Tag Archives: Bowl – finishing

Cleaning up a Republic Era Peterson’s 53 Straight Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

I purchased two Peterson’s pipes from a fellow in Eastern Canada. They are shown in the photo below. The top one is a Republic Era K&P Irish Made 53 Billiard. The second one is a 120 Dublin. You will note in the photo below that there is an extra stem included. It is an acrylic fishtail stem that was made for the 120. It is significantly longer (1 inch) than the original and the angles of the curve are more pronounced so the flow of the stem does not look at all the same. The acrylic stem is thicker and does not have the delicacy of the original.Today I decided to work on the second pipe, the Straight Billiard. It is stamped on the left side and reads K&P [over] Irish Made. On the right side of the shank it reads Made in the Republic of Ireland (three lines) followed by the shape number 53. The grain is quite nice on the pipe. 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. The briar was dirty with grime ground into the finish. There was a thick cake in the bowl with darkening and lava overflow onto the inner edge and the rim top. The pipe had a strong smell of the tobacco that had been smoked in it. There is a hint of aromatic to it. The shank was dirty with tars. The stem was an original fishtail made by Peterson. There was some oxidation, calcification and light tooth marks on both sides of the stem. I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the table to show its condition. I took photos of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both. You can see the cake and tobacco debris in the bowl and the lava overflowing onto the back edge and rim top. The grain shows through and I think it will clean up very well. You can see the chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button and the oxidation and light calcification as well.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is clear and readable. I also took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the look of the pipe and show its balance. It is a beauty. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the cake and the lava on the rim top and edges of the bowl. I reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the remaining cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls smooth with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The pipe walls were clean and undamaged with no checking or cracking. I sanded the rim edge and the top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out and remove the darkening and the damage to the top and edge. It looked much better than when I started. I would still need to polish out the darkening.I scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I rinsed the soap and debris off the bowl with running water. I repeated the process until the rim top and the externals were very clean. It looked very good at this point. I cleaned out the internals of the shank, mortise and the airway in the stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. It took a bit of time but it came out clean. There was still a residual smell, a ghost that I would need to work on. Now it was time to deghost the pipe. I stuffed the bowl with cotton bolls and twisted another boll into the shank. I filled the bowl with 99% isopropyl alcohol using and ear syringe. I set it aside to let the mix do its work wicking the oils and tars out of the bowl. It would sit for while I worked on the stem. After four hours I took photos of the bowl and the cotton. It had taken out a lot of tars and oils. I polished the outside of the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. The stain was uneven around the heal of the bowl and on the rim top so I touched up the stain with a Maple Stain Pen. It blended in with the surrounding stain on the upper portion of the bowl. I would need to buff it to further blend it into the surface.I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the finish with my fingertips. The product works to clean, preserve and protect the briar. I let it sit and absorb for 10 minutes. I buffed it off with a soft cloth and then gave it a rigorous buff to raise the shine. It looks good at this point. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the oxidation on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to break it up. I started the polishing with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. When finished I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil. There was still some oxidation remaining on the stem so I would need to do more to remove it.I scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub cleanser and cotton pads to remove the remaining oxidation. It worked very well and removed all of the oxidation that remained on the stem.I polished out the chatter and marks on the stem surface with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil on a cloth after the sanding pads. I finished the hand polishing of the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian oil and set it aside to dry. I am really happy with the way that this Republic Era K&P Irish Made 53 Billiard with a Nickel Ferrule turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a great shape and smooth finished bowl and rim top. The original vulcanite taper stem is really nice. The polished black of the stem works well with the briar and the nickel ferrule. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Republic Era K&P Irish Made Billiard really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 37 grams/ 1.31 ounces. The pipe will be going on the rebornpipes store soon. It will be in the section on Irish Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

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.

Cleaning up a Republic Era Peterson’s 120 & reworking a chopped off P-lip Stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

I purchased two Peterson’s pipes from a fellow in Eastern Canada. They are shown in the photo below. The top one is a Republic Era K&P Irish Made 53 Billiard. The second one is a 120 Dublin. You will note in the photo below that there is an extra stem included. It is an acrylic fishtail stem that was made for the 120. It is significantly longer (1 inch) than the original and the angles of the curve are more pronounced so the flow of the stem does not look at all the same. The acrylic stem is thicker and does not have the delicacy of the original.Today I decided to work on the shape 120 Dublin. It is stamped on the left side and reads Peterson’s [arched over] Dublin. On the right side of the shank it reads Made in the Republic of Ireland (three lines) [over] 120. The grain is quite nice on the pipe. There is a silver ferrule on the shank that is stamped Peterson’s [over] Dublin followed by Sterling [over] Silver followed by three hallmarks – 1. Hibernia seated with a harp designating the country of origin, 2. A crowned harp designating the quality of the silver used, 3. A date letter which in this case is the italic letter Q which dates the pipe to 2001. The briar was dirty with grime ground into the finish. There was a thick cake in the bowl with darkening and lava overflow onto the inner edge and the rim top. The pipe had a strong smell of the tobacco that had been smoked in it. There is a hint of aromatic to it. The shank was dirty with tars. The stem had originally been a P-lip but someone had cut off the end of the stem removing the P-lip and leaving behind a single hole high in the button. There was some light oxidation and light tooth marks on both sides of the stem. I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the table to show its condition. I took photos of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both. You can see the cake and tobacco debris in the bowl and the lava overflowing onto the back edge and rim top. The grain shows through and I think it will clean up very well. You can see the chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button and the oxidation and light calcification as well. The cut off P-lip looks good showing the button edges.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is clear and readable. I also took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the look of the pipe and show its balance. It is a beauty. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the shape of the button and slot. It was a single round hole and was high in the button. I would need to reshape it. I used a slot saw to open up the slot. It took some work but it came out looking better. You can see from the photo below that the airway hole is below the slot. It is a round divot at the bottom edge of the slot. The slot looks better but will still need to be shaped more. I filled in the round divot in the first photo with black CA glue. I pressed it into the round divot with a tooth pick and layered it until the flow of the slot was even. Once the repair cured I used 220 grit sandpaper to shape the button edges and give the slot an oval look.I set the stem aside and turned my attention to the bowl. I reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the remaining cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls smooth with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The pipe walls were clean and undamaged with no checking or cracking. I scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I rinsed the soap and debris off the bowl with running water. I repeated the process until the rim top and the externals were very clean. It looked very good at this point. I cleaned out the internals of the shank, mortise and the airway in the stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. It took a bit of time but it came out clean. There was still a residual smell, a ghost that I would need to work on. I polished the outside of the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. Now it was time to deghost the pipe. I stuffed the bowl with cotton bolls and twisted another boll into the shank. I filled the bowl with 99% isopropyl alcohol using and ear syringe. I set it aside to let the mix do its work wicking the oils and tars out of the bowl. It would sit for while I worked on the stem. After four hours I took photos of the bowl and the cotton. It had taken out a lot of tars and oils. I cleaned out the shank and let the bowl dry. I rubbed it down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the finish with my fingertips. The product works to clean, preserve and protect the briar. I let it sit and absorb for 10 minutes. I buffed it off with a soft cloth and then gave it a rigorous buff to raise the shine. It looks good at this point. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I polished out the chatter and marks on the stem surface with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil on a cloth after the sanding pads. I finished the hand polishing of the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian oil and set it aside to dry.   I am really happy with the way that this Republic Era Peterson’s 120 Dublin with a Sterling Silver Ferrule turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a great shape and smooth finished bowl. The modified stem is really nice. The polished black of the stem works well with the briar and the silver ferrule. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Republic Era Peterson’s 120 really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. The reworked P-lip to Fishtail vulcanite stem conversion cleaned up very well. It looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 47 grams/ 1.66 ounces The pipe will be going on the rebornpipes store soon. It will be in the section on Irish Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

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.

