Tag Archives: bite marks

Refreshing Another Giant – a KBB Yello-Bole Imperial 3068C Bent Billiard

Blog by Steve Laug

When I cleaned up a previous KBB Yello-Bole Imperial 3068C for a reader of the blog my brother immediately was struck by the beauty of the old pipe. He decided he would find one for me that matched the one I cleaned up for the reader. If you want to read about the cleanup of that one here is the link: https://rebornpipes.com/2016/11/10/breathing-life-into-a-huge-kbb-yello-bole-3068c-bent-billiard/. The 3068C is a large pipe. It is reminiscent of the WDC Wellington in many ways but to me there is a simple elegance to the lines of the 3068C that are more smooth and beautiful. This is another giant pipe. The dimensions are: length 10 inches, height 2 ¼ inches, outer diameter of the bowl 1 ½ inches, inner bowl diameter 7/8 inches. I took a photo of the pipe in hand to give an idea of the size of this old giant.As opposed to the other 3068C I cleaned up this one was in remarkably good shape. The shiny varnish coat actually was perfect with no peeling or nicks in it. The grain shone through and was a great mixture of birds-eye and cross grain. The Yello-Bole Honey Cured coating still showed on the bevel of the inner rim and in parts of the bowl. The rim surface had some very small dents or scratches in it but they did not seem to break the finish on the bowl. There was a light cake in the bowl. The nickel ferrule was oxidized and lightly scratches but otherwise undamaged. The stem had the classic older Yello-Bole circle on the top of the stem just behind the saddle and was lightly oxidized with minimal tooth chatter on the top and underside of the stem at the button. My brother took the above photos and the ones that follow to show the overall condition of the pipe. The next two close up photos show the rim top and inner rim bevel. The Yello-Bole Honey Cured coating can be seen on the edge of the bowl and going down into the bowl. You can also see the small dents in the rim and the light grime that had built up on the surface of the rim.The next two photos give a good idea of the grain that shone through on this old pipe. The front and back of the bowl has some amazing birds-eye grain and the sides, rim and bottom show some really nice cross grain.The stamping on the shank was sharp and readable. The left side bore the KBB cloverleaf logo with Yello-Bole over stamping that read Reg.U.S.Pat.Off. Beneath that was the line stamping in script Imperial. Finally underneath all of that was stamped Cured with Real Honey. On the aluminum ferrule cap there was a remnant of the KB&B cloverleaf. It is interesting to me that while all Yello-Bole pipes are stamped with KBB (minus the ampersand &) in a cloverleaf on the shank both this pipe and the previous one had the KB&B cloverleaf on the ferrule. I wonder if the company made one size fits all with the ferrules and used them on both Yello-Boles and KB&B pipes. The right side of the shank is stamped Real Bruyere over the shape number 3068C.The final two photos that my brother included show the tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside of the vulcanite stem at the button. The mild oxidation is also visible in the photos.My brother did the necessary cleaning on the pipe – reaming and cleaning out the mortise and the airway in the stem and shank. I cleaned off the grime on the finish and wiped down the stem. When I received the pipe it looked be in excellent condition and would not take a lot of work to refresh it. I took the next four photos to show what it looked like when it arrived in Vancouver. I took some close up photos of the rim and the stem to show the condition. The rim was in excellent shape and Jeff was able to clean up the inner bevel on the rim to reveal the Yello-Bole Honey Coating. The stem photos show the oxidation and the small tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem near the button. I sanded the oxidation on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the brown topcoat that it had and also worked over the tooth chatter and tooth marks on both sides.I used drops of medium viscosity black super glue to fill in the small tooth marks on both sides of the stem. They are shown in the photos below. The small black spots are the super glue repairs to the stem surface. You will note that there were more issues on the underside of the stem than the top side.Once the repairs were dry I sanded them back to the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper.I polished the sanded spots by wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads.I wet sanded the entire stem and continued to sand the repaired areas with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed it down with oil after each set of three pads and after the final set I gave it a last coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. The nickel ferrule had a lot of tiny scratches in the surface of the metal. I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads to polish out the scratches and raise a shine in the nickel.I polished the briar with 3200-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads to raise the shine and smooth out the small scratches on the sides and bottom of the bowl as well as the rim. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to further polish the briar and vulcanite. I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed the bowl and stem with a clean buffing pad to polish and raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It turned out to be a very beautiful pipe that needed just a few touches of TLC to bring it to its fullest. It is another large pipe that would make a great reading or house pipe. It is comfortable in hand and the grain is interesting enough to give hours of observation pleasure. Thanks for looking.

