Tag Archives: Bowl – finishing

Refurbishing a C.G.F Majestic Bruyere

Blog by Paresh Deshpande

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Touch of TLC to Resurrect a Luigi Viprati 5* Grade Volcano

1 Reply

Blog by Paresh Deshpande

When I first laid my eyes on this pipe, I knew I had to have it. It was not the brand nor was it the shape and size that got me attracted, but it was the beautiful straight grains all around that caught my attention.

This is a beautiful volcano with perfectly straight grains all around and a flat bottom with some fantastic bird’s eye grains. This flat bottom extends to the lower shank surface and is adorned by; you guessed it right, bird’s eye grains. It is stamped on the left shank surface as “L. VIPRATI” in flourishing cursive hand over “HAND MADE ITALY”. The bottom flat surface of the shank bears five clover leaves, which I think is the grading for this pipe. The top surface of the black acrylic stem bears a fancy intertwined letters L and V in metal, most likely aluminum.Luigi Viprati is a brand that was completely unknown to me until the moment I laid my eyes on this handsome hunk and thus I set about to know more about the brand and it’s carver. Reborn pipes is usually the first place where I hunt for information on all things related to pipe brands and apparently, this may be the first Luigi Viprati pipe to feature on Reborn pipes. The next site I visit for pipe related information is pipedia.org and sure enough there was information on the brand. Given below is the link to the Viprati page on the site and snippets of information reproduced for quick reference.

https://pipedia.org/wiki/Viprati

Though we are accustomed, in Italy, to the quality of design and have always abounded in beautiful and bizarre models of pipes, the creations of Luigi Viprati strikes our eyes. And … think that he is a self-taught.

As a pipe smoker, he began to realize pipes during the free time since the 1972, either for himself than his friends. But his hobby has been stronger and stronger during the years so to become his real job. From then on, his pipes, that in the upper quality have a perfect veining of pellet or flame, are really required. Viprati offers numerous series; one of them the “”Collection Special”” is decorated with silver ornaments applied on the blowpipe and on the head: they are really works of art.

HANDMADE PIPES, HOW IS BORN MY PASSION FOR THE PIPE?

“If you can’t be a highway, then just be a trail, If you can’t be the sun, be a star; It isn’t the size that you win or you fail… Be the best of whatever you are.” Martin Luther King

When a passion catches you when you are young, you will be fascinated by it for your whole life. It all began in 1972, during my military service, when I bought a briar root and I carved a pipe just for fun. This is how a long life passion was born. In the following years, I became more and more expert on briar wood, delving into the ancient culture of pipes. In 1984, I started to sign my pipes with the brand “La Pipa di Viprati” and soon after I met Alberto Paronelli, a well-known producer and founder of an important museum dedicated to the pipe. It was then that I clearly realized my purpose: creating high quality pipes. Now, after having created so many pipes which have made a lot of pipe smokers happy, the idea of this website has come into my mind, in order to show what my hands and my mind have been able to create in these forty years. Years dedicated to a unique and special object, a great companion of our life.

SALVADOR DALI COLLECTION

Each year, beginning in 2003, Luigi Viprati creates a new limited edition pipe for his Salvador Dali Collection, in homage to the great artist’s centenary. Each pipe in the series incorporates unique and distinctive characteristics seen in Dali’s paintings, as interpreted by Luigi. The pipes are numbered and available in smooth or sandblasted/rusticated finishes.