Replacing a broken tenon and restoring a Stanwell de Luxe

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Blog by Steve Laug

Earlier in July I received an email from Peter, a fellow in California regarding a pipe repair he needed. He wrote as follows.

Hi, I’m just wondering if you can repair a Stanwell pipe for me? The stem broke off inside the pipe. Thanks for your time, Peter.

I wrote him back asking for photos so I could have a look at it. I figured he meant that the tenon snapped off inside the shank but I wanted to be certain. He replied

Thanks so much for your very fast response. Pictures are below. Best wishes, Peter We chatted back and forth a bit and Peter decided to send the pipe to me. I received it yesterday and here is what I saw once I unwrapped it. The photos tell the story but here is my review of it. The finish was dirty and worn. The bowl had a thick cake and there was lava buildup flowing along the inner edge and into the plateau on the rim top. The stem was snapped off leaving the tenon in the shank. Fortunately, there was no damage to the shank itself. It did not have any cracks in the sides. The shank end showed a lot of tar buildup. The tenon was still in the shank. The snap at the stem was fairly clean and would just need to be flattened. The stem itself showed a lot of oxidation, calcification and light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The pipe was stamped on the left side and read Stanwell [over] de Luxe. I could not see any other stamping on the shank. There was a gold crown S on the left side of the saddle stem. This was going to be fun to bring back to life. I decided to begin working on the pipe by trying to pull the broken tenon with my usual methods. I put the bowl in the freezer for 30 minutes, then inserted a screw into the airway in the shank. I wiggled the screw and tried to break it free. It was no use. I used a qtip to dribble alcohol around the edges of the broken tenon in the shank. I repeated that several times and let it sit. I was still unable to remove the broken tenon in the shank. It was stuck and nothing seemed to loosen it. With the tenon being stuck in the shank I stepped up the process and drilled it out. I started with a drill bit slightly larger than the airway. I have had good success in drilling and in the process having the tenon come out on the drill bit. In this case I worked through four drill bits until I used one that was slightly small than the mortise. I then scraped out the remainder of the bits of vulcanite in the shank with a small pen knife until the walls were clear. I took a photo of the pipe at this point in the process – the tenon drilled out, a replacement tenon and the stem. Now it is ready for the next part of my work. I set the stem and tenon aside so that I could work on the bowl and shank. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer. I took the cake back to bare walls so I could check out the walls for damage or checking. It looked very good. I scraped out the remnants of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and then sanded it with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel to smooth out the walls of the bowl. I worked on the buildup in the plateau surface of the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush. I was able to remove the heaviest part of the lava in the grooves of the plateau surface. It looked better but would need to be scrubbed. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scoured the surface of the briar and rinsed and repeated the process until the bowl was clean and the rim top looking very good. I cleaned up the darkening on the smooth bevelled portion of the inner rim edge next. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage and also smooth it out. I touched up the deep grooves in the plateau with a black Sharpie pen. The rim top and edge look very good.I polished the smooth rim top portions and the exterior of the pipe with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust and debris. By the last pad it was looking very good with a shine in the briar that highlights the grain. I cleaned out the shank and mortise with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I wanted to remove the oils and tars so that I would have a clean surface for the new tenon that I was fitting in the shank. It cleaned up and certainly smelled better once cleaned.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to get into the plateau top. The product works to clean, preserve and protect the briar. I let it sit and work into the briar for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a cotton cloth. I buffed the briar with a clean cloth. The bowl is starting to look beautiful and there is a shine developing. At this point the bowl was finished until I finished with the new tenon insertion. I set the bowl aside and took a photo of the new tenon and the tools for reducing the diameter to fit in the shank. I used the Dremel and a sanding drum to reduce the diameter. I cleaned up the work with a file and then 220 grit sandpaper to get it to a point where the tenon fit in the shank.I put the stem in a bath of Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and set it aside while I worked on the tenon fit. I left it in the bath for three hours and then removed it and rubbed off the bath with a paper towel. The surface of the stem looked significantly better at this point. The oxidation was greatly reduced, the calcification was gone and the stem showed improvement. The tooth marks would still need to be worked on but there was progress.I cleaned out the airway in the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol the drilled the airway to match the diameter of the new tenon insertion. I started with a drill bit the same size as the airway and gradually increased the bit size until it matched the outside diameter of the tenon. I took a photo of the newly drilled end of the stem. I cleaned up the airway once again in preparation for gluing the new tenon in place. I wiped the tenon end down with black CA glue and then aligned the tenon and the mortise. I pressed the tenon in place in the stem and set it aside to cure. Once it cured I took a photo of the stem and new tenon with the bowl before putting them back together. Once the glue cured I fit the stem in the shank. As seems to be very usual when I do this kind of thing the fit against the shank was not perfect. I would need to shape the stem and shank to make the fit and flow perfect. I took photos of the pipe at this point. The fit is not far off but just enough to be noticeable in the photos on the top and underside and slightly on the right and left sides. I sanded the shank and the stem to match and make the transition smooth all the way around the junction. I used 220 grit sandpaper and sanded it in place on the shank. I had to remove briar and vulcanite on the sides of the shank according to the transition. When finished it looked much better. I polished the sanded areas with micromesh sanding pads to make them smooth. I used an Oak stain pen to touch up the sanded areas and blend them into the rest of the bowl and shank. It blends in very well.I rubbed it down once again with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar and let it sit for 10 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. I polished the bowl with a cotton cloth and set it aside. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to finishing the work on the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them significantly. I filled in what remained with black CA glue. Once the repair cured I used files to smooth out the surface of the repair. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the stem. I started the polishing of the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – Fine and Extra Fine. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and buffed it off with a cloth and buffed it to a shine. I am really happy with the way that this Stanwell Danish Made de Luxe Freehand turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a great shape and smooth finished bowl and plateau on the rim top. The original vulcanite saddle stem is cleaned up nicely. The polished black of the stem works well with the briar and the plateau portions. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Stanwell de Luxe really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 56 grams/1.98 oz. The pipe will be going back to Peter very soon. I look forward to hearing what he thinks about it. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

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.

Cleaning up the worst used of the lot a Ben Wade Martinique Made in Denmark Freehand

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Blog by Steve Laug

A few weeks ago I was contacted from a fellow in Montana who was selling his pipes as they had not been used for quite a few years. I asked him for a picture and he sent me the one to the left. It included the following brands (from the top to the bottom of the photo): Savinelli Autograph 5 Freehand, Mastro de Paja Ciocco 0C Bulldog, Mastro de Paja Media 1B Bent Billiard, Ser Jacopo Delecta Octagonal Bent Billiard, Caminetto Business KS 118 Canadian, Radici Rind Rhodesian, Dunhill Bruyere ODA 836 Panel Billiard, Barontini Straight Grain B3 Freehand and a Ben Wade Martinique Hand Made in Denmark Freehand.

Almost all of them were higher end pipes and all were hand made pipes. They were a mix of finishes – smooth, sandblast and also rusticated. They were a mix of shapes as well and the majority of them were Italian Made other than the Dunhill and the Ben Wade Martinique. They were beautiful pipes and after exchanging quite a few photos of the pipes from various angles to get a sense of what was there we struck a deal. We sent him the payment and the pipes arrived in Idaho a few days after I left for Vancouver. They were certainly more dirty than we were led to believe but that is not an issue.

Jeff cleaned them all and this week I received them in Vancouver. I am impressed with the way they cleaned up and the beauty of the brands. They truly are some beautiful pipes. I just need to put the final touches on each of them and address issues on the bowl tops, rims and stems and they should be good to go. I am really looking forward to working on each of them in the days ahead.

Today I am working on the last of the lot. It is another warm, late afternoon so after work I descended to the basement to continue working on the lot. The last pipe left to work on was the smooth Ben Wade Freehand. This one is a bit different than any of the other in this lot. It is very nice looking piece of briar and has fancy saddle stem. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank. It was clear and readable. It reads Ben Wade [over] Martinique [over] Hand Made in Denmark. The medium brown stained finish was very dirty with grime ground in the finish all over the whole bowl and shank. The plateau rim top and shank end are dirty with lava and darkening in the grooves of the plateau. The bowl had a thick cake and the rim top/inner edge had thick lava flowing up from the bowl. It was hard to know its full condition of the inner edge with certainty until it was cleaned. The acrylic saddle stem is was dirty and had deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was a BW Crown logo on the top of the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the darkening and lava overflow in the plateau rim top. The photos of the stem show the dirty condition of the stem and the tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the great grain on the pipe. It is a beauty under the grime and dust. The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photos below. It is faint in spots but still readable. It read as noted and explained above. The third photo shows the Crown BW logo on the stem top. I remembered a bit of history on the brand that Preben Holm pipes were marketed under the Ben Wade label in the US and imported through Lane Ltd. I turned to Pipedia and read the listing on the brand to refresh my memory and flesh out the knowledge of the brand and would encourage you to do the same (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Wade). I have included a photo from that site that was taken from a Tinderbox advertisement. (Ben Wade Ad in a Tinder Box catalog, courtesy Doug Valitchka.)I quote the portion of the article that summarizes the Danish period of the history of the brand:

Young Copenhagen master pipemaker Preben Holm had made a meteoric career heading a pipe manufacture employing 45 people at the age of 22! But around the turn of 1970/71 he was in major financial difficulties. His US distributor, Snug Harbour Ltd. in New York City, left him in the lurch. Holm had three unpaid invoices on his desk and another large shipment was ready for the USA, when Snug Harbour’s manager told him on the phone that there was no money at all on the account to pay him.

So the Dane went to New York for an almost desperate search for a new distribution partner. He made contacts with Lane Ltd. and met Herman G. Lane in February 1971. Lane Ltd. had no interest in Holm’s serial pipes produced at that time but so much the more in the hand-carved freehands because the hype for Danish freehands and fancies in the States was still on its way to the climax then. The meeting resulted in an agreement to start a cooperation. Lane insisted to improve the quality considerably and in return he assured to be able to sell essentially larger quantities.

Holm went back home to work on new samples with all-new designs and altered finishes for Lane. Both, Lane and Holm, agreed that it would be unwise to sell the pipes under Preben Holm’s name as long as Snug Harbour had a considerable stock of Preben Holm pipes and might sell them pipes at very low prices just to bring in some money.

So on Mr. Lane’s proposal it was determined to use the name Ben Wade belonging to Lane Ltd. Lane spent considerable amounts of money for advertising the new brand in the big magazines– the centerpiece being whole-page ads showing a very exclusive Seven Day’s Set.

The cooperation with Lane Ltd. proved to be an eminent business success for both partners. Within a very short time Ben Wade Handmade Denmark sold in much larger quantities and at higher prices than they had ever dreamed of. And the hype these freehands and fancy pipes caused went on unbroken long after Herman G. Lane deceased. Preben Holm – obviously much more brilliant in pipe making than in pipe business – was in major troubles again in 1986 and had to sack most of his staff. The Ben Wade production was significantly lowered but continued until his untimely death in June of 1989.

Up to now Preben Holm made Ben Wade pipes are cult and highly sought for on the estate markets.

With that information my initial thoughts were confirmed. This pipe was a Preben Holm made Freehand distributed in the US by Lane Ltd under the name Ben Wade. The freehand rage occurred in the late 70s and the pipes were made until Preben’s death in 1989. My guess would be that this pipe was made sometime during that time period and potentially in the late 70s.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife.  He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and cotton pads to remove the debris and oils on the stem. He rinsed it with warm water and dried it off. I took photos of the pipe once I received it.  I took a photo of the rim top. Jeff had been able to remove the thick lava coat from the plateau rim top and inner edge. It looks very good at this point. A work over with a brass bristle wire brush will remove the remaining darkening in the grooves. The plateau on the shank end is clean and looks very good. The stem is clean but has some the tooth marks on both side are deep and obvious. I took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is faint but still readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to get a sense of what the pipe looked like.I started my work on the pipe by addressing the debris still in the plateau rim top. I used a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the plateau on the top and shank end. It worked very well and the plateau looked significantly better once finished.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris from the surface of the briar. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, preserve and protect the briar. I let it sit and work into the briar for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a cotton cloth. I buffed the briar with a clean cloth. The bowl is starting to look beautiful and there is a shine developing. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the tooth marks on both sides of the stem ahead of the button with a black CA glue. Once the glue cured I sanded it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I touched up the Crown BW logo on the top of the stem with Antique Gold Rub’n Buff. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick. I buffed it off with a soft cloth and rubbed the stem down with some Obsidian Oil.I polished the stem surface 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded the stem with each pad and then wiped the stem down with some Obsidian Oil. I finished the hand polishing of the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry.I am really happy with the way that this Preben Holm made Ben Wade Martinique Danish Made Freehand turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a great shape and smooth finished bowl and plateau on the rim top and shank end. The fancy original acrylic saddle stem is really nice. The polished black of the stem works well with the briar and the plateau portions. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Ben Wade Martinique really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches long x 1 ¾ inches wide, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 6 grams/2.29 oz. The pipe will be going on the rebornpipes store soon. It will be in the section on Danish Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

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.

Resurrecting a Large Dunhill Bruyere ODA 836 Panel Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

A few weeks ago I was contacted from a fellow in Montana who was selling his pipes as they had not been used for quite a few years. I asked him for a picture and he sent me the one to the left. It included the following brands (from the top to the bottom of the photo): Savinelli Autograph 5 Freehand, Mastro de Paja Ciocco 0C Bulldog, Mastro de Paja Media 1B Bent Billiard, Ser Jacopo Delecta Octagonal Bent Billiard, Caminetto Business KS 118 Canadian, Radici Rind Rhodesian, Dunhill Bruyere ODA 836 Panel Billiard, Barontini Straight Grain B3 Freehand and a Ben Wade Martinique Hand Made in Denmark Freehand.

Almost all of them were higher end pipes and all were hand made pipes. They were a mix of finishes – smooth, sandblast and also rusticated. They were a mix of shapes as well and the majority of them were Italian Made other than the Dunhill and the Ben Wade Martinique. They were beautiful pipes and after exchanging quite a few photos of the pipes from various angles to get a sense of what was there we struck a deal. We sent him the payment and the pipes arrived in Idaho a few days after I left for Vancouver.

Jeff cleaned them all and this week I received them in Vancouver. I am impressed with the way they cleaned up and the beauty of the brands. They truly are some beautiful pipes. I just need to put the final touches on each of them and address minor issues on the bowl rims and the stems and they should be good to go. I am really looking forward to working on each of them in the days ahead.

This warm, late afternoon I decided to continue working on the lot. I chose to work on the smooth Dunhill Bruyere Panel. This one is a bit different than any of the other Dunhill pipes that I have worked on. It is very nice looking piece of briar and has a square stem. The pipe is stamped on the sides of the shank. It was clear and readable. On the left side the shape number reads ODA [over] 836 followed by the stamping Dunhill [over] Bruyere. On the right side it is stamped Made in [over] England followed by an equal size 14. The reddish/brown stained finish was very dirty with grime ground in the finish all over the whole bowl and shank. Toward the bottom of left side of the bowl there was some road rash. It was rough and I would need to smooth it out some – though it would never truly be gone. The bowl had a thick cake and the rim top/inner edge had thick lava flowing up from the bowl. It appears that there is damage on the back side of the inner edge. It was hard to know its full condition with certainty until it was cleaned. The vulcanite taper stem is was dirty, oxidized, calcified and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was the inlaid Dunhill White Spot on the top of the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the darkening and lava overflow on the rim top. There were also nicks around the outer edge of the bowl. The photos of the stem show the oxidation, calcification and tooth marks and chatter on the surface on both sides. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the great grain on the pipe. It is a beauty under the grime and dust. The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photos below. It looks very good and readable. It reads as noted and explained above. The third photo shows the white spot on the stem.  I turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Bruyere 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 14 it points to the 1960 line on the chart below. I have drawn a red box around the pertinent section in the chart.On Pipedia they also have an ODA shape chart that was helpful. I have included that below (https://pipedia.org/wiki/A_DUNHILL_ODA_SHAPE_CHART).I now knew that I was working on a Bruyere that came out in 1974. The shape of the pipe is a Panel Billiard that Dunhill put out and that the #ODA 836 was a normal Panel Billiard shape with a taper stem.

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 though a light oxidation still remained on the stem surface. I took a photo of the rim top. Jeff had been able to remove the thick lava coat from the rim top and inner edge. There is some darkening and burn damage on the back inner edge and rim top and a burn spot on the front top and inner edge. The stem is clean but has some oxidation remaining on each end (ahead of the white spot and ahead of the button). There was also oxidation on the tapered sides of the stem.I took photos of the stamping on the right and the left side of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to get a sense of what the pipe looked like. It is quite a large bowl. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the burn damage on the inner edge of the rim and the rim top. I worked on the darkening on the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to start the process. I worked on the burnt spot on the front top and the inner edge on the back top. I then used a wooden ball and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to give the inner edge a slight bevel to hide the damage on the edges. I finished by working on it once again with a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth and shape it a bit more. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris from the surface of the briar. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, preserve and protect the briar. I let it sit and work into the briar for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a cotton cloth. I buffed the briar with a clean cloth. The bowl is starting to look beautiful and there is a shine developing. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. The tooth marks were very light and shallow so I moved immediately to sanding it with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit pads to remove the remaining oxidation on both ends and the tooth chatter ahead of the button. I dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with some Obsidian Oil. I finished the hand polishing of the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry.I put the Dunhill Bruyere ODA 836 Panel Billiard bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The reddish/brown stains worked amazingly well with the polished vulcanite taper stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. This is truly a beautiful Dunhill Bruyere Panel Billiard ODA 836 pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.62 ounces/46 grams. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the British Pipemakers Section. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

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.

Barontini Straight Grain B3 Hand Made Freehand with a Variegated Orange Acrylic Stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

A few weeks ago I was contacted from a fellow in Montana who was selling his pipes as they had not been used for quite a few years. I asked him for a picture and he sent me the one to the left. It included the following brands (from the top to the bottom of the photo): Savinelli Autograph 5 Freehand, Mastro de Paja Ciocco 0C Bulldog, Mastro de Paja Media 1B Bent Billiard, Ser Jacopo Delecta Octagonal Bent Billiard, Caminetto Business KS 118 Canadian, Radici Rind Rhodesian, Dunhill Bruyere ODA 836 Panel Billiard, Barontini Straight Grain B3 Freehand and a Ben Wade Martinique Hand Made in Denmark Freehand.

Almost all of them were higher end pipes and all were hand made pipes. They were a mix of finishes – smooth, sandblast and also rusticated. They were a mix of shapes as well and the majority of them were Italian Made other than the Dunhill and the Ben Wade Martinique. They were beautiful pipes and after exchanging quite a few photos of the pipes from various angles to get a sense of what was there we struck a deal. We sent him the payment and the pipes arrived in Idaho a few days after I left for Vancouver.

Jeff cleaned them all and this week I received them in Vancouver. I am impressed with the way they cleaned up and the beauty of the brands. They truly are some beautiful pipes. I just need to put the final touches on each of them and address minor issues on the bowl rims and the stems and they should be good to go. I am really looking forward to working on each of them in the days ahead.

This quiet Sunday afternoon I decided to continue working on the lot. I chose to work on the smooth Barontini Freehand (possibly a Rhodesian). The Barontinis I have worked on generally are nice looking pieces of briar and have had acrylic stems. This one had a nicely grained finish and a plateau style rim top. The pipe is stamped around the sides of the bowl. It was clear and readable. On the left side it reads Barontini [over] Straight Grain. On the right side it is stamped with a B3 and vertically next to the stem it is stamped Italy. On the underside of the shank it reads Fatta [over] A Mano. The stamping is clear and readable. The medium brown stained finish was very dirty but seemed to have a shellac coat over the whole bowl and shank. The bowl had a thick cake and the plateau style rim top/inner edge had thick lava flowing up from the bowl filling in the grooves. The inner edge of the bowl was covered enough with lava that it was hard to know its condition with certainty. The saddle stem is variegated orange and cream acrylic and was dirty and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was an inlaid logo dot on the top of the stem. It was a red dot encircled with silver. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before the clean up. You can see the thick cake in the bowl overflowing as lava on the inner edge and rim top. He also took some photos of the stem to show the condition of both sides. You can see the tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside next to the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the beautiful grain around the bowl and shank. The stain adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on the sides of the shank are shown in the photos below. It is clear and readable as noted above. I looked up some information on the brand on the Pipephil website to get a quick overview of the history (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b2.html). I did a screen capture of the listing for the brand. The fascinating thing that I learned in this quick overview was the connection to the entire Barontini family and to other companies like Aldo Velani. It is interesting to see the breadth of the brand in the following screen capture.Pipedia gives further history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Barontini,_Cesare). It is a very brief article with little information. I quote that article in full below.

In 1890 Turildo Barontini opened a factory for the production of briar. In 1925 his son Bruno began to produce the first pipes. Cesare Barontini, son of Bruno, started direction of the factory in 1955, and still runs it together with his daughters Barbara and Silvia.

Unfortunately, on neither site was there any pertinent information on the Barontini Straight Grain pipe. I decided to do a quick google search and found a listing for what appears to be the actual pipe I am working on (https://pipes.collectionhero.com/outer/view_item.php?id=55163). I include that information and photo below. Looks like the fellow I purchased the pipe from purchased it from this auction potentially? He got it for a steal at that price as they tend to run between $90 and $120 online. I guess I will never know for sure but at least I found the pipe online. It is now time to work on the pipe itself.

Jeff had reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. The rim was thoroughly cleaned and the damaged areas were obvious. Without the grime the finish looked really good. The Lucite stem would need to be worked on but I really like the profile it cast. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. I took close up photos of both the rim top and the stem. Jeff had been able to get the grime and lava off of the rim top and it looked very clean. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were predominantly near the button.The stamping on the sides of the shank was readable as noted above. I took photos of the stamping to show the condition and readability. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give an idea of the perspective and design of the pipe. I scrubbed the carved plateau rim top of the bowl with a brass bristle wire brush to remove the remaining darkening and debris in the nooks and crannies of the rim top. It looked much better once I finished.I wiped down the bowl with acetone to remove the shiny coat. It barely broke through the coat. I wiped it down repeatedly and then moved on to the micromesh pads. I polished bowl with micromesh sanding pads using 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiping it down after each sanding pad with a pad and acetone to remove the sanding dust and debris from the finish. I paused the polishing after the 4000 grit micromesh sanding pad to stain the lighter spots on the bowl and shank. I used an Oak Stain Pen to match the colour of the rest of the bowl and shank. The colour was a perfect match. I touched up the light spots on the shank end, the rim cap and spots around the bowl sides. It looks much better. I finished polishing it with 6000-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl and shank with my fingers and into the plateau carved rim top with a horsehair shoe brush. I want the product to go deep into the finish because it works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. Once I was confident that it was deeply worked into the finish I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth to polish it. The pipe really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. The grain really stands out on the pipe in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth marks and chatter. I started polishing the acrylic stem with a folded piece of 600 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I know many think it is useless to use the Obsidian Oil on acrylic stems but I find that it is a good lubricant when I am sanding with the micromesh pads. For me it works! I finished the hand polishing of the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry.I put the Barontini Straight Graini B3 bowl and stem back together. I polished the smooth part of the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the sandblasted bowl and shank several coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The medium brown stains worked amazingly well with the polished orange acrylic stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. This is truly a beautiful Barontini Straight Grain Freehand pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.76 ounces/51 grams. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the Italian Pipemakers Section. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

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 large Savinelli Autograph 5 Freehand Sitter

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

A few weeks ago I was contacted from a fellow in Montana who was selling his pipes as they had not been used for quite a few years. I asked him for a picture and he sent me the one to the left. It included the following brands (from the top to the bottom of the photo): Savinelli Autograph 5 Freehand, Mastro de Paja Ciocco 0C Bulldog, Mastro de Paja Media 1B Bent Billiard, Ser Jacopo Delecta Octagonal Bent Billiard, Caminetto Business KS 118 Canadian, Radici Rind Rhodesian, Dunhill Bruyere ODA 836 Panel Billiard, Barontini Straight Grain B3 Freehand and a Ben Wade Martinique Hand Made in Denmark Freehand.

Almost all of them were higher end pipes and all were hand made pipes. They were a mix of finishes – smooth, sandblast and also rusticated. They were a mix of shapes as well and the majority of them were Italian Made other than the Dunhill and the Ben Wade Martinique. They were beautiful pipes and after exchanging quite a few photos of the pipes from various angles to get a sense of what was there we struck a deal. We sent him the payment and the pipes arrived in Idaho a few days after I left for Vancouver.

Jeff cleaned them all and this week I received them in Vancouver. I am impressed with the way they cleaned up and the beauty of the brands. They truly are some beautiful pipes. I just need to put the final touches on each of them and address minor issues on the bowl rims and the stems and they should be good to go. I am really looking forward to working on each of them in the days ahead.

This afternoon after work I decided to continue working on the lot. I chose to work on the sandblast Savinelli Autograph Freehand. To me Savinelli Autographs have an easily recognizable look to them. This one had a great sandblast finish and a smooth rim top and bowl base so it functioned as a sitter. The pipe is stamped on heel of the bowl. It was clear and readable and says Savinelli [over] Autograph [over] 5. There is an autograph on the left side of the stem. The stamping is clear and readable. The medium brown stained finish was very dirty with grime ground into the valleys of the sandblast briar. The bowl had a thick cake and the rim top/inner edge had thick lava flowing up from the bowl. It was heavier on the back side of the bowl and rim than the rest. The inner edge of the bowl was covered enough with lava that it was hard to know its condition with certainty. The taper stem is black vulcanite and was dirty, oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before the clean up. You can see the thick cake in the bowl overflowing as lava on the inner edge and rim top. He also took some photos of the stem to show the condition of both sides. You can see the tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside next to the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the beautiful sandblast finish around the bowl and shank. The stain adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on the heel of the bowl is shown in the photos below. It is clear and readable as noted above. The second photo shows the autograph on the side of the stem. I wanted to remind myself a bit about the Autograph line from Savinelli so I reread a blog I had written on a previous Autograph restoration (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/01/05/restoring-a-savinelli-autograph-3-rhodesian-dublin-long-shank/). I quote a portion of the blog now:

I turned first to the Pipephil website (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-savinelli1.html) to get a brief overview of the Autograph line. There I found out that the Autographs were hand made and unique. The Autograph Grading system is ascending: 3, 4, … 8, 0, 00, 000.

I turned then to Pipedia to get a more background on the Autograph line. I had the outline I needed from pipephil for the pipe but wanted more (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Savinelli). I quote in part from the article on that site.

While Savinelli’s serially produced pipes account for around 98% of annual production, the marque also creates a number of artisanal, handmade pieces as well. The Autographs, the Creativity line, and the Mr. A. line are all the result of Savinelli’s unique handmade process, with the Autographs reflecting the larger Freehand aesthetic, the Creativity line delving into more complex hand carving, and the Mr. A. line sidestepping the standard shape chart for remarkable and unusual pipes.

All of the briar for Savinelli’s Autographs and other freehand pipes is sourced specifically for those pieces. While the majority of the marque’s serial production is made from extra grade ebauchon blocks, Savinelli keeps a separate supply of Extra Extra plateau blocks for Freehands. This variety of briar is much larger, and of a higher quality, which explains why so many Autographs and Savinelli handmades are naturally larger designs.

These handmade pieces are shaped much like traditional Danish Freehands: they are shaped first and drilled second. Using this method, Savinelli’s team of artisans is able to showcase their own creativity, as it maximizes flexibility and facilitates a more grain-centric approach to shaping. The resulting Freehand designs are at once both a departure from the marque’s classical standard shapes, yet very much still “Savinelli” in their nature—i.e. proportioned so that the bowl is the visual focus when viewed from the profile, juxtaposed by the comparatively trim lines of the shank and stem. To provide a little more insight into the differences between Savinelli’s standard production and freehand lines, Luisa Bozzetti comments:

“When we choose to make Freehand pipes we must stop production on the standard shapes. The process for Freehands is much more involved and takes much more time. Finding the best people from the production line and pulling them to make Freehands is challenging since it’s not an assembly line, but rather a one or two man operation.

After the rough shaping of the stummel, we must get together and brainstorm which style of stem will be paired before the pipe can be finished since we do not use pre-shaped stems. All accents and stems for the Freehands are cut from rod here in the factory. A lot of care goes into the few pieces lucky enough to make the cut; to end up with a certain number of Autographs, for instance, means that many, many more will be made, and only the few will be selected.”

The quality control process for Savinelli handmades is even more rigorous than that employed in the standard lineup. Many blocks are started and later discarded because of pits or defects. While Savinelli’s briar sourcing is a constant process, working with some of Italy’s top cutters to ensure only the finest and most suitable blocks make their way to the factory, it’s impossible to source plateau briar that’s completely free from flaws. That’s just nature. Savinelli creates the standard for quality by working through the rough (a very high-quality rough, mind you) to find that shining diamond with the potential to become a Savinelli handmade.

It looks like the Autograph 5 I am working is pretty high in the hierarchy of the line. Like other autographs I have worked on in the past this one has a signature on the left side of the vulcanite stem. Jeff once again did an amazing job cleaning the pipe. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the bowl walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He got rid of the cake so that we could see the walls of the bowl and assess for damage. He cleaned the internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to get into the grooves and valleys of the rustication. He rinsed the pipe under warm water. He dried it off with a cloth and then let it air dry. The stem was scrubbed with Soft Scrub and then soaked in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. It came out looking pretty good with a light coat of oxidation still present. The finish on the bowl and the rim top cleaned up pretty good. I took pictures of the pipe to show how it looked when I unpacked it.    I took close up photos of both the rim top and the stem. Jeff had been able to get the grime and lava off of the rim top and it looked very clean. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were predominantly near the button. The stamping on the sides of the shank was readable as noted above. I took photos of the stamping on the heel of the bowl to show the condition and readability. I also took a photo of the autograph on the left side of the stem. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give an idea of the perspective and design of the pipe. I polished the smooth heel of the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads using 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiping it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust and debris. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl and shank with my fingers and a horsehair shoe brush. I want the product to go deep into the finish because it works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. Once I was confident that it was deeply worked into the finish I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth to polish it. The pipe really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. The grain really stands out on the pipe in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I painted the surface of the vulcanite with the flame of a lighter to lift the bite marks. I was able to lift them significantly. What remained I filled in with black CA glue. Once the repairs cured I flattened the repairs with a small file. I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with a folded piece of 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I touched up the autograph stamp on the left side of the stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick and cleaned off the excess with a worn 1500 micromesh sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry.I put the Savinelli Autograph 5 bowl and stem back together. I polished the smooth part of the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the sandblasted bowl and shank several coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The medium brown stains and the smooth and sandblast finish worked amazingly well with the polished black vulcanite stem. The sandblast was deep and craggy on the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. This is truly a beautiful Freehand pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.89 ounces/82 grams. I have restored quite a few Autographs over the years and this estate is another rare beauty. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the Italian Pipemakers Section. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

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 Lovely Danish Strawberry

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by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is a beautiful Danish pipe from Scandia. This terrific pipe came to me from a lady whose husband had passed away. The price was reasonable, so I was happy to have it. The pipe is beautiful and a great example of Danish pipe-making. The pipe is a Danish pipe by Scandia, produced from the esteemed pipemaker, Stanwell. Steve called this shape a “strawberry”, which is a much more evocative name than my boring, old “freehand Dublin”. The strawberry is a very attractive shape and this one is no exception. It really makes an impression. It has beautiful, sandblasted briar from the bowl and down the shank. It also has a lovely saddle stem. The underside of the shank reads Scandia [over] Made in Denmark and, next to that, a shape number, 111. The stem also has the SC, indicating the Scandia make.Both Pipedia and Pipephil list Scandia as being a Stanwell sub-brand or second (and not much else), as per the photo below.Meanwhile, Pipedia has a good amount of information on the Stanwell brand and its history. I certainly recommend looking it over: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell.With the number 111 on the shank, I went to check the list of Stanwell shapes, here on rebornpipes, and I found a (partial) match! Shape 111 is listed as “Quarter-bent Dublin with a tapered stem.”. Now, my pipe doesn’t have a tapered stem, but this is clearly a quarter-bent Dublin. To further confirm this, here is a page from an old 70s or 80s Stanwell catalogue which clearly shows the same shape of pipe with the matching shape number. I also point out the 115, as it has the same shape (albeit, a different stem).

Anyway, this really is a good-looking pipe. No major issues to resolve – just a few minor ones. The stem was dirty, and some small scratches. There was also a lot of oxidation on the vulcanite. The rim on the stummel was a bit blackened and burnt. The insides were fairly dirty and would need some work to clean out. The stem was first on my list. I wiped down the outside of 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 bite marks and dents. Unfortunately, this didn’t really work, but I have ways of sorting this out. Then, I cleaned out the insides of the stem with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. Once this process was done, I used SoftScrub and cotton pads to wipe down the stem before throwing it in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover overnight. The following day, I cleaned all of the de-oxidizing mess and again scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation. This worked well. I used some nail polish to restore the letters SC on the stem. I painted the area carefully and let it fully set before proceeding.Before I moved on to the Micromesh pads, I built up the dents on the stem with cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure.I sanded the adhesive down with 220- and 400-grit sandpapers 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. On to the stummel, and the usual cleaning procedures were in order for this pipe. I used both the KleenReem and my pipe knife to remove the built-up cake and 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 some filth inside this stummel, but it wasn’t too bad. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes. I then moved on to cleaning the outside of the stummel with Murphy’s Oil Soap and some cotton pads. That removed any latent dirt. I decided to de-ghost the pipe in order to remove any lingering smells of the past. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this. As I mentioned earlier, there were some small burn marks on the rim of the stummel that also needed to be addressed. Fortunately, I was able to resolve this by gently sanding the interior rim edge to remove any remnants that remained.Since this was a sandblast, I didn’t need to use the Micromesh pads. But a light application of Before & After Restoration Balm brought out the best in the stummel’s sandblast. There is some beautiful wood on this Danish pipe! A dose of White Diamond on the stem and a few coats of conservator’s wax on the stummel were just what this pipe needed. I had to be especially careful with the bench buffer, since the edges had a tendency to catch on the buffing wheels.This pipe was a delight from the start and its beauty only increased through the restoration process. Whether you call it a strawberry or a Dublin, this pipe is elegant, light, and incredibly comfortable to hold. Finally, 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 ‘Danish’ 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 Stanwell are as follows: length 5½ in. (140 mm); height 1⅝ in. (40 mm); bowl diameter 1⅝ in. (40 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1 oz. (30 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.

New Life for a Ser Jacopo Delecta Octagonal Bent Billiard with a Black Acrylic Saddle Stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

A few weeks ago I was contacted from a fellow in Montana who was selling his pipes as they had not been used for quite a few years. I asked him for a picture and he sent me the one to the left. It included the following brands (from the top to the bottom of the photo): Savinelli Autograph 5 Freehand, Mastro de Paja Ciocco 0C Bulldog, Mastro de Paja Media 1B Bent Billiard, Ser Jacopo Delecta Octagonal Bent Billiard, Caminetto Business KS 118 Canadian, Radici Rind Rhodesian, Dunhill Bruyere ODA 836 Panel Billiard, Barontini Straight Grain B3 Freehand and a Ben Wade Martinique Hand Made in Denmark Freehand.

Almost all of them were higher end pipes and all were hand made pipes. They were a mix of finishes – smooth, sandblast and also rusticated. They were a mix of shapes as well and the majority of them were Italian Made other than the Dunhill and the Ben Wade Martinique. They were beautiful pipes and after exchanging quite a few photos of the pipes from various angles to get a sense of what was there we struck a deal. We sent him the payment and the pipes arrived in Idaho a few days after I left for Vancouver.

Jeff cleaned them all and this week I received them in Vancouver. I am impressed with the way they cleaned up and the beauty of the brands. They truly are some beautiful pipes. I just need to put the final touches on each of them and address minor issues on the bowl rims and the stems and they should be good to go. I am really looking forward to working on each of them in the days ahead.

This evening after work I decided to continue working on the lot. I chose to work on the smooth octagonal bent Billiard with a silver ferrule and tip on the stem. It has a classic Large Bent Octagonal Billiard shape with an Italian twist. The is smooth and well shaped.  There is a silver ferrule round the shank end as well as a silver band around the tenon end of the stem. The pipe is stamped on three sides of the shank. On the left side it Ser Jacopo [over] Fatta A Mano (made by hand). On the underside of the shank it is stamped Delecta. The stamping on the right side of the shank it read Per Aspera [over] Ad Astra. The silver ferrule is stamped on the top left side and reads Ser [over] Jacopo [over] Delecta. On the underside it is stamped 925 in an oval as the silver quality designation. There is a coral dot logo is on top side of the stem. The stamping is clear and readable. The reddish stained finish was very dirty with grime ground into the smooth briar. The bowl had a moderate cake and the rim top/inner edge had some lava flowing up from the bowl. The inner edge of the bowl was covered with some lava so it was hard to know its condition with certainty. The stem is black acrylic fancy saddle stem and was dirty with tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The silver ferrule and tenon end were oxidized and dirty. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before the clean up. You can see the cake in the bowl overflowing on the inner edge rim top. He also took some photos of the stem to show the condition of both sides. You can see the tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside next to the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the grain around the bowl and shank. The stain adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on the sides of the shank and on the silver ferrule is shown in the photos below. It is clear and readable as noted above. I turned to Pipephil (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s5.html) to remind myself of the background of the brand. I also wanted to see what the single Coral dot meant on the stem. I knew that the Coral dot was on the older pipes but that was all I knew. I include a screen capture of the section on the brand below. The third photo below shows a similar Coral dot on the stem.I am also including the information that I found there in the sidebar on PipePhil. I quote that below. I have highlighted the R2 designation below in red.

Founder of the brand in 1982: Giancarlo Guidi (1943 – †2012). Production (2006): ~ 6000 pipes/year. Ser Jacopo seconds: Gepetto.

Finish mark: Rusticated pipes: R1 (dark brown) R2 (light brown); Sandblasted pipes: S (black), S1 (dark brown), S2 (light brown), S3 (tanshell); Smooth pipes: L (red), L1 (acceptable grain), L2 (nice grain), L3 (exceptional grain).