Reclamation Project: The Tobacconist Inc. Rhodesian

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Blog by Steve Laug

In the last box of pipe that my brother sent there was a pipe that is of course one of my favourite shapes – a 9438/9242 GBD style Rhodesian though the taper stem makes me think of a 9242 shape. It is not stamped with a shape number or a make but the Made in England stamping on the underside of the shank matches that found on GBD pipes. From first glance at the pictures of the pipe that my brother sent me it looked to be in decent shape. This was to be proved wrong once my brother started to clean it and I received it in Vancouver. But from the photos the contrast finish of blacks and browns looked really good. The rustication on the bowl is a combination of worm trails and “squiggles” that is reminiscent of Custombilt pipes. From the front there is a worm trail that divides the bowl into two hemispheres like a brain (photo 5). Strange humour of the original pipe maker, I think. The close up photos of the rim and bowl give a bit of a foretaste of the hidden issues in the bowl and on the rim. It is hard to see the inside of the bowl from this photo but there was a light cake in the bowl and it had run over the top edge of the bowl filling in some of the grooves and crevices in the rustication. The second photo below shows the worm trail on the front and underside of the bowl that divides the bowl into two hemispheres.The stamping on the underside of the shank on a smooth portion of briar was faint but could still be read. It said The Tobacconist Inc. over Made in England.The stem was lightly oxidized around the shank end and the button end, though the middle was strangely clean. There were tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. The top edge of the button on both sides had tooth marks as well.I have restored a Liverpool shaped pipe with The Tobacconist Inc. stamping and written a blog on it – (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/07/16/a-liverpool-stamped-tobacconist-inc/). I remember hunting to no avail on information on the brand and finding nothing. I checked once again with my usual sources – the book Who Made that Pipe and the online sites Pipedia and Pipephil. None of the sources had any new information. For that blog, I searched for the name of the shop – The Tobacconist Inc. to see if I could find any information on it and possibly see if they had shop pipes made for them. The name Tobacconist Inc. came up shop a tobacco shop in Chicago. It is called The Tobacconist Inc. and is located at 3524 W. Irving Park Rd. Chicago, Illinois. The phone number is 773-463-8468. I have included two photos from that blog – one of the sign and the other of the shop. The sign says the shop has “Everything for the Smoker” and has been in existence since 1946. Sounds like a place I need to visit one day. Now that I have worked on a second pipe with the name stamped on it I really need to call them and see if they have any information about the pipe. My brother wrote that cleaning out the inside of the pipe was a pain. It took a lot of work to get the buildup of tars and grime out of the bowl and the shank. The rim top also had some damage under the thick tars. When it arrived in Vancouver I could see that the pipe was in pretty rough shape with a poorly fitting stem. The diameter of the stem and the shank don’t match. Not sure if it was because the stem was poorly fitting to start with or if it is a replacement stem. It looks to be original so I am opting for a poor fit. I took some photos of the pipe before I started working on it (well almost – I had done a little sanding at the shank stem union before I remembered to take the photos). I took a close up photo of the rim and bowl. The rim inner edge had some chips and nicks that would need to blended in to make the rim more balances looking. It is hard to see from the photos but the walls of the bowl are in damaged condition.The tooth dents in the top and underside of the stem near the button were quite deep. I heated the dents with a Bic lighter to raise them as much as possible. I painted them with the flame of the lighter and when I was finished they were not as deep as before. It would not take too much now to sand them out to match the surface of the rest of the stem.I cleaned out the inside of the shank with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to remove the last of the debris on the walls. The bevel on the edge of the mortise was rough and needed to be cleaned up and smoothed out but the wood was solid with no cracks.I used a Dremel and sanding drum to remove the excess briar and vulcanite and get the shank and the bowl to match in diameter. It took some work but it certainly was a better fit once I was finished. I sanded the bevel in the shank end until it was smooth but the stem still did not fit tightly against the shank. I heated the tenon to soften the vulcanite and make it flexible. I pushed the stem carefully into the shank and held it against the shank end to align it until the tenon cooled.I sanded the stem/shank union with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and make the transition clean. I took the following photos to show the restoration at this point. I used a brass bristle tire brush to work over the rim top. It took some work but I was able to get the grime and grit out of the grooves of the rim.I scrubbed off the finish on the bowl and rim to remove the stain and the remaining varnish coat on the briar. When I finished cleaning the surface the pipe was ready for the stain coat. I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain and flamed it to set it in the grain. I repeated the process until the stain coverage was even across the bowl. I used the Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to scrape out the walls of the bowl. I examined the interior and saw a lot of spidering cracks on the walls of the bowl. While the briar around them was still solid and the briar was not too badly damaged. This would need to be addressed to assure that the briar would be protected until a new cake had formed.I decided to mix up a batch of pipe mud with some tap water and a dental spatula. I applied the mud mixture to the inside of the bowl pressing it into the cracks in the bowl walls. I coated the inside of the bowl with the mud until there was a solid bowl coating. I set the bowl aside to dry overnight. I took the following photos to show what the inside looked like after the mud had cured.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the last remnants of the tooth dents and reshape the button on both sides. It also removed the surface oxidation.I used a black Sharpie Pen to touch up the grooves in briar on the sides and the rim top. I gave briar a touch up coat of dark brown stain. I waxed the rusticated briar with multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and once it had dried buffed it with a shoe brush to raise the shine. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. I gave it the final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond polish on the wheel. I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and put another coat of Conservator’s Wax on the briar. I buffed the bowl and stem with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The fit of the stem against the shank is far better than it was when I started the cleanup. I like the way the flow is now between the stem and the shank. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It had a great feel in hand and I think the rustication will heat up nicely with the next first smoke. I think that the pipe mud will protect the bowl until a new cake is built. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me.

I have always wanted to see one up close – an Aristocob

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Blog by Steve Laug

Over the years I have spent quite a bit of quiet time scanning through the smokingmetal.co.uk website reading over all of the various metal pipes that have been made. I love reading and looking at the inventive creations made to capture that illusive grand smoke. One of the pipes that stood out to me on the site was the Aristocob metal bowl that came with two corn cobs that fit inside the bowl, held in place by the screw on metal cap. I wanted to see one of those but somehow always missed them on eBay at the last minute or at an antique shop by a matter of minutes. I included two of the photos from the website. The first one showed a plastic box with a form fitted purple velvet nest for the pipe and the pair of cob inserts that came with it. The pipe had a black nylon stem that held a Medico paper filter in place in the metal shank of the pipe. The second photo showed the pipe taken apart with a pretty good descriptive view of the metal bowl and cap, the cob insert, the filter and the stem with an O-ring on the tenon to keep it in the metal shank.I remember first reading this description years ago when I looked up the pipe on the site. I was struck then as I am now that I could not have described it any better. I have included it here in full with a link for you to look it up should you desire to do so:

The ARISTOCOB is an American made system pipe with corn cob bowl inserts. Originally the AL-COB CORPORATION out of Grand Haven, Michigan, which later became ARISTOCOB INCORPORATED from Caledonia, Michigan. Later still they were bought out by Missouri Meerschaum Company

Apparently available in the first place in a plastic case containing one pipe, 2 replacement corn cob bowl inserts and instructions for use. The cob inserts were made for some time by The Missouri Meerschaum Company, manufacturer of corn cob pipes in Washington, MO. The box shown is their box. They made the inserts from the early 1970’s until 1983. They are no longer available from that source but do appear on eBay at times

The top of the vaned outer bowl unscrews to enable easy replacement of the bowl insert. An inline filter can be used in the stem. The mouthpiece has been seen in two version, with and without an ‘O’ ring. The patent was filed on 20 Dec 1966 with the US patent # 3,292,639. The inventor was Joesph W. Zarikta of Grand Haven, Michigan USA – the assignor was the Al Cobb Corp. (http://smokingmetal.co.uk/pipe.php?page=56).

I mentioned to my brother to keep an eye open for one of these never expecting him to find what he did. I have not seen a cased version of the pipe in my hunts but have only found the pipe with the inserted cob bowl if I was lucky. He happened to find a boxed set and bought it. He sent me the following photos of the pipe. The next set of photos are the ones that the seller posted on the eBay sale. When the pipe arrived in Idaho my brother took some photos before he cleaned it up. I have included a few of those photos next. The pipe was quite dirty. The rim cap had a buildup of tars and oils on the top. The cob insert was dirty and crumbling on the top edge. The aluminum pipe body was oxidized and dirty as well.When he took it apart, the inside of the aluminum body had also built up tars in the bottom and on the inside walls.The inner edge of the insert was in rough condition. The rest of the bowl appears to be solid. The aluminum disk on the bottom of the bowl was dirty but undamaged.The stem was darkened on the tenon end. The O-ring was still in good condition. The paper Medico Filter in the tenon was dirty and would need to be replaced. The top and undersides of the nylon stem had some tooth chatter on the surface near the button. The inside of the shank was dirty and there was some tarry buildup on the walls of the aluminum. My brother cleaned up the cap and the interior of the aluminum bowl holder and shank. He cleaned the aluminum with Murphy’s Oil Soap inside and out. He scrubbed out the airway in the shank and stem. He cleaned up the damaged edge of the cob insert. When it arrived in Vancouver, I brought it to the work table and took some photos of the condition it was in before I started. Inside the plastic box there was a pamphlet that explained the function of the pipe and all of its parts. The description of the pipe and how to use it was a marketing document that sold the pipe and all of its design as the best smoking pipe available. I polished the aluminum with micromesh sanding pads. I started polishing with 1500-2400 grit pads and wiped it down with a damp cotton pad. I continued to polish it with 3200-12000 pads and the finish began to shine. I sanded the stem to remove the tooth marks and chatter from the top and bottom sides of the stem. I ran a pair of bristle pipe cleaners and alcohol through the airway in the stem to remove the residue that still remained in the stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cotton pad after each set of three pads. Because the stem was nylon I decided not to use the buffing wheel. I gave it several coats of Conservator’s Wax and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth. I lightly buffed the aluminum on the Blue Diamond wheel and then with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It makes a great piece of pipe history in the ongoing search for the illusive perfect smoke. It will hold a place in my collection of tobacciana. Thanks for walking through this restoration with me.

Breathing Life into a Comoy’s Spectrum Boxed Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

My brother picked an interesting Comoy’s pipe. It is from a line of Comoy’s that I was unfamiliar with. I could not find much information in my online searches either. It was a nicely made Comoy’s with a single drilled letter C on the stem side. It came in a black velvet lined presentation box with the Comoy’s of London logo and Pipemakers since 1825 in gold on black felt on the inside of the lid. The well-made box with dovetailed corners is mahogany that is stained with a rich cherry stain. The gold latches and hinges look very good with the red stain of the wood. On the underside the box is stamped Made in England. Once the box was opened and the pipe visible it clear to see it is a beautiful pipe. I am actually surprised that there is not more information on the line available. It is stamped Comoy’s over Spectrum on the left side of the shank and the COM stamp on the right shank is the expected Made in London circle over England. Next to that the shape number 42 is stamped. Looking that up on Comoy’s Shape Charts shows that it is the number for a medium sized ½ bent billiard. This is exactly what I have here. There is also an H stamped on the underside of the shank next to the brass and blue band.The pipe appears to have some nice grain in the photos that my brother sent to me. The front, underside and back and top of the shank are beautiful cross grain. The sides of the bowl are full of birds-eye grain. The pipe has a brass band that had a wipe enameled strip of royal blue in between two ridges of polished brass. The stem was oxidized in the early photos but the single drilled C stamp is very clean. My brother took some close up photos of the bowl and rim to give me a clear picture of the pipe. It appeared that the bowl had been reamed and well care for. The rim looked very good – a little bit of lava overflow from the bowl but the inner beveled edges and the outer edges of the rim were both very clean. The rim itself was also undamaged. The underside of the bowl and shank showed beautiful cross grain.The stamping on the pipe was deep and sharp. It had not been over buffed or damaged. It was readable and clean. The finish was dirty and the buildup of grime and grit on the surface of the bowl and band seemed to be the only major issue on the pipe. You can also see the single drilled C logo on the stem in the photo below.From the next photos you can see the deep oxidation on the stem. What is not visible at this point is if there was any tooth chatter or damage to the stem. That would have to wait until the pipe arrived in Vancouver.While I was waiting for the pipe to arrive in Vancouver I did some hunting for information on the Spectrum line of Comoy’s pipes on the internet. Sadly I was unable to find much that was definitive. There was a similar pipe for sale on smokingpipes.com that had a brief write up. From that I learned that the pipe dates after 1980 because of the single drilled C. Evidently that was when Comoy’s no longer used the three-part inlaid C on the stem. I wrote to a friend of mine and writer on rebornpipes, Al Jones and asked what he knew about the line. He wrote back that “they are early post-merger, with the single drill C logo. They usually have an adornment of some kind and box. It was the go-go 80’s, right! They’re most likely made with good stock leftover from pre-merger, so she should be a good smoker. As an added bonus, this pipe comes in wooden box complete with matching tamper.”

