Tag Archives: Bowl – finishing

Breathing Life into a Challenging Dunhill Shell Briar 126 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is a lovely Dunhill small sandblast Billiard shaped briar pipe. We purchased it from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark on 01/22/2024. It is a classic Dunhill Sandblast Billiard shaped bowl. It has a sandblast, rich brown stained bowl that really highlights the grain in the briar. The bowl is dirty with grime in the finish. There also appears to be a shiny varnish coat over the grime in the sandblast. There appears to be a varnish coat on the stem as well. The bowl has a moderated cake and a light lava overflow on the sandblast rim top and edges. The stamping on the pipe is clear and readable and on the under side it reads 126 the shape number [followed by] Dunhill [over Shell Briar. That is followed by Made in England the superscript date number 0 is stamped after the D in England. There is a circle #S following the date stamp that identifies the pipe as a group 3 sized pipe in a Shell finish. The stem had a white spot on the top side of the taper. It is lightly oxidized and has tooth chatter and deep tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup. He took photos of the pipe’s bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava coat overflowing onto the top. It is another dirty pipe. You can see the shiny coat on top of the finish and the grime in the photos. He also took photos of the stem to capture the tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. He took photos of the sides and the heel of the bowl to give a sense of the sandblast finish on this one. Even under the grime and shiny varnish coat in the grooves the blast is quite beautiful. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable though it is faint in some spots. I wanted to unpack the Dunhill stamping on the shank and work to understand each element of the stamp. I generally use the Pipephil site to gather as much initial information as possible (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number 126 is the shape number for a taper stem Billiard. The Shell Briar stamp refers to the finish. The underlined, superscript number 0 following the D of England would give the date the pipe. The circle 3S tells me that the pipe is a group 3 sized pipe and the S is for the Shell finish. The photo below is of the stamping on a Don shape but the stamping is similar on this one.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 16 following the D in England. There was no patent number so that 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 under “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 first column (0) led me to the next section with a question whether the suffix is smaller and raised. Since the 0 after the D in England the date of the pipe spelled is 1960. I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Shell 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 turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the 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, pipe cleaners and shank brushes. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. His scrubbing removed the majority of the varnish on the bowl with just a few spots remaining. 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 soak did not penetrate the varnish on the stem at all but it certainly looked better. Other than the shiny spots in the finish where the varnish remained, the pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. It looks good with the tars and oils removed from the rim top. You can see the shiny spots of varnish remaining on the right front side of the rim top in the first photo below. The inner edge of the bowl was in excellent condition. The bowl itself was very clean. The stem came out clean but the varnish coat discoloured the white spot and gave the whole stem an artificial shine that hid the tooth marks and chatter underneath.I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The photo 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. I think once the varnish is removed the pipe will be a nicer looking piece.I decided to use some of Mark Hoover’s Before & After Briar Cleaner to see if it would break through the remaining shiny spots of varnish in the grooves of the sandblast on the rim top and around the bowl. I shook up the mixture to make sure all was blended then used a tooth brush to work it into the surface of the briar. I worked it until is foamed then rinsed it off with warm water and dried it with a soft cloth. It did the job and the shiny varnish had vanished! I set the bowl aside and let the briar dry out completely then I rubbed it down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface 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 pipe really comes alive with the balm. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to remove the varnish coat that covered it. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. By the final 3500 grit sanding pad the stem had a more normal shine and the varnish, tooth marks and chatter were gone.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 1960 Dunhill Shell Briar 126 Billiard with a vulcanite taper stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The Shell Briar mixed brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has a unique sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. The removal of the varnish left a depth to the briar and a clearness to the stem surface. The polished 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 126 Billiard 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 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.09 ounces/31 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store in the English Pipe Makers Section. Thanks for your time.

A Pipe Hunt Find in Bellingham – An Israeli Made Pedestal Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

On our recent Victoria Day Weekend (5/18/24) my family met Jeff and his wife in Bellingham for breakfast, a visit and a bit of pipe hunting. We visited three of my favourite antique malls and worked out way through the aisles of wares for sale. Jeff and I tend to divide and conquer, each walking through the aisles looking for pipes. The rest of the family moves through looking for their own treasures. The second shop we visited is a treasure trove of items from the past and one that I could spend a lot of time working through. As we went through the aisles of treasures I found a case with carved animal pipes and a Ropp Cherrywood, really none of them captured my interest this time around. I looked them over and set them aside. Then I saw an interesting pipe standing in the back of the case. It was called The Pedestal Pipe and was made in Israel – presumably by the Shalom Pipe Manufacturing company. We left the shop with this addition to the hunting bag (https://rebornpipes.com/tag/bellingham-pipe-hunt/).I decided to take a break from the pipes in my queue of pipes to work on and deal with the Pedestal Pipe shown above next. It was an interesting shape stands on its own – like a pipe on a pedestal. It had some nice grain under the grime and varnish coat on the bowl and shank. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads The Pedestal [arched over] Pipe. On the right side it is stamped and reads Mediterranean [over] Briar Israel. Here is what I saw. The bowl had a thick cake in it a thick lava coat on the rim top and edges. The finish was spotty with varnish or some shiny coat that was peeling around the bowl. The stem was fancy and there was a round saddle portion that sat against the shank end. The blade of the stem was flattened and had panel sides. It was dirty and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took some photos of the pipe before I started working on it. I took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is heavily caked and the rim top and edges have a heavy coat of lava overflowing on to them. There is some burn or reaming damage on the inner edge of the bowl. The stem is oxidized, calcified and has tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. You can see it is readable and in person looks much better with a light and lens. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to show the look of the pipe. I decided to do some digging on the net about the brand. I turned first to Pipephil’s site to see what I could find. I could not find any link to the Pedestal line from Israel but I turned to the section on the site for Alpha pipe (also made by Shalom Pipe Factory). Here is the link to the Alpha section (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-a4.html). I did a screen capture of the section on the pipes. The third pipe in the photo below has an identical stem to the Pedestal Pipe that I am working on. This ties the brand to Alpha at some level and even more to Shalom Pipe Factory.With that information I turned to Pipedia and looked up the information on the Shalom Pipe Factory (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Shalom_Pipe_Factory). I quote the information from the site below. I have highlighted the Pedestal link in the article.

Not much is known about Israel’s sole pipe factory though it’s reported to have operated quite successfully on international markets.

Beside the brand “Shalom” the mainstay brand was Alpha – especially well known in the USA. Alpha was popular for a range of fresh and unusual shapes. Series (afaik): Caprice (s), Citation (s), Classic (b), Pedestal (s), Regent, Region (b), Rex (s). (1)

(1) (b) = blasted, (s) = smooth…

Alpha also produced at least one of its Citation forms for Carey’s “Magic Inch” series.

Mentioned in context with Shalom Pipe Factory was a Danish pipemaker named ‘Muki Liebermann’, who later lived and worked in the USA. Muki is known for his unique briar bending technique and his original shapes that gave inspiration to many of the most praised Danish pipemakers.

Shalom was taken over by Robert L. Marx of New York City, later Sparta, NC, then of Mastercraft. Mastercraft continued the Alpha pipes introducing new lines.

I did a Google search for the The Pedestal Pipe and came up with a few links that I followed up on. The best of them was a link to a thread on Pipesmagazine forum to a discussion on a pipe very much like this one (https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/unique-original-sitter-pipe-designs.25944/). I quote the starting post in the thread below:

I liked this pipes unique design as a sitter and the briar doesn’t look too shabby. I’m guessing this came from the Shalom Pipe Factory and made by Muki Liebermann since he was known for his unique briar bending technique and original shapes.

The only stamping found is ‘THE PEDESTAL PIPE’ and ‘Mediterranean Briar Israel’. I’ve searched the internet and cannot find any information on this pipe other than what I have mentioned. Been smoking it for the past week and it’s an excellent smoker.
Feel free to post images of your sitters!! Love to see them.

Now I was ready to start the work on the pipe. I wiped the bowl down with acetone to remove the spotty shiny coat on the pipe. It took a few wipe downs to remove it but once finished it definitely was better. Interestingly there was some red dye under the shiny coat that came off as well. I moved on to work on the internals of the pipe. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer to take the cake back to bare briar. I took the cake back to bare briar and cleaned up the remnants of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls with sandpaper wrapped around a piece of briar to smooth them out. The inside walls were clean and there was no sign of burning or checking on them. I scrubbed the inside of the shank and the airway in it and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. Once it was clean it smelled much better was ready for the next steps in the process.I scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime in the finish. I rinsed the bowl off with warm water. I scrubbed the internals with shank brushes and soap to remove the grime inside. I was able to remove a lot of the lava on the rim top as well. The bowl was beginning to look much better at this point. I sanded the bowl with sanding pads – sanding with 320-3500 grit pads and wiped down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The bowl began to take on a real shine. It was going to be a beautiful pipe. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down after each sanding pad. The grain really began to shine through. It is a beautiful pipe. The polishing of the rim top and inner edge brought the rim top colour to match the rest of the bowl. 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 address the stem issues. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter. I was able to lift the marks on the stem top leaving light marks but the ones on the bottom side were much deeper and the flame lifted them slightly but they still remained. I filled in the marks that remained with clear CA glue. Once the repair cured I flattened the repair with small files. It looked much better. I cleaned up the repairs with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to flatten them and blend them in very well with the surface of the vulcanite. Before continuing with the sanding process, I heated the stem with my lighter to soften the vulcanite and bent it to match the flow of the bowl. It looked much better with the proper bend.I sanded out the scratches and marks in the stem surface with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It looked much better and really started to take on a shine.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet 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. I am excited to put the final touches on this interesting Israeli Made pipe by Muki Liebermann of the Shalom Pipe Factory. It is a beautiful and uniquely shaped pipe called The Pedestal Pipe. 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 grain on the bowl sides, top and bottom. The polished black vulcanite, newly fitted stem combined with the bowl to make a stunning pipe. This smooth The Pedestal Pipe 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: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 56 grams/1.98 ounces. I will be adding it to the Pipes By Various Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. 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 1976 Dunhill Shell 341 Apple – a beautiful sandblast pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is a lovely Dunhill small sandbast apple shaped briar pipe. We purchased it from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark on 02/02/2024. It is a classic Dunhill Sandblast Apple shaped bowl. It has a sandblast, rich brown stained bowl that really highlights the grain in the briar. The bowl is dirty with grime in the finish. There is a moderate cake in the bowl and a light lava overflow on the rim top and edges. The stamping on the pipe is clear and readable and on the under side it reads 341 the shape number [followed by] Dunhill Shell [over] Made in England the date number 16 is stamped after the D in England. The stem had a white spot on the top side of the taper. It is oxidized, calcified and has tooth chatter and deep tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup. He took photos of the pipe’s bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava coat overflowing onto the top. It is another dirty pipe. He also took photos to capture the tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. He took photos of the sides and the heel of the bowl to give a sense of the sandblast finish on this one. Even under the grime in the grooves the blast is quite beautiful. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable though it is faint in some spots. I wanted to unpack the Dunhill stamping on the shank and work to understand each element of the stamp. I generally use the Pipephil site to gather as much initial information as possible (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number 341 is the shape number for a taper stem Apple. The Shell Briar stamp refers to the finish. The number 16 following the D of England would give the date the pipe. The photo below is of the stamping on a Don shape but the stamping is similar on this one.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 16 following the D in England. There was no patent number so that 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 under “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 with 16 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix 16 which gives the pipe a date of 1976.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Shell 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 catalogue 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 turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the 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, pipe cleaners and shank brushes. 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. It looks good with the tars and oils removed from the rim top. The inner edge of the bowl was in excellent condition. The bowl itself was very clean. The aluminum inner tube can be seen extending into the bowl in the first photo. The stem came out looking quite good with deep 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 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 rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface 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 pipe really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem issues. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter. I was able to lift the marks on the stem top leaving light marks but the ones on the bottom side were much deeper and the flame lifted them slightly but they still remained. I filled in the marks that remained with clear CA glue. Once the repair cured I flattened the repair with small files. It looked much better. I cleaned up the repairs with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to flatten them and blend them in very well with the surface of the vulcanite. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. By the final 3500 grit sanding pad the stem had a had a shine.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 1976 Dunhill Shell Briar 341 Apple with a vulcanite taper stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The Shell Briar mixed brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has a unique sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. The polished 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 341 Apple 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 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.06 ounces/.30 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store in the English Pipe Makers Section. Thanks for your time.

Fresh Life for a Petersons System Standard 312

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is a lovely Peterson’s style System Standard pipe. We purchased it from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark on 01/08/2024. It is a classic Peterson’s System Standard pipe. It has a sandblast, rich brown stained bowl that really highlights the grain in the briar. The bowl is dirty with grime in the finish. There is a moderate cake in the bowl and a light lava overflow on the rim top and edges. The stamping on the pipe is clear and readable and on the underside of the bowl and shank. It reads Peterson’s [arched over] System [over] Standard. Following that it reads Made in the Republic of Ireland (three lines). Underneath both and centered in the smooth panel is the shape number 312. The nickel ferrule is stamped K& P [over] three Makers Marks – a shamrock, a wolfhound and tower with no doorway. To the right of that it is stamped Peterson’s. The stem is unstamped and is lightly oxidized, calcified and has tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the P-lip button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup. Jeff took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is moderately caked and the rim top and edges have a light coat of lava overflowing on to them. The stem is lightly oxidized, calcified and has tooth chatter and tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. Jeff took photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the condition of the finish around this bowl. It has a rugged sandblast that is quite nice and shows the underlying grain well. He took photos of the stamping on the heel of the bowl and underside of the shank. You can see that it is clear and reads as noted above. The stamping on the nickel ferrule is also clear. I am including the information from Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson). I have included a bit of the pertinent history here.

1950 – 1989 The Republic Era – From 1950 to the present time, the stamp for this era is “Made in the Republic of Ireland” in a block format generally in three lines but two lines have been used with or without Republic being abbreviated.

During the 1950’s and 60’s the Kapp & Peterson company was still in the ownership of the Kapp family. However 1964 saw the retiral of the company Managing Director Frederick Henry(Harry) Kapp.

Pipedia also included a section of information on the System pipes including a diagram of the systems look (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson#Republic_Era_Pipes). I quote a section of the article in part and include a link to another article on Pipedia on the System pipe.

The Peterson System pipes are the standard bearers of the Peterson pipe family, famous for the excellent smoking pleasure they provide. Often imitated but never equaled, the Peterson System smokes dry, cool and sweet, thanks to the scientific effectiveness of the original design. The heart of the System is the unique graduated bore in the mouthpiece. This makes the suction applied by the smoker 15 times weaker by the time it reaches the tobacco chamber. The result is that all the moisture flows into the reservoir and, thus cannot reach the smoker’s mouth. The Peterson Lip further enhances the effectiveness of the graduated bore by directing the flow of smoke upwards and away from the tongue. This achieves a uniquely even distribution of smoke and virtually eliminates any chance of tonguebite or bitterness. Furthermore, the shape is contoured so that the tongue rests comfortably in the depression under the opening. Each “PLip” mouthpiece is made from Vulcanite. For the Peterson System pipes to work properly, the stem/tenon has to have an extension, the tip of which will pass by the draft hole from the bowl and into the sump. Upon the smoker drawing in smoke, this extension then directs the smoke down and around the sump to dispense a lot of the moisture before the smoke enters the extension and stem. On the System Standards and other less expensive systems, this extension with be made of Vulcanite turned integrally with the stem. On the more expensive System pipes this extension will be made of metal which screws into the Vulcanite stem. This extension on the earlier pipes will be of brass and the newer pipes will be of aluminium. Most smokers not knowing this function of the metal extension, assumes that it is a condenser/stinger and will remove it as they do with the metal condensers of Kaywoodie, etc. Should you have a System pipe with this metal extension, do not remove it for it will make the System function properly and give you a dryer smoke (https://pipedia.org/wiki/A_closer_look_at_the_famous_Peterson_Standard_System_Pipe).

I have included the information on the shape number on this pipe that I picked up on researching previous pipes. I have included a page from a Petersons Catalogue that I have on rebornpipes (https://rebornpipes.com/tag/peterson-hallmark-chart/). I have put a red oval around the 312 shown in the catalogue page shown below. That should give a clear picture of the size and shape of the pipe.I knew that I was dealing with a Republic Era pipe made between 1950-1989. It was a Sandblast Peterson’s System Standard 312 Bent Billiard with an interesting blast finish. The bowl was stained with a combination of brown stains. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had cleaned it thoroughly. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer and cleaned that up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He had scrubbed the exterior of the briar with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. He cleaned out the interior of the shank, sump and airway in the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the oxidation and calcification on the surface. He soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation. He removed it from the Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my part of the work. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show what an amazing job Jeff did in the cleanup of the rim top. The rim top was and inner edge were in excellent condition. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the condition of the vulcanite. It was in excellent condition with light tooth marks and chatter on the stem ahead of the button on both sides.One of the things I appreciate about Jeff’s cleanup is that he works to protect and preserve the nomenclature on the shank of the pipes that he works on. The stamping on this one was very faint to start with so I was worried that it would disappear altogether with the cleanup. I took some photos to show the stamping. I have noticed that many restorers are not careful to protect the stamping in their cleaning process and often by the end of the restoration the nomenclature is almost destroyed. I would like to encourage all of us to be careful in our work to preserve this as it is a critical piece of pipe restoration! I took the stem off the shank and took a photo of the pipe to capture the look of the pipe as a whole.The pipe bowl was very clean and the sandblast looked great. I rubbed the bowl and rim down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the sandblast surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for 10 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I really like watching the Balm do its magic and bring the briar alive. With briar polished with the Restoration Balm I moved onto the metal. I polished the nickel ferrule with a jeweller’s cloth to raise the shine and to protect it from further oxidation. I sanded the stem down with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to remove the tooth chatter and marks on the stem surface. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with damp cloth to remove the grime from sanding.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. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry. Once again at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when the Republic Era Sandblast Peterson’s System Standard 312 is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I lightly polished the bowl and the replacement stem with Blue Diamond. I gave the bowl and the newly fit 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 depths of the sandblast really pop with the wax and polish. The shiny new black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and thick shank and Nickel ferrule. This Republic Era Peterson’s System Standard 312 Bent Billiard was another fun pipe to work on. It really is a quite stunning piece of briar whose shape follows the flow of the briar. The pipe feels great in the hand will be better when warmed up while smoking. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe 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 1.94 ounces/55 grams. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipemakers Section if you would like to add it to your rack and carry on the previous pipeman’s legacy. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Restoring a Beautiful Savinelli Punto Oro

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by Kenneth Lieblich

Next up on my restoration adventures is this Savinelli Punto Oro 915 KS. I acquired it from an older gentleman in Vancouver. He said he bought this (and the other pipes I got from him) more than “fifty years ago” – his words. That would date it to the early seventies, which fits with the style of the pipe. This is an unusual shape, to be sure. Savinelli calls it a Dublin – and so it is – but it has a luxurious, hourglass look to it as well. It has an elegant, elliptical shank and tapered, vulcanite stem. Perhaps I’ll call it a clessidra di Dublino. It’s a wonderful pipe and it deserves to be part of someone’s collection again. This pipe promises to be a great smoker. Let’s look at the markings. The top side of the shank reads Savinelli [over] Punto Oro. Savinelli, of course, is an Italian company, and the words Punto Oro mean literally, “gold point”. On the underside of the shank is the lovely Savinelli crown, next to which are the marks 915 KS [over] Italy. Naturally, the number refers to the shape and KS means “King Size”. Finally, there is a gold-coloured dot on the stem (made of brass) – a very nice touch.Savinelli is one of the most recognized names in pipe smoking and they have a long and storied history. You can read about them from their own website or from Pipedia’s article about them. However, I was particularly interested in learning more about the Punto Oro line. Sadly, Pipedia had nothing on this subject. I checked with Pipephil and they did have a bit of information, which I display below.I also found a bit of information on the Punto Oro line from Savinelli’s own website. They write:

PUNTO ORO pipe was the first pipe created by Achille Savinelli after the opening of the factory in 1958; a pipe that has always distinguished the Savinelli brand, its elegance, reliability and tradition. It is a top quality pipe with a wonderful grain. It is important to know it is very difficult to find a briar piece suitable to become a PUNTO ORO: just 1,2% of the whole choice is selected for this series, therefore not all our shapes are always available for these pipes.This was a well-loved pipe – and it shows in the best way. The stem on this pipe definitely shows signs of use. There were quite a few scratches in the vulcanite. There was also some calcification and oxidation. The stummel looked elegant, but tired. There were indications of lava on the rim and plenty of cake in the bowl. Also, the briar had a few little nicks along the rim from the years of love of its previous owner. Most concerning though, was a field of nicks on one side of the briar. Eek! More on that later. Well, the usual cleaning procedures were in order for this pipe. I started on the stem by wiping it down with some Murphy’s on a cotton round. Then, I cleaned out the insides of the stem with pipe cleaners and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. It wasn’t too dirty.Once that was done, the stem went for an overnight soak in the Before & After Hard Rubber Deoxidizer. After soaking, I cleaned off the de-oxidizing fluid with alcohol, pipe cleaners, et cetera. The oxidation had migrated to the surface and I used SoftScrub to work it off.Before I moved on to the Micromesh pads, I built up the tooth damage on the stem with black cyanoacrylate adhesive and let it fully cure. I used my miniature files to take down the majority of the dried glue. I then sanded it down with 400-grit sandpaper to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. This also really made the brass dot pop! Putting the stem aside, I moved on to the stummel. I used both the PipNet Reamer, the KleenReem, and some sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel to take the bowl down to bare briar, as I wanted to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the walls of the bowl. Fortunately, there were none.I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and isopropyl alcohol. There was an enormous amount of nastiness inside this stummel and – boy-oh-boy – it took a lot of cotton to get this thing clean! A de-ghosting session seemed like a good idea. This de-ghosting consisted of thrusting cotton balls in the bowl and the shank, and saturating them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused the oils, tars and smells to leech out into the cotton. Finally, a relatively clean and fresh-smelling bowl emerged. I then moved on to cleaning the outside of the stummel with Murphy’s Oil Soap and some cotton pads. What a difference that made! I also cleaned the insides with some soap and tube brushes. I examined the vast range of bumps in the briar. I dug out my iron and a damp cloth to try to raise them. The hot and moist steam can often cause the wood to swell slightly and return to shape. This worked incredibly well – I was absolutely delighted with the results. I took a close look at the rim. In order to save as much of the rim as possible, I used a piece of machine metal to very delicately scrape away as much lava as I could. I do this before automatically jumping to my topping board. This worked well and the topping board was not needed. Instead, I filled in a couple of nicks and used a wooden sphere and some pads to even out the top side and make it beautiful. After this, I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to make everything smooth. I applied some Before & After Restoration Balm and finally saw the beauty of my work. Off to the bench polisher I went. I applied some White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax and they added the finishing touch. This Savinelli Punto Oro 915 KS clessidra di Dublino was in need of a new lease on life. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the “Italy” pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5⅞ in. (150 mm); height 2 in. (51 mm); bowl diameter 1⅝ in. (39 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (20 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1½ oz. (46 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this 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. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring a Deeply Loved Peterson’s Diamond Shank Bent Billiard with a P-lip Stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is a lovely Peterson’s style briar pipe. We purchased it from a seller in Spring Branch, Texas, USA on 02/29/2024. It is a classic Peterson’s diamond shank, bent billiard shaped bowl. It has a worn rusticated finish with a rich brown stained bowl that really highlights the remnants of the blast. The bowl is dirty with grime in the finish. There is a light cake in the bowl and a lava overflow on the rim top and edges filling in the blast finish. The stamping on the pipe is on the underside of the shank and is illegible. It looks like it could read Peterson’s and something below that is not clear and the shape number cannot be read. The Sterling Silver band on the shank is oxidized and stamped. It reads K&P [over] Sterling [over] Silver. Underneath that are three hallmarks – a seated Hibernia with her arm on a harp, a crowned harp and a date stamp with an italic “P”. The stem has no stamping or logo on the diamond sides. It is oxidized, calcified and has very light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the P-lip button. It was obviously someone’s favourite and must have always been in his hand or mouth. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup. Jeff took photos of the bowl and stem to show the condition of the pipe. The rim top was very dirty with lava in the blast on the surface. The edges were hard to see their condition under the lava coat. The bowl had been reamed recently so there was just minimal cake on the walls in the lower portion. Only clean up would tell the full story. Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the p-lip stem showing the light tooth chattering, calcification and oxidation on the stem surface. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the grime in the sandblast and the generally worn finish around the sides of the bowl and shank. Even under the wear, dirt and debris of the years it looked very good. Jeff took a photo of the stamping on the left underside of the diamond shank. The stamping was unreadable as can be seen in the photo. There are also some deep scratches in the smooth area of the stamp. The Sterling Silver Band is stamped as noted above and is very readable under the oxidation.  As is my habit before I start working on a particular pipe I want to know more about the pipe and the line. This one is a mystery because of the loss of the stamping. I do know that it is probably a Donegal Rocky as the rustication and the silver band fit that line of pipes. I turned to Pipephil (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-peterson-ser.html) to see if I could learn anything about it from the photos that are included. There was nothing even close. However, I followed a link on the silver hallmarks connected to the Mark Twain pipe I just completed. That was the most promising information I have found so far. I have included a screen capture of the pertinent section below.