I then turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Ser_Jacopo) to read some more about the brand and see if there were more details regarding the single Coral dot. I quote below.

Ser Jacopo (provided by Marble Arch Ltd., US importer and distributor of Ser Jacopo)

Smokingpipes.com has an excellent concise history available on their website Ser Jacopo History at Smoking Pipes.com

Ser Jacopo, better to say Ser Jacopo dalla Gemma, was started by Giancarlo Guidi in 1982 upon leaving Mastro de Paja.

Giancarlo Guidi and Bruto Sordini broke away from Mastro de Paja in 1981 in pursuit of their own company. Ser Jacopo was named after an Italian nobleman. Guidi and Sordini, having taken part in creating the now infamous Pesaro “school” of pipe making, wanted to expand further. To accomplish this, Ser Jacopo focused their efforts on the pairing of the briar with a seemingly endless variety of mounts. Through the use of precious metals and stones, horn, and exotic woods Ser Jacopo pipes are given unique characters that many collectors find quite aesthetically pleasing. Although Ser Jacopo pipes borrow heavily from classical shapes, they are indeed quite unique in style.

In addition to creative mountings, Ser Jacopo is also well known for making themed pipes, and the most famous of these themes is perhaps the Picta Series, where pipes are modeled after pipes seen in pictures by and of famous artists, such as Vincent Van Gough.

Ser Jacopo makes multiple grades of pipes, with the “entry” level being the Geppetto brand, and the highest grade being the “Gem” series.

The small Ser Jacopo shop produces approximately 6000 pipes per year. The pipes are known for using outstanding Italian briar, which is well seasoned. The pipes have earned a well-deserved reputation for having excellent smoking qualities, equal or better than any other fine Italian pipe maker (or, for that matter, any other pipe maker in the world).

Giancarlo Guidi passed away on August 6, 2012, leaving behind a great legacy. He was 64 years old.

Nomenclature – the section on the nomenclature helps understand the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is helpful and really quite interesting.

The standard nomenclature found on Ser Jacopo pipes is as follows:

Ser Jacopo Fatta A Mano In Italia Per Aspera Ad Astra – Fatta A Mano translates to “Made By Hand”. Per Aspera Ad Astra is a Latin phrase found on Ser Jacopo pipes and is the Ser Jacopo motto. It translates to “To the Stars Through Travails”, meaning that success comes through hard work. In the Summer 1997 Pipes and Tobaccos article Giancarlo Guidi translated this as “through a difficult way until the stars are reached”.

Ser Jacopo Pipes are generally found in one of three finishes (rusticated, sandblast, smooth) designated by a letter and number code:

R1: Rusticated, dark brown or plum finish.

R2: Rusticated, light brown finish.

S:  Sandblast, black

S1: Sandblast, dark brown

S2: Sandblast, light brown

S3: Sandblast, tanshell

L:  Smooth, red, usually with silver trim

L1: Smooth, flame grain, various finishes

L2: Smooth, straight grain, various finishes

L3: Smooth, straight grain extra, discontinued

Dating Pipes

In the photo to the left you can see the development of the stem inserts on the pipes.

Top: Early Red Coral Logo Middle: Coral Logo with Silver Ring Bottom: Modern Day Silver J Logo – Courtesy of Mike Ahmadi

Ser Jacopo pipes is somewhat difficult, because Ser Jacopo does not generally use date codes (the exception being the Diamond Gemma series pipes, which are dated coded). Early pipes (from 1983 to 1997) featured a red coral dot on the mouthpiece, sometimes found encircled in a silver ring. This was discontinued and changed to a sterling silver letter “J”. On the Gemma series of pipes, the mouthpiece logo is a precious stone surrounded by an 18k gold ring.

The pipe I am working on is one of the early pipes (1983-1997) with a coral dot in the top of the saddle stem. It is a lovely pipe with an L Red finish and silver trim. Now it is time to work on the pipe and bring it back to life.

Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Before he sent it to me, Jeff had done an amazing job cleaning the pipe. It almost looked like a different pipe after his work. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife.  He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. The finish looked very good and the rugged finish felt good in the hand. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and then rinsed it off with warm water. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and a tooth brush and rinsed it off with warm water. It looked good when I took it out of the package of pipes he shipped me. There were some shiny spots on the finish where the shellac coat had not all come off. It would need to be removed to even it out. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration work.  I took close up photos of both the rim top and the stem. Jeff had been able to get the grime and lava off of the rim top and it looked very clean. You can see the spotty shellac coat that still remains on the bowl and rim top. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were much less than on the previous pipes in this collection and they were predominantly near the button. They should be easy to remove. The stamping on the sides of the shank was readable as noted above. I took photos of the stamping on each side to show the condition and readability. I also took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give an idea of the perspective and design of the pipe. To deal with the spotty coat of shellac on the bowl and shank I used a cotton pad and alcohol to wipe down the briar. I was able to remove the shellac coat completely and the grain really showed through. Here is what it looks like at this point in the process. I polished the smooth bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads using 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiping it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust and debris. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl and shank with my fingers. I want the product to go deep into the finish because it works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. Once I was confident that it was deeply worked into the finish I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth to polish it. The pipe really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. The grain really stands out on the pipe in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks in the acrylic surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with a folded piece of 600 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad.I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. This Ser Jacopo Delecta Octagonal Bent Billiard with Silver Ferrule and an acrylic saddle stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful finish really highlights the grain and the polished finish is stunning. The Silver Ferrule and Silver tenon space is also a great addition. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Ser Jacopo Delecta Octagonal Bent Billiard fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 87 grams /3.03 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the Italian Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in purchasing this pipe send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

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.

New Life for a “Giant” Maestro de Paja Pesaro Ciocco Gigante Bent Bulldog Rusticated

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Blog Steve Laug

A few weeks ago I was contacted from a fellow in Montana who was selling his pipes as they had not been used for quite a few years. I asked him for a picture and he sent me the one to the left. It included the following brands (from the top to the bottom of the photo): Savinelli Autograph 5 Freehand, Mastro de Paja Ciocco 0C Bulldog, Mastro de Paja Media 1B Bent Billiard, Ser Jacopo Delecta Octagonal Bent Billiard, Caminetto Business KS 118 Canadian, Radici Rind Rhodesian, Dunhill Bruyere ODA 836 Panel Billiard, Barontini Straight Grain B3 Freehand and a Ben Wade Martinique Hand Made in Denmark Freehand.

Almost all of them were higher end pipes and all were hand made pipes. They were a mix of finishes – smooth, sandblast and also rusticated. They were a mix of shapes as well and the majority of them were Italian Made other than the Dunhill and the Ben Wade Martinique. They were beautiful pipes and after exchanging quite a few photos of the pipes from various angles to get a sense of what was there we struck a deal. We sent him the payment and the pipes arrived in Idaho a few days after I left for Vancouver.

Jeff cleaned them all and this week I received them in Vancouver. I am impressed with the way they cleaned up and the beauty of the brands. They truly are some beautiful pipes. I just need to put the final touches on each of them and address minor issues on the bowl rims and the stems and they should be good to go. I am really looking forward to working on each of them in the days ahead.