This confirmed what I had gleaned online so far. I Googled and found a question and short discussion on alt.smokers.pipes community regarding the line and found some more information from friend, Mike Stanley. He wrote: “The only thing I can pass along is what R.C. hacker wrote in his Ultimate Pipe Book. The Spectrum came with a wooden box and matching tamper with the same brass and enameled ring as the pipe. They were, I suppose, “firsts and fairly pricey. I had one I picked up from ebay. It had no tamp or box. It was a fine enough looking pipe. No putty or sand pits. It was too big for my taste. I re sold it. I would guess that they were made up until the late seventies or early eighties. Just a guess though.” (http://alt.smokers.pipes.narkive.com/yA8KASQj/comoy-s-spectrum)

When the pipe arrived in Vancouver and I unpacked it I was amazed at how clean my brother Jeff had gotten the rim and the bowl. The finish was very clean. The enameled band was also clean an undamaged. The oxidation had really come to the surface on the stem. However, all that being said, the briar on the pipe is very stunning. I took some photos of the pipe before I began to work on it to try to capture what it looked like when it arrived. The next picture is a bit out of focus. It will teach me to have a look at the photos before moving on with the cleanup. However, you can see that the rim is spotless. He was able to get all of the darkening and debris off the rim and also ream the bowl clean.I took photos of the stamping on both sides of the shank. You can see in the first photo the stamping on the left side of the shank. The second shows the COM stamp and shape number on the right side.I took photos of the stem to show the oxidation and to try to capture the tooth chatter and tooth marks on both sides of the stem near the button. They are hard to see through the oxidation. The ones on the topside of the stem are not too bad. The ones on the underside are a little deeper. Once I clean off the oxidation a bit I will be able to assess how bad they are.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to break up the oxidation on the surface and also to sand out the tooth chatter and tooth marks on the stem. I was able to remove all of them as they proved to be fairly shallow and superficial.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. After rubbing it down with the final coat of oil I set the stem aside and let it dry. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I avoided buffing the enameled band on the shank. I gave the stem and bowl multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to shine it. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos that follow. It is a beautiful pipe with stunning grain. The contrast of the black vulcanite, the blue and brass enameled band and the cross grain and birds-eye grain formed a great contrast. It comes with the velvet lined mahogany case with brass clasps and hinges. The only thing lacking was the tamper that originally came with the pipe. Thanks for walking through this restoration with me.

Cleaning a Turkish SMS Meerschaum Churchwarden

An Estate Sale Find – A Castello Sea Rock SC 54P Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

My brother Jeff is truly the king of estate sale, junque store and antique store pipe finds. He seems to have not only developed an eye for a good pipe but seems to have an uncanny ability to find them. A few months back now he messaged me from an estate sale he had gone to near Boise, Idaho. He had driven to the town the evening before so he was first in line for the sale. He found some great pipes in that sale and on that trip. I wrote about the finds he came home with on that trip in a previous blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/10/31/sometimes-you-just-get-lucky-an-amazing-pipe-hunt/). This little Castello Sea Rock 54P Bulldog came home with him on that trip. From his description and the photos that he sent along the pipe showed lots of promise. The Sea Rock Finish was dirty and the crevices had dust in them. The rim was tarred with overflow of cake from the heavily smoked bowl. The pipe seemed to sport an after factory band as there were no Castello marks on the silver. The stem was in good shape though it had tooth marks on the top and bottom sides next to the button. It had the diamond logo on the side of the saddle stem which I knew meant it was made for the United States market.My brother took some close up photos of the rim top and the cake in the bowl to show what it looked like when he found it. You can see how thick the cake is and how much of the rim rustication has filled in with the overflow.Other than being dirty, the finish was in very good shape. There were no chips of dings in the surface of the rim or on the bowl or the shank.The silver band was tarnished and seemed to have some flaking on the surface. I am not sure if the silver plate is peeling or if it is just left over remnants of the sticky tag that had been there with the price. The stamping was very clear on a smooth patch on the left underside of the diamond shank and read Castello over SC Sea Rock Briar. Underneath that and to the left it read 54P (which is the shape number) and Made in Cantu over Italy. The underside of the left side of the Lucite stem also had stamping that read Hand Made over Castello and the number 5. The stamping of Hand is faint though it can be seen with a magnifying glass.The fit of the stem against the shank was off – it looked as if the mortise was filled with oils and had pushed the stem out. It did not fit snugly against the shank. The faux diamond circle on the saddle portion of the stem is also visible in the photo below. The second photo below shows the debris on the silver band and the grime in the rustication of the shank.The last two photos that my brother sent show the condition of the stem. It is hard to see the tooth marks near the button on both sides of the stem but you can see the chatter on the underside and the “gunk” (technical term) that had built up in the corners of the slot in the button.Before I worked on the pipe I wanted to do a bit of research to see if I could shed some more light on the pipe I had in hand. I learned from the pipephil website that the rhinestone logo was originally on pipes for the US market. There was no hint as to why that was done only that it was and that it is occasionally still used http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-castello.html

I have an older article called PCCA’s Castello Grade & Style Guide. It was written by Robert C. Hamlin (c) 1988, 1992, 1994. Robert gathered some remarkable information on the Castello lines and I have often used his guide in the past to give me pertinent data. There I found more information regarding the shiny logo on the side of the stem.

