stipulations was to stain the pipe black. No problem as far as I was concerned. However, many people don’t quite understand what they will get when they request a black pipe. They often think that the pipe will end up as some sort of shiny lacquered item, but that’s not the way it works with me. I won’t use lacquer on pipes and I need to make it beautiful in other ways. Fortunately, my friend was aware of this and I endeavoured to make it as attractive as possible.

Now to work! As you saw, the band was pretty awful, so I brought out some SoftScrub on a cotton round and duly scrubbed away, taking care not to bend the soft metal. I was delighted at how well that turned out, as I had feared that the band was damaged beyond repair. Once clean, I buffed it with a jewelry polishing cloth and it looked like new. Hurray! Even though the stem had never been smoked, I ran a few pipe cleaners through it to ensure maximum cleanliness. There was some latent dust, but it was easily dealt with. I used some cotton rounds and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the top layer of oxidation. Then the stem went for an overnight bath in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. The following day, I cleaned all of the de-oxidizing mess off with alcohol, pipe cleaners, et cetera. The oxidation had migrated to the surface and would be straightforward to remove. I scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation. After this, I used some white nail polish and carefully painted the embossed Gallic rooster on the stem. I painted the area carefully and let it set for a few minutes. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. Then I set the stem aside and moved on to the stummel. The next order of business was to scrub the outside of the stummel with some cotton rounds and Murphy’s Oil Soap. Despite being unsmoked, the stummel was reasonably dirty from sitting abandoned for decades.Then it came time to address the crack in the shank. To ensure that any crack repair is successful, I need to make sure that the crack won’t elongate. I took a micro-drill bit and drilled a hole through the wall of the shank into the mortise, at the very end of the crack. By doing this, I prevent the crack from growing any further. Look how tiny the drill bit is! You can also see the drilled hole at the end of the crack. I also removed the old yellow adhesive you can see below. I needed to apply cyanoacrylate adhesive to the crack to seal and repair it. First, however, I stuffed the mortise area with some folded pipe cleaners, coated with petroleum jelly. This would prevent the adhesive from dripping inside the shank and creating further problems. After that, I carefully applied a bead of adhesive to the tiny hole and the length of the crack. Finally, I clamped it shut and let it sit overnight to cure. This was a great success – obviously, the crack would always be there, but I was really pleased with how the repair looked. I then sanded the adhesive down, as well as the stummel. Just like the stem, I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit). Having completed that, it was time for the staining. First, I brought out my heat gun and spent a couple of minutes thoroughly heating the wood, so it would be as receptive as possible to the stain. I needed the black to penetrate well into the wood, to give the best results. I applied Fiebing’s Black Leather Dye with a cotton dauber. I flamed it with my Bic lighter, let it set, then coated it again with dye, flamed it again, and let that set too. I decided to let the pipe sit overnight. Upon the morrow, I stained and flamed the pipe another two times, always making sure I warmed the pipe with my heat gun first. This dye is alcohol-based, so I used isopropyl alcohol to wipe down the pipe and remove excess stain. I am very happy with the results. Then it was off for a trip to the buffer. A dose of White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax were just what this pipe needed. I think the black came out very well on this pipe. I know that the new owner will enjoy smoking it for many years to come. I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much I as I did restoring it. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 4½ in. (114 mm); height 3½ in. (89 mm); bowl diameter 1¼ in. (32 mm); chamber diameter ⅝ in. (16 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1½ oz. (43 g). If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring an Impressive Meerschaum Figural

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block, we have a unique and large, carved, meerschaum figural pipe. As I’m sure you know, meerschaum is a German word which literally means “sea foam” (meer = sea and schaum = foam). Incidentally, schaum is also where we get the English word scum from. But where did the Germans get the meerschaum word from? Obviously, meerschaum is so called because it is white and light, but the Oxford Dictionary of Etymology further explains that the term is itself a translation of the Persian word kef-i-daryā – literally meaning “foam of sea”. Now you can impress friends at your next cocktail party. I acquired this pipe in a large lot in the summertime. This meerschaum pipe was notable as its stem had been lost in the mists of time, on its way from Asia Minor. I searched through the lot of pipes that it came in, but there was no sign of it. Fortunately, Steve kindly supplied me with a suitable stem which worked perfectly. The pipe is a large piece of block meerschaum, presumably from Turkey, although it has no markings of any sort. However, it has all the hallmarks of Eskişehir, so I feel confident in saying it’s Turkish. As for the carving, I’m not totally sure what it is meant to be. I can’t tell if it’s intended to be an image of the Virgin and Child, people from an ancient Anatolian myth, or some historical characters with which I am unfamiliar. Steve didn’t recognize them either, so if you have some idea who these people are, please feel free to clear up the mystery with a comment below.

The pipe was in very nice condition, though a bit dirty. There was dust and debris in the grooves and even on the smooth surfaces. It had been smoked, though not heavily. The main part of the pipe was in good condition, without any notable damage. There was a tenon left in the shank that was broken and would need replacement. There was also a meerschaum shank extension which was dirty, but otherwise in good shape too. To work! I began by removing the tenon in the shank with a pair of needle-nose pliers. Meerschaum is too fragile for a proper reamer, so I used 220-grit sandpaper on the end of a wooden dowel to clean out the bowl and it turned out very nicely. I then cleaned the shank with lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol, pipe cleaners and Q-tips. One of the frustrations of cleaning meerschaum is that once smoked, the stains never go away. However, I did what I could and cleaned the shank extension in a similar manner. There were some unusual purple stains on parts of the meerschaum. I don’t know what they were, but I took a good-quality eraser and they came off with ease, fortunately. Then I took Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton rounds (and Q-tips) and cleaned the meerschaum. It’s important to be cautious in one’s use of fluids around meerschaum. Allowing it to soak in a liquid causes it to soften. I also used a soft bristle toothbrush with the Murphy’s in some of the nooks and crannies. Now that the figural was all clean, I set about using my MicroMesh sanding pads to polish up the meerschaum. I didn’t use the coarser grits over the entire pipe – only in the areas that required it – as I didn’t want to risk any damage. I neglected to take pictures, but I also rubbed some Clapham’s Beeswax into the meerschaum. In fact, I used Q-tips as well to get it into the nooks and crannies. Then I let it sit for 15-20 minutes, buffed it with a microfiber cloth and then repeated the beeswax process. Worked like a charm! As I mentioned, Steve was kind enough to give me an acrylic stem which came with its own push-tenon. He also gave me a handful of other plastic, bone and metal tenons so I could find the right fit for the pipe in question. The stem was terrific, but it had been used and was plenty dirty.First, I removed the push-tenon by heating it lightly with my heat gun. That allowed it to unscrew without much trouble. I then cleaned out the stem and tenon with the usual lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol, cotton pads, Q-tips etc. Just like meerschaum, acrylic tends to stain after smoking, no matter how dutiful you are with your cleaning. However, I put in a lot of elbow grease to sterilize the stem and tenon as much as I could. I even used some Castile soap and tube brushes. There were a couple of very small nicks on the stem, which I repaired with cyanoacrylate adhesive. However, I forgot to take pictures of that. I then used all nine MicroMesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) and some Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. Once that was done, I fitted a new bone tenon for the shank extension and a new mortise for the push-tenon. Finally, as meerschaum pipes don’t do well on a bench-polisher, I buffed the pipe by hand with a microfibre cloth. And that’s that! This big meerschaum looks fantastic and is ready to be enjoyed again by the next owner. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the “Meerschaum” section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 7½ in. (190 mm); height 3½ in. (89 mm); bowl diameter 1½ in. (38 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (20 mm). The weight of the pipe is 4 oz. (114 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

The French Collection

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

No, not the French Connection – but French Collection! I have long had an interest in French pipes and pipemaking. In recent decades, French pipes have received a fair amount of derision – and deservedly so. However, early French pipes are very often beautiful, well-made, and – best of all – good smokers. In my own small way, I am aiming to resurrect the reputation of early French pipes. There are superb pipes to be had from France. This blog post is about the restoration of the first pipe that is going into my “French Collection”.

The pipe in question has no markings whatsoever. So how do I know it’s French? Well, I don’t have absolute proof, but I’ve got good circumstantial evidence: the pipe has a very French look to it, it smells like old French tobacco, it came in a lot of exclusively French pipes from France, and – most definitively – Steve thinks it’s French too. As the photos show, this is a cutty-shaped pipe, albeit without the spur. However, it shows the distinctive, canted bowl of the cutty. It is a handsome pipe with a jaunty look to it, and I liked the pipe straight away. As I mentioned, this pipe has no marks of any kind. This obviously makes identification trickier. I know that Georges Vincent-Genod company used to make pipes similar to this once upon a time, but I cannot, in good conscience, definitely ascribe this pipe to the GVG company. Having said that, the following pipe from Genod certainly has its similarities…The age of this pipe is quite interesting. As you can see, the stem of the pipe is made of horn and has an orific button at the end. For more information on the orifice button, take the time to read Steve’s interesting article on the subject. This type of button is a feature that apparently disappeared by the 1930s, so the pipe must be around a hundred years old, right? Not so fast. The stummel has a threaded tenon made of metal – not bone (as one might expect from a century ago). Steve, my walking encyclopedia, informed me that the fact the tenon is in metal (instead of bone) suggests a date closer to World War II. He figures that the stem itself could be significantly older, but that it was left over in the factory and married to a ”newer” stummel. Therefore, we can surmise that the pipe is about 80 years old.