This evening after work I decided to continue working on the lot. I chose to work on the rusticated Mastro de Paja Pesaro Ciocco Gigante 0C Large Bulldog. It has a classic Large Bent Bulldog shape with an Italian twist. The rustication is extremely rugged and tactile. The crowned rim top, the briar around the twin rings on the cap are smooth.  There is also a smooth band around the shank end just ahead of a silver ferrule. The pipe is stamped on a smooth panel on the left underside of the diamond shank. It has a sun logo that is followed by Mastro de Paja [over] Fatta A Mano (made by hand). Under that it is Persaro [over] Ciocco. Next that just in front of the ferrule is stamped with a 0C in a circle [over] Gigante. The silver ferrule is stamped on the top left side and reads Mastro [over] De Paja [over] Ciocco. There is a Mastro de Paja metal circular disc logo is on top left side of the stem and on the left underside it is stamped with the sun logo. The stamping is clear and readable. The finish was very dirty with grime ground into the grooves of the rustication. The bowl had a thick cake and the crowned rim top/inner edge had a thick coat of lava flowing up from the bowl. The inner edge of the bowl was covered with a thick cake so it was hard to know its condition with certainty. The stem is black acrylic fancy saddle stem and was dirty with tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before the clean up. You can see the thick cake in the bowl overflowing on the inner edge/crowned rim top. He also took some photos of the stem to show the condition of both sides. You can see the tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside next to the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the deep rusticated finish around the bowl and shank. The stain adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty.The stamping on the underside of the shank and on the silver ferrule is shown in the photos below. It is clear and readable as noted above. There is also a stamping reading Italia on the lower right side on the smooth band on the shank end ahead of the silver. Before moving on to the clean up I wanted to build my knowledge of background on the brand. I have looked at them quite often and perhaps worked on a few in past years but I have no memory of the brand. I turned first to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-m3.html). I have included a screen capture of the information on the site as well as some side bars notes below the photo. The last pipe pictured shows the circle 1B stamp as well as the one Sun logo which is noted as the grading stamp. That was information it did not have before.Brand founded in 1972 by Giancarlo Guidi. He left it for Ser Jacopo in 1982. Alberto Montini became the owner of the brand in 1995. Production (2010): ~ 5000 pipes/year. Seconds: Calibano, Montini,

That led me to the Mastro de Paja website (https://www.mastrodepaja.it/en/pipes-and-accessories.html). There was a lot of information on the brand and the quality of the briar and craftsmanship of the pipes. I quote below:

Mastro de Paja are formed by the expert and highly capable hands of craftsmen – famous pipes with the unmistakable sun brand, known and appreciated by connoisseurs throughout the world. Unique and inimitable because they are unrepeatable encounter of precious Mediterranean briars, with the sensitivity of the craftsman who, using art and inspiration, models them individually. And, in the modelling process, brings to light the most concealed and valuable qualities of the briar. Varied designs, original lines and a deriberately (sic) limited productions make Mastro de Paja pipes objects destined for the most demanding and refined collectionists. Beautiful and loved, they are also excellent pipes because they are worked with care by those who know them: a successful synthesis of formal beauty and functionality. Rigorous controls and selections give Mastro de Paja pipes, right from the first smoke, that rounded taste which is then maintained intact for the whole of its long and extraordinary life.

The site also had a video entitled “How to make a Smoking Pipe by Hand – Mastro de Paja”. I have included the youtube link as well as the code for embedding.

https://youtu.be/xx24a-NpljM

I turned to Pipedia for more information on the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Mastro_de_Paja). The site is full of information on the brand and the philosophy behind the carving of the hand made pipes. I am including the information on the site listed as the Elite Collection that listed the stamping information. I have highlighted pertinent information on this particular pipe in red in the list below.

Mastro de Paja “ELITE COLLECTION”

It is the production of pipes made entirely by hand, even they are unique but of regular production.

On all “Mastro de Paja” pipes you can see fire stamped all the information for tracing the value of each creation.

RUSTICATED

  • 0B: Completely rusticated
  • 0B Unica: Completely rusticated with some smooth sections

SANDBLASTED

  • 1B: Dark brown or black sandblasted
  • 1B + 1 Sun: Light brown sandblasted

PARTIALLY RUSTICATED

  • 2D: Smooth with small sections rusticated
  • 2D + 1 Sun: Smooth straight grain with small sections rusticated

SMOOTH WITH COLORED FINISH

  • Ruber: Smooth with red stain
  • Castanea: Smooth with brown stain
  • 3A: Smooth with brown-orange stain
  • 3A + 1 Sun: Smooth good grain with brown-orange stain
  • 3A + 2 Sun: Smooth straight grain with brown-orange stain

SMOOTH WITH NATURAL FINISH

  • 3B: Smooth with a good grain and a natural finish
  • 3B + 1 Sun: Smooth excellent grain with natural finish
  • 3B + 2 Sun: Perfect grain
  • 3C: Good grain
  • 3C + 1 Sun: Excellent grain
  • 3C + 2 Sun: Perfect grain
  • F: Straight grain
  • F + 1 Sun: Good straight grain
  • F + 2 Sun: Excellent straight grain
  • F + 3 Sun: Perfect straight grain

Sometimes “Mastro de Paja Pipes” are enhanched with sterling silver, gold, precious stones and/or fine wood and are further classified and fire stamped on each pipe.

  • Stamp “P” : “Personal” with fine ornamentation.
  • Stamp “N” : “Normal” with basic sterling silver.
  • Stamp “L” : “Lavorata” with more complex sterling silver.
  • Stamp “S” : “Special” with elaborate sterling silver and specially worked.
  • Stamp “G” : “Gold” with special gold ornamentation.
  • Media : Medium size pipe
  • Gigante: Giant pipe

From that information I knew that the pipe I was working on was a Rusticated Pipe and a  Sun which made it a completely rusticated. It also is stamped Gigante which makes it a Giant pipe. It is a beauty and now it is time to look at it up close and personal.

Jeff had done an amazing job in removing all of the cake and the lava on the rim top. He had reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He took the cake back to bare briar so we could check the walls for damage. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime on the bowl and rim and was able to remove the lava and dirt. He cleaned out the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until they came out clean. He cleaned the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the grime on the exterior and cleaned out the airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration. I took close up photos of both the rim top and the stem. Jeff had been able to get the grime and lava off of the rim top and it looked good. There was some burn damage and darkening on the right front of the crowned rim top and beveled inner edge. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were predominantly near the button. They should be easy to remove. The stamping on the left underside of the diamond shank was readable as noted above. The stamping on the silver ferrule is also very readable as noted. I also took a photo with the stem removed to give an idea of the perspective and design of the pipe. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the burn damage and darkening on the right front of the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. Fortunately the burn damage was not deep but mainly surface. I was ale to remove and minimize it without changing the shape of the rim top. I also worked on the darkening on the inner bevel and removed it as well. I polished it with 1200-3200 micromesh sanding pads and then restained the rim top and edge with a Oak Stain Pen to match the rest of the bowl. Over all the rim top and edges looked much better. The bowl and shank were very clean and the rim top finished. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl and shank with my fingers and a horsehair shoe brush. I want the product to go deep into the finish because it works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. Once I was confident that it was deeply worked into the finish I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth to polish it. The pipe really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. The rusticated finish on the pipe is beautiful and shows depth in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I filled in the deep tooth marks with black CA glue and set it aside to cure. Once cured I flattened them out with a small file and then sanded the smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. I started polishing it with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I touched up the Sun logo on the left underside of the diamond shaped stem with some Rub’n Buff Antique Gold. It picks up the Sun shaped stamp very well. I polished the acrylic stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad because I find that the oil provides a great surface for polishing with the micromesh pads. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. This Mastro de Paja Pesaro Ciocco Gigante Rusticated 0C Bent Bulldog is a real beauty with a deep and tactile rustication and a silver ferrule. I put the bowl and stem back together again and buffed the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I used a soft touch on the bowl so as not to fill it in with the polishing product. I gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax. I carefully buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I polished the silver ferrule with a jewelers cloth to protect and shine. I finished buffing with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe looks very good. It is comfortable and light weight. The finished Mastro de Paja Ciocco Gigante Bent Bulldog is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 78 grams/2.75 ounces. This great looking rusticated Bulldog turned out very well. It should be a great pipe. It will be going on the rebornpipes store in the Italian Pipemakers Section shortly if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Email me at slaug@uniserve.com

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.