Tag Archives: Bowl – finishing

New Life for a Mysterious TPE Hand Made 2 Squat Rhodesian/Saucer

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a squat Rhodesian or saucer shaped pipe. We purchased it from an antique shop in Ogden, Utah, USA on 10/10/2024. It is a nicely sandblasted Rhodesian that has a great finish. The rim top is in great condition and is sandblasted along with the bowl. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads T.P.E. [over] Hand Made [over] 2. There was a moderate cake in the bowl and some light lava spots on the rim top. The stem was lightly oxidized and there were some light tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the promise that we see in this pipe. He took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the current condition. The inner edge and the rim top looked good and had some spots of lava as mentioned above. The photos of the bowl walls show the moderate cake on the walls. The stem photos show the oxidation and light marks on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took a photo of the heel of the bowl to give a sense of the condition of the bowl and the look of the sandblast around the bowl. It is a beauty.He took photos of the underside of the shank to capture the stamping. It was clear and readable as noted above.The TPE stamping was unknown to me so I did a quick check on Pipephil’s site and Pipedia and there was nothing listed with those initials of what I came understand was the abbreviation for Tobacco Pipe Exporters. I did a Google search and found a conversation on Pipesmagazine forum and found Jonas Clark’s comments very helpful. I have included both the link to the conversation below as well as Clark’s comments. https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/bamboo-shank-briar-stamped-t-p-e-maker.66712/

jonasclark —

I’m in Seattle, as is Tobacco Pipe Exporters, and I know the shop (F. K. Kirsten) has other pipes I see on the TPE website, so this must be theirs. I don’t see any bamboo on their website, though. Most of what they show is very basic, but this is a fancy pipe. As are another I’ve had no luck IDing (but which isn’t marked TPE), the ‘hole pipes’ shown a ways down their page, which have plateau tops – they’re stamped La Scala.

I see that TPE claims to be importers for Amadeus Pipe Co. out of Greece, on whom I can find little except an expired domain name.

Update: I spoke to Kevin Brackett at Tobacco Pipe Exporters. He told me he has an arrangement with a carver, who would like to sell high-grade pipes someday but feels he’s not ready yet. Kevin buys his pipes inexpensively, stamps them TPE, and sells them inexpensively (about $150 for these bamboo shank models). He gives this carver free reign to make whatever he likes. For this reason, he won’t say who carved this pipe, or even where he’s from! However, he has a few more such pipes, and I’ll be looking at them in a week or so. If anyone here might be interested, I’ll get photos and prices, and would offer them here for exactly what he charges me.
The “La Scala” hole or bridge pipes with plateau are an Italian import TPE sells, and they have some of those, too. The F.K. Kirsten shop is their only Washington retailer.

Now it was time to work on the pipe. Since Jeff always follows the same pattern of work in his cleanup we do not include photos but rather just a simple summary. Jeff reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove the spotty lava build up on the rim top and edges of the rim. He soaked the stem in some of Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it with warm water. He dried if off with a soft cloth. The stem was clean and the remnants of oxidation were gone. I took photos of what the pipe looked like when I brought to my worktable. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim top and stem to show how clean the pipe was. The bowl was clean and the rim top and the inner edge looked good. The stem was clean and there were light tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable and read as noted above. I also removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the pipe to show the look of the parts.The bowl is in excellent condition. I started by working some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips 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. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished 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. I am excited to finish this TPE Hand Made 2 Squat Rhodesian with a vulcanite saddle stem. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the mix of grain on the sides of the bowl. Added to that the black vulcanite saddle stem was beautiful. This smooth TPE Hand Made 2 Squat Rhodesian is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 38 grams /1.34 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the American Pipe Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your rack let me know by message or by email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for your time reading the blog. I appreciate it.

Restoring an il Ceppo Billiard E3702 Grade 3 Fancy Billiard Made by Hand in Italy

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is a beautifully grained and smooth finished Billiard with a slightly bent acrylic taper stem. It came to us on August 22, 2024 from a friend in Barrington, Rhode Island, USA. The contrast of the brown stains makes the grain stand out. It was stamped left side of the shank and read il ceppo. On the underside it is stamped E3702 [over] Made in Italy [arched over] In Italy (underlined). Next to the shank/stem junction it reads 3 in a triangle. The pipe was quite clean with some slight darkening inside the bowl. It had obviously been reamed recently. The bowl was clean and the smooth rim top was dirty but free of lava. The black acrylic saddle stem was in good condition other than being a bit dirty. The stem surface was free of chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. The il ceppo “C” logo on the top of the stem was in good shape. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the pipe. Jeff took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl quite clean, perhaps freshly reamed and edges and rim top looked good. The stem was very clean and smooth. Jeff took photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the grain and around this bowl. Underneath all the light grime it is a nice looking pipe. The rustication or sandblasted portions of the bowl at the bottom really highlight the uniqueness of the finish. He took photos of the sides of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is readable in the photos below and is as noted above. You can see that there is some shrinkage on the spacer on the stem end and the acrylic one on the shank end. This is puzzling at the moment to me.To remind myself about the brand I turned to Pipephil’ sites to read what he had written there in the side bar (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-i.html). I quote below and also include a screen capture of the pertinent section.

Brand founded by Giorgio Imperatori in 1977 (first period) and bought by Franco Corinaldesi Rossi (second period, about 1996) when Giorgio retired. Franco and his sister Nadia are the current (2011) Il Ceppo pipe makers.From the information above I knew that the pipe was from the first period of il ceppo pipe making (1977 until the second period began in 1996 when the pipe maker Giorgio Imperatori retired). It is confirmed first period by the notes on the grading system. It had the il ceppo stamping slightly curved, an E3702 (letter and 4-5 digit number), and a Group number in a triangle – in this case a 3.

I turned to Pipedia for more information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Il_Ceppo). I quote below:

Il Ceppo by Giuseppe Cambioli – Courtesy of italianpipemakers.com

My passion was born casually and it moved me to consider and love the world of artisanship. Casually and overall luckily, I ran across the emblematic person of Franco Rossi, pipemaker and owner of the “Il Ceppo” factory. He gave me the useful key to opening the doors of the fascinating world of pipes.

“Il Ceppo” boasts of thirty years of history with successive and great satisfaction which helped to keep high the name of the Marchigiane factories. The most famous as Pesareses factories have always had reciprocal respect and admiration and this have and will take cooperations and sharing of their own art, to confirm the distinctive seriousness and high quality.

“Il Ceppo” factory focuses its manufacture into products which vaunt accurate processings and an excellent yield with prices kept amazingly convenient.

Process is completely handmade except for some passages made with the aid of machines to obtain perfect results. The briar used to make the pipes has been left resting and seasoning for at least two years before the sapient hands of the pipemakers could start their work. Our working politic is centred on the care for details, to obtain the best product as possible.

Our prices keep a high balance with the quality of the offered product; they reflect totally our careful and eager work. We’ve never forgotten that what we make could only be obtained if moved by an unconditional love for this work of the good old days.

(Editor’s note: I have tried to correct most grammar & spelling, but in some instances I do not have the vaguest clue what the author is trying to say)

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He rinsed it with warm running water and dried it off with a soft cloth. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft. He rinsed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. It looked very good when I brought it to the worktable other than the briar ring around the metal dot had darkened in the process. I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the work table. You can see that the spacer is gone but forget that! The briar is really very stunning! I took close up photos of the rim top and the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top and edges looked very good. The bowl itself was very smooth and clean. I took photos of the stem to show the condition it was in. It looked very good and the C logo was clean and in good condition.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. The stem is stamped on the underside Own Made. It is clear and readable. I took the pipe apart and took a photo of the pipe. It is a good looking pipe with incredible grain. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. By the end of the process they looked very good. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips 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. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. This Hand Made il ceppo E3703 Grade 3 Billiard was another fun pipe to work on and I was glad to be finishing it. I put the acrylic stem back on the bowl and polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The smooth grain and the sandblast patches give the pipe a great look. The pipe polished up really well. The polished acrylic stem seemed to truly come alive with the buffing. This pipe feels great in my hand and I am sure that the sandblast portions will feel even better radiating the heat of a good smoke. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.05 ounces/58 grams. This is one beauty that is eye catching. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly. If you are interested in adding it to your collection email or message me.

Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.

Refreshing a NOS Unsmoked Manx Meerschaum Bronze Elite 2 Rhodesian

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Refreshing a NOS Unsmoked Manx Meerschaum Bronze Elite 03 Rhodesian

by Steve Laug

I wanted to work on something a little different before getting back to more briar. I chose a Manx Meerschaum pipe that I purchased from a seller in England. It was unsmoked and came in its original box with the plastic bag still holding the unsmoked pipes. Being a Manx pipe, it was made on the Isle of Man by the Laxey Pipe Factory which closed in 2002. This NOS ¼ Bent Rhodesian was in excellent unsmoked condition. It has a flume finish – darkened at the top of the rim and partway down the bowl sides. The bowl is light tan/white in colour on the rest of the bowl. The bowl is very clean other than the dust of sitting so long in the box and plastic. There is a Delrin insert in the shank for strengthening of the meer. The stem is in unused condition with no oxidation and no tooth marks or chatter on the stem surface. The seller sent me photos of the pipe before we closed out deal on the pipe. It is quite nice and the box is undamaged. I did some research on the Laxey Pipe Ltd. who made the Manx Meerschaum pipe. I have included that information below.

My research on the origins of the Manx Bronze Elite 2 Block Meerschaum name can be summarized like this: It was made with African Meerschaum from the Tanganyika Meerschaum Corporartion (Tanganyika Meerschaum Corporation – Pipedia) and produced by Laxey Pipe Ltd. on the Isle of Man.

Here is the Pipedia information on Laxey Pipes Ltd.:

Laxey Pipes Ltd. resided in a historical 19th century four-storey Man stone building at The Quay, Old Laxey, Isle of Man, which thankfully has been preserved.

The company specialized in the production of meerschaum pipes using the Meerschaum mined by the Tanganyika Meerschaum Corporation in the Amboseli basin in Tanganyika (since 1964 part of the United Republic of Tanzania).

Please note: you may often find names like “Manx Pipes Ltd.”, “Man Pipe Co.” and others more, but there is no indication of another Isle of Man pipe producer other than Laxey Pipe Ltd. at any time!

Laxey Pipes Ltd. marketed their own brands like “Manxpipe”, “Manxman”, “Manxland” e.c. Names like “John Bull”, “White Knight” (unwaxed), “Domino” (black, or lined) indicated some shapes / colours of Laxey’s own series. The stems either showed the astronomical sign for “male” or “man” (circle + arrow), or the crest of the Isle of Man, the 3-legged X in a circle. Manxpipes and Laxey’s other brands were available through pipe retailers in general, but also were sold (mainly) to tourists through their own shop in Laxey.

Furthermore Laxey Pipes Ltd. manufactured the meer bowls for Peterson, Barling, Nørding and others from the later 1960’s until 2001. Man Pipe e.g. was a brand distributed by Comoy’s. The bowls usually showed no nomenclature indicating the orderer. “Genuine Block Meerschaum” was engraved frequently. Often, just the stems were different, while bowls were the same.

Supply of meerschaum from East Africa ran out (Kenya / Tanzania exhausted, Somalia inaccessible), and thus the last Laxey meers were supplied to trade in May, 2001. Laxey Pipes Ltd. tried to survive continuing with briar pipes – mainly in the Danish style -, but to no success. It closed down business in July 2002.

Tanganyika Meerschaum that was used by the Laxey production is described as tougher, less porous, and cheaper than Meerschaum mined in Turkey (Tanganyika Meerschaum Corporation – Pipedia).

Now it is time to work on the pipe itself. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. The first photo shows the pipe outside of its box. It is unused and very clean other than the dust of sitting for years. The pipe is flumed at the top of the bowl with a dark stain – either black or brown. The rest of the bowl is a white/tan that will colour over time. I took photos of the sides and the top and heel of the bowl to show the condition. You can see some nicks in the surface of the bowl but nothing to stunning. There is an area on the underside of the shank where it is worn or chipped and reshaped. That may very well be original and came out of the factory that way. It is hard to know for certain. The interior is dusty but unused. The bowl was pretty clean though you can see some spots on the rim top where the darkened portion is dull or worn looking. I took some photos that give a clear picture. The first is a close up that shows the bowl and the rim. I also took photos chatter on the surface.I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. It is faint but still readable and reads 2. I also removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the pipe to show the look of the parts.The bowl was in such good condition I did not need to do any work on it. I waxed the bowl with some Clapham’s Beeswax and buffed it to a rich shine. I set the bowl aside and polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each pad. It is a beautiful saddle stem. This unsmoked NOS Manx Meerschaum Bronze Elite 2 Rhodesian with a vulcanite saddle stem is a great looking pipe. The shape of the bowl reminds me of a GBD 9438 Rhodesian in some ways. The stem fit and shank all say Manx or Laxley Pipes. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Manx Meerschaum Rhodesian is another pipe that fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 58 grams/2.08 ounces. I will be holding onto this one at least for a while as it ticks all the boxes for me and I have wanted to try a Manx Meer like this for a long time. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!

Restoring a Hefty Jarl Chieftain Oil Hardened Billiard 02 with a 9mm vulcanite Filter Stem

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a beautiful shaped thick shanked Billiard. We recently purchased it from a seller in Wilkes Barr, Pennsylvania, USA on Facebook Auction on Facebook on 09/12/2021. It is a nicely grained large Billiard with mixed grain on the sides and birdseye on the front and the back of the bowl. The inwardly bevelled rim top is in great condition and had mixed grain across the top. It is stamped on the left underside of the shank and reads Jarl Chieftain [over] Made in Denmark. On the right side it is stamped with the shape Oil Hardened. On the underside next to the stem/shank junction it bears the shape number 02. There was a heavy cake in the bowl and some darkening around the top and inner edge and light lava spots on the rim top. The mortise smelled of oils and had a dirty 9mm filter in the tenon. The stem was lightly oxidized, calcified and there were some light tooth marks or chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the promise that we see in this pipe. He took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the current condition. The inner edge and the rim top showed darkening and spots of lava as mentioned above. The photos of the bowl walls show the moderate cake on the walls. The stem photos show the oxidation and light marks on the rim top on both sides. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give a sense of the condition of the bowl and the grain around the bowl. It is a beauty. He took photos of the shank sides to capture the stamping on the shank sides. They were clear and readable as noted above. Jeff did not capture the shape number on the underside of the shank which was also clear. Before I started working on it I did a bit of research on the brand to remind myself of what I knew of the maker. I turned to Pipephil’s site first (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-j1.html#jarl). I did a screen capture of the information on the site. I did a screen capture of the pertinent information and have included it below.I then turned to Pipedia and found that a very short article that confirmed that the pipes were made by Niels Mogens Jorgensen (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Jarl). I have included the article in its entirety below.

In December of 2010 Ellen Jarl wrote that Jarl pipes were made by her grandfather, Niels Mogens Jørgensen in a little factory in the town of Bramdrupdam, just outside Kolding, Denmark. We have no reason to doubt that Niels Mogens Jørgensen is the maker of these pipes.

Now it was time to work on the pipe. Since Jeff always follows the same pattern of work in his cleanup we do not include photos but rather just a simple summary. Jeff reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove the spotty lava build up on the rim top and you could see the marks on the top and edges of the rim. He soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it with warm water to rinse off the residue. The stem was clean and the oxidation was gone. I took photos of what the pipe looked like when I brought to my worktable. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim top and stem to show how clean the pipe was. The bowl was clean and the rim top and the inner edge looked good. The stem was clean and there were light tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is faint in spots but still readable and read as noted above. I also removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the pipe to show the look of the parts. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl surface down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding dust. Once I finished the exterior of the briar was clean and the grain really stood out. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips 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. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. 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 polished 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. I fit the filter tenon with a clean Dr. Perl Junior 9mm filter. It easily slips into the tenon and the pipe is ready to smoke.I am excited to finish this Jarl Chieftan Made in Denmark Thick Shank Billiard 02 with a 9mm Filter vulcanite saddle stem. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the mix of grain on the sides of the bowl. Added to that the black vulcanite saddle stem was beautiful. This smooth Jarl Chieftan Thick Shank 02 Billiard is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 57 grams /2.05 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your rack let me know by message or by email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for your time reading the blog. I appreciate it.

Restoring a Fraser River Straight Bulldog Made in Canada

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by Steve Laug

In addition, there was a photograph that Steve found of Payne on Reddit that appears to date from the 1960s. The original poster on Reddit told me that the photo comes from the City of Surrey archives. I have no idea why it is in French (or why it’s in the Surrey archives). Kenneth his translation of the text next to the photo above the photo:

“Pipe makers are not on every street corner in Canada! Leonard Payne, originally from England, didn’t know the challenges he would face and that’s probably what influenced his decision to come and try his luck in Canada. After his arrival in 1957, he and his family settled in Vancouver, where he first found work as a tool maker – and made pipes in his free time. In 1959, he decided to become a full-time pipe maker, and since then he has had department stores in all parts of Canada among his clients. He imports briar blocks from Italy and pipe stems from England.” Of course, I have no solid proof that it is a Leonard Payne pipe. In my experience working on quite a few of them over the years I am convinced it is a Payne. To me the Made in Canada stamp lends proof to that.

The interior and the exterior of the bowl was very clean. The sandblast finish was clean and free of debris. The airway in the shank and stem, the inside of the mortise was spotless. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit on the bowl for 10 minutes and then buffed it off with a paper towel and soft cloth. The product is a great addition to the restoration work. It enlivens, enriches and protects the briar while giving it a deep glow. It is a product I use on every pipe I restore. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. The heavy oxidation was going to be a big problem. Nothing seemed to work. I soaked it in some Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer for several hours and nothing happened to the oxidation. It did not even make a dent in breaking the oxidation on the stem surface. It seemed impermeable at this point. I changed it up and scrubbed the heavy oxidation with Soft Scrub and cotton pads. After using about a dozen pads it seemed that I had made very little progress in stripping of the oxidation on the surface. I set it aside for the evening then repeated the process with more pads and more soft scrub in the morning. The photos below show the stem after much scrubbing. With little progress on the oxidation I decided to fire up the “big guns” so to speak. I took it to the buffer and buffed it with red Tripoli. I worked over the stem repeatedly until I was able to finally cut through the heavy oxidation. While I was making progress for sure a ghost of the rustication remained on the body of the stem. There is some deeper oxidation around the saddle portion where it meets the shank, at the sharp edge of the saddle and on the edge of the button. I attacked the remaining oxidation in the body of the stem and the remaining issues one the saddle end and the button end. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to work over the saddle, the sharp edge of the saddle and the edge of the button. Once finished it was beginning to look much better. I was getting hopeful that the oxidation might be conquered.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads and you can see how well the process had removed the oxidation on the stem surface. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad to remove the sanding dust.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil to further protect the vulcanite surface. I finished the polishing with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped the stem down a final time with Obsidian Oil and a cloth. It really looks very good. I am always excited to finish working on a pipe. This Fraser River Bulldog (probably made by Leonard Payne) is no exception. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. 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 and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the black vulcanite taper stem. This sandblasted Fraser River Made in Canada straight Bulldog with a thin saddle stem feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 33 grams/1.16 ounces. I will be hanging on to this old timer at least for the time being. It is a brand I have never seen before but it cleaned up very well. I will be putting the pipe on the Canadian Pipemakers Section of the rebornpipes store shortly. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Restoring an Early GBD Billiard Nosewarmer with an Orific Stem

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by Steve Laug

Last weekend Kenneth and I went to an antique show in New Westminster, BC. It is our third year going but still we have no idea what we are going to fine each time we go. It is always a part of the fun to wander through the various stalls and see what the vendors are offering on their tables. There are always surprising things – items that I grew up with that are now called antiques or at least collectibles. If only my foresight had been as good as my memory is now I could have sold many of the things I played with and ate from! But I digress. Back to the pipe hunting. We saw the usual offerings of things Grabow and Medico that were in very rough shape. I think we both have become much more selective over time and we passed on spending time with them. I did a few items that I picked up to restore. I took a picture of the group of fout pipes. In the left column from top to bottom there was a Peterson’s System Standard 1307 (Canadian number on a 307 shape), a Bulldog that was stamped Fraser Valley Made in Canada with a white dot stem and at the bottom was another Peterson – a K&P Dublin Made in Ireland Canadian with a Sterling Silver Band. The one on the right side is an older GBD Nosewarmer with an orific button on the short stem. Not a bad group of pipes to bring to the work table.The second of them I chose to bring to the table was the GBD at the top right of the above photo. It is a pretty pipe and bears the stamping on the left side of the shank that reads GBD in an oval. There is no other stamping on the shank and the stem has a brass GBD oval logo on the left side of the taper. The bowl has a thick cake and a heavy overflow of lava on the inner edge and the rim top. The stem is very tight in the shank and the pipe is dirty and smelly. The stem is dirty and lightly oxidized with calcification on the end that makes me wonder if it had a Softee Bit in place. There are tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The stem is hard rubber and has an orific style button – a single hole in the button that is very rounded. I took photos of the pipe before I started my clean up work on it. I took a close-up photo of the rim top to show the condition of the bowl and inner edge of the bowl and the stem. You can clearly see the cake in the bowl and the darkening and lava on the rim top. The stem photos show the oxidation, calcification and tooth marks on the stem.I took a photo of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the pipe. It is a pretty little pipe.I reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer using the first two cutting heads. I followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to clean up the remnants of cake left in the bowl and check the bowl walls. I sanded the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. It looked much better at this point. I moved on to clean up the internals. I cleaned out the airway and mortise with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I cleaned out the airway in the stem at the same time. I was surprised at how clean the internals were. I scrubbed the externals of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime in the finish and on the rim top. I worked on it until it looked much better and then rinsed it off with warm water. I dried it off with a soft cloth. I polished the bowl and worked on the darkening on the rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down between pads with a damp cloth. It really began to take on a deep shine. The grain really began to show on the briar. The exterior of the bowl looks better after sanding. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit on the bowl for 10 minutes and then buffed it off with a paper towel and soft cloth. The product is a great addition to the restoration work. It enlivens, enriches and protects the briar while giving it a deep glow. It is a product I use on every pipe I restore. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the hard rubber surface with the flame of a lighter to try and lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift some of them. The remaining ones I filled in with rubberized black CA glue. Once the repairs cured I flattened them with a small file and then finished blending them in with 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further blend in the repairs and remove the remaining oxidation on the stem surface. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad to remove the sanding dust.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil to further protect the vulcanite surface. I finished the polishing with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped the stem down a final time with Obsidian Oil and a cloth. It really looks very good. I am always excited to finish working on a pipe. This GBD Nosewarmer is no exception. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. 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 and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the black vulcanite taper stem. This Classic looking GBD Nosewarmer with a full sized bowl and short hard rubber stem feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 4 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 34 grams/1.20 ounces. I will be hanging on to this old timer at least for the time being. It is a GBD I have never seen before so I want to enjoy it for a bit. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Restoring a Beautiful Redmanol Old Timer

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by Kenneth Lieblich

A fine gentleman (and regular customer) from Seattle recently sent a box of pipes for me to restore for him. Various and sundry reasons prevented me from photographing most of the pipe restorations, but I did snap some shots of this one and it is worth checking out. This is a nifty bent Dublin made primarily from Redmanol (more on that later). The stem and most of the stummel are made entirely from Redmanol and are two separate pieces. In this case, the mortise and tenon are reversed from most pipes: the screw tenon is in the shank and the mortise is in the stem. The bowl is made of briar and screws into the Redmanol bowl. Separating the briar from the Redmanol is a ring of brass. This restoration was quite a bit of work, but I could not be more pleased with how it turned out in the end. The pipe is really quite charming and reminiscent of a different era. The pipe has no markings at all, so I cannot describe the maker to you with any authority. However, Steve has written up several blog posts on Redmanol pipes from makers such as MLC, WDC, and KB&B. Here is one of his articles on a pipe not too dissimilar from the one I’m restoring. So, what is Redmanol? It is an early 20th century type of plastic – a sort of Bakelite, if you will. On Pipedia, there is an excellent article on Redmanol (and gutta percha) written by the doyen of pipe literature, Ben Rapaport. I highly encourage you to read the whole article here, but here is an excerpt:

Then came Redmanol. In 1913, Lawrence V. Redman established the Redmanol Chemical Products Company in Chicago to produce a plastic, similar to Bakelite, made from the action of formin on carbolic acid. “Redmanol. Perfect molding material. Redmanol Chemical Products Co., 644 West 22nd Street, Chicago, was initially advertised as a molding compound to replace metal, rubber, fibre, wood, porcelain and other plastic materials. … suited to make pencils, buttons, pool triangles, acid containers” (Factory. The Magazine of Management, July 1923, 393). “’Redmanol,’” the new substitute for amber, a Chicago invention, seems to be making a hit from the start” (“Chicago Factories Await Readjustment,” United States Tobacco Journal, November 14, 1914, 13).

What is Redmanol? Here are a couple definitions, the first from the Redmanol company: “REDMANOL. The Material of a thousand uses. REDMANOL is sold as TRANSPARENT REDMANOL which has every physical property of Baltic amber, except that REDMANOL is more lustrous and has perfect transparency. The transparent REDMANOL is used for dental and surgical instruments and electrical insulation and is the material which has largely replaced amber in smokers’ supplies” (Directory. Chicago Section. American Chemical Society, 1911).

The second is from a tobacco industry leader. “Redmanol is a secret compound, the result of years of experiment and research work to find a substance for cigar and cigarette holders and stems which would possess the beauty of natural amber but none of the frailties. It is, in fact a man-made amber, being chemically known as synthetic amber, and has proved so admirable a substitute for natural amber that it is doubtful that the later [sic] will ever again be used to the extent it formerly was. …All in all Redmanol makes use of the most perfect and satisfactory mouth-pieces yet devised. Our customers are evidently aware of this fact as is amply demonstrated by the enormous increase in sales in our stores this year of Redmanol cigar and cigarette tubes” (“Pipe Points Worth Remembering. Redmanol,” The United Shield, November, 1919, 13).

And the third is from a journal article. “Redmanol, a similar substance [to Bakelite], is made using formin instead of formaldehyde, and on melting this with phenol it gives a clear, amber-colored, transparent substance that is plastic and can be bent and worked into shape. On further heating it becomes hard and insoluble and similar to bakelite except for its color and transparency. Redmanol, by virtue of its resemblance to real amber and its many desirable properties of insolubility, non-inflammability, the ability to mold easily before hardening, and its imperviousness to corrosive substances, is used for making hundreds of useful and ornamental objects, some of the most familiar being pipe stems, cigar and cigarette holders, and knife handles” (J. Maple Wilson, Jr., “The Relation of Chemistry to the Home,” Journal of Chemical Education, Vol. 3, No. 6, June, 1926, 670).Then later in the same article:

According to Steve Laug who has studied this much more than I: “Original Bakelite, whatever the color, still looked like plastic, while deep red, translucent Redmanol was so close to amber of the same color that it often requires an expert to differentiate the two. Bakelite was produced in at least these colors: golden yellow, ruby, emerald, amethyst, and jet. Real amber comes in several colors: non-reflective deep-cherry red, golden, and yellow. Most often, Redmanol was a clear or translucent red. Deep-red Redmanol was so close to amber of the same color that it often required an expert to differentiate the two. It certainly didn’t help when ads for Redmanol products stated: “Odorless, taste-less, unbreakable, non-inflammable, and retains its amber color.”

It’s difficult to be accurate on the date of this pipe, but anywhere from the 1910s through the 1930s is a safe bet. Basically, this beauty is about a century old.Let’s take a closer look. The pipe is in terrific condition for its age! The Redmanol parts have a few minor scratches and dents, but no cracks or structural problems. The screw tenon is as dirty as anything, but that’s no big deal. The brass ring is similarly dirty, but not damaged at all. Finally, the briar bowl is also dirty and has a few minor nicks. It should clean up very nicely.

I used oil soap on a few cotton rounds and wiped down the stem and stummel to provide an initial cleaning before moving on to the next steps. The primary cleaning came next. I disinfected the inside of both stem and stummel with pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 99% lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly to make sure the interior was very clean. I paid particular attention to the tenon and cleaned it further with some 0000-grit steel wool.The next step of the cleaning process was to scour the inside of both stem and stummel with some soap and tube brushes. This was the culmination of a lot of hard work in getting the pipe clean.

As the stem was now clean and dry, I set about fixing the tooth marks in the Redmanol. This was done by filling those divots with clear cyanoacrylate adhesive. I left this to cure and moved on. The next step is sanding and I’m not going to sugar coat this: sanding Redmanol is pretty dreadful. First, I reduced the bulk of the cyanoacrylate repairs. I removed the excess adhesive as near to the surface as possible, without cutting into the Redmanol. I had to focus especially on a tricky area of the stummel where there were some deep scratches. I taped that area off, so it could be done properly. Following that, I used all nine grey sanding pads and all nine of the micromesh sanding pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand out flaws, even out the Redmanol, and provide gentle polishing of the finished surface. I also applied pipe-stem oil while using the last five micromesh pads. There was a wonderful, clear, amber-like glow to the stem and stummel when I was done. I then grabbed the brass ring with both hands – sorry, couldn’t resist. This was quite straightforward. I tried cleaning it with some lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol on cotton rounds. This didn’t really do anything, so I switched over to polishing with 0000-grit steel wool. This worked very well and the ring looked lovely again. Next on to the briar bowl. First, I reamed out the bowl – that is to say, remove all the cake inside the bowl. This accomplished a couple of things. First (and most obviously), it cleaned the bowl and provided a refurbished chamber for future smoking. Second, when the old cake was removed, I could inspect the interior walls of the bowl and determine if there was damage or not. As the bowl was fairly clean already, I used only a piece of sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel. This ensured that all the debris was removed. I also took a piece of machine steel and gently scraped the lava away from the rim. The metal’s edge is sharp enough to remove what I need, but not so sharp that it damages the rim.To tidy up the briar, I also wiped down the outside with some oil soap on cotton rounds and used a toothbrush in the crevices. This did a good job of cleaning any latent dirt on the surface of the briar. Just like the stem and stummel, the last step of the cleaning process was to scour the inside of the bowl with some soap and tube brushes. I also scrubbed the aluminum bottom of the bowl with 0000-grit steel wool. Looked fantastic.I used all nine micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand the outside of the bowl and finish it off. This sanding minimizes flaws in the briar and provides a beautiful smoothness to the wood. I rubbed some LBE Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. The balm moisturizes the wood and gives a beautiful depth to the briar. I then buffed the bowl with a microfibre cloth. For the final step, I took the pipe to my bench buffer and carefully polished it – first with a blue diamond compound, then with three coats of carnauba wax. This procedure makes the pipe look its best. All done! This no-name Redmanol bent Dublin pipe looks fantastic again and is ready to be enjoyed by my friend in Seattle. It was a pleasure to work on. It’s a gorgeous pipe. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5¼ in. (134 mm); height 1⅞ in. (48 mm); bowl diameter 1⅜ in. (35 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (20 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅝ oz. (47 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Breathing Life into a Peterson’s 2012 St. Patrick’s Day 80S Bent Bulldog

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another Peterson’s Pipe. We recently purchased it from a seller in Wellsville, Kansas, USA on Facebook Pipe Exchange on Facebook on 12/09/2024. It is a nicely grained Bent Bulldog with mixed grain on the sides and birdseye on the front and the back of the bowl. The capped rim top also had mixed grain across the top. It is stamped on the left underside of the diamond shank and reads St. Patrick’s [over] Day and on the right underside it is stamped with the shape 80S. The nickel band is stamped with a shamrock on the left side and around the outside of the leaf it is stamped Peterson arched over the top and the date March 17, 2012 arched underneath. There was a moderated cake in the bowl and some darkening around the inner edge and light lava spots on the rim top. The mortise smelled of oils and tars but surprisingly there was little darkening in it. The stem had some oxidation, some white/sludge built up ahead of the edge of the button. There were some light tooth marks or chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the promise that we see in this pipe. He took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the current condition. The inner edge and the rim top showed darkening and spots of lava as mentioned above. The photos of the bowl walls show the moderate cake on the walls. The stem photos show the oxidation and light marks on the rim top on both sides. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give a sense of the condition of the bowl and the grain around the bowl. It is a beauty.He took photos of the shank sides to capture the stamping on the shank and the band. The white “P” logo on the left side of the stem is also very clean. On Mark Irwin’s Petersonpipenotes blog he gives a great history of the St. Patrick’s Day pipes. It is a great read and includes a pictorial tour of the line. It is very helpful. Here is the link (https://petersonpipenotes.org/84-a-visual-history-of-the-st-patricks-day-pipes-1998-2018/).

He includes the following information and a photo of the pipe that is very similar to the 80S I am working on. It is notable that he comments that the shape is a classy, English-style 80s bent bulldog: perfect for your favorite Latakia bomb!Now it was time to work on the pipe. Since Jeff always follows the same pattern of work in his cleanup we do not include photos but rather just a simple summary. Jeff reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove the spotty lava build up on the rim top and you could see the damages to the top and edges of the rim. I think this pipe may well been before we worked with Mark Hoover’s Before & After Deoxidizer so he cleaned the internals and externals. The stem was clean but lightly oxidized. I took photos of what the pipe looked like when I brought to my worktable. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim top and stem to show how clean the pipe was. The bowl was clean and the rim top and the inner edge looked good. On the rim top on the right side there was a nick that upon examination was a spot where a fill had come out. I breathed a sigh of relief as when I first saw it I though it was a crack! I am thankful that is the case. The stem was clean and there were light tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is faint in spots but still readable and read as noted above. I also removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the pipe to show the look of the parts. I decided to deal with the flaw, or missing fill on the right side of the rim top first. It was very clean so I blew out any dust or debris the put a spot of CA glue and some briar dust in the area. I sanded it smooth with a small piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl surface down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding dust. Once I finished the exterior of the briar was clean and the grain really stood out. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips 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. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I turned my attention to the stem. I touched up the stamp on the left side of the stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I scraped the excess off. The stamp looked much better however, part of the P is missing on the right side. The pictures below show what it looks like.I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. 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 polished 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. I am excited to finish this Peterson’s 2012 St. Patrick’s Day 80S Classic Bent Bulldog with a polished nickel band and a taper vulcanite stem. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful birdseye and cross grain on the sides of the bowl. Added to that the polished nickel band and the black vulcanite stem was beautiful. This smooth Peterson’s St. Patrick’s Day 2012 80S Bent Bulldog is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 50 grams/1.76 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your rack let me know by message or by email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for your time reading the blog. I appreciated it.

Restoring a Peterson’s K&P Dublin Made in Ireland Canadian

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by Steve Laug

Last weekend Kenneth and I went to an antique show in New Westminster, BC. It is our third year going but still we have no idea what we are going to fine each time we go. It is always a part of the fun to wander through the various stalls and see what the vendors are offering on their tables. There are always surprising things – items that I grew up with that are now called antiques or at least collectibles. If only my foresight had been as good as my memory is now I could have sold many of the things I played with and ate from! But I digress. Back to the pipe hunting. We saw the usual offerings of things Grabow and Medico that were in very rough shape. I think we both have become much more selective over time and we passed on spending time with them. I did a few items that I picked up to restore. I took a picture of the group of fout pipes. In the left column from top to bottom there was a Peterson’s System Standard 1307 (Canadian number on a 307 shape), a Bulldog that was stamped Fraser Valley Made in Canada with a white dot stem and at the bottom was another Peterson – a K&P Dublin Made in Ireland Canadian with a Sterling Silver Band. The one on the right side is an older GBD Nosewarmer with an orific button on the short stem. Not a bad group of pipes to bring to the work table.The first of them I chose to bring to the table was the K&P Canadian at the bottom of the above photo. It is a pretty pipe and bears the stamping on the top of the shank that reads K&P [over] Dublin. On the underside the COM stamp is Made in Ireland in a circle. That format for the stamp made the pipe one that was made between 1945-1972. On the worn and oxidized Silver band it is stamped K & P in three shields [over] Sterling [over] Silver. The bowl has a light cake but the rim top and edges are very clean. The shank looks to be clean also. The stem is heavily oxidized and will take some work to bring it back to black. There does not appear to be any stamping or logo on the stem. It is an original P-lip style stem and it is in surprisingly good condition under the oxidation. I took photos of the pipe before I started my clean up work on it. I took a close-up photo of the rim top to show the condition of the bowl and inner edge of the bowl and the stem. You can clearly see the cake in the bowl and the darkening and lava on the rim top. The stem photos show the deep oxidation on the stem and the silver band.I took a photo of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the pipe. It is a pretty little pipe.Now it was time to work on the pipe. I cleaned up the silver band with a jeweller’s cloth so that I could read the stamping clearly. It read as noted above and the characters were slightly worn under the oxidation. But it is a great addition to the pipe. I reamed the pipe with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to remove the thin cake in the bowl and check the bowl walls. I sanded the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. It looked much better at this point.I moved on to clean up the internals. I cleaned out the airway and mortise with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I cleaned out the airway in the stem at the same time. I was surprised at how clean the internals were. I scrubbed the externals of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime in the finish and on the rim top. I worked on it until it looked much better and then rinsed it off with warm water. I dried it off with a soft cloth. I polished the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down between pads with a damp cloth. It really began to take on a deep shine. There is a dark spot on the right side of the bowl. It is solid so it is not a fill. My guess is that it is where a root or such came out of the briar. The exterior of the bowl looks better after sanding. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit on the bowl for 10 minutes and then buffed it off with a paper towel and soft cloth. The product is a great addition to the restoration work. It enlivens, enriches and protects the briar while giving it a deep glow. It is a product I use on every pipe I restore. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and cotton pads to remove the oxidation. I was able to rid the surface of the majority of the brown and what was left would be able to be sanded off.There were no deep marks or chatter so I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil to remove the sanding dust.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil to further protect the vulcanite surface. I finished the polishing with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped the stem down a final time with Obsidian Oil and a cloth. It really looks very good. I am always excited to finish working on a pipe. This K&P Dublin Made in Ireland Canadian made between 1945-1972 is no exception. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. 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 and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with polished silver and the black vulcanite taper stem. This Classic looking Peterson’s K&P Dublin Canadian feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 31 grams/1.09 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the Irish Pipe Makers Section if you are interested in it. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Restoring a Handcut Antique Briar Made in Denmark Twisted Long Shank Pot

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one that we picked up in the lot from our connection in Copenhagen, Denmark on February 16/2023. The smooth finish on this Danish made pipe and the twist in the bowl and shank shape is what caught our eye. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads handcut [over] 1651. On the right and underside, it is stamped Antique Briar running from the mid shank toward the bowl. Underneath that and running the other direction it reads Made in Denmark. It has a Reddish, Brown stain on the smooth finish that is a great contrast to vulcanite taper stem. The Pot shaped bowl was moderately caked and the inner edge and the top had some darkening and spots of lava on them. The stem was lightly oxidized and had tooth chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was a Crown logo stamped on the left side of the shank and also in gold on the top side of the taper. I feel like it points to a connection with Preben Holm but I cannot verify that yet. Jeff took some photos of the pipe to show the general condition of the pipe before he started his clean up. He took some photos of the rim top and bowl from various angles to give me a clear picture of the condition of the rim top and bowl. The thick cake in the bowl is visible below. There is some darkening and lava on the rim top. He included photos that show the top and underside of the stem. It is as described above. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish on the pipe. The photos showed the nice grain around the bowl and shank even with the grime in the finish. It is a great looking piece of briar. He took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It was clear and readable as noted above. I did some searching on Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-a6.html) and found a listing for Antique pipes. They were stamped Handmade instead of Handcut. However, the two shown below were made in France and possibly Germany. However, the sidebar had a note that some pipes were of Danish origin.Antique is a brand of Hans Richter (†), a German pipe importer and dealer. He particularly used to distribute under the “Antique” label pipes crafted by Pierre Morel Senior. Some pipes were also of Danish origin.

While this did not definitively give me any direction on the maker of the pipe. Somewhere in the recesses of my memory there a faint niggling that the Antique pipe was possibly made by Preben Holm but I could not be sure. The mystery shall remain. With that I turn back to working on the pipe itself.

Since Jeff always follows the same pattern of work in his cleanup we do not include photos but rather just a simple summary. Jeff reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove the lava build up on the rim top and you could see the damages to the top and edges of the rim. I think this pipe may well been before we worked with Mark Hoover’s Before & After Deoxidizer so he cleaned the internals and externals. The stem was clean but lightly oxidized. I took photos of what the pipe looked like when I brought to my worktable. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim top and stem to show how clean the pipe was. The bowl was clean and the rim top and the inner edge showed darkening but no damage. The stem was clean and there were light tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is very clear and readable and read as noted above. I also removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the pipe to show the look of the parts. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl surface down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding dust. Once I finished the exterior of the briar was clean and the grain really stood out. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips 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. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. It looks quite nice at this point. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I touched up the circle Crown stamp on the top of the taper stem with Rub’n Buff Antique Gold. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick. Once it cured I buffed off the excess with a soft cloth. It looked better but there were some spots that were faint.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 polished 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. I am excited to be on the homestretch with beautiful Handcut 1651 Antique Briar Long Shank Twisted Pot. I look forward to the moment when it all 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 beautifully grained finish looks really good with the interesting grain patterns standing out on the shape. The grain and the polished black vulcanite went really well together. This Handcut 1651 Antique Briar has that classic Danish look that catches the eye. The combination of various brown stains really makes the pipe look attractive. It is another comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. Who made it? Is it a Bari? A Preben Holm? Don’t know but it is a beauty. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 32 grams/1.13 ounces. I will be posting it for sale in the Danish Pipemaking Section on the rebornpipes store very soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This was an interesting estate to bring back to life.