Tag Archives: bite marks

I love working on John Calich Hand Made Pipes and this one is a beauty

Blog by Steve Laug

About a week ago I got an email from Bob in Maryland asking if I would be willing to repair and restore a John Calich 10 pipe for him. I knew as soon as he said it was a Calich that I wanted to work on it. I have quite a few of John’s pipes in my own collection and enjoy smoking them! He made some new stems for me for a some Calich bowls I purchased. I had the privilege of talking with John quite a few times before he died. He was an amazing man and truly a Canadian pipe carving legend. When Bob contacted me, I was glad to work on this pipe. We chatted via email then I called him. He sent the pipe to me last Friday. It arrived today so I called to let him know it was safely here. In the course of our conversation I asked him where he had picked up this Calich pipe. He told me the story of a good friend of his who had passed away a few years ago. He said that his friend’s wife had given it to him to continue the story and enjoyment of this pipe. He had tried to clean up the stem by soaking it in Oxyclean and it had turned the yellow/white colour it was when it arrived here. Oxyclean had done what it always does – it had brought the oxidation to the surface. John had done an interesting combination of finishes on this pipe. The front of the bowl is plateau briar, the sides and rim top are smooth briar highlighting the interesting horizontal straight grain and the shank was rusticated to look like tree bark. It was a beauty and Bob wanted me to bring to life again. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it.I used a 320 grit sanding pad to check the depth of the oxidation on the stem. I passed it over the stem surface and with very little effort the vulcanite shone through.I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show the condition of both. The bowl had a thick cake in the bowl with some lava overflow on the inner edge of the rim. There were also many nicks and dings in the rim top and on the inner edge of the rim. It had been hammered against a hard surface to cause the nicks and marks. The oxidized stem had some deep tooth marks on both the top and underside of the stem near the button edge. It would need some work to bring it back.The stamping on the underside of the shank read CALICH over Hand Made. After that stamping there was the number 10 stamped which was the grade number. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts of the pipe. It is a large pipe and a unique beauty.I decided to include a bit about John Calich the pipemaker as I have loved John’s pipes for over 25 years now and have collected a few of them. I have restored quite a few of them and written blogs about them that can be read if you are interested in seeing the kind of pipes that John made. They are unique and beautiful. Each one of them is a work of art to me. I am including the links to the previous blogs that have written about his pipes.

https://rebornpipes.com/2015/03/03/one-of-my-john-calich-pipes-a-calich-ee-billiard/

https://rebornpipes.com/2019/01/23/i-am-the-happy-owner-of-an-unsmoked-pipe-by-the-late-john-calich/

https://rebornpipes.com/2015/03/03/one-of-my-john-calich-pipes-a-calich-ee-billiard/

https://rebornpipes.com/2014/03/21/reflecting-on-my-collection-of-john-calich-pipes/

Each of the blogs reflects on John’s pipes if you want to get a feel for them take a few minutes and read them.

John Calich – photo courtesy of Doug Valitchka

When John was living I spoke with him several times via phone and had him make some new stems for some of his pipes that I picked up off eBay. He was a very kind gentleman and was always helpful when I spoke with him. He was always ready with encouragement and when I needed to know how to do something when I was first learning to repair pipes he was willing to help. He was one of the old guard of Canadian Pipe makers. I miss him. I am including a short piece from Pipedia on John to give details on his work and the grading of his pipes. The second paragraph below is highlighted in blue as it gives some information on the Grade 12 Apple that I am working on with the single silver dot now.

John Calich was one of Canada’s finest carvers. He died in July 2008. John was a full-time pipe maker for the last 40 years. Calich pipes were mostly traditional shapes. His signature style is rustication and smooth on the same pipe along with his unique skill to stain a pipe in contrasting colors. He used only top quality Grecian and Calabrian briar. The mouthpieces are hand finished Vulcanite “A”. Each pipe was entirely made by hand. John Calich was featured in the summer 2005 issue of Pipes & Tobacco.

His pipes are graded 3E – 7E. Retail prices range from$ 145.00 to $ 500.00 Each pipe is stamped “CALICH” 3-8E, his earlier pipes were graded from 3-14, and a single, tiny silver dot is applied to the top of the stem (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Calich).

From my other blogs I was able to garner quite a bit of information on John’s grading system. As noted above the newer ones carried a 3E-7E stamp but the earlier ones were graded 3-14. The retail prices for them ranged from $145.00 to $500.00. Each of the earlier pipes was stamped “CALICH” and pipes were graded from 3-14 and had a single, tiny silver dot applied to the top of the stem. More information can be found at the Pipedia article above. All of this information told me as expected that the pipe I was working on was an earlier one.

Armed with the facts that I am dealing with a 1988 pipe made by one of my favourite Canadian pipe makers it was time to get back to work on the pipe. I started my work on the pipe by reaming the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer to take the cake back to bare walls. I followed that by using a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to scrape back the remnants of the cake back to briar. I finished my cleanup of the walls by sanding it with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I scrubbed the grime and oils off the briar on the smooth, plateau and rusticated portions of the briar with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. The briar looked much cleaner. I worked over the grime and tars on the rim top at the same time and was able to remove much of the build up. The bowl is beginning to take on a fresh look. To remove the scratches in the smooth briar sides and the rim top I sanded them with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I was able to remove the damaged areas and scratches. I used micromesh sanding pads 1500-12000 grit pads to polish the briar. I wiped down the bowl with a damp cloth after every pad. With each sanding pad the briar began to take on a rich shine. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the smooth briar with my fingertips and into the rustication and the plateau surface with a shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. Mark Hoover’s Balm is a product that I have come to appreciate and one I use on every pipe I have been working on. I tried to fit a pipe cleaner through the slot in the button and found that it did no fit well and took a lot of work to get it into the airway. I used a round file and an oval file to open the airway to take a pipe cleaner. Once I had it open I could easily slide the pipe cleaner into the airway.Once I had it open I turned to work on the outside of the stem and remove remaining oxidation on the stem surface. I used some Soft Scrub cleanser to scrub of the oxidation on the stem surface. Once finished it looked much better. I sanded out the deeper oxidation in the curves and in the sharp edges of the button with 220 grit sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with a damp alcohol cotton pad to remove the sanding debris. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. Most of them lifted significantly. I filled in the deep tooth marks that remained with clear CA glue and set it aside to cure. I paused to clean out the interior of the pipe. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol to clean out the tars and oils in the airway in the shank and the stem. With the newly opened stem it was easy to clean out the airway in the stem.I used a small file to flatten out the repairs on the stem and to sharpen the edge of the button on both sides of the stem. I sanded the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to further smooth out the repaired areas. I started polishing the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It was great to see the shine really deepen on the vulcanite. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. Bob’s beautifully grained Hand Made Freehand Calich is unique and lovely. It has the kind of beauty I have come to expect from John’s pipes with plateau on the bowl front and rustication on the shank showcasing the straight grain on the bowl sides and rim top. I am excited to be on the homestretch with this pipe. This is the part I look forward to when each pipe comes back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl 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. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The straight grain on the sides of the bowl and the plateau on the front of the bowl is really quite stunning. The plateau on the bowl front and rustication on the shank showed some contrast with dark brown in the grooves that give it depth. This Calich Hand Made Freehand was another fun pipe to bring back to life because the story Bob shared adds another dimension to the pipe. It is a large pipe but it is a comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 7 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches x 2 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 11 grams/3.92 ounces. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This was interesting to bring back to life. I will be sending it back to him in Maryland early this week. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of it.

Refurbishing a C.G.F Majestic Bruyere

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

The next pipe that I chose to work on is a pipe from the lot of 50 odd pipes that Abha, my wife, had cleaned up for me way back in early 2018.

It’s a beautiful Dublin shaped pipe with an oval shank and a short saddle stem. The pipe has rustications that are somewhat similar to the micro rustications seen on BRAKNER pipes, but not as fine, much more widely spaced and uneven in orientation. It is stamped on the upper flat surface of the oval shank as “MAJESTIC” over “BRUYERE”. The oval upper stem surface bears the letters “C.G.F” in a rhombus.I had never worked on this and of pipe before and was keen to understand more of this brand. My first visit to unearth the mystery of this pipe to pipephil.eu and pipedia.org did not yield the answers that I was looking for except on pipedia.org which had few pictures under the name MAJESTIC; one picture was that of C.G.F PARIS and another one was that of A. Pandevant & Roy. Given below is the link to the webpage.

https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:2070-01.jpg

The name A. Pandevant & Roy immediately brought back recollection of the research that my friend Dal Stanton aka The Pipe Steward had done on this pipe maker way back in 2019. It makes for a very informed read and his research of this brand has been included in pipedia.org, a remarkable and praise worthy achievement for sure. I implore readers to read through this research, the link to which is given below.

https://rebornpipes.com/2019/02/22/discovering-the-history-with-the-reclamation-of-this-petite-epc-majestic-bent-horn-stem-billiard/

I have reproduced excerpts from the write up as condensed on pipedia.org (https://pipedia.org/wiki/A._Pandevant_%26_Roy_Co.)

Pandevant & Roy Co. of Paris had its beginning in 1884 and disappeared with the commencement of WWII in the late 30s or early 40s. “E.P.C.”, “La Savoyarde”, “MAJESTIC”, “La Parisienne” and “E.P.” were registered trademarks of the company.

Note: The follow example and the information for this article is courtesy of Dal Stanton, The Pipe Steward

Thus, from the above information, it is evident that the pipe currently on my work table is from the stables of A. Pandevant & Roy Co. and definitely pre dates to early 1940s when the company became one of the many victims of World War II.

Initial Visual Inspection
As expected, my wife had not taken any “Before” pictures of the pipe prior to working her magic on this pipe and here I am talking about the year 2018 and even today she conveniently forgets to take pictures of the pipes that she works on initial cleaning. However, she did enclose a note with each pipe giving out the issues that need to b addressed and the note with this pipe pointed out to a through hole in the stem’s bite zone.

Initial Cleaning By Abha…
The initial cleaning on this pipe was done by Abha, my wife (she has cleaned up around 40-50 pipes and these have now reached me for further restoration). She reamed out the complete cake and further smoothened out the chamber walls with a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper. She further cleaned out the internals of the shank with pipe cleaners and alcohol and cotton buds. She followed the internal cleaning of the shank with external cleaning of the stummel using Murphy’s Oil soap and hard bristled tooth brush and dried it with paper napkins and cotton cloth.

Next she cleaned out the internals of the stem air way and immersed it in “Before and After Deoxidizer” solution along with the stem of other pipes in line for restoration. Once the stem had soaked overnight, she cleaned the stem under running warm water and scrubbed the raised oxidation from the stem surface using scotch brite pad. She further removed the oxidation by scrubbing the stem with 0000 grade steel wool and applied a little olive oil to rehydrate the stem.

Once The Pipe Is On My Work Table…
The overall condition of the pipe is very encouraging without any major damage to the stummel. The only damage visible is on the stem where a chunk of button along with a portion of the bite zone is missing. The stummel surface appears dull and lifeless. Here are a few pictures of the pipe as it sits on the work table. Detailed Inspection
The chamber walls are nice clean and fresh. There are no ghost smells and the rusticated rim top surface is clean and undamaged.The rusticated stummel surface is without any fills or dents or dings. The only issue that I see is the dull and dry appearance of the stummel. This stummel will turn out beautiful and the rustications will stand out once I have polished the surface. The mortise and shank internals are nice and clean. The vulcanite saddle stem on this pipe is where there is max damage and would take a considerable time and work to repair. To start with, the step tenon end has a chunk of vulcanite missing (encircled in green) and would need to be rebuilt. The lip on the upper stem surface has deep tooth indentation (encircled in red) while the bite zone of the lower surface has been completely chewed off and there is no button/ lip (encircled in red). These issues would need to be addressed. The stem stamping is slightly worn out with the letter C being more worn out than the other letters.The Process
I started the process of restoration of this pipe by cleaning the internal and external surfaces of the stem even though Abha had cleaned them earlier as the pipe had been lying around for more than five years! Using anti oil dish washing soap, I cleaned the external surface with a Scotch Brite followed by 0000 grade steel wool. The stem airway was cleaned using the soap and thin shank brush.Continuing with the stem repair, I inserted a triangulated index card covered in transparent tape in to the slot. The tape prevents the mix of superglue and charcoal from sticking to the index card. I mixed superglue and activated charcoal powder and generously applied it over the bite zone, including over the buttons, on either surfaces of the stem and set it aside to cure. I shall rebuild the step end of the tenon once these fills are cured and completely hardened.While the stem repairs were set aside to harden, I decided to freshen up the already clean stummel surface. To enliven the briar wood, I rubbed a little quantity of “Before and After” balm in to stummel surface and set it aside for 20 minutes for the balm to be absorbed in to the briar. Thereafter I hand buffed it with a microfiber to deepen the shine. The stummel looks nice and vibrant. While I revitalized the stummel surface, the stem repairs had cured sufficiently to allow me to work on rebuilding the broken step tenon end. I tightly wound a transparent tape around the tapered end of a pipe cleaner and inserted it in to the airway from the tenon end. The rounded pipe cleaner will help in achieving a better thickness and shape profile of the tenon end while the triangular shaped index card that I used for the slot helped in achieving the desired V shape and horizontal thickness of the slot. Using a mix of CA superglue and food grade activated charcoal powder, I rebuilt the tenon end. I made sure that the fill is in excess of the requirement as that would provide me with more material to work on and shape the tenon end. I set the stem aside for the fills to cure overnight. By next afternoon, the stem and tenon rebuild patches had cured perfectly and was fit to work on. I moved ahead with the process of filing and shaping the button end with a flat head needle file. For a better blending, I further sanded the entire stem with 320. I used a folded piece of 320 grit sand paper to sand the tenon end patch and achieve an even match with the rest of the tenon surface. I shaped the opening of the rebuilt tenon for smooth and even airway surface using a round needle file and topped the tenon face on a piece of 220 girt sand paper to achieve a perfect seating of the step tenon into the mortise. I covered the slightly worn out stem stamp with a tape to protect it and wet sand the stem progressing through 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit sand paper. I wiped the stem after each grade of sandpaper to view the progress being made and also identify areas on the stem surface that were still covered with traces of oxidation. I wiped the stem with EVO at the end of 2000 grit sanding and set the stem aside.I followed it up with dry sanding the entire stem using 3200 to 12000 grit micromesh pads to completely smooth out the surface and bring out the deep black shine of the vulcanite.

I have reached the stage in this project which can be considered as the home run. I polished the entire stem with blue diamond using a cotton wheel mounted on to my hand held rotary tool. The blue diamond compound helps to eliminate the minor scratches that remain after the use of micromesh pads. I completed this project by hand polishing the stummel with Halcyon II wax. I rubbed this polish deep into the rustications and after a couple of minutes, vigorously hand buffed the stummel with a microfiber cloth to a deep shine. I polished the stem with carnauba wax using my hand held rotary tool. This is a gorgeous looking pipe and I consider myself fortunate to have the opportunity to work on this beauty and it is ready for the next pipeman or pipewoman who wish to carry forward the trust in this pipe till it is time to pass it on to others. If this pipe calls out to you or to someone that yo care for, please feel free to either get in touch with Steve or send me a mail on deshpandeparesh@yahoo.co.in. Here are a few pictures of the completed pipe for you to appreciate while I take the opportunity to thank you each of you for sparing your valuable time in joining me on this journey.

Beautifying a Bountiful Bullmoose

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

This is the third pipe I’m restoring for my cousin – and in many ways, this is the most interesting. Allow me to introduce the Federal Bullmoose. It is a big, chunky pipe with a thousand fills in it, but looks like I could be a great smoker. It has a charming acrylic stem and feels terrific. The markings on the pipe come from the underside of the shank. There, it reads Federal [over] Ogunquit, ME. Further to the right is the word Italy, indicating where the briar is from. These markings lead me to believe that the pipe comes from the Federal Cigar company, formerly of Ogunquit, Maine. The company has been around for more than 100 years, and their three current locations are in New Hampshire: Epping, Dover, and Portsmouth – which is just a stone’s throw from Ogunquit. It seems reasonable to assume that this pipe is from that establishment.The stem was first on my list. Acrylic stems are always a bugbear of mine. No matter how much one scrubs, they never lose the tobacco colour inside. Ah well, it is what it is. I cleaned out the inside with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. It was pretty dirty, and I went through a good number of pipe cleaners. I also tried using some cleanser on the inside and that did help. I gave it a thorough rinse and moved on. There were a few tooth marks in the stem, so I filled them in with some clear cyanoacrylate adhesive. After allowing that to cure, I sanded the glue down with some sandpaper, then the whole stem with my Micromesh pads. For the last few pads, I also added some pipe stem oil. On to the stummel, and there was some work to be done here! Look at all those fills! But before that, I needed to get the darn thing clean. I used a dental tool to mine some chunks of gunk out of the mortise – yuck! Just like the stem, I also used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to scrub the insides. It was quite dirty – much cotton was expended.

I decided to de-ghost the pipe in order to remove any lingering smells of the past. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit for a while. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this.I used cotton rounds and some Murphy’s Oil Soap to scrub the outside of the stummel. You’ll notice in the photos that my cousin added some superglue to many of the fills before I got my hands on it. I actually removed some of the glue and redid some of the repairs. As usual, I used a mix of super glue and briar dust. I filled in everything that needed it and then it looked like a pipe with measles. The bowl had already been reamed, but I gave it a quick sanding anyway, as I needed to inspect the integrity of the briar walls. There were quite a few heat fissures and I would need to address them. At this point, I decided to mix up some pipe mortar, as I did with the last pipe. I wanted a good, solid coating on the inside of the bowl to prevent any further damage. I sanded down the fill repairs with some sandpaper and then the whole stummel with all nine Micromesh pads. It really looks improved. We’re on the home stretch! It’s time for the most obvious step to make this pipe look good: staining. My cousin and I agreed from the start that this pipe was going to need some make-up to make it pretty. I opted for Fiebing’s Cordovan. I thoroughly coated the stummel with a dauber, then flamed it with a candle to set the color. I repeated this process to ensure a good colour. This was never going to be a cure-all, but I am very pleased with the results. The contrast between the dark stummel and the light stem is terrific. I then coated the pipe with restoration balm and let it sit for 20 minutes or so, before polishing with a microfibre cloth. The balm does wonderful things to the wood and makes the whole thing sing. Then it was off for a trip to the buffer. A dose of White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax were just what this pipe needed. The lovely shine made the wood very attractive. This is a very handsome pipe and will provide many years of smoking pleasure.This Federal Bullmoose looks beautiful once again. I’m sure my cousin will love it. I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much I as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Cleaning up a Trade – an Armellini Elite Cagli 2009 Bulldog with a Filter Stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is one that I took in on a trade from a fellow in the Netherlands. It is a great looking rusticated straight Bulldog. It is stamped on smooth panels on both the left and right underside of the diamond shank. On the left side it is stamped Armellini in script [over] Elite. On the right side it is stamped Cagli [over] 2009. The pipe is nicely rusticated with a deep and rugged rustication. The rim top is smooth and there are twin rings around the bull cap that are sandwiched between smooth bands. There is a smooth band around the shank end followed by a shank extension composed of twin brass rings sandwiching a piece of orange/red acrylic. The finish is quite clean with just a bit of dust in the valleys. The smooth rim top is in excellent condition with some light lava near the inner edge. The inner edge is clean and sharp. The bowl has a light cake that I will ream out but otherwise looks very good. The vulcanite saddle stem was made for a 6mm filter. There is the classic Armellini large white dot logo on the top left side of diamond stem. There are tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took photos of the rim top and the stem surfaces to give a sense of the condition of the pipe. You can see the light lava on the rim top and other than that top is in good condition. There is a light cake in the bowl that I will ream to make sure the walls are in good condition. The stem photos show the tooth marks and the chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took photos of the stamping on the underside of the diamond shank on both the left and the right sides. It is clear and readable. The stamping on the left side identifies the maker and the line of the pipe. The stamping on the right side reads Cagli and the year 2009. Cagli is a town and community in the province of Pesaro e Urbino, Marche, central Italy. 2009 is the year the pipe was made.I took the stem off the shank and took a photo of the parts to show its proportions. I also took a photo of the tenon end to show the opening for a 6mm filter.I decided to hunt down a bit of background on the brand before I started my clean up on the pipe. I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-a7.html). It had a great summary listing and photos. I did a screen capture of the section and the side notes and have included them below.After Mauro Armellini passed (1936 – † 2004), his daughter Vilma Armellini answered for the brand’s destiny. Seconds: Mauro, Converti

For more detail on the brand than the notes above gave me about Armellini, I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Armellini). I quote:

Mauro & Wilma Armellini, ARMELLINI PIPES. Courtesty of theitalianpipe.com

Mauro Armellini stands for the true meaning of self-made and self-taught pipe makers. He started his pipe making career back in the early 1960s, working at the famous Italian pipe factory “Rossi”. Years later, and when the Rossi factory shut its door, Armellini moved to Savinelli where he stood out immediately. He perfected the rustication technique and till today some of the most famous rusticated finishes, such as the “Roccia” and the “Corallo” exist only thanks to him. He worked for Savinelli for several years and till the day he realized that he decided to create his own workshop and make pipes under his own name. At those times, and in spite of the fact that the pipe market was huge, it was a big risk to start his own pipe brand, due to the costs involved and the difficulty of obtaining the right equipment and tools.

Once the name Armellini found its rightful place on a piece of briar, Armellini never looked back. Thanks to his friend and neighbor, Alberto Paronelli, he was able to attract foreign markets, such as the US one and that of other European countries. Armellini’s four daughters slowly and gradually became involved in the business by lending their dad a helping hand whenever possible. However, it was Wilma that became truly interested in the business and gradually became her father’s right hand, not only in the administrative aspect of the business, but also, and above all, the actual pipe making in all its various stages. Indeed, and many years later, Armellini retired from full-time pipe making, and it was Wilma who took over.

When Armellini passed away recently, it was natural, and yet very difficult, for Wilma to decide and continue the Armellini production, according to her father’s own standards and vision. What encouraged her is the fact that for over 20 years she had been making pipes, from A to Z, and so, she knew that the quality Armellini has always been known for could and would continue.

Today, in the small town Barasso, in northern Italy, Wilma and her 20-year-old son are running the workshop and producing all of the Armellini pipes. Matteo, Wilma’s son, is an enthusiastic young man with a love for pipes and pipe making that he could have only inherited from his grandfather. He’s determined to carry on and keep alive his grandfather’s pipe making tradition while creating new shapes and finishes that he is confident his grandfather would be proud of.

Today the name Armellini bears the dreams, the dedication, the passion, and the pipe making talent and expertise of three different generations, united by one objective: Offering the best pipes possible, out of the best material possible, at the lowest price possible.

The legacy lives on …

Since Mario passed away in 2004 and this pipe was dated 2009 I knew that the pipe was made by his daughter Vilma or Wilma.

Now, on to the restoration of this beautifully rusticated Armellini Elite Bulldog. I began the work by reaming the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. I scraped out what remained with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth the out. The walls looked to be in excellent condition with no checking or heat damage. I scrubbed the inside of the mortise and shank along with the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The pipe was looking better than when it arrived. I scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. I worked on the rim top and edge to try to remove the grime and was able to remove it. I polished the smooth briar rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl surface down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. Once I finished the exterior of the briar looked much better and had taken on a shine. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. Mark Hoover’s Balm is a product that I have come to appreciate and one I use on every pipe I have been working on. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. Many of them smoothed out completely but several of the deeper ones remained. I filled in the remaining marks with clear CA glue and set it aside to allow the repairs to cure. Once they are hardened I sanded them smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I used the sanding pads I purchased recently – 320-3500 grit regular pads to smooth out the finish and remove the light tooth and chatter marks in the stem. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil to finish the preliminary work after the 3500 grit pad.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. As usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the Armellini Elite Cagli 2009 back together. I polished the bowl rim top and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. 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. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain really pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the reddish, browns of the bowl. This Armellini Elite 2009 Straight Bulldog was a great pipe to spruce up. It is a very comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 46 grams/1.62 ounces. This pipe will be going on the Italian Pipe Maker section of the rebornpipes store if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

Restoring a Modified K&P Irish Made

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

This is the second pipe in a series of three that I was given by my cousin to clean up and bring back to life. This is a republic era K&P Irish Made X105 straight billiard from Peterson. It’s a handsome pipe, for sure, but there are lots of fills all over the bowl and it was in rough shape. It is important to note that this stem is not the original, but, after some back-and-forth with my cousin, we decided to leave the stem as it is. The markings are clear enough. On the left side of the shank, it reads K & P [over] Irish Made. On the right side of the shank, it reads Made in the [over] Republic [over] of Ireland. Near to that is the shape number, X105. There are also some maker’s marks on the ferrule. Quoting from a previous blog of Steve’s, regarding an Irish Made, “There is a nickel ferrule on the shank that is stamped with three symbols – a shamrock. a wolf hound and a tower. These makers marks put the pipe as pre-circa 1963.” That helps! On to the pipe work… It turns out that this stem is the dirtiest stem I’ve dealt with for quite a while. I don’t think it’s ever seen a pipe cleaner in its life until I got a hold of it. The thing was absolutely filthy inside, and it took ages and ages to clean out with pipe cleaners and lemon infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. In fact, it was dirty enough that I actually used some tube brushes as well (along with some detergent) to scrub out the insides and finally got it vaguely clean. Another thing you’ll notice is how badly chomped the button and bit are. It looked pretty bad, but I took my BIC lighter and tried to raise those dents with its flame. This didn’t work very well, if at all.The oxidization on the stem was pretty brutal, so I used some SoftScrub on some cotton rounds and scrubbed the dickens out of it for quite a while. The photo shows how much came off the initial scrubbing. I then threw it into the deoxidizing solution to sit overnight. The next day, with the stem nice and clean, I needed to address those dents on the stem. I applied a type of black cyanoacrylate adhesive (impregnated with carbon and rubber) to the damaged area. I sprayed these areas with an accelerant to cure the adhesive immediately.I then had to shape these repairs so that they would look great! I began by taking a needle file and shaping the hardened adhesive. Continuing, I used 200- and 400-grit sandpapers on the repairs to smooth them out. I finished up by using all nine of my MicroMesh pads to sand the entire stem. I also used some pipe stem oil to assist with the sanding and protect the vulcanite. The stummel was also pretty nasty. I begin by reaming it out. First, I took a drill bit and hand cranked (never with a drill) it into the shank to break up the incredibly hardened debris in there. Of course, I followed that up with cotton swabs and pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. It took a lot of scrubbing to get it clean. I also used some soap and tube brushes to make it extra clean. I cleaned the outside wood with some Murphy’s and then I set the stummel up for a de-ghosting session. I took a couple of cotton balls, gently stuffed them into the bowl and into the shank, and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let that sit overnight, and the alcohol did its thing, leaching out more of the filth from the stummel. As the photos have shown, this pipe had a lot of fills, so I dealt with them, with a mixture of cyanoacrylate adhesive and briar dust. There was also a chunk missing from the rim, and I filled that up with the same. There was a lot of burning and damage to the rim which I addressed with my topping board and some sandpaper. This is always a balancing act: you want to make it look better, but you don’t want to take off too much. There was a crack in the shank, and a crack at the rim. Both of those required drilling before I could repair them. I took my micro drill bit and delicately drilled a hole through the briar right at the very end of the crack. This tiny hole – almost too difficult to see – serves as an endpoint for the crack, ensuring that it will not grow any further. I then carefully laid a thin bead of CA, glue along both cracks and let it cure. This pipe had obviously had a hard life, and one thing I noticed was that the bowl had quite a few craze lines on the inside. I wanted to fix them to make sure they weren’t a problem in future. Recently, I learned about a new mixture for a pipe mortar that I wanted to try inside this bowl. I found the mix on an old YouTube video, but I honestly can’t remember who the fellow was, otherwise I would credit him here. If anybody remembers who that was, please let me know. Anyway, I mixed up a combination of plaster of Paris, table salt, and activated charcoal. Once blended, I added a few drops of water to make a very thick paste. I then put a thin layer on the inside of the bowl and let it set overnight. It worked like a charm.The next step was to sand everything down. I started with some 220-grit sandpaper and sanded the repairs down so that they were level with the briar. I then took my nine micromesh pads and sanded the whole thing. Despite its fills, the pipe will be much improved once I’m done with it. Of course, I used my restoration balm and rubbed that into the wood to have its nourishing properties work on the wood. I left it set for 20 minutes or so and, while I was waiting, I decided to fix up the nickel ferrule that goes at the end of the shank. I used most of my micromesh pads to polish it up and it came out beautifully. I glued it back on and set the stummel aside. Off to my bench polisher! As usual, I used white diamond as my first compound and followed that with a few coats of carnauba wax. It provides just the sort of glam this pipe needs to pop!This K&P Irish Made X105 straight billiard so much improved that I’m delighted and I’m sure my cousin will be too. I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much I as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring a Great Looking 1967 Dunhill Tanshell P F/T 4T Half Bent Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from a group of pipes that Jeff and I purchased from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on January 8, 2024. It is a Dunhill Tanshell Bent Bulldog that is in good condition. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank with the shape number P F/T followed by Dunhill [over] Tanshell. That is followed by Made in [over] England. Next to the D in England it is stamped the date number 7. Stamped after that is a 4 in a circle followed by a T. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has a tan or light brown stain on a sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty around the nooks and crannies of the sandblast but otherwise fairly clean. It also had some darkening on the bowl sides where hand oils had darkened it and on the rim top. The bowl had a thick cake and there was some light lava on the sandblasted rim top or edges. The taper stem was oxidized, calcified, dirty and had tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the deep sandblast grain on the pipe. It is a beauty.The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It looks very good and faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. Jeff captured the detail in the photos below. One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/tanshell1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number P is the shape number for a Half Bent Bulldog and the F/T is for a fishtail stem. The Dunhill Tanshell is the finish. The number 7 following the D of England gives the date the pipe as 1967.Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has a suffix of underlined, superscript 22 following the D in England. That number took me to the section on the chart below (column one) which instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being made posterior to 1954.I followed the link following the “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The third column (suffix 5…9) led me to the section that sections suffix. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 1967.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Root Briar to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

The Tanshell

The first lot was distributed in 1952 (usually made using Sardinian briar). The prototype was called “Root Shell “, produced in 1951. The Tanshell is a light tan sandblast. Sardinian briar was used for this sandblast. There is a distinct contrast in the sandblasts using Sardinian as opposed to Algerian briar. The Sardinian is much denser and much harder. The resulting pattern, when blasted, is far more even and regular both in terms of the surface texture and the finish.

“The TanShell was Dunhill’s fourth finish and its first major post-war line addition. Introduced in 1951/1952 the TanShell was a naturally stained sandblasted pipe made exclusively from Sardinian briar through the 1960s. The TanShell apparently was not simply a light stained Shell but rather was also the product of “certain processes [unrevealed] not previously employed.” Initially, it appears that the pipe was to be named the Root Shell and a stamp to that effect was ordered and received by Dunhill in May 1951. Ultimately, however, the name TanShell was settled upon but the stamp for the TanShell name was not received by Dunhill until the beginning of December. Thus while the Tanshell was in production in 1951 it appears that most if not all TanShells made in that year did not enter into retail distribution until 1952 and were given a 1952 date code.” Loring, J. C., The Dunhill Briar Pipe, The Patent Years and After (self-published, Chicago, 1998). I have also included a chart from the site from Dunhill spelling out the Standard Pipe Finishes and giving short information and a timeline. I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. You can see the clean bowl. The bowl is in excellent condition and looks very good. There is some darkening on the rim top and some light damage to the front inner edge of the bowl. The stem came out looking quite good. There are some tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The photo clearly shows the stamping and is actually more readable in person. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe.I worked over the sandblast finish with a brass bristle brush to clean up the darkening on the rim top and in blast on the sides of the bowl. I scrubbed the rim top and the darkening on the cap and the sides of the bowl with some Before & After Briar Cleaner that Mark Hoover recently sent me. It worked well to remove the darkening on the briar. It looked much cleaner with the darkening lightened. I worked on the inner edge of the bowl to bring it back to round using a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I gave it a slight bevel to accommodate the damage. I stained the top, edge and cap of the bowl with a Maple stain pen to match the rest of the bowl.The bowl was in such good condition that I had to do some minimal work with it. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. The tenon was in great condition and it appeared to have been made for a Dunhill filter. I tried a 6mm filter and it was too large. I painted the surface of the stem with the flame of Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them significantly. I filled in what remained with clear CA glue. Once the repair had cured I sanded it smooth to blend it into the surface of the vulcanite with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It worked well to smooth things out and once finished the stem looked much better.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This 1967 Dunhill Tanshell P Half Bent Bulldog with a Taper Stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The rich brown/red finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great rugged sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. The polished black vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Tanshell P Half Bent Bulldog is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.45 ounces/41 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. If you are interested in adding it to your collection I will be adding it to the British Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Lovely 1982 Dunhill Shell 31101 Liverpool

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from a group of pipes that Jeff and I purchased from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on December 9, 2023. It is a Dunhill Shell Liverpool that is in good condition. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank with the shape number 31101 followed by Dunhill Shell [over] Made in England. Next to the D in England it is stamped the date number ^22. The second number is faint but I believe it is a 2. There is nothing stamped after that – no circle number or letter. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has a mix of black, cordovan and brown stains on a sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty around the nooks and crannies of the sandblast but otherwise fairly clean. The bowl had a thick cake and there was some light lava on the sandblasted rim top or edges. The taper stem was oxidized, calcified, dirty and had light tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the deep sandblast grain on the pipe. It is a beauty. The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It looks very good and faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. Jeff captured the detail in the photos below. One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number 31101 is the shape number for a Liverpool. The Dunhill Shell is the finish. The shape number tells me that the bowl size is 3, the 11 tells me it is a Liverpool shape and the 01taper stem. The superscript, underlined 22 following the D of England gives the date the pipe as 1982. Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has a suffix of underlined, superscript 22 following the D in England. That number took me to the section on the chart below (column one) which instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being made posterior to 1954.I followed the link following the “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The second column (suffix 1…4 or 11…39) led me to the section the 22 suffix. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 1982.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Root Briar to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Shell
A deep craggy sandblast with a black stain finish (usually made using Algerian briar) – the color of the stain used has varied over the years. Although there is some doubt as to them being the first to sandblast pipes, Dunhill’s Shell pipes, and the sandblasting techniques developed to create them are considered one of Dunhill’s greatest and most lasting contributions to the art of pipe making.

The documented history of Dunhill’s inception of the Shell is largely limited to patent applications — there are no catalog pages or advertisements promoting blasted pipes at the time. The preliminary work on the English patent (No. 1484/17) was submitted on October 13, 1917. The patent submission was completed half a year later, on April 12, 1918, followed by the granting of the English patent on October 14, 1918. This was less than a month before the end of The Great War on November 11th.

In 1986 Dunhill released a line of premium Shell finish pipes – “RING GRAIN”. These are high-quality straight grain pipes which are sandblasted. Initially only Ring Grain, but now in two different finishes. In 1995 the “Shilling” was introduced with Cumberland finish – it is an extremely rare series. These pipes exhibit a deeper blast characteristic of that of the 1930’s – mid-1960’s (and the limited ‘deep blast’ pipes of the early 1980s) and show a fine graining pattern. These are considered the best new Dunhills by many enthusiasts today and are very rare. The finish is sometimes described as tasting like vanilla at first, with the taste becoming more normal or good as the pipe breaks in.

I have also included a chart from the site from Dunhill spelling out the Standard Pipe Finishes and giving short information and a timeline. I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. You can see the clean bowl. The bowl is in excellent condition and looks very good. The stem came out looking quite good. There are some light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The photo clearly shows the stamping and is actually more readable in person. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe.I worked on the inner edge of the bowl to bring it back to round using a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I gave it a slight bevel to accommodate the damage. I stained the edge of the bowl with a Walnut stain pen to match the rest of the bowl.The bowl was in such good condition that I had to do some minimal work with it. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. The stem marks were light enough that I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This 1982 Dunhill Shell Briar 31101 Taper Stem Liverpool has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The dark mixed black/brown/red finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great rugged sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. The polished black vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell Briar 31101 Liverpool is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .81 ounces/23 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. If you are interested in adding it to your collection I will be adding it to the British Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. Thanks for your time.

What Great Bones on this nice Sandblast Straight Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

This interesting sandblast Bulldog pipe was purchased from an estate in Nampa, Idaho, USA on 11/09/2023. It is a natural sandblast briar with great grain around the bowl and shank. The stem is an acrylic taper stem. The sandblast finish had some oils and grime on the surface and in the grooves. It had begun to darken in spots around the bowl sides. The bowl was lightly smoked with raw briar on the lower half of the bowl. The rim top was quite clean and the inner and outer edge looked very good. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and has crossed bone and rabbit ears [over] BONES. The acrylic stem had no stamping on the sides. It had scratches, light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It was really an interesting sandblast with twists and turns in the briar. Jeff took photos of it before he worked his magic in the cleanup process. The exterior of the pipe was soiled with oils and dust but still looked very good. The rim top was in very good condition. The bowl itself had a was quite clean but there was a light cake on the sides of the top half. The lower half of the bowl was raw briar. The acrylic taper stem surface had some light scratches and marks on both sides. Jeff took photos of the sides of the bowl and shank to give a better feel for the condition of the bowl. You can see the interesting grain on the bowl side and front. He took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. It is clear and reads as noted above.I took a few moments before working on the pipe to do a bit of research on the Bones pipes line. I knew they were made by Morgan Pipes so I started there. I looked up the Morgan Pipes site (https://morganpipes.com/collections/bones) and quote from there:

Bones Pipes are pipes – Thats it – No fancy stuff… If you want a pipe to start with or just build your collection, Bones are the pipes for you. Toss it in a tackle box or a backpack and go. These pipes are, simply put, the absolute least expensive honest briar pipe on the market. A simple smoking machine.

I Googled and found a great link to Cupojoes tobacco shop (https://www.cupojoes.com/tobacco-pipes/morgan-bones/). They had a great description of the line from the perspective of the seller. I have included that below.

Chris Morgan began making pipes in 2006, and has since become renowned name within the pipe smoking community. The reason being: the world famous Bones Pipe. The Bones pipe is exactly what it sounds like, the bare naked skeleton of a pipe, that we often never get a chance to see. While other companies rely heavily on staining and sandblasting techniques, the Bones comes in a truly unfinished, natural beauty, making each one (even if the same shape) unique. Praised for their affordability, Bones pipes are the perfect pipe for travel & on the go, often small enough to fit into pockets. Chris offers other lines such as the impeccably built Black Jack series, and the famous patented cigar style pipe called the “Briar Cigar”.

Now it was time to do my work on the pipe. Jeff reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the remaining cake in the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals 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 bowl and on the rim top. The finish looks very good with good looking grain around the bowl and shank. The finish is also a bit darker than when started. The rim top looked very good. He scrubbed the stem surface with Soft Scrub to remove the grime on the acrylic. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked a lot better. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show how well it had cleaned up. The top and the edges of the bowl are in very good condition. The stem had some light marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank and took the stem off the pipe to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is a nice one.I started the simple cleanup work by rubbing Before & After Restoration Balm deep into the smooth finish to clean, enliven and protect the briar. The briar was in excellent condition so I hand rubbed it with my fingers and worked it into the finish with a shoe brush. I set it aside to dry for 10-15 minutes. I wiped it off with a soft cloth. I buffed the bowl with a cotton cloth to polish it. It really began to have a deep shine in the briar. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. The grain on the bowl stands out with interesting lines moving across the sides of the bowl. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I polished the acrylic stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – using both the Fine and Extra Fine Polishes. I gave it a rubdown with Obsidian Oil one last time and set it aside. I put the Chris Morgan made Bones ¼ Bent Bulldog back together and worked the pipe over on the buffing wheel using Blue Diamond to lightly polish the bowl and the acrylic stem. I buffed the bowl and stem to raise the gloss on the briar and the acrylic. I gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished the Bones Bulldog is shown in the photos below. The natural sandblast finish had taken on a patina and the Bulldog shaped bowl works well with the rich black acrylic stem. It looked quite amazing! The dimensions of the pipe are: Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside Diameter: 1 ¾ inches, Diameter of the chamber: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 43 grams/1.48 ounces. This is an sandblast on the bowl and shank that reveals the grain underneath. I really like how the briar and the acrylic work well together. This one will soon be on the rebornpipes store in the American (US) Makers Section. If you are interested in adding this Bones pipe to your collection this may well be the one for you. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration process.

What a beautiful Hans Original Hand Made UFO

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Blog by Steve Laug

This interesting UFO/Flying Saucer/Disc shaped pipe was purchased from a sell in Chicago, Illinois, USA on 06/05/2021. It is a darkly stained briar with great grain around the bowl and shank. There is a thin 14K gold band on the shank and a vulcanite saddle stem. The smooth finished bowl has some great grain on it under the heavy grime on the surface. The bowl was thickly caked with a light lava coat on the rim top. It was hard to know the condition of the inner edge and rim top underneath the lava but cleaning that up will tell the story. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads in script etching Hans Original [over] 6 [over] Hand Made. The “E” on Made is under the band. The gold band is stamped 14K on the topside. The vulcanite stem ha two brass dots side by side on the left side of the saddle. It had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It had a flattened heel on the bowl that allowed the pipe to sit on a desk top. Jeff took photos of it before he worked his magic in the cleanup process.The exterior of the pipe was very dirty – grime and grit ground in from years of use and sitting. The rim top was covered with a coat of thick lava that overflowed the bowl. There was also some darkening and lava on the rim top. The bowl itself had a thick cake with flecks of tobacco stuck in the cake on the sides. The vulcanite saddle stem surface was dirty and had some tooth marks and chatter on both sides. Jeff took photos of the sides of the bowl and shank to give a better feel for the condition of the bowl. You can see the interesting grain on the bowl side and front.The next photos show the stamping on the underside of the shank, the gold band and the twin brass dots on the left side of the stem. It is clear and is very readable as noted above. This pipe is a bit of a mystery in terms of the name of the maker. Han’s is not clear in terms of who it refers to. There is no identify COM stamp to point to a country of origin. It is a nice-looking Hand Made pipe that I know nothing about. If any of you who are reading this can help unravel the mystery please contact me. Thanks.

Jeff reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the remaining cake in the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals 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 looks very good with good looking grain around the bowl and shank. The rim top looked very good. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to remove the grime on the acrylic. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked a lot better. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show how well it had cleaned up. The top and the edges of the bowl are in very good condition. There does not seem to be any damage on either the inner or outer edges and the rim top. The stem had some tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took photos of the stamping on the left side and underside of the shank. It is clear and readable.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo. I wanted to give a sense of the proportion of the pipe and I think the photos gives a sense of that. I wiped off the spotty shiny varnish coat on the briar with cotton pads and acetone. It took a bit of scrubbing but I was able to remove all of the shiny coat on the bowl and the grain really shone through once it was gone. I started my work on the pipe by polishing the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl with a damp cotton pad after each sanding pad. The surface began to take on a nice shine. I worked Before & After Restoration Balm deep into the smooth finish to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers and worked it into the finish. I set it aside to dry for 10-15 minutes. I wiped it off with a soft cloth. I buffed the bowl with a cotton cloth to polish it. It really began to have a deep shine in the briar. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. The grain on the bowl stands out with interesting lines moving across the sides of the bowl. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter. I was able to lift the majority of the tooth marks. I filled in what remained with black CA glue. Once the repairs cured I sanded them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the stem. I sanded the repairs and the rest of the stem with the 2 inch square 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped down the stem after each sanding pad. I was able to remove the tooth marks and chatter on both sides with the pads. The stem looked very good.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – using both the Fine and Extra Fine Polishes. I gave it a rubdown with Obsidian Oil one last time and set it aside. I put the Han’s Original Hand Made Saucer back together and worked the pipe over on the buffing wheel using Blue Diamond to lightly polish the bowl and the acrylic stem. I buffed the bowl and stem to raise the gloss on the briar and the acrylic. I gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished the Han’s Original Hand Made Saucer is shown in the photos below. The medium brown stains on the smooth Saucer shaped bowl works well with the rich bronze Italian acrylic stem. The dimensions of the pipe are: Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside Diameter: 1 ¼ inches, Diameter of the chamber: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 52 grams/1.83 ounces. This is an interesting piece of briar, cross grain and birdseye on the bowl and shank. I really like how the briar and the vulcanite work well together. This one will soon be on the rebornpipes store in the Pipes from Various Makers Section. If you are interested in adding this Han’s to your collection this may well be the one for you. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration process.

