Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table came to us from an antique mall in Bozeman, MT, USA back in 2018. It has been sitting here for 2 years. Jeff took photos in December of that year. Now I am finally getting a chance to work on it. The pipe is a classic pot shaped sandblast pipe with almost a Dunhill Shell Briar Brown and Black finish with highlights of red. The pipe was an absolute mess which probably accounted for how we ended up purchasing it for a fair price. On the underside of the heel and shank it is stamped with the Bari [over] Squash followed by Made In Denmark followed by 7930. The mix of stains makes the sandblast look multidimensional even with the grime ground into the finish. It was very dirty with dust and debris in the valleys of the sandblast. There was a thick cake in the bowl and an overflow of lava on the rim top that is heavier on the back of the bowl. The edges look to be in good condition as far as we can tell until we clean up the pipe. The stem was oxidized, calcified and there were deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. The stem had a damage white Bari stamp on the left side of the saddle. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started working on it. I include those below. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the condition of both. It was heavily caked with a lava overflow on the rim top. You can see that it is heavier on the back inner edge that the rest of the bowl. The inner and outer edges look very good. He took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the oxidation and tooth marks on the stem surface and button.  In person the tooth marks are far deeper than they look in the photos.  Jeff took two photos to capture the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above.  I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b1.html) to see if I could find a listing for the Bari Squash with this four digit number. There was nothing specifically listed for this line of Bari pipes. There was also good info on the brand as a whole and that it was founded by Viggo Nielsen in 1950 and he ran it until 1978 when Age Bogelund managed the production for them. In 1993 it was sold to Helmer Thomsen. Pipedia gives a great history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Bari) that is well worth reading. There were also examples of the Bari pipes showing their stamping.

This pipe was a bit of a mess like many of the pipes we work on. I was curious to see what it would look like when I unpacked it. I was surprised at how good it looked. Jeff reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. The finish on the bowl looked really good when I got it. The rim top looked very good. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer bath to remove the oxidation. The stem looked better other than the light oxidation that remained and the deep tooth marks and chatter on the surface. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked much better than when he found it. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it.  I took photos of the condition of the rim top and stem before I started working. The rim top looks very good and the bowl is spotless. The stem has light oxidation remaining and some tooth chatter and marks on both sides near the button.   I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The BARI SQUASH stamp is faint but readable but the rest of the stamp is very clear. I took the bowl and stem apart and took a photo of the pipe to show the look of the pipe. The cleaning had left behind some light spots that needed to be blended into the rest of the bowl. I used a combination of Black and Walnut Stain Pens to touch up the finish on the bowl and rim top.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl, rim top and shank with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect it. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. The contrasts in the layers of stain and the separate finishes really made the grain stand out. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The bowl really looks good at this point. I set it aside and worked on the stem.  I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks on the surface of the stem and was able to lift them significantly. I filled in the remaining spots with black super glue. Once the repairs cured I flattened them out with a file/rasp to bend them into the surface. I further smoothed them out with 220 sandpaper to blend and started polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I scrubbed the remaining oxidation with Soft Scrub cleanser an was able to remove most of it. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both fine and extra fine.    Once again I am the part of the restoration that I always look forward to – the moment when all the pieces are put back together. I put the pipe back together and lightly buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond. I buffed the stem with a heavier touch with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the smooth finish and the black vulcanite stem. This richly stained Bari Squash Sandblast 7930 Pot is light weight and ready for you to load up a tobacco of preference and enjoy breaking it in for yourself. Have a look at it in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 45grams/1.59oz. This is one that will go on the Danish Pipemakers section of the rebornpipes online store shortly. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next generation.