Tag Archives: Bowl – finishing

Mastro de Paja Italia Pesaro 1B Media Diamond Shank Sand Blast Bent 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 evening after work I decided to continue working on the lot. I chose to work on the sandblast Mastro de Paja Italia Pesaro 1C Media Bent Diamond Shank Billiard. It has a classic bent Billiard shape with an Italian twist. The sandblast is rugged and tactile though it seems to have been lightly smoothed out in the making. The rim top is smooth as is the smooth band around it to allow the stem to seat correctly. 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 Italia[over] Pesaro. Next to that it reads Mastro de Paja [over] Fatta A Mano (made by hand). At the end of the shank it is stamped with 1B in a circle [over] Media. The 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 sandblast. The bowl had a thick cake and the rim top 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 and was dirty with tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. 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 and the 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 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 underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It is clear and readable as noted above. The third photo shows the Maestro de Paja metal disc logo on the left side of the stem as noted above. 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 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 Sandblasted 1B + 1 Sun which made it a light brown sandblasted. The one I have in hand has darkened from use. It also is stamped Media which makes it a Medium size 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 pretty incredible. Even the darkening and marks on the rim top on the right side look much better. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were predominantly near the button. They should be easy to remove. (Sadly, I forgot to take photos of the stem before I started working on it. You can see the repairs in the photos I have included below.)The stamping on the left underside of the diamond shank was readable as noted above. 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 slight darkening on the rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1200-15000 grit pads. I also worked on the inner edge of the bowl. Over all the rim top and edges looked much better. The bowl and shank were very clean. 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 sandblast 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 Media 1B Sandblast Bent Billiard is a real beauty with a deep and tactile blast. 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 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 Media Bent Billiard is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 72 grams/2.54 ounces. This great looking sandblast Billiard 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.

New Life for a Rusticated Caminetto Business KS 118 Canadian

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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 1C 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 the all and yesterday 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 Caminetto Rusticated Business KS 118 Canadian. It has a rusticated classic shape Caminetto Business style finish in a Canadian with an Italian twist. The rustication is one that I am familiar with from the other Caminetto pipes that I have worked on. The pipe has rustication on the rim top that matches the rest of the pipe. The shank end has a smooth band around it to allow the stem to seat correctly. The pipe is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. It reads Caminetto [over] BUSINESS followed by a shield with a KS in the middle. Following that it has the shape number 118. Toward the end of the shank it is stamped Made in Italy [over] Cucciago (Cantu). The classic Moustache Caminetto logo is on top of the stem. The stamping is clear and readable. The finish was very dirty with grime ground into the rustication. The bowl had a thick cake and the rim top was dirty with lava filling in the rustication and some darkening around the inner edge of the bowl. The stem is silver and black variegated acrylic and was dirty with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. 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 darkening and thick lava on the inner edge and in the rustication on the 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 Business rustication style 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 is shown in the photo below. It is clear and readable as noted above. The third photo shows the Caminetto Moustache Logo. I have worked on several Caminetto in the past so I turned to one of the restorations on the rebornpipes blog and reread the background information on the brand. I am including that info here with this restoration (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/04/19/pretty-tired-and-dirty-messy-restoration-of-a-caminetto-business-tomahawk-182/).

When the pipe arrived I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c1.html) to see if he included not only information on this Caminetto Business 182. He gave some interesting information about the brand. It was created in 1986 by Guiseppe Ascorti, Luigi Radice and Gianni Davoli as the distributor. It states that in 1979 the first Caminetto period ended with Luigi Radice leaving the company. Guiseppe Ascorti continued making the pipe with his son Roberto. In 1986 the New Caminetto period began by Roberto Ascorti.I turned to Pipedia for more information on the Caminetto and how to date the pipe I had in hand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_Caminetto_(shapes,_stamping,_articles,_etc.). I quote a pertinent paragraph:

Stampings and dating: First off, dating earlier Caminetto’s is nearly impossible. Nevertheless, there were three phases, some in which were much earlier, of development that occurred in the stamping process of Caminetto. Before that though, every pipe had the stamp of Caminetto in one of two ways: Caminetto in script or Caminetto within quotation marks in block letters (I do not know how it was decided which pipe got which stamp, as I have had EARLY Caminetto’s with both)…

The stampings are shown in the photo to the left. The stamping on this pipe is like #3.