I wanted to understand the date mark and dig further. The band on the pipe I am working on has the three hallmarks noted in the photo above. They are as follows. The first is Hibernia seated, arm on a harp (for the country of manufacture – Ireland). Next to that is a Crowned Harp designating the sterling quality. Finally, it is followed by the date stamp which in this case is Celtic style, italic upper-case P. I have included information on the hallmarks below:Date letters of Assay Office Dublin
Twenty letters of the alphabet of different fonts together with the shape of the escutcheon identify the year in which the piece was verified by the assay office. I have drawn a rectangle around the matching letter P in the chart below which dates the pipe as a 1980.Now I knew that the pipe was a Republic Era Rusticated pipe that was made in 1980. I could not find a shape like the one I had here on the table. I did find a pipe with a similar style rustication and band that was on my rebornpipes site. It is simply stamped Peterson’s Dublin. There is a similarity to the worn on that I am working on now. The pattern is similar on this one. Here is the link: (https://rebornpipes.com/2022/04/14/restoring-an-interesting-long-shank-rusticated-petersons-of-dublin-canadian/). I have included some photos of the pipe rustication and the stamping on the heel and the Sterling Silver shank band to show the possibility of similar stamping on my mystery pipe. I am also including a portion of that blog where I dug out the stamping on the pipe and the band. I quote from that blog below as there are some very pertinent clues to the possible stamping that is missing on this pipe.

I turned to the Peterson’s Pipe by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to ferret out information on the stamping of this pipe to try to pin down a date. Under the section, Dublin on Page 298 I found information on the stamping on this pipe. I quote:

Dublin (1906-2003) Although DUBLIN appears under PETERSON’S on many pipes  over the decades, it has served  mostly as part of the brand name. The word first appeared on pipes hallmarked 1906-11, stamped PETERSON’S over PATENT over DUBLIN. The simpler PETERSON’S over DUBLIN appeared on pipes hallmarked 1912 after the expiration of the patent… Specimens of the former will bear either an Irish COM or LONDON MADE over ENGLAND  COM and almost certainly date from 1945-62.  It was first mentioned in print as part of a model name in the ’68 price list, as K&P Dublin…

I looked also at the information on page 304 about the K&P stamping on the silver band. I quote below.

K&P Another set of three marks, each in a shield-shaped frame are frequently mistaken as hallmarks and are seen on sterling bands. See Maker’s Mark…

On page 305

 K&P on Mount …A second style of maker’s mark, K&P in three shields, was registered on June 26,1908 and has been in continuous use since.

On page 307

Maker’s Mark … Collectors frequently mistake this row of three shields for hallmarks, especially on pipes made between 1938-68 when Peterson sterling mounts had no proper hallmarks. Collectors tend to label these faux hallmarks. The three shields are not hallmarks at all but their presence on the mount does confirm the mounting is sterling.

Now at least I had a time frame for the pipe. It had the three maker’s marks in three separate shields (K&P). The sterling silver band on my pipe had three Silver Hallmarks so I knew that it was made after 1938-1968 when no such marks were used. The K&P stamp on the silver and the Dublin stamp on the shank of the above Canadian match what I am surmising must have been stamped on this pipe. I am guessing of course but think that the pipe may well have been stamped Peterson’s [arched over] Dublin followed by Made in the Republic of Ireland stamp (in three lines). That and the silver hallmark date of 1980 place the pipe as a Republic Era Pipe which dated it from 1950-1989. Armed with that history and having a sense of the possible brand it was now time to do a bit of spiffing with the pipe itself.

Now it was time to work on the pipe. 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, shank brushes and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. It looked much better. The silver ferrule looked better and the tarnish was reduced. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. When I brought it to the work table I wanted to see if I could resurrect the stamping so I rubbed in a coat of Before & After Restoration Balm. I forgot to take pictures before but trust me it was a very clean pipe all the way around. Here are some photos after sitting with the Balm and being hand buffed with a cloth. It is a beautiful pipe. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top and edges looked very good. It should polish up really well. I also took photos of the stem to show the condition. The tooth marks and chatter are present but hard to see in the photos which is good. It means that none of them are too deep. The stem was clear of oxidation.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. You can see that the stamping is virtually invisible and not readable. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to have a look at the parts and overall look. The new stem looked really good with the bowl. As you read above I had jumped the gun and rubbed 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. My hope was that the balm might raise some of the stamp to be readable. Sadly, it did not do so and the mystery remains. I used a knife, a wet cloth and my gas stove top to try to steam out the deep scratches on the smooth panel on the shank. It works quite well and the knife allows me to specifically put the blade on the scratch. The scratch is still present but not as deep.I polished the silver ferrule with a jeweller’s cloth to remove the tarnish and further protect the silver from the intrusion of more tarnish. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet 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. I am excited to finish this Republic Era 1980 Peterson’s Rusticated Diamond Shank Bent Billiard. I put the pipe back together and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished black acrylic stem with the silver band. It really was a beautiful pipe. The grain shining through the rich red stain on this Peterson’s Rusticated Bent Billiard is nice 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 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.66 ounces/47 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers Section soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the cleanup with me as I worked over this pipe. 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 those who follow us.

Breathing New Life into a Republic Era Petersons Mark Twain

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is a lovely Peterson’s style briar pipe. We purchased it from a seller in Spring Branch, Texas, USA on 02/29/2024. It is a classic Peterson’s De Luxe style Bent Billiard. It has a smooth, rich brown stained bowl that really highlights the stunning grain in the briar. The bowl is dirty with grime in the finish. There is a moderate cake in the bowl and a heavy lava overflow on the rim top and edges. The stamping on the pipe is clear and readable and on the left side it reads Peterson’s [over] Mark Twain. On the right side it reads Made in the Republic of Ireland (three lines). The Sterling Silver Ferrule is stamped Peterson’s [over] Dublin followed by Sterling [over] Silver and three hallmarks. The stem had a P logo stamped on the topside of the taper. It is oxidized, calcified and has light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the P-lip button. Mark Twain has always been one of my favourite authors. I love his wit and style of humour. The fact that this is a classic Mark Twain pipe is part of the fascination of working on pipes for me. I have seen only a few of these from the line so this is going to be a pleasure to work on. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup. Jeff took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is moderately caked and the rim top and edges have a heavy coat of lava overflowing on to them. The stem is oxidized, calcified and has light tooth chatter and tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. The “P” logo stamp on the top of the stem is faded and dirty. Jeff took photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the condition of the finish around this bowl. It has some great straight grain on the sides and birdseye on the top and heel. The silver ferrule is oxidized and dirty. He took photos of the stamping on the shank sides. You can see that it is clear and reads as noted above. He also captured the stamping on the sterling silver ferrule on the shank end. It is also very clear and reads as noted. The P logo is faded but readable on the topside of the stem. As is my habit before I start working on a particular pipe I want to know more about the pipe and the line. I turned to Pipephil (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-peterson-ser.html) to get a quick overview of the Mark Twain pipe. I have included a screen capture of the pertinent section below. When I clicked on the photo of the second pipe above it took me to a photo of the hallmarks that looked identical to the ones on the pipe I am working on. It made me question the date mark and dig further. The note below the photo said, “Peterson Mark Twain (not from the two numbered editions). That photo has a red arrow pointing to the P date stamp. Now to dig a little deeper.The band on the pipe I am working on has the three hallmarks noted in the photo above. They are as follows. The first is Hibernia seated, arm on a harp (for the country of manufacture – Ireland). Next to that is a Crowned Harp designating the sterling quality. Finally, it is followed by the date stamp which in this case is Celtic style capital T. I have included information on the hallmarks below:Date letters of Assay Office Dublin
Twenty letters of the alphabet of different fonts together with the shape of the escutcheon identify the year in which the piece was verified by the assay office. I have circled the matching letter T in the chart below which dates the pipe as a 1984.I turned to Pipedia and there was nothing specific about that stamping. I am including the link to the Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

I turned then to the definitive pipe book, The Peterson Pipe by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to find more information on the pipe and the stamping on it. I turned first to the short entries and on page 308 found the following information.

Mark Twain (1981-) System pipe design copied from a photograph of Samuel L. Clemens’s pipe held at the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum in Hannibal, Missouri. Arguably Peterson’s most famous and widely known commemorative, it was first introduced as a limited edition 400 numbered pipes in 1981 and offered in smooth and rusticated finishes to this day. Based on shape 14 from 1906 catalog…

There was also a note to turn to another chapter for further information. There is a section in the book on page 174-176 on the Mark Twain variations. There on page 176 in a paragraph entitled, “The Mark Twain System” I found some helpful information which I quote below.

The Mark Twain System. Usually known as the De Luxe, 2400 unnumbered pipes were originally released in 1981 with the hallmark P, and available in smooth as well as rusticated finishes. It is stamped PETERSON’S in script over Mark Twain on the obverse of the shank. The front side of the mouthpiece is stamped with a white P. The pipe retailed for $75 in a red oversized gift box and sometimes included a reproduction of the John Adams etching. De Luxe Quality models were released several times over the years, with later documented examples bearing hallmarks from 1982, 1984-1987, 1990-1991, 1994 and 1997.

This section was extremely helpful in that it described the pipe I was working on to a T. So, I knew that the pipe was a Mark Twain System known as the De Luxe. It was one of 2400 pipes that were released in 1981 with the hallmark on the silver ferrule – exactly like the one I was working on. Since my pipe was dated to 1984 I knew it was part of the original run of pipes as noted in the last paragraph above.

Lastly, I remembered that the late Jim Lilley had written a very interesting piece on Mark Twain pipes on Pipedia. I quickly turned to that article to read through it again. I highly recommend that you take time to read it as it is full of great information and is a fascinating read  (https://pipedia.org/wiki/A_Closer_Look_at_the_Mark_Twain_Original_and_New_Pipes). I have included a pertinent portion of the article and a portrait of Mark Twain and his pipe below.

Peterson started production of the Mark Twain Series in 1980 with a numbered production run from 1 – 400. Then again in 1981 with a numbered production run from 1 – 1000. In 1983, Peterson started producing Mark Twains without numbers, (except the 1985 limited Gold issue), until about 1989. However, they must have had another production run later as there is evidence of Mark Twains with 1998 silver marked bands.

The pipes are typically large, full bents, with P-lip tapered stems, and a hallmarked silver collar. They are akin in quality to Deluxe System pipes, and as such, are also available in the smooth, sandblast, and rustic finishes. The Mark Twains have legendary high-quality smoking, with good draw and excellent with Virginia and flake blends.
Cost/Value: $250 – $1000 plus, depending on which series and precious metal finish. The originals are regularly available on eBay and with offerings hotly contested at auction.

Now it was time to work on the pipe. 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, shank brushes and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. It looked much better. The silver ferrule looked better and the tarnish was reduced. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. When the pipe arrived here this week I took photos of it so you can see what I see. It is a beautiful pipe. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top and edges looked very good. It should polish up really well. I also took photos of the stem to show the condition. The tooth marks and chatter are present but hard to see in the photos which is good. It means that none of them are too deep. The stem was clear of oxidation.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is clear and readable. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to have a look at the parts and overall look. The new stem looked really good with the bowl. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down after each sanding pad. The grain really began to shine through. It is a beautiful pipe. The polishing of the rim top and inner edge brought the rim top colour to match the rest of the bowl. 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 silver ferrule with a jeweller’s cloth to remove the tarnish and further protect the silver from the intrusion of more tarnish. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I touched up the white P stamp on the topside of the stem with some White Acrylic Nail Polish. I pressed it into the stamp with a tooth pick and polished it off once dry with a worn 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad.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. I am excited to put the final touches on this 1984 Made in the Republic of Ireland Peterson’s Mark Twain System Pipe. 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 straight and birdseye grain on the bowl sides, top and bottom. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem combined with the bowl and the Sterling Silver ferrule made a stunning pipe. This smooth Classic Peterson’s Mark Twain System 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 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 70 grams/2.47ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers Section shortly. Let me know if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

New Life for a Butz-Choquin Supermate Lovat

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Another pipe in my ongoing “French Collection”, this one came in a lot of pipes from a local auction. It’s a good-looking pipe, despite its considerable superficial blemishes. This pipe is a Lovat – a member of the Canadian family of pipe shapes. It has a long, round shank with a short, saddle stem. It was made by the famous and long-standing French pipe maker Butz-Choquin and is a wounded but very attractive pipe. As I don’t have photos of the restoration process this time, I am merely doing a “before and after” display of this charming pipe. Both Pipedia and Pipephil have good write-ups on the history of Butz-Choquin and I encourage you to read both. Also, Steve has restored quite a few and it’s worth having a look at his writings too. For the moment, here is some information from Pipedia:

The pipe, from Metz to Saint-Claude.

Jean-Baptiste Choquin of Metz started out as a tobacconist. This enterprise was prosperous; he had several employees. Among those, there was a certain Gustave Butz who was its first workman and who became his son-in-law by marrying Choquin’s daughter Marie in 1858. 

In 1858 Jean-Baptiste Choquin created, in collaboration with Gustave Butz, the Choquin pipe. This bent pipe with a flat-bottomed bowl was finished with an albatross-bone mouthpiece, fixed with silver rings.

In 1858, still in Metz, Gustave Butz built an establishment for the manufacture of the Choquin pipe which took the name of. In 1951, the Berrod-Regad company bought the trademark, continuing manufacture until 2002. Departing from Metz, the workshop was relocated to Saint-Claude, then also called “the world capital of the briar pipe”, under the Berrod-Regad group. The Berrod-Regad group would go on to completely rebuild the network of representatives until finally entering the export market in 1960 and has since won several prizes, as well as the Gold Cup of French good taste.

In a few years, the brand’s collection increased from ten to seventy series. 135 years after it was founded, the pipe is still well-known not only in France but throughout the world. In 2002, the Berrod family, wishing to preserve manufacture of pipes in Saint-Claude, handed over the company to Fabien Guichon, a native of the area, who will continue to develop the brand during the 21st century.Meanwhile, Pipephil says this:

The origin of the brand reaches back to 1858 when Jean-Baptiste Choquin in collaboration with his son-in-law Gustave Butz created their first pipe in Metz (France). Since 1951 Butz-Choquin Site officiel Butz Choquin, pipes de Saint-Claude jura. BC pipe de bruyere luxe is a brand of the Berrod-Regad group (Saint-Claude, France).

Jean Paul Berrod managed the company from 1969 to 2002 when he retired and sold the corporate to Mr Fabien Gichon. Denis Blanc, allready owner of EWA, took over the S.A. Berrod-Regad in 2006.

In an old Butz-Choquin catalogue, I found the pipe shape in question, listed with its requisite number:On the left side of the shank, it reads Butz-Choquin [over] Supermate (which is the model name). On the right side of the shank, it reads St Claude, France [over] 1602. On the left side of the stem is the company’s logo, a “BC”. The logo is in decent condition, but not perfect. This pipe was heavily used – in fact, pretty much everything is wrong with this pipe. The stem has been chomped and smashed by the onslaught of teeth. There is horrific calcification and oxidation. It’s been scratched and beaten and battered. The stummel has fared no better. It’s clearly been through the wars. It’s filthy and badly stained by who-knows-what. The bowl is full of cake and the rim is overflowing with lava. There are burns and bumps and scrapes. The wood itself is actually very attractive – despite a couple of fills – but it will take all of my “nous” (as my English friends would say) to get this pipe back to life. I scrubbed the stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame in order to lift the few bite marks and dents. Then I cleaned out the inside with pipe cleaners and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol.

I wiped down the stem with SoftScrub cleaner to remove surface oxidation. Then the stem went for an overnight soak in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. The next day, I used SoftScrub again with some cotton rounds.

After this, I used some nail polish to restore the logo on the stem. I built up the tooth dents on the stem with black cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure. I then used my Micromesh pads and Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil to make it look great. I reamed out the stummel and removed all the filth. Fortunately, there was no damage to the interior walls. I used cotton rounds and some Murphy’s Oil Soap to scrub the outside of the stummel and a toothbrush with Murphy’s for the lava on the rim of the pipe.

I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes. I then de-ghosted the and the bowl was nice and clean after this.

I repaired the fills in the wood, then took my Micromesh pads to sand and smooth everything out. Because of the suffering this pipe endured, I decided to apply some stain to the wood and I was absolutely delighted with the results. The pipe looked so good!After that, a light application of Before & After Restoration Balm brought out the best in the stummel’s grain. I took it to the buffer. A dose of White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax were just what this pipe needed.

This Butz-Choquin Supermate 1602 lovat looks amazing now – in fact, it hardly looks like the same pipe! Its beauty is back again and it is ready to be enjoyed by the next owner! I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘French’ pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5⅔ in. (144 mm); height 1¾ in. (44 mm); bowl diameter 1⅓ in. (33 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (20 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1 oz. (29 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Breathing Life into a Dunhill Bruyere 250EX F/T Made in England2 2A Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe that I am working on came from our connection in Copenhagen, Denmark we purchased on 01/08/24. It was very dirty and rich combination of red and brown stains when it started. The smooth finish around the bowl was dirty and had hand oils ground into the finish. The bowl had a thick cake and a coat of lava flowing onto the inner edge and the rim top. There was also some burn damage on the rim top and the outer edge of the bowl and down the front. The classic fishtail stem was very dirty, oxidized and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was a white spot on the topside of the stem. The fit of the stem to the shank is perfect. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and read 250 EX F/T followed by Dunhill [over] Bruyere. On the right side it is stamped Made in London [over] England with the superscript 2 (date stamp) after the D of England. That is followed by 2 (size of pipe) in a circle A for Bruyere. Jeff took photos of the pipe so I could have a sense of what it looked like before he started his work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls of the bowl. There was a thick lava build up on the top of the rim and the edge of the bowl. There appeared to be some burn damage on the top front and outer edge of the bowl. Only clean up would tell the full story. Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the tooth chatter, marks and oxidation on the stem. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the grime in the finish around the sides of the bowl and shank. Even under the dirt and debris of the years it looked very good. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping was faint in spots but nonetheless still readable as you can see from the photos. It read as noted above. I turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Root Briar Pipes to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Bruyere

The original finish produced (usually made using Calabrian briar), and a big part of developing and marketing the brand. It was the only finish from 1910 until 1917. A dark reddish-brown stain. Before the 1950s, there were three possible finishes for Dunhill pipes. The Bruyere was a smooth finish with a deep red stain, obtained through two coats, a brown understain followed by a deep red.

There was a link on the above site to a section specifically written regarding the Bruyere finish (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Bruyere). I turned there and have included the information from that short article below.

Initially, made from over century-old briar burls, classified by a “B” (denoted highest quality pipe); “DR” (denoted straight-grained) and an “A” (denoted first quality), until early 1915. After that, they became a high-end subset to the Dunhill ‘Bruyere’. The DR and B pipes, a limited production, they should be distinguished as hand-cut in London from burls as opposed to the Bruyere line which was generally finished from French turned bowls until 1917, when the Calabrian briar started to be used, but not completely. Only in 1920 Dunhill took the final step in its pipe making operation and began sourcing and cutting all of its own bowls, proudly announcing thereafter that “no French briar was employed”.

Bruyere pipes were usually made using Calabrian briar, a very dense and hardy briar that has a modest grain but does very well with the deep red stain.

“Before the 1950s, there were three possible finishes for Dunhill pipes. The Bruyere was a smooth finish with a deep red stain, obtained through two coats, a brown understain followed by a deep red. The Shell finish was the original sandblast with a near-black stain (though the degree to which it is truly black has varied over the years). Lastly, the Root finish was smooth also but with a light brown finish. Early Dunhill used different briars with different stains, resulting in more distinct and identifiable creations… Over the years, to these traditional styles were added four new finishes: Cumberland, Dress, Chestnut and Amber Root, plus some now-defunct finishes, such as County, Russet and Red Bark.”

There was also a link to a catalogue page that gave examples and dates that the various finishes were introduced (https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:Dunnypipescatalog-1.png).I turned to Pipephil’s dating guide to show how I arrived at the date of manufacture for this pipe (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). I am including the chart that is provided there for the dating a pipe. I have drawn a red box around the section. Since the pipe I am working on has a suffix 2 that is raised. It to the 1960 line on the chart below. It also gave me the formula for dating the pipe – 1960 + suffix 2 = 1962.In an earlier blog I had come across the EX stamp – in this case 250EX. From what I found on that blog I quote below: https://rebornpipes.com/2020/05/09/breathing-life-into-a-1957-or-is-it-a-1967-dunhill-root-briar-251-ex606-billiard/

I posted a question on the stamping on the Tobacco Pipe Restorers Group on Facebook and got this response from Alfredo Baquerizo:

This is a Root Briar from 1957 shape 251, group 3 and the R is for root. It’s an EX an exchange pipe by warranty Dunhill system. The 606 I think that is the exchange pipe number, I’m not sure.

I also posted on the Vintage Dunhill Pipes Group on Facebook and enjoyed the responses. One of the posters there, Jean-Paul Varon gave this information.

Ex606 = exchange of a pipe under guarantee.

That was the extent of the information that I could find at this point. It seems likely that the EX is the Dunhill Exchange Warranty system. Is it possible that the 250EX could be that the original 250 F/T pipe has been exchanged for this replacement?

I now knew that I was working on a Bruyere that came out in 1962. The shape of the pipe was one of many Billiards that Dunhill put out and that the #250EX F/T was a normal billiard shape with a taper stem. As noted above the EX could be an exchange.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had carried out his usual thorough cleanup of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer to remove the cake and cleaned the reaming up 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 scrubbed it down with Soft Scrub All-Purpose cleaner to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very clean 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 is clean. The rim top and the inner edge show some darkening and damage to the inner and outer edge. The stem came out looking clean. There were some tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took photos of the stamping on the shank. It is faint but still very readable. There was also a very faint stamp on the stem but I am still not certain it is the correct stem because of the fit and shape of the stem. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. This weekend when I visited with Jeff I picked up a bottle of Before & After Briar Cleaner developed by Mark Hoover that had been sent to me. This evening I decided to try out the product. I applied it to the bowl and scrubbed the surface with a tooth brush. I wiped off the product with a clean paper towel and it had removed a lot of the remaining darkening on the surface of the briar. I took photos of the pipe to show how well it worked. I was very pleased how clean the rim top and side of the bowl came out. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the damage 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. Even after reworking the edge there was some damage that remained on the left front inner and outer edge of the bowl. I left it as removing it would damage the shape and thickness of the bowl walls.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. By the final pads the briar really had a shine. The bowl had a trough worn in the bottom caused by aggressive use of pipe cleaners. I mixed up a batch of pipe mud – cigar ash and water and put a pipe cleaner in the airway. I pressed the pipe mud into the trough with a dental spatula and a folded pipe cleaner to raise the bottom of the bowl.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. 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 comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the stem with the flame of a light to lift the tooth marks from the surface. I was able to lift them significantly. I filled in what remained with a clear CA glue. I used some small files to flatten out the repairs to the surface. I sanded what remained with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. The stem really began to look very good. I sanded the stem with sanding pads- using 3200-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. The stem was beginning to look 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. It really took on a shine and I knew that once it was buffed it would look amazing. This Dunhill Bruyere 250EX F/T Group 2A Billiard from 1962 is a beautiful looking piece of briar that has a shape that follows grain. It is a great looking pipe that came out looking even better after the cleanup. The Bruyere is an early finish that Dunhill specialized in making. The finish on the pipe cleaned up well. The red and brown stain on the bowl works well to highlight the grain. The polished black vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. With the grime gone from the finish and the bowl it was a beauty and is eye-catching. There was some burn damage on the outer edge of the bowl that remained. 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 and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Bruyere 250EX F/T Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 27 grams/.95 ounces. It will soon be added to the British Pipe Makers Section on the rebornpipes store. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next generation.