I think I have just added a pipe to my ever growing bucket list of desirable pipes! Continuing with further exploration on the carver to better I visited various sites and have reproduced relevant information below along with the source.

https://www.pipeshop-saintclaude.com/luigi-viprati-handmade-pipes-49

Pipes made by the Italian craftsman Luigi Viprati are all unique handmade creations. Luigi Viprati first worked with renowned Italian pipe makers for a number of years, before starting his own brand in 1984. He only uses briar from the Italian regions of Liguria, Tuscany and Calabria. Nowadays, thanks to the very high quality of his work, Luigi Viprati’s pipes are famous all around the world. His pipes are classified according to a 1-to-5 clover-scale.

https://www.bollitopipe.it/en/60-viprati

Luigi Viprati has built a justifiably powerful reputation for hand crafting some of the most breathtaking straight grains available anywhere. No one realizes this more than Viprati who has built strong personal relationships with the mills or “segerie” which supply his briar, and he visits them periodically to hand select each block of the extra-extra plateaux briar. Recently, Viprati lengthened his usual visit by accompanying the harvesting crew into the dry hills of Tuscany. There he saw how the briar is wrested from the earth, and the meticulous handling it goes through to ensure the smoking characteristics of fine briar.

https://www.tobaccoreviews.com/an-artists-soul-pipemaker-luigi-viprati/

Luigi Viprati says that he’s retired, but he has a damn funny sense of retirement. While he’s no longer putting in the daily grind of work each day to produce the 1,500 or so pipes he used to make each year, he’s still committing a good amount of his time inside his small workshop in Pontoglio, Italy, refining the art he loves most. Instead of donning his fishing cap or buying a set of golf clubs, Viprati is spending his “retirement” passionately pursuing and perfecting the craft for which he has become world-famous—and he is now aiming to produce just 100 pipes of his best quality each year. Anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting the Italian pipemaker, who is now in his mid-60s, wouldn’t expect anything less from him.

Great pipes cannot be created without excellent quality briar. Throughout the years, Viprati has placed such importance on obtaining the best briar available that he regularly went up into Italy’s forested mountains in Sicily, Calabria and Tuscany with the briar harvesters to be the first to pick through the harvest and select the best pieces for himself, including some of the largest briar roots cut from the earth. After selecting the briar boles he wished to purchase, he also discussed with the briar cutters how he wanted his briar to be cut into blocks, preferring larger ebauchons that routinely gave him more options when it came time to carve them into pipes. Once he had returned to his workshop with a ready supply of briar, Viprati always set aside the best in his inventory because he knew that it would be those briar blocks that would yield the super high-quality pipes he really wanted to make.

For most of the pipes he made throughout his career, Viprati typically used briar that had been aged between three and four years; for the highest quality lines—Straight Grain, Collection and Ciro’s Collection—the briar has been aged for at least seven years, and more often it has been aged for at least 10 years.

“A good pipemaker tries to follow the briar and understand the grain,” Viprati explains. “I start with an idea, and the briar tells me what it wants, and I adapt the idea. I use only Italian briar from Tuscany, Calabria and Sicily because Italian briar is the best. The most important thing is who cuts it—he has to be clever to cut it the right way. You can have the best piece of briar and cut it the wrong way, and then it is [crap].”

Having now armed myself with the information and a better and deeper appreciation of the art, skill, ethos and mindset of the carver, LUIGI VIPRATI, it’s time for me to move ahead with inspection of this pipe.

Initial Visual Inspection
There was a thick layer of hard and even cake in the chamber. There was no crud and gunk nor any signs of charring/ lighting marks over the rim top surface. The mortise was relatively clean. The stummel surface appears clean but the appearance was dull and lifeless. The acrylic stem was also very clean with some minor scratches and tooth chatter in the bite zone. All said and done, this pipe was very clean and would just require some cleaning and polishing to bring this pipe back to it’s former glory. The following pictures will give the readers a general idea about the condition of the pipe as it sat on the work table. Detailed Inspection
This pipe has a huge chamber and at 31/4 inches, is one of the larger ones in my collection. The chamber widens considerably at the heel of the bowl while being narrow at the mouth of the chamber. There is a thick layer of hard and even cake inside the bowl and more so towards the bottom of the chamber. There is no lava over flow on to the rim top surface and the inner and outer rim edges are in good condition. The chamber walls will be inspected for signs of damage like heat fissures, pits or burnouts after the cake has been completely eliminated and the bare briar is exposed. However, given the solid feel of the external stummel surface this seems unlikely. The ghost smells points towards Virginia tobacco that the previous custodian had likely smoked in this pipe. The stummel boasts of beautiful straight grains all around the surface and along the sides of the shank while fantastic bird’s eye grains adorns the foot of the stummel, top and bottom surfaces of the shank. It is evident that Luigi Viparti has let the grains of the wood dictate the shape of this pipe in consonance with his design philosophy. The dark stains of the grains contrasts with the lighter hues of the rest of the briar further accentuating the straight and bird’s eye grains. The stummel surface is very clean but dull and lackluster due to use and storage. There are a few very minor thin fills towards the aft of the bowl and can be identified by the pale putty (encircled in yellow) which can be seen in the following pictures. The mortise is also relatively clean. This pipe does seem to be well cared for and must have been a treasured pipe of the previous owner. The acrylic stem surface has a few scratches and minor tooth chatter in the bite zone on either surface. The tenon opening and the slot are clean without any accumulation of old oils and gunk.The Process
I started this project by running a pipe cleaner dipped in alcohol through the stem airway and was pleased to note that it came out perfectly clean. The previous steward had really looked after this pipe with great care.Next I addressed the minor scratches and tooth chatter in the bite zone by sanding the surface with a folded piece of 400 grit sandpaper. I ran the sandpaper along the button edges also to sharpen it a bit.The excitement of seeing a nicely polished and shining stummel with those exquisite straight and bird’s eye grains resplendent in all it’s glory made me decide to work on the stummel. The narrow mouth of the chamber with a slight broad heel of the stummel meant that use of my trusted PipNet reamer was ruled out. Thus, I reamed the chamber with my knife. Once the cake was taken down to the bare briar, I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to sand the chamber walls to remove residual cake and even out the wall surface. I wiped the chamber with a cotton swab wetted with alcohol to clean the carbon dust and expose the briar. There is a web of very thin minor heat veins toward the back and above the draught hole. Though not an immediate major concern, it needs to be addressed now to prevent any disasters in future. However, there was a spot on the right side of the chamber where the briar was slightly more charred (encircled in red). I cleaned out all the charred briar from that area and will address it towards the end. I believe that this damage to the inner walls of the chamber was caused by the use of a jet lighter to light the tobacco and hence must be avoided at all costs. This was followed by cleaning the mortise with pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol. I scraped the walls of the mortise with my fabricated knife to remove the dried oils and tars. The old smells of the tobacco are still strong and would need more invasive methods to get rid of these odours.I continued the cleaning of the chamber and shank internals with a salt and alcohol bath. I used cotton balls which is an at par substitute as I have realized over the years. I drew out a wick from the cotton and along with a folded regular pipe cleaner; inserted it into the mortise and through the draught hole into the chamber. Thereafter, I packed the chamber with cotton balls to about quarter of an inch below the inner rim edge and soaked the cotton balls with isopropyl alcohol up to the brim. About half an hour later, the level of alcohol had gone down, having being absorbed by the cotton. I topped it up once again and set it aside overnight. By the next morning, the cotton and alcohol had drawn out all the remaining oils and tars from the chamber and mortise, fulfilling it’s intended task. I removed the cotton balls and ran pipe cleaners through the mortise to clean out all the loosened tars and gunk. The chamber now smells clean and fresh. I set the stummel aside to dry out naturally.With the bowl internals clean, I moved to clean the exterior of the stummel. I used a hard bristled tooth brush and wood cleaner soap to scrub the stummel and rim top. I washed the stummel under running warm water with anti oil dish washing detergent and Scotch Brit pad till the stummel surface was clean and dried it using paper towels and a soft cotton cloth. The stummel surface, including the rim top has cleaned up nicely with the beautiful grain patterns on full display. The three very small fills that I had noticed under magnification, are all solid and refreshing them is not required. I simultaneously cleaned the shank internals with the detergent and hard bristled shank brush and set the stummel aside to dry out naturally.While the stummel was set aside to dry, I decided to complete the preliminary polishing of the stem. I wet sanded the stem surface with 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit sandpapers. This progressive use of higher grit sandpapers helps to eliminate remaining oxidation and also eliminate the sanding marks left behind the lower grit sandpapers. I wiped the stem with a little EVO to hydrate and deepen the shine over the stem surface.I went through the 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads to wet sand the stem. The stem now has a nice deep shine with no traces of oxidation around the entire stem surface.Next, I polished the stummel with micromesh pads, wet sanding through 1500 to 12000 pads, wiping the surface with a soft cloth at the end of the micromesh cycle. The stummel looks amazing with a deep shine and beautiful grains popping over the stummel surface. I massaged a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” with my fingers into the briar. The immediate and incredible transformation that takes place is a worthy reward for all the efforts!!! I let the balm sit on the surface to be absorbed in to the briar for about 20 minutes. The bowl now looks fresh and attractive with the grains popping out any which way you look at the briar. I polished off the balm with a soft cloth to a lovely shine. To apply the finishing touches, I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and applied a coat of Blue Diamond to the stummel and the stem to polish out the minor scratches. This was followed up by polishing the entire pipe with a fresh cotton buffing wheel to remove any excess compound that is left behind. A wipe with a microfiber cloth and the pipe is ready for the next stage of polishing.With a cotton buffing wheel that I use for carnauba wax, I applied a coat of carnauba wax and continued to work on it till the complete coat of wax had been polished out. I mounted a clean cotton cloth buffing wheel and gave the entire pipe a once over buff. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The finished pipe looks beautiful and is ready to be added to my personal collection of pipes. There was only one more issue that needed to be addressed and one that could not be ignored, being a functional issue. Remember the charred spot on the walls of the chamber caused by a jet lighter and the thin web of heat lines? I addressed the former issue first. I decided to fill only the area from where I had removed the charred briar with layer of J B Weld. J B Weld is a two-part epoxy Cold Weld in two tubes; hardener and steel which are mixed in two equal parts (ratio of 1:1) with hardening time of 5-6 minutes and complete curing time of 6-8 hours. I poured the contents of the two tubes and mixed it well. I applied this mix, as evenly as possible, over the heat lines in the chamber wall surface. I worked fast to ensure an even coat before the weld could harden. I set the stummel aside for the application to harden and cure overnight.By the next afternoon, the J B Weld had cured and hardened considerably. With a folded piece of 150 grit sandpaper, I sanded the filled JB Weld from the area till all that remained was a smooth surface with the weld deeply embedded into the heat lines and protecting the briar from further damage.Next, to prevent the walls from coming in to direct contact with the burning tobacco, I mixed activated charcoal and plain yogurt to a thicker consistency, just enough that it would spread easily and applied it evenly all along the chamber walls after inserting a folded pipe cleaner through the draught hole to keep it open. Once dry and set, this will not only protect the walls but also aid in faster build up of cake. This also addressed the minor thin web of heat lines noticed above the draught hole. I set the stummel aside for 2-3 days for the pipe mud to dry out completely. I wish to thank each one for sparing their valuable time to read through this write up and each one is always in my prayers.

Refurbishing an Ultra Lightweight Amphora X-Tra #728 Tall Pixaxe

1 Reply

Blog by Paresh Deshpande

The pipe currently on my work table came to me in the year 2018 from eBay. It’s a beautiful pipe with shallow sandblast, tall pickaxe shaped and very light in weight. I had worked on other Amphora billiards from my Mumbai Bonanza (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/10/11/restoring-16th-pipe-from-the-mumbai-bonanza-lot-an-amphora-x-tra-726/) but it was selected by a very dear friend of mine and I couldn’t refuse him. The moment I selected this pipe to work on, I had decided to add it to my personal collection given the beautiful shape, ultra-light weight and the fact that I had no Amphora in my collection.

The pipe is stamped as “Genuine Briar” over “Amphora Holland” towards the bowl followed by “Amphora” over “X-tra – 728” towards the shank end. The stem bears the trademark stem logo “A” in a circle on the left side on the saddle portion of the vulcanite saddle stem. The stampings are clear and easily readable.Having worked on and researched Amphora brand earlier, I refreshed my memory by revisiting the write up, the link to which has been provided above. I re-read the addendum by Robert M. Boughton which points to a connection of amphora pipes to Dr. Grabow!!!! This does make for a very interesting read and is highly recommended. Here is the link to the write up:

https://rebornpipes.com/2016/08/24/about-the-winner-of-an-amphora-bent-billiard-and-more-information-on-the-brand/

With my memory refreshed, let’s move ahead with the initial visual inspection of this pipe.

Initial visual inspection

The pipe has some beautiful shallow sandblast with the bird’s eye grains showing as pits over the sides of the stummel while the horizontal sandblasts showing cross grains to the front and back of the bowl. There is a decent layer of cake in the chamber with overflowing lava on the rim top surface. The stummel tapers down to a very narrow point at the foot of the stummel. The mortise shows accumulation of dried oils, tars and gunk. The stem shows tooth chatter and indentation over the lower surface in the bite zone. The virgin finish of the stummel gives it a nice clean look and has darkened as it was smoked over the years. The light weight and the thin stem make it perfect for clenching. This should be a nice and easy project. Detailed visual inspection
The tall pickaxe shaped stummel has some beautiful shallow sandblast which highlights the bird’s eye grains over the sides of the stummel and shank surface while the straight cross grains adorn the front and back of the bowl and also over the top of the shank surface. The surface is covered in dirt, dust and grime from usage giving it a dull, dark and lifeless appearance. The stummel tapers towards the foot making for a prominent chin which than extends upwards to the shank. The bottom surface of the shank is smooth and bears all the stampings described above. The bowl is solid to the touch and i don’t foresee any major damage to the chamber walls. The mortise shows remnants of dried oils, tars and gunk. The chamber shows a thick layer of dry and hard cake. The rim top surface has darkened by overflowing lava. The steeply narrowing of the chamber towards the heel will pose a challenge while taking the cake down to the bare briar. The inner and outer rim edges are in pristine condition with no visible damage or discoloration. The condition of the chamber walls will be ascertained only once the cake has been removed. The step tenon saddle vulcanite stem has light oxidation over the surface. The bottom of the saddle portion is flat and sits flush with the flat bottom of the shank. There is some tooth chatter and bite mark in the bite zone over the lower surface with some bite marks over the button edge. The tenon end and the horizontal slot are relatively clean.The process
The process of refurbishing this pipe started with the cleaning of the stem. I cleaned the stem air way with regular and bristled pipe cleaners dipped in 99.9% pure alcohol followed by further cleaning of the stem internals with thin shank brushes and dish soap to remove the any stubborn residual gunk from within the airway.Once the stem internals had been cleaned, i gently sand the stem surface with a used piece of 220 grit sand paper and immersed it in “before and after deoxidizer” solution along with the stem of other pipes in line for restoration. The amphora is indicated with a green arrow.The next evening, I removed the stems that had been soaking in the deoxidizer solution overnight. I cleaned the stem and the stem airway under running warm water and scrubbed the raised oxidation from the stem surface using a Scotch Brite pad and the airway with thin shank brush. I further removed the oxidation by scrubbing the stem with 0000 grade steel wool and applied a little olive oil to rehydrate the stem.The deep tooth indentations are now clearly visible. I used a lighter to heat and raise these indentations to the surface. These tooth indentations were raised to the surface to some extent due to the heating; however, it would require a fill to complete the repairs. I prepared a mix of ca superglue and activated charcoal and carefully applied it over the damaged bite zone on the lower surface and lip and set it aside for curing overnight. I had applied this mix in sufficient thickness which would help during the filing and sanding to match the fills with the stem surface.With the stem repairs set aside to cure, i reamed the bowl with my Pipnet pipe reamer using the first head size. Using my fabricated knife, i cleaned the cake from areas which could not be reached by the reamer heads. I used a 220 grit sand paper, pinched between my thumb and forefinger, to sand the inner walls of the chamber. Once i had reached the bare walls, i wiped the chamber with a cotton pad dipped in isopropyl alcohol. This removed all the residual carbon dust and also allowed a clear inspection of the walls. The walls of the chamber are nice and solid with no signs of heat fissures or cracks. The beveled inner rim edge shows no charring or chipping. I cleaned the mortise and shank walls using q-tips, shank brush, regular and hard bristled pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol. I scraped the walls with a dental tool and removed the entire accumulated gunk. I shall further clean it with a shank brush and liquid dish soap once i clean the stummel surface. With the bowl internals clean, i move to clean the exterior of the stummel. I cleaned the surface using Murphy’s Oil Soap and used a hard-bristled tooth brush to scrub the stummel and rim top with the solution. After the scrub with briar cleaner solution, I washed the stummel under running warm water with anti-oil dish washing detergent till clean and dried it using paper towels and soft cotton cloth. I deliberately cleaned the rim top with a brass wire brush and Scotch Brite pad and set the stummel aside to dry out naturally. The stummel surface has cleaned up nicely with the intricate sandblast patterns on full display. I simultaneously cleaned the shank internals with the detergent and hard bristled shank brush. The pipe is now clean and fresh with no ghosting.Next, I rubbed a small quantity of “before and after restoration balm” in to the briar with my fingertips, working it deep in to the sandblasts and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works it’s magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance with the beautiful sandblast patterns displayed in their complete splendour. I further buffed it with a horse hair brush. I set the stummel aside and worked on the stem. The stem fills had cured nicely and using a flat head needle file, i sanded the fill to achieve a rough match with the surrounding stem surface. I further sanded the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper to further blend in the repairs.I followed it with wet sanding the entire stem with 400, 600 and 800 grit sandpapers and further with 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit sandpapers. I wiped the stem with a moist cloth to remove the dust and monitored the progress being made after every three grit papers. Here there is something that i tried new. Instead of resorting to polishing with micromesh pads, i polished the stem with white compound followed by red Tripoli and blue diamond compound. The stem polished up nicely and had a rich deep black shine to it. I applied a little extra virgin olive oil to rehydrate the vulcanite and set the stem aside. To complete the restoration, I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and applied several coats of carnauba wax. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further and remove any residual wax from in between the sandblasts. The finished pipe looks amazingly beautiful and is now ready for its long second innings with me. If only this pipe could share with me its life story of the past years!

Beautifying a Bountiful Bullmoose

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

Restoring a Modified K&P Irish Made

2 Replies

Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

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

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

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

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

The Tanshell

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

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

Clearing Up Some Birks Confusion

2 Replies

Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

This happy little fellow is a sandblasted, stylized bent Zulu by Birks. My cousin gave me three pipes to repair – this is the first one I grabbed. I was interested in it for two reasons. First there was a cracked shank, and I always like giving life back to a pipe with a cracked shank. Second, the pipe comes with the name of the famous Canadian jewellery house, Birks. I’m interested in this because I have several Birks pipes in my workshop and they’re all a little different. More on that in a moment. The markings on the pipe don’t tell us much – but they tell us enough. The only markings are on the underside of the stummel and they read Birks [over] Regency. To the left of that are the words Made in England. Allow me to explain some of this.Birks refers to Henry Birks & Sons, a venerable and well-known luxury store based in Canada (now known as Maison Birks). It has focused primarily on jewellery throughout its history, but also other luxury items like watches, silverware, etc. There has been some discussion in pipe circles about whether Birks sold pipes or not – and whether Birks actually refers to an English company (as Wilczak and Colwell suggested in Who Made That Pipe?). I can say definitively that Henry Birks & Sons sold pipes. They did not manufacture their own, but had others make them for sale at Birks’ stores. Steve has already restored some Birks-branded pipes made by Savinelli. I have Birks-branded pipes made in England and in Denmark.Two further points about this. First, I wonder if Wilczak and Colwell were thinking of an English razor company (also called Birks) that frequently used a maker’s mark that was in the shape of a pipe (rather unhelpfully). For more on that, click here. Second (as I mentioned earlier), this particular pipe has the word Regency on it. Regency specifically refers to a Henry Birks line of silverware, china, etc. – so that makes sense.