“American logo’d Castello pipes use a small round “Diamond” (referred to and looking like, but it is NOT actually a diamond) inlaid into the mouthpiece. This was originally done so that the standard Castello white bar logo did not conflict with another brand and logo that was sold by Wally Frank called the “White Bar Pipe” (in the 1950’s).”

The above quote and the remainder of those following come from the same article by Robert Hamlin. You can read the full article at the following link: http://www.pipes.org/BURST/FORMATTED/196.016.html

I read further in the article to help me understand the stamping on the underside of the shank. My knowledge of Castello pipes is pretty limited so when I get one to restore I resort to this article and others to try to make heads or tails of the stamping. First of all I had no idea what the SC stamped ahead of the Sea Rock Briar stamping meant. I had seen Castello’s with the signature of Carlo Scotti on them but not this stamping. Robert gave me the information I needed.

“Older Castello pipes will usually include the “REG No.” and have the letters “SC” stamped as a part of the nomenclature. The SC stamp was for Scotti, Carlo (in Italy all names are listed last, first). Today the full name of Carlo Scotti, contained in a small oval, has replaced the SC stamp.”

I learned that the Sea Rock Briar stamp also signified something and told me more about the pipe. Robert pointed out:

“SEA ROCK [Carved Black or dark brown]: This is the lowest grade of the Castello line and is the most common in the USA. Sea Rocks are produced by taking a smooth bowl that has not been “final finished” and surface carving the finish with tools. This “carved” finish is then evened out using a steel wire brush, stained and then waxed. The Natural Vergin carved finish is left unstained and unwaxed as a rule, although we have seen waxed and partially waxed “Vergins”.”

The remaining mystery for me was the meaning of the stamping on the stem. I of course understood the Hand Made and the Castello stamping but the number 5 was a mystery to me. I was not sure what it referred to. So once again Robert’s article gave me the information I needed to understand that last piece of the mystery.

“#2: All Castello standard shaped pipes have a number (3, 4, 5 or 6) stamped on the mouthpiece or sometimes on the lucite ferrule. What does this number mean? Not much really, it is the number of the size for the proper straw tube or reed that fits the shank and stem of the pipe. These straw tubes are rarely used in the United States. The Castello reed is considered superfluous and useless to most, but with this number you will always know which one fits (the different numbers have to do with length, not diameter).”

When the pipe arrived in Vancouver it was inside of a Castello suede bag missing only the drawstrings at the top. It bore the classic Castello Castle logo and reading Pipa Castello di Carl Scotti Cantu (Italy) stamped on the front in brown paint/ink. I tipped the pipe out of the bag to see what my brother had done with it. He had written and warned me that he had done a minimal clean up on the pipe as he did not want to damage it. I was not sure what I would see when I removed it from the bag. The four photos below show the state of the pipe when it arrived. Examining the pipe closely I could see that he had reamed the bowl and cleaned up the rim to remove the tars and oils that had overflowed onto the top of the rim. He had also cleaned the finish on the pipe quite nicely. The internals were cleaner but would need some more work but the pipe looked pretty good.I took some photos of the stem to show the tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. In the first photo of the top, you can see the tooth mark neat the button and the one on the top edge of the button. In the second photo you can see the damage to the underside of the stem near the button and on the top of the button there as well.I used a brass bristle tire brush to clean up the small particles that still remained in the grooves on the rim of the bowl. It did not take too much to remove what was left and leave the rim clean.I wiped off the sticky spots on the silver band with a little alcohol on a cotton pad. I could see that the band had been stamping diagonally in several places with letters from the word silver but that none of them spelled it out completely. I was pretty certain from Robert’s article above that the silver band was after market and may be part of a repair to a cracked shank. Cleaning the pipe further would either confirm or deny that assumption on my part. I polished the band with micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12000 grit pads. The polished band is shown in the photo below.I sanded the tooth marks out on both sides of the stem at the button using 220 grit sandpaper and also sanded the damage to the button surface itself. There was also slight damage to the slot itself on the end of the button. I sanded the slot and cleaned up the damaged areas there. I used micromesh sanding pads to polish the newly sanded areas on the Lucite stem surface. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and wiped the stem down with a damp cotton pad. I dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with the damp pad several times throughout the process. In doing so I was able to remove all signs of the damage to stem in those spots along the edge and top of the button. With stem exterior finished other than buffing I ran a pipe cleaner with alcohol through to remove any sanding debris from my clean up and sanding of the surface and the slot. It was remarkably clean.I cleaned out the shank with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to remove the tars and oils that kept the stem from properly seating against the end of the tenon. It was pretty thickly tarred and took some scrubbing to remove the grime. While I was cleaning the interior of the grime I found what I had surmised was under the band. The end and inside of the mortise revealed a small crack underneath the grime. It looked like it had been repaired somewhere along its life. The end of the crack on the shank end was the worst part of the damage. The hairline crack on the exterior of the shank – almost an underline of the word Cantu showed signs of having been glued and clamped until it sealed. That settled my question regarding the purpose of the aftermarket silver band on the shank. With the internals cleaned and the crack examined with a lens and deemed solid I polished the silver band with a jeweler’s cloth to further remove any remnants of tarnish and give it a deeper shine and protection. I hand waxed the bowl with some Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a shoe brush to raise the initial shine on the briar. The photos below show the bowl after the waxing and polishing. I put the stem in place in the shank. The fit was perfect and it sat snuggly against the end of the mortise as it did when it left Cantu. I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel avoiding the silver band and the briar. I waxed the stem with carnauba wax on the wheel and buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is truly a beautiful little bulldog. The shape and the rustication make it a pleasure to hold in the hand. It fits snuggly with my thumb curled around the back of the bowl and the rest of the fingers holding the bowl. The finish is extremely tactile and should be interesting in hand as the bowl heats up during smoking. For me there is absolutely nothing lacking in the design and form of this old Sea Rock Briar and I think it will be one I hang onto. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration process.

