Tag Archives: Ascorti Pipes

Cleaning and Restoring a Hand Made Ascorti Business Rusticated Bent Apple

Blog by Steve Laug

Once again I want to take you through my process of working on each pipe that we purchase. Jeff has set up a spread sheet to track where the pipe came from, the date of purchase and what we paid for it so that we know what we have invested in the pipe before we even work on it. This takes a lot of the guess work out of the process. This particular pipe was purchased on 10/20/2022 from an Antique Store in Vancouver, Washington, USA. I also want you to understand why we take the photos we do. If you have followed for a while then you will see the familiar pattern of the photos in the before and midstream process of working on a pipe. It is not accidental as the photos have been taken to help me make an assessment of the pipe Jeff sees before he starts his clean up work. We do this to record the condition that the pipe when received it and assess the work needed to be done. When I look at these photos this is what I see.

I have worked on enough Ascorti pipes to be able to say this one has a classic Ascorti finish and look to it. It has the rugged rustication that I have come to expect on their Business line of pipes.
The finish is dirty and there is dust, grime and grit in the deeply rusticated finish on the bowl and shank.
The rim top has lava and debris in the rustication on the top and edges. It does not appear that there is any damage to the top or the edges.
The bowl has a thick cake on the walls that hides the condition of the interior walls and edges. There are no obvious burn marks on the bowl exterior or the rim top.
The acrylic stem is in excellent condition – dirty and has light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of button. The shape is definitely an Ascorti staggered saddle stem but there is no A logo on the stem side or top.

Overall my impressions of this pipe is that it is a great looking Bent Apple with a mix of a rusticated bowl and a mixed finish shank with panels on the sides for the stamping and a band of smooth briar around the shank end. I think that once it is cleaned up it will be another pretty pipe.Jeff took close up photos so that I could have a clearer picture of the condition of the bowl, rim edges and top. The rim top photos confirm my assessment above. The cake in the bowl is thick. The rim top has thick lava, grime and debris covering it – heavier toward the front left and right. The edges are hard to assess well at this time but still look to be in good condition. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. It is unclear if there is any burn damage at this point. I look forward to viewing it in person after the clean up work. The photos of the acrylic stem surface from various angles confirm my assessment of its condition. You can see the grime on the stem in the first photo below. The stem is quite dirty but the fit of the stem to the shank is good. There is no logo on the stem so it makes me wonder if the stem is a replacement. But if it is the style of the step down saddle and the fit to the shank is extremely well done. Instead of telling you what I see in the next photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel I want to hear from you. Tell me what you see? What does the finish look like to you? Are there any visible problems or issues that stand out to you? Are the cracks or scratches in the valleys of the rustication or the high spots? Are there visible flaws or fissures in the briar? How random does the deep rustication look? Is there a pattern to it? Any visible issues on the heel of the bowl? These questions should help you to see what I am looking for when I see these photos. He took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. On the left side it is stamped Ascorti with “t” forming a long stemmed pipe. Under that it is stamped Business. On the right side it is stamped Hand Made [over] Italy. The acrylic stem does not have the standard Ascorti A logo on side of the saddle stem. What stands out for you in the photos of the stamping? What do you look for in the stamping? It is dirty but what do you see underneath the grime on the surface of the briar? I have worked on quite a few Ascorti Business pipes including several straight billiards so I turned to a blog on one of them to refresh the background information before I started my part of the work (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/03/18/repairing-banding-and-restoring-a-damaged-hand-made-ascorti-business-billiard/). I quote from the information that is contained in that blog:

Before I started my part of the repair and restoration I wanted to have a clear picture of what the stem logo looked like on the Ascorti Business pipe. I turned to Pipephil as he often has some photos that give me the information that I am looking for (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-a8.html). Sure enough he had a photo showing the rough stamped A on the stem. It is white and it is rough which is exactly how this one looks. I did a screen capture of the picture on the site and include it below. With that information in hand I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping and the age of this pipe. I knew from the information from the section above that the pipe came out after 1980 when the company started. I could not get the date more focused so it was time to work on the pipe.