The stummel was surprisingly clean when I took hold of it. I did use a few cotton swabs and pipe, cleaners, along with isopropyl alcohol, but it didn’t take much to finish it. I followed that up with some Castile soap, and tube brushes to really scrub the insides. Came out beautifully. I’ve then took some Murphy’s, and a toothbrush and gently scrubbed the years of filth and oil, etc. off of the sandblast. It certainly looked much cleaner after that, albeit much more faded. A new coat of stain will be required, I think. As a result, I took the opportunity to wipe down the stummel, with alcohol to remove some excess old stain, and make sure everything was clean for the repair to the crack in the shank. Let’s move onto the primary repair to this pipe: that crack in the shank. First of all, I took the most micro of micro drill bits and drilled a hole with my Dremel right through the shank wall into the airway. This is an important step as it stops the crack from extending later on in life. The drill bit is so thin that it’s always a bit nerve-racking, because I fear snapping the bit through such hardwood. Fortunately, it worked like a charm this time. I also stuffed the mortice with pipe cleaners coated in Vaseline, so that if – God forbid – any cyanoacrylate adhesive drip into the mortise, it can be easily removed by the petroleum jelly. I ran a thin bead of cyanoacrylate adhesive along the length of the crack, and then held the two sides of the crack together with some vice grips. I let it sit for a few hours to cure. Moving along to the stem. Like the stummel, it was also quite clean, but needed a few more pipe cleaners to finish the job. Of course, I used isopropyl alcohol with them. I then wiped down the stem with Murphy’s on a cotton round. Once done, I put the stem in the deoxidizing fluid, even though there wasn’t much oxidation to speak of. It can’t hurt, and it’ll remove what little there is. After the adhesive cured on the shank, I set about sanding the underside of the stummel because there were a lot of scratches there. I also needed to sand down the bead of adhesive that I put there. It was tricky, because there wasn’t much room to move, with the markings so nearby. I started out by masking those markings with hockey tape, which is a perfect masking material as it is extremely scratch resistant. However, it ended up being more trouble than it was worth given the tight spaces to work in. Instead, I just sanded the area down, freehand, so to speak. It was time to stain the pipe, so I took out my Fiebling’s black leather dye. I thoroughly coated the stummel with a dauber, then flamed it with my BIC lighter to set the color. I repeated this process three more times to ensure a really deep, rich, black colour. it worked a treat.In order to ensure the crack in the shank doesn’t open up again, I decided to add a band to the shank to secure everything in place. The bands always look a little dull when they come out of my drawer, so I polished it up with my micromesh sanding pads. Naturally, I did the same to the stem. Came out beautifully. The next step, of course, was adding the restoration balm to the wood. This not only enriches and enlivens the briar, but helps add a protective layer to the dye in the wood. Off to my bench polisher! As usual, I used white diamond as my first compound, but instead of the regular conservator’s wax that I would use on sandblasted or rusticated pipes, I opted to use Halcyon II this time. It also gives a nice polish to the pipe, but slightly less shiny than normal – which is what I was aiming for.This Birks Bent Zulu looks beautiful once again. I’m sure my cousin will love it. I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much I as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring a Lovely 1982 Dunhill Shell 31101 Liverpool

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

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

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

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

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

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