A Gold Banded Stanwell Copenhagen Calabash

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is a striking Stanwell Calabash pipe with sandblasted body and smooth capped rim. The sandblast has exposed some wonderful ring grain around the bowl. The smooth wide rim typical of the calabash shape is wonderful birds-eye grain. The brass collar ring contrasts nicely with the dark stain of the sandblast shank. The gold crown S logo on the left side of the saddle stem combines with the other parts of the pipe to give this one a classic look. My brother Jeff found this Stanwell in an antique shop in Astoria, Oregon. It was on consignment by a widow who was selling her pipe collector husband’s collection. He bought a few of the pipes from her consignment and this is the second one that I have worked on. The first one was also a Stanwell – it was a shape 180 that was designed by Tom Eltang that I wrote about in an earlier blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/12/14/a-shape-you-gotta-love-a-stanwell-majestic-180/).The finish on the sandblast portion was in great shape – just dirty with grit and grime. The rim cap however was another story. It had the overflow onto the top of the thick cake that was in the bowl. There was also some darkening of the inner edge of the rim. The brass band and the brass crown S logo on the stem were also dull and lifeless due to tarnishing. The stem was oxidized and had a buildup of calcification on both sides near the button. There were tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem and on the button. The slot in the button was nearly closed off with a thick tar.My brother took two close up photos of the rim cap to show the condition of the inside of the bowl and the cap itself. There was a thick coat of tars and oils that is visible flowing over the back side of the cap. There were also several dings and dents in the cape itself though there was some nice birds-eye grain showing through the grime.He also took a photo of the bowl bottom side up. The lovely bell shape of the pipe is visible from this view from the front.The side view of the band and the shank/stem union shows that the connection is tight and clean. There is nothing wrong that a little polishing on the band and some elbow grease to remove the oxidation on the stem won’t take care of. The second photo below shows the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is very sharp and readable. It has the Stanwell stamp over Copenhagen over Calabash in script (it appears to have been double stamped). Beneath that it reads Made in Denmark (it is upside down in orientation to the rest of the stamping).The next photos show the condition of the stem. You can see the tooth marks on the stem itself and the damage marks against the button on both sides. The calcification on the stem may have come for a Softee bit that the original owner had on the stem to protect it from more bite marks.My brother Jeff again did a magnificent job cleaning up the pipe. He was able to get the grim out of the grooves and the majority of the buildup off the rim. He reamed and cleaned the interior of the pipe and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I took the following photos to show the condition of the pipe when I received. It was on its way to being clean. I took a close up photo of the rim to show how much of the tars and oils he removed. It is pretty clean. There was some darkening on the inner edge of the rim on the back side that would need to be dealt with.He also removed much of the calcification on the stem and some of the debris on the surface of both sides. The photos also show the tooth marks and chatter that was on the stem.I sanded the stem to remove the rest of the debris and calcification and then wiped the stem down with alcohol on a cotton pad. I cleaned out the tooth marks with cotton swabs and alcohol and then filled them in with black super glue. I set the stem aside to let the repairs dry.I sanded the inner edge of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the darkening and then worked over the rim with 1500-1800 micromesh sanding pads to clean up the inner edge and begin polishing the rim cap. You can see the grain on the cap begin to pop and reveal the beautiful birds-eye grain.When the glue had cured I sanded the patches smooth, blending them in with the surface of the stem using 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the entire stem to work on more of the oxidation that was present on the surface. The photos below tell the story of the repairs and sanding to this point in the process.I polished the bowl rim with 3200-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads and gave the sandblast bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax. I buffed it with the shoe brush to raise the shine. The photos below show the bowl at this point. I touched up the stain on the rim with a dark brown stain pen. I buffed it with a microfibre cloth and then polished it with micromesh sanding pads using 1500-12000 grit pads to polish and raise a shine. I probably should have done this earlier in the process but my brother has been doing such a good job in his cleaning that I honestly forgot. I decided to give the internals of the stem and the mortise and shank a quick cleanup with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-15000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. I gave it the last coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I polished the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel avoiding the sandblast portions of the bowl. I did not want to get the polishing compound in the grooves of the sandblast. It would be hard to get out of the grooves. I gave the sandblast portion several coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a shoe brush. I gave the stem and rim several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the entire pipe a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It has come a long way from the pipe I started on in the first photos above. It is a classic looking calabash pipe with a great contrast between the smooth briar, the sandblast briar, the gold band and the vulcanite stem. (The brass is so shiny now that it is hard to get the vulcanite not to reflect the brass colour. In person the oxidation is gone and the stem is shiny black.) Thanks for walking through the process with me.

Finishing Touches on an Interesting Bambu Egg

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Blog by Steve Laug

This pipe came up for sale on the Gentleman’s Pipe Smoking Society on Facebook. It was being sold by a friend of Dal’s and I liked the shape and the look of it. I honestly was thinking it was a smaller Stanwell like egg even though I knew it was not a Stanwell pipe. The pipe is stamped Bambu on the left side of the shank and on the underside it is stamped Israel which leads me to believe that it was crafted by the Shalom Pipe Factory. There is nothing online that I can find regarding the stamping or the brand but it is similar in stamping to my early Alpha Israel pipes. That is all the information that I can surmise from the pipe itself. I paid for the pipe and had it shipped to my brother instead of to Canada over a month ago and he received it really quickly. I told him to hold onto it and ship it up when he sent another box of pipes to me.

This week it arrived and I expectantly took it out of the box of other pipes. I unwrapped it from the bubble wrap to have a look at it. My brother had sent along a few photos of the pipe to show me what I was in for once it arrived so I was kind of excited to see it up close. In the next two photos he shows the overall look of the pipe. It was really quite nice. Whenever I buy an estate pipe, no matter who has done the restoration, I always add my own touches to the restoration to make it mine and to remove the things that will bug me as I use the pipe. I don’t know if you all do that but it is part of my own pathology that I have to go over every estate I get with a fine tooth comb before I even load a bowl and fire it up. This was no exception to my habit. I took the bowl and turned it over in my hands to examine it closely. As usual I noted a few issues that I knew would bug me unless I addressed them. (No criticism of the seller as I am sure many folks would have been absolutely fine with the as it was when I got it.)

The finish on the bowl was spotty. The left side of the bowl appeared to have been stripped of its varnish or shellac coat and there were shiny spots left on the bowl side toward the top edge of the rim. The front, back and right side of the bowl still had the shiny finish coat. I knew I would need to remove the finish and smooth things out. Call me anal but that kind of thing bugs me.
The rim still had some residual lava spots from the bowl that would need to be cleaned off and the darkening of the rim appeared to be on top of the shiny top coat. I was pretty sure that I could remove much of the issue by removing the shiny coat.
The underside and sides of the bowl had some dents and nicks in the finish that needed to be steamed out.
The transition between the briar, the black insert and the bamboo was rough to the touch and there was debris collected in the rough edges of the transition.
There was a red mark in the groove of the bamboo on the top side of the shank. It stood out and it bugged me – kind of like lipstick on the collar of a good shirt.
The bamboo also had a thick seal coat that seemed to have brush marks in the finish and I could feel them with my thumb as I ran it over the bamboo.
The stem had a lot of pits and small tooth chatter that had been polished but was still present on both the top and the bottom sides.
The stamped B logo on the stem was in great shape but I wanted to paint it and make it stand out a bit more on the saddle portion.
The stem also did not sit correctly in the shank leaving a gap on the underside of the joint when it was properly aligned.

My brother included some close up photos of the bowl, the underside, the shank and the stem that highlight some of the issues I raised above. The next photos show the stamping on the left side of the shank and on the underside. It reads Bambu as noted above and Israel on the underside.In the next two close up photos of the stem you can see the tooth chatter and scratches on the vulcanite stem.The final photo shows the B stamp on the side of the saddle portion of the stem. It is in decent shape and would be easily filled in. The fit of the stem against the bamboo was a bit off as well. I would need to adjust this fit.In adding my own touches to the restoration of the pipe I decided to work through remedying each of the issues noted above individually. You can be the judge if the finished pipe is better than when I started. The first four photos show the pipe as it appeared when I unwrapped it. You can see the shiny spots on the left side of the bowl near the top and toward the bottom of the bowl. You can also see the dents in the bowl sides. The issue raised above in number 1 involved the spotty finish on the bowl. The above photos highlight that issue clearly. The left side of the bowl appeared to have been stripped of its varnish or shellac coat and there were shiny spots left on the bowl side toward the top edge of the rim. The front, back and right side of the bowl still had the shiny finish coat. I scrubbed the finish on the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the shiny topcoat. I was pretty sure it was a varnish or shellac coat and that it had been partially removed somewhere along the way. It did not take too much effort to remove it from the surface of the bowl.