I am sure many of you will shake your head and ask maybe even out loud, “Why is he including this again?” However, please remember that the point of these blogs is not to wow your with the work or make you shake your heads but I want you to know the details of the work we do so you can do your own. Back in 2020 Jeff wrote a blog about his cleaning process. I am including a link to that now so you can see what I mean about his process. Do not skip it! Give it a read (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/01/20/got-a-filthy-estate-pipe-that-you-need-to-clean/). Here is the introduction to that blog and it is very true even to this day.

Several have asked about Jeff’s cleaning regimen as I generally summarize it in the blogs that I post rather than give a detailed procedure. I have had the question asked enough that I asked Jeff to put together this blog so that you can get a clear picture of the process he uses. Like everything else in our hobby, people have different methods they swear by. Some may question the method and that is fine. But it works very well for us and has for many years. Some of his steps may surprise you but I know that when I get the pipes from him for my part of the restoration they are impeccably clean and sanitized. I have come to appreciate the thoroughness of the process he has developed because I really like working on clean pipe!

For the benefit of some of you who may be unfamiliar with some of the products he uses I have included photos of three of the items that Jeff mentions in his list. This will make it easier for recognition. These three are definitely North American Products so you will need to find suitable replacements or order these directly on Amazon. The makeup pads are fairly universal as we were able to pick some up in India when we were with Paresh and his family.

In the blog itself he breaks his process down into two parts – cleaning the stem and cleaning the bowl. Each one has a large number of steps that he methodically does every time. I know because I have watched him do the work and I have seen the pipes after his work on them. He followed this process step by step and when the pipe got to me it was spotlessly clean and ready for my work. The inside of the stem, shank and bowl were clean and to me that is an amazing gift as it means that my work on this end is with a clean pipe! I cannot tell you how much difference that makes for my work.

I have worked on enough Ascorti pipes to be able to say this one has a classic Ascorti finish and look to it. It has the rugged rustication that I have come to expect on their Business line of pipes.
The finish is clean and the grime and grit have been removed from the finish on the bowl. The rugged, tactile rustication pattern looks very good as well.
The thick lava, grime and dust on the rim top has been removed and it has revealed that the inner edge is clean and burn free. The outer edge of the bowl is also in good condition.
With the cake reamed out the walls of the bowl are clean and they look very good with no checking or burn damage to the walls.
The acrylic stem is in excellent condition – it is clean and has light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of button. The fit of the stem to the shank looks good. The shape is definitely an Ascorti staggered saddle stem but there is no A logo on the stem side or top.

Hopefully the steps above show you both what I look for when I go over the pipe when I bring it to the work table and also what I see when I look at the pipe in my hands. They also clearly spell out a restoration plan in short form. My work is clear and addressing it will be the next steps. I took photos of the whole pipe to give you a picture of what I see when I have it on the table. This is important to me in that it also shows that there was no damage done during the clean up work or the transit of the pipe from Idaho to here in Vancouver. I carefully went over the bowl and rim top to get a sense of what is happening there. In this case once the rim top and edges were cleaned the rim cap and edges showed no damage. There was also no damage to the rustication or the inner edge of the bowl. I also go over the stem carefully. The fit to the shank is snug and the transitions are smooth. There were some light tooth marks and chatter on the surface of the stem and the button. I took photos of the rim top and stem sides to show as best as I can what I see when I look at them. I always check to make sure that the clean up work did not damage the stamping on the shank sides in any way. It is in excellent condition and is very clear and readable. I love just looking at the lay of the pipe and the proportion of the hand made pipes. I like to remove the stem from the shank to get a sense of what was in the mind of the pipe maker when he crafted the pipe. The photo shows its beauty in flow and shape. Now it was time to start working on the pipe. I cleaned up the inner edge as there was a little burn damage on the left front inner edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and to bring it back to round. I stained it with a Walnut Stain Pen to match the rest of the topcoat on the finish. I rubbed down the bowl and shank with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar. The product works to deep clean the nooks and crannies of finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a horse hair shoe brush. I let it sit for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine in the briar and the rustication showed depth. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the acrylic stem. I smoothed out the chatter and marks on the stem surface and button on both sides with 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing process with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. It is taking on a shine. I set the bowl aside and turn to work on the stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. I know that many say Obsidian Oil does nothing for acrylic stems, but I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from buildup and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection. The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the light scratches in the acrylic. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The mix of smooth and rusticated finishes around the bowl sides and shank looks great with the rich black and brown stains. The Ascorti Business Rusticated Apple feels great in my hand. It is a well balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.65 ounces/75 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be adding to the rebornpipes store in the Italian Pipemakers section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe.

Hopefully the style of writing of this blog is helpful to you in some way. In it I wanted to show both what I am looking for and how I move forward in addressing what I see when work on a pipe. Let me know if it is helpful to you. It is probably the most straightforward detailed description of my work process that I have done. As always I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

New Life for an Ascorti Peppino 137 Handmade Brandy

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is an interesting Ascorti that I picked up somewhere along the way in a trade. Jeff and I picked this one up on a pipe hunt in Utah. It is a rusticated bowl and rim with a smooth panel on the underside and a band around the shank end. The pipe is stamped on the smooth panel and reads Ascorti over Peppino on the heel of the bowl followed by the shape number 137 then Hand Made over Italy. Along the bottom of the panel it also is stamped For Tinder Box. The finish was mottled and dirty with some flume around the rim and rim top that darkened it. There was a thick cake in the bowl and some lava overflow in the grooves of the rustication on the rim top. The acrylic oval stem is in good condition with some small tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button edges. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took a close up photo of the rim top. It is hard to see the cake in the bowl. The cake was much thicker than it appears in the photo. The top of the bowl looks dirty with lava overflow. The inner edges of the bowl look very good. The stem has some light tooth marks on both sides that do not show up well in the photos. Overall the tooth marks are light and should be able to be sanded smooth. The stem bears an AP logo that I will need to look into in the cleanup and research.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping is clear and reads Ascorti over Peppino followed by the shape number 137 and Hand Made Italy. Underneath all of it is stamped For Tinder Box.I was intrigued by the FOR TINDER BOX stamp on the pipe so I did some searching on the internet and came to the Tinder Box site where there was a page on the Peppino line. Here is the link (http://www.tinderboxinternational.com/ascorti_peppino.htm). I am including that article in full below as well as a picture that was included on the site.

Ascorti Peppino Series Pipes

He was very young boy, when Giuseppe Ascorti, “Peppino” to all his friends began his career working as a joiner in a small furniture factory for his father. When he was about 30 years old, his passion for design and his great desire to create, he began to make pipes. In a very short time he became a great master with his revolutionary ideas to create new pipe shapes while still maintaining the classic lines of Italian pipe design. In the 1970’s, a chain of upstart pipe shops named Tinder Box while traveling in Italy, immediately realized his talent, and together collaborated in bringing the Ascorti Pipe to pipe smokers around the world. Peppino taught all his pipe making secrets to his son Roberto, who also had a natural talent as well. Today, after 25 years since Peppino’s disappearance, Roberto Ascorti and Tinder Box has a pleasure to produce a great once in a life time series of smoking pipes to be treasured forever.

Inspired from the original pipe designs, handcrafted in the 1970’s and 1980’s by his father Peppino, Roberto has remade the original designs, with the same hand making process used in those years, the same seasoned and selected briar, and the same care in working that his father was able to do. The pipes are also fitted with the same acrylic mouthpieces that are being specially remade from 30 years ago. Each design will include a certificate that shows the original copy of the old Peppino design drawings. These pipes have a special logo with “A.P.” and stamp with the Peppino name in honor of him and thanking him for the teachings of his passion to his son Roberto.

Roberto now has retired all shapes that were introduced as part of the original set in 2006. These shapes are never to be made again as part of the Peppino Serie. There is still availability but quantities are limited. Contact your local Tinder Box to see what finishes and shapes are available. In 2008…Roberto carved two new shapes from the old shape chart to be part of this marvelous series of pipes. 2009 was a very special year in the history of Ascorti Pipes. Roberto reintroduced and carved one shape for the Peppino Series. This shape is in remembrance of the passing of his father, Peppino in 1984…From the reading I knew that the pipe I was working on was made and released as one of the 2007 shapes. The shape has since been retired. All were carved by Roberto from shapes done by his father Peppino. They were done to honour his memory. All of them were released with the unique AP logo on the top of the stem. Now I had the background information in hand it was time to work on the pipe.

This morning I started by reaming the pipe. It had a thick cake but it was quite soft. I reamed it with a PipNet reamer and worked my way through two of the four cutting heads. I cleaned up the rest of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped in 220 grit sandpaper. I removed the cake from the walls and they are smooth and clean. I scrubbed the bowl and rim with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I was able to remove much of the grime from the rim top and the grooves and valleys of the sandblast finish. I rinsed it under warm running water to flush away the grime and dust in the soap. The following photos show the cleaned rim and bowl sides. I worked on the remaining debris and darkening on the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush. I was able to remove all of it and leave behind a clean rim top.I scrubbed out the airway in the shank and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I cleaned out the mortise area so that all of the oils have been removed.I rubbed the bowl and rim down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the rim top and rusticated briar with my fingertips and with a horsehair shoebrush to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed the pipe with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I really like watching the Balm do its magic and bring the briar alive. With the bowl done it was time to address the stem. I sanded the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and was able to remove the dents in the surface. I followed that up with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper to start polishing out the sanding marks.I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish. I have found it is a great pre-polish for my use as it shows me areas that I need to work on with the micromesh sanding pads. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I buffed it with a soft cloth to raise a shine. I put the bowl and stem back together again and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to raise the shine on the briar and the acrylic stem. The buffing also removes minute scratches in the two materials and adds depth to the shine. I gave the stem several coats of carnauba wax and the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing wheel and then by hand with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe was alive now and look great to me. It has a great feel in the hand that is very tactile and should really pop when smoked. The bowl will also develop a deeper colour with smoking. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This rusticated Ascorti Peppino 137 Italian Hand Made Brandy is a beauty should make someone a great pipe. It is one that will be on the rebornpipes store very soon. If you are interested let me know. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

The 1st Restoration of 2020 – An Ascorti Business KS Hand Made Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

On December 30^th my family and I went to Bellingham – ostensibly to do a bit of Christmas shopping at the mall there, visit Trader Joe’s and a few other stops. I also wanted to get in one last pipe hunt for 2019. We ate breakfast at the Old Town Café on Holly Street in Old Bellingham. They have great food and a great atmosphere. Check it out.After breakfast the girls and I visited a few of my favourite antique malls in the area. One was closed but two were open and we were early customers. I went through the first one with care covering every shelf, display cabinet and nook and cranny and no pipes were to be found. That happens sometimes and I was wondering if the pipe hunt would end up being a bust. I rarely come away empty handed but there is always one of those days. We entered the second shop and after going through three aisles of display cases and coming up empty handed I entered the last aisle. There is a display case in that aisle that generally has a few pipes in it and potentially one of two of interest to me. It is the last part of the store I stop at and this day was no different. I came to the case and looked through the glass case at the lighters, knives, cheap meerschaums and corn cobs. I was beginning to wonder if it was going to be a bust. Then low and behold, underneath the stems of a cob and meerschaum I saw what looked like a briar.