Let’s have a closer look at the condition of the pipe. The stem was dirty and worn, with plenty of evidence of tooth marks and dents. The insides were dirty too, but nothing too unusual. Meanwhile, the stummel was incredibly dirty.The bowl was so full of cake and the rim so overwhelmed with lava, that I couldn’t really tell what the condition of the wood inside was. Certainly, there was some lovely patina on the old wood on the outside of the bowl.I wanted to work on the stem first, but needed some help to unscrew it! I brought out the heat gun and gave a quick blast to loosen the goo holding the pipe together. That loosened the stem sufficiently to unscrew it. I wiped the stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. There was some filth there and I needed to remove it. I attacked the inside of the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs, and isopropyl alcohol. It required a good amount of cotton to come clean. Now work on repairing the tooth marks, etc. on the outside of the stem. I built up the bite marks on the stem with cyanoacrylate adhesive and let it fully cure. There were a couple of small worm holes (or something similar) on the stem and I filled them the same way. Upon closer inspection, the button on the stem was a bit mangled. Simply doing the normal sanding wouldn’t do. I opted to use a small file and rework the horn to ensure a proper shape.Following that, I sanded the adhesive down with 220- and 400-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the beautiful designs in the horn, with some Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. Now for the stummel. The brass ferrule came off very easily. I set it aside for now and would return to clean it later. First, I decided to ream out the bowl. I used the KleenReem and the PipNet to remove the built-up cake and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as I could. Wow, there was a lot of debris! I took the chamber down to bare briar to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the wall. Fortunately (and surprisingly), there were none.Following this, I cleaned the insides with the requisite pipe cleaners, Q-tips and isopropyl alcohol. As the stack of cleaning materials show, it was a mess!I also took this opportunity to wash the stummel with Murphy’s Oil Soap and remove as much grime as I could. The pipe’s rim was so caked with filth that I opted to soak it in a jar-lid of Murphy’s to soften it. Then I used a brush to work out all the gunk on the rim. As the pictures show, the rim was badly worn. There were gouges and burn marks. Additional work would need to be done. Before that, however, I decided the pipe needed some additional TLC and I chose to de-ghost it. I thrust cotton balls in the bowl (and plugged up the shank) and saturated it with isopropyl alcohol. I left it overnight and let all the evil spirits in the pipe leech into the cotton. Once complete, the pipe looked great and smelled even better.I was, at first, very reluctant to “top” the pipe – that is to say, gently and evenly sanding down the rim on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. I was reluctant because I loved the height of the bowl and didn’t want to change it. However, I did decide to do it – it just didn’t look right without it. I was especially careful this time, so as to remove the bare minimum from the rim.As I mentioned earlier, there were some burns on the inside of the rim that also needed to be addressed. I took some oxalic acid on a cotton swab and rubbed and rubbed. The burn improved but not sufficiently, in my opinion. So, I took a solid wooden sphere, wrapped sandpaper around it, and sanded until such time as the burns were removed. I proceeded very carefully, as I had to ensure that I was not removing too much. I think I got it just right and the rim looked much improved. After this, I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand the stummel smooth.I then applied some Before & After Restoration Balm which I massaged into the wood and let sit for 15-20 minutes. After that, I rubbed it with a microfiber cloth. The balm brings out the best in the beautiful wood. It makes things shine and really shows the lustre. I came back to the brass ferrule. It was pretty dirty too. I used some SoftScrub on a cotton pad and scrubbed it clean. Then I buffed it with a microfibre cloth and made it shine. I reattached it to the stummel with some glue and let it set.Finally, it was off for a trip to the buffer. The more I look at this pipe, the more I really like the elegant lines and the old-time feel of the wood. At the buffer, a dose of White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax were just what this pipe needed to shine properly. All finished! This is a wonderfully crafted pipe and has a very sporty feel to it. It took some work, but I am proud of it and the final product suits me to a T. It retains some wounds from battle, but, as Steve would say, they are part of this pipe’s story. This is one pipe that I am keeping for myself and adding to my newly-founded French Collection. I am sure that I will be enjoying this one for many years to come. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 6½ in. (165 mm); height 2 in. (51 mm); bowl diameter 1¼ in. (30 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is ⅞ oz. (25 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments. I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much I as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.