I also addressed issues number 2 and 3 noted above. To take care of the second issue of the rim surface I scrubbed the rim of the bowl with the acetone on the cotton pad and the bits of lava came off along with the shiny coat. The rim was smooth to the touch and some of the darkening also was removed in the process. To take care of the dents and nicks in the finish I steamed them out with a hot knife and wet cloth to raise them. I was able to remove all of the dents and nicks leaving the bowl smooth. The next photo is a close up of the rim after the scrubbing with acetone.Next I decided to address issue number 9 noted above – the improper alignment of the stem in the shank. When it was correctly aligned in the shank it left a gap on the underside of the joint. It is visible at the bottom of the stem in the photo below.I removed the stem from the shank and faced the end of the shank on the topping board using 220 grit sandpaper. You can see from the second photo below where the topping at removed high spots on the end of the shank leaving the center unsanded. This was only the first step in the process of this repair.When I put the stem back in the shank it was clear that the angle of the tenon was incorrect in terms of the drilling in the bamboo. I heated the tenon with a Bic lighter to soften the vulcanite of the tenon and then pushed it back into the mortise in the bamboo. Because the tenon was pliable I was able to align the stem edge with the edge of the bamboo to remove the gap in the fit. I held the stem in place while the tenon cooled. Once finished the alignment remained and the gap was gone.Once I got the stem alignment corrected I decided to touch up the B stamp on the side of the stem to address issue number 8 noted above. I use some white acrylic paint and applied it with a fine bristle paint brush to fill in the stamping on the stem. Once the paint dried I scraped it off with a soft cloth and sanded it with a 2400 grit micromesh sanding pad.To address the issues noted in numbers 4-6 above – all dealing with the bamboo shank extension I worked specifically to deal with the varnish coat on the bamboo. I wiped it down with a cotton pad and acetone to remove the buildup and brush marks on the surface of the bamboo. I cleaned out the “lipstick” that was in the groove in the bamboo using a cotton swab and acetone. There is just one small spot left next to the spacer between the bamboo and the briar. I sanded the transition between the briar, the insert and the bamboo to smooth it out and to also clean up some of the debris that seemed to have collected at that point on the shank. With the removal of the thick varnish the bamboo began to take on its natural patina and the stress marks stood out giving an aged look. The final issue, number 7 above, to be addressed was the stem. It had some tooth chatter and marks on the top and underside that needed some attention. They were not too bad but they stood out and bugged me. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth chatter and smooth out the tooth marks. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. After the final set I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I polished the bowl and the bamboo with micromesh sanding pads as well – all grits 1500-12000 to remove any remaining scratches or small nicks in the finish. I buffed bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to further polish the pipe and then gave the entire pipe several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to polish the wax and then hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The rich finish now highlights the beautiful grain on the pipe and the smooth feel in the hand satisfies my desire for that in a pipe. It is now ready to fire up a bowl of some Christmas tobacco and the distractions that irritated me when I received the pipe are taken care off and all the distractions removed. So goes the life of a pipe refurbisher – never finished and rarely satisfied with the end product – I always see more imperfections that need to be addressed. Thanks for humouring me as I took you through this journey I appreciate it!

Replacing a Stem on a Stanwell Antique 156 Bulldog

Another Jaws Victim – A GBD Midnight 788 Oval Shank Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

I love old GBD pipes no matter what era they come from. I gave my brother a list of pipes to keep an eye open for in his treasure hunts as he travels and on his eBay forays as well. GBD has been at the top of that list. He found a newer generation GBD recently and sent it my way. It is a nicely grained apple that is stamped GBD in the oval over MIDNIGHT on the top of the shank. On the underside it is stamped London England over 788 which is the shape number for an oval shank apple. The stem is a green swirled Lucite saddle shape with the GBD Oval stamped on the top of the saddle portion. The pipe was in decent shape. The finish was dirty and there was a buildup of cake in the bowl that had overflowed onto the rim. There were some dents in the outer edge of the rim on the back left side and some nicks and scratches on the left side of the bowl. The stem was another one that Jaws had gotten a hold of just like the Estella Non Pareil that I just finished and wrote about (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/12/06/jaws-and-an-estella-non-pareil-%c2%bc-bent-9606-stack-by-savinelli/). The top side had some deep dents and the underside had them as well. There were better situated in that they were in the blacker portion of the stem so blending in the repairs would be simpler.The photos my brother Jeff sent me really show the grain on the pipe. It has some stunning swirls of grain on the sides and some stunning birdseye on the top and the bottom of the shank and bowl. The next photos show some close ups of the rim and the bowl bottom. The top of the rim was thickly coated with the overflowing cake in the bowl. The birdseye on the bowl bottom is stunning.The stamping on the shank and the stem was clear though lighter to the right edge on the topside of the shank. The fit of the stem to the shank was messy due to the build up of tars and oils in the shank and the mortise. I was pretty certain that once the pipe was cleaned up the fit would be back to normal.The next two photos show the work of Jaws on the Lucite. I can only say that I am thankful that the stem was not vulcanite or it would have been destroyed!My brother did his usual thorough clean up and was able to remove all of the tars and oils from the rim and the cake from the bowl. He scrubbed the grime and oils from the finish with Murphy’s Oil Soap and cleaned out the internals with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The next four photos show the pipe when it arrived on my work table in Vancouver. I am getting spoiled by him doing all the grunt work of reaming and scrubbing. The pipes I get are all cleaned and reamed and ready to be restored. It is a great arrangement! I took a close up photo of the bowl and rim to show how clean it was when it got to me.The tooth dents in the stem are shown in the next two photos. After the stem had been cleaned up they did not look as daunting as the ones in the Estella. The button had been worn down some as well by the chomper.I “painted” the dents in the stem with the flame from a Bic lighter. I was able to raise them quite a bit on this stem. On the top side only one deep tooth mark remained and on the underside there were three left.I sanded the dented areas with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the surface around the dents. I washed it down with alcohol on a cotton swab to make sure I did not leave any of the white sanding dust in the tooth marks. I decided to use black superglue to fill in the tooth dents as they were in the darker portion of the stem. I filled them in and let the glue dry.Once the glue had dried I sanded the patches smooth with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the stem. The patch on the topside disappeared into the dark green/black of the rest of the stem. The ones on the underside were a little more temperamental and showed some light areas on some small parts of the patches.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cotton pad after each set of three pads. I set the stem aside and worked on the bowl. I used 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to work over the nicks in the rim and on the left side of the bowl. I was able to minimise them so that they blended into the briar better. I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain cut 50/50 with isopropyl alcohol and flamed it with a lighter. I repeated the process until the coverage was even on all sides of the bowl.I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect it. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to polish the carnauba and give it a shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The rich brown of the stain is a great contrast to the green of the Lucite stem. The overall look of the pipe is rich and the feel in the hand is perfect. This one will be available on the store in the days ahead. Thanks for journeying with me in this refurb.