I went to the counter to get the clerk to open the case for me so I could have a better look at the hidden pipe that I had seen. She left me to my hunting and I carefully moved the pipes that had been hiding the briar. It was a larger billiard with a rusticated finish and a smooth rim. I lifted it out of the case and turned it over in my hands. The pipe was dirty with a thick cake in the bowl and some darkening on the smooth rim top. But on the smooth panels on the shank I saw the stamping the were readable. The left side read Ascorti Business KS and the right side read Hand Made Italy. The stem had the characteristic Ascorti A logo and their unique saddle cut. I did not even look at the price. I closed the case and carried my find up to the counter to seal the deal. We negotiated the price and when we came to an agreement the bill was paid and the pipe was mine! When I got to the car I took some photos o fthe pipe as it looked when I picked it up. I sent a copy of the photos to Jeff to show him my find. I took a close up photo of the rim top so Jeff could see its condition. There was a thick cake in the bowl – thicker from mid bowl to the bottom. The top of the bowl seems to have been reamed with a knife. There is some darkening and light lava on the smooth rim top. The acrylic stem photos show the tooth marks on both sides. Overall the tooth marks are light and should be able to be sanded smooth. There is one on the top side that is a little deeper and may need to be repaired. There is also some damage on the edge of the button that will need to be addressed.I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank and the saddle portion of the stem. The stamping is clear and reads Ascorti with the tail of the T forming a pipe. Underneath it is stamped Business followed by KS. The stamp on the stem is a classic Ascorti “A”. Most of the white that would have filled it in is worn off.Once I finished the last of Bob Kerr’s Dunhill pipes last evening I set this pipe aside as the pipe I would work on New Year’s Day. This morning I started by reaming the pipe. It had a rock had cake. I had to start the reaming with the smallest cutting head on the PipNet reamer and worked my way through three of the four cutting heads. That reamer usually does the job with a light cleanup from a pipe knife. But not this time! I used a KleenReem to take more of the cake back from the walls of the bowl and smooth out the hard spots. This was a tough cake. I finished with that and turned to the Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to clean up the remaining ridges and bumps in the walls around the airway at the bottom of the bowl. I sanded the walls of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped in 220 grit sandpaper. Finally I was able to remove the cake from the walls and leave them smooth. I took a photo of the reamed bowl and you can see how much cake was removed. It is a large bowl. You can also see the darkening and light lava coat on the inner edge and bevel of the bowl.I scrubbed the bowl and rim with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I was able to remove much of the grime from the rim top and the grooves and valleys of the sandblast finish. I rinsed it under warm running water to flush away the grime and dust in the soap. The following photos show the cleaned rim and bowl sides. I worked on the remaining debris and darkening on the rim top with 220 and 400 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove all of it and leave behind a clean rim top.I polished the rim top with micromesh sanding pads to bring out the shine in the smooth briar. I wet sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped off the dust after each pad. I paused and took a photo of each side of the shank to show the stamping. The first photo shows the left side and the second shows the right side.I rubbed the bowl and rim down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the rim top and rusticated briar with my fingertips and with a horsehair shoebrush to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed the pipe with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I really like watching the Balm do its magic and bring the briar alive. I was in a rush to see what the rim and the finish looked like and almost overlooked cleaning out the inside of the pipe. Never to late to go back though! I cleaned out the mortise and airway in the shank and stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol.With the bowl done it was time to address the stem. The dents in the top and underside were not too deep. I would be able to sand out most of them and whatever remained give a light fill. I would also need to repaint the A logo on the left side of the saddle. I could not heat the stem with a lighter as acrylic does not have the “memory” of vulcanite so It does not work. I took photos of the stem as a reminder.I sanded the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and was able to remove the majority of the dents in the stem surface. There was a deeper pit on the top side ahead of the button and on the right side of the button edge. I wiped down the areas that I was going to fill with a cotton swab and alcohol to remove the dust and debris. I filled them in with clear Krazy glue. I built up the damaged edge of the button on the underside as well.Once the repair had cured I sanded the surface of the stem and the button edges with 220 grit sandpaper to blend in the repairs. I started my polishing of the stem with 400 grit wet dry sand paper. I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish. I have found it is a great pre-polish for my use as it shows me areas that I need to work on with the micromesh sanding pads. I decided to touch up the A on the left side of the stem before polishing the stem further. I used Paper Mate Liquid Paper and fill it into the deep grooves of the stamping with a tooth pick. Once it has dried I scrape off the excess with the tooth pick and polish it with micromesh sanding pads.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I buffed it with a soft cloth to raise a shine. I put the bowl and stem back together again and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to raise the shine on the briar and the acrylic stem. The buffing also removes minute scratches in the two materials and adds depth to the shine. I gave the stem several coats of carnauba wax and the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing wheel and then by hand with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe was alive now and look great to me. It has a great feel in the hand that is very tactile and should really pop when smoked. The bowl will also develop a deeper colour with smoking. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. This rusticated Ascorti Business KS Italian Hand Made is a beauty should make someone a great pipe. It is one that will be on the rebornpipes store very soon. If you are interested let me know. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This was an interesting pipe hunt find to bring back to life. Here’s to a year ahead of pipe restoration!