Restoring an Amazingly Grained Kirsten Full Bent Sitter E

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Blog by Steve Laug

I bought my first Kirsten – a Mandarin in the early 80s from a pipe shop that specialized in them in Idaho Falls, Idaho. That shop is long since gone but there is still something about Kirsten pipes that attracts my attention. It may be the design look of the pipe and it may be the stubborn resolve that gave birth to it when Kirsten invented it after getting word from his doctor that he had to stop smoking. I don’t what it is but I like the boxy look of the base and shank, the grooves in the machined metal, the beautiful grain on the smooth bowls and the gentle curves of the stem. They always catch my eye. This one is no exception. We purchased it at an estate sale on 09/16/2023 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA. It has O rings on the stem and the end valve and a base on the bowl so I know that it is one of the more modern renditions. It also has the same kind of thick marbled acrylic stems that the one I purchased had. The pipe is a large one with a silver tone barrel. The smooth Mandarin style bowl has some great grain on it under the grime on the surface. The bowl was thickly caked with a light lava overflow pouring over the rim top. It was hard to know the condition of the inner edge and rim top underneath the lava but cleaning that up will tell the story. The acrylic stem had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The internals were heavily tarred and the metal tube and intake to the stem was also very dirty. The valve on the front of the bowl was tight but it was not frozen. It had a flattened base that allowed the stem to stand. Jeff took photos of it before he worked his magic in the cleanup process. The exterior of the pipe was very dirty – grime and grit ground in from years of use and sitting. The rim top was covered with a coat of thick lava that overflowed the bowl. There was also some darkening and lava on the rim top. The bowl itself had a thick cake with flecks of tobacco stuck in the cake on the sides. The acrylic stem surface was dirty and had some tooth marks and chatter on both sides. Jeff took photos of the sides of the bowl to give a better feel for the condition of the bowl. You can see the interesting grain on the bowl side and front. He took photos of the pipe taken apart to show the constituent part s of the pipe. IT really was a well-made piece of engineering from the Kirsten factory. I was looking forward to working on it. The next photos show the stamping on the sides of the barrel shank and it is very readable. It reads Kirsten on the left side of the barrel and on the underside Made in USA E.Before doing cleanup work on the pipe I decided to do some research on the pipe. I have several Kirsten catalogues on the site and turned to the 1993-94. Here is the link to that catalogue (https://rebornpipes.com/2022/11/17/1993-94-kirsten-pipe-catalogue/). I have included several of the pages below. The first shows the bowl shape and the Radiator barrel. The bowl is the Mandarin shape bowl below, the second from the top in the drawings of bowl shapes. The stem is shown in the second catalogue page below. It is a bronze coloured Italian Lucite with a bent. With that information in hand I went over the details of the stamping on a previous blog that I had posted by Dave Whitney who wrote Old Briar. He gave a helpful guide to dating a Kirsten pipe by the stamping and component parts. He separated them into generations – 1, 1.5, 2, 3. Going over the details I concluded that what I was dealing with a Generation 3 pipe that was made between 1985 and the present. Here is the link and a portion of the blog. I have italicized the portions that pertain to this particular pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/2012/11/03/kirsten-generation-1-1-5-2-3/).

Generation 3 – 1985 to the present

All current models stamped “Made in U.S.A.” and all have O rings on both the valve and stem. They come in the following models:

Straights

JX Jewel Brass

M Mariner

L Lancer

Quarter-Bents

RX Regent Brass

H Horizon

Full bents

EX Esquire Brass

DX Designer Brass

FOOTNOTE ON VARIATIONS IN LETTER DESIGNATIONS: Generally speaking, the X added to a model letter like “S” stands for brass tone finish, i.e., “SX.” There is one exception to this: In the 1960s Kirsten made a brass tone model with an “Eternalum” finish that gave the brass tone an antiqued look. They were marked with a “X” designation following the model letter. The B added to a model letter like “M” stands for black finish, i.e., “MB.”

He ended his answer to the questions with this great note: “Now the fun part…. this is how they came from the factory. What people did to them after they got them is what makes it an inexact science. Parts for the different sizes are not interchangeable, except for the bowls. I have a Gen 1 – M and -S…nothing interchanges but the bowls. If you get a Gen 1 that has been badly abused, you can end up losing either the bit or metal insert, or both, no matter what you do or how long you try.”

References used:

Whitney, Dave (2009) Old Briar – Pipe smoking on a budget. Pipesbywhitney http://www.kirstenpipe.com/

I now knew that the pipe I was working on was a Generation 3 made between 1985 and the present. It was a Full-Bent and the E made it an Esquire Version. The E is for Esquire shape and it has a silver finished. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the remaining cake in the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals 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 looks very good with good looking grain around the bowl and shank. The rim top had some significant damage on the back part of the bowl. It had been burned from repeated lighting with a torch lighter. Jeff took the pipe apart and cleaned the barrel, the adjustable valve and the stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to remove the grime on the acrylic. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked a lot better. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show how well it had cleaned up. The top and the edges of the bowl are in very good condition. There does not seem to be any damage on either the inner or outer edges and the rim top. The stem had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took photos of the stamping on the left side and underside of the shank. It is clear and readable.I remove the stem from the barrel and took a photo. I removed the bowl from the barrel and took another photo.I started my work on the pipe by polishing the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl with a damp cotton pad after each sanding pad. The surface began to take on a nice shine. I worked Before & After Restoration Balm deep into the smooth finish to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers and worked it into the finish. I set it aside to dry for 10-15 minutes. I wiped it off with a soft cloth. I buffed the bowl with a cotton cloth to polish it. It really began to have a deep shine in the briar. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. The grain on the bowl stands out with interesting lines moving across the sides of the bowl. I set the bowl aside and sanded the stem with the 2 inch square 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped down the stem after each sanding pad. I was able to remove the tooth marks and chatter on both sides with the pads. The stem looked very good.I polished the acrylic stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – using both the Fine and Extra Fine Polishes. I gave it a rubdown with Obsidian Oil one last time and set it aside.I put the Kirsten Generation 3 Full Bent Mandarin E back together and worked the pipe over on the buffing wheel using Blue Diamond to lightly polish the bowl and the acrylic stem. I buffed the bowl and stem to raise the gloss on the briar and the acrylic. I gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished the Kirsten Gen 3 Full Bent Mandarin is shown in the photos below. The medium brown stains on the smooth Bulldog shaped bowl works well with the rich bronze Italian acrylic stem. The dimensions of the pipe are: Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside Diameter: 1 ½ inches, Diameter of the chamber: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 61 grams/2.15 ounces. This is an interesting piece of briar, cross grain and birdseye on the bowl and shank. I really like how the briar and the vulcanite work well together. This one will soon be on the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in adding a Kirsten to your collection this may well be the one for you. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration process.