…Now, the question is which stamps are earlier and more likely to have been made by Ascorti and/or Radice. The answer is #1. The differences in #2 and #3 seem to be minute, as Cucciago is simply a suburb of Cantu. Pipes stamped like #1 are the most valuable Caminetto’s as they are the earliest production of the brand, as well as what some would claim the most perfect of Ascorti and Radice’s work. The last tidbit is, of course, debatable…

… There is also another factor in stamping, that is, which series the pipe falls in. The majority of Caminetto’s one sees are those of the “Business” series, which are stamped such with their collective shape (see photo of shapes below). Another stamp that sometimes follows the “Business” one is “KS,” which from what I know means “King-size” (this could be wrong, as there are pipes stamped with KS1, KS2, and KS3).

Now it was 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 pretty incredible. Even the darkening and marks on the rim top on the right side look much better. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were minimal and predominantly on the underside near the button. They should be easy to remove. The stamping on the shank underside was readable as noted above. 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 slight darkening on the top and the edge of the bowl with a brass bristle wire brush. I worked over the darkening in the rustication with the brush to remove the remaining debris and clean up the top. Over all the rim top and edges looked much better.The bowl and shank were very clean. 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 finish on the pipe is beautiful in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter on the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper. I started polishing it with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper.I touched up the moustache stem logo on the top of the stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. It looks much better but it is shallow on the outside edges of the stamp.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 Caminetto Business KS 118 Canadian is a real beauty and has a lot of life left. 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 rusticated 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 finished buffing with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe looks very good. The rustication is very tactile and feels great in the hand. It is comfortable and light weight. The finished Caminetto Business Canadian is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ¾ inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 71 grams/2.50 ounces. This great looking rusticated Caminetto 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.

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 Radice Rind Rusticated Rhodesian Style 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 1C Bent Billiard, Ser Jacopo Delecta Octagonal Bent Billiard, Caminetto Business KS118 Canadian, Radice 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 the all and today I received them in Vancouver and 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 start on the lot. I chose to work on the Radice Rind Rhodesian. It is a rusticated classic shaped Rhodesian with an Italian twist. The rustication is very dirty with grime and grit. It is a unique and well executed rustication that is a hallmark of the line. The pipe has twin smooth rings around the cap of the bowl. Under the thick coat of lava there appears to be a smooth rim top with an inward bevel. The bowl has a very thick cake that overflows on to the rim top. The shank end also has a smooth band around it and a smooth shank end with beautiful grain on it. The pipe is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. It reads RADICE [over] RIND followed by Hand Made in Italy (in lower case) in two lines. The stamping is clear and readable. The rim top was dirty and had a burn on the right front of the inward bevel and what appeared to be some darkening around the inner edge of the bowl. The stem is acrylic and was dirty with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. There two brass dots inlaid vertically on the topside of the fancy saddle stem. 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 darkening and light lava on the inner edge and top of the rim. He also took some photos of the stem to show the condition of both sides. You can see the light marks on the top and underside next to the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the style of the rustication 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 is shown in the photo below. It is clear and readable as noted above. The Radice two dot stack on the stem is clean and readable.I started my search on the brand by looking on Pipephil’s site to see if there was any information on the Radice Rind line (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-r1.html). The line was not included there but there was some information in the side bar on the dot position on the stem and how to interpret them. I have included that portion below.I turned to Pipedia to the article on Radice pipes and the birth and development of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Radice). I have included the information that I found there below.

Luigi Radice, born 1939, took a piece of briar in his hands for the first time in 1961, when he was employed at Carlo Scotti’s Castello in nearby Cantu.

After lengthy experience, he founded, together with Peppino Ascorti, the famous “Pipa del Baffo”, the “Caminetto” which through 1974 and 1975 made wealth with the precious cooperation of Gianni Davoli, Milanese distributor.

In 1980 Luigi undertook a new adventure, founding his own brand: the Pipa Radice. From the beginning his son, Gianluca, joined the workshop, together with Luigi’s father, Paolo Radice, who helped in some basic steps of production.

Only later my brother and I started working together with our father, trying to learn the secrets and the mastery to be able to create a pipe which could join artisanal estrus(?) to functionality.

We have always trusted the professionalism of Italian briar cutters to obtain the raw material. We season the briar in our workshop for at least three years. We believe that it is enough to produce a perfect pipe.

Our shaping is pretty diversified. A distinguishing feature is the use of various options, like the faux-bamboo shank or silver band or save-rim, hand engraved by Luigi.

About pipes for completely dedicated collectors, we would like to mention the several variations of pieces made using buffalo, moufflon, deer or roe horn.

The creative idea and the study of the technical side, lead us to invent pipes with a twin bore mouthpiece, coupled with a special production of oil cured pipes, taking inspiration from old English skills.

We have recently introduced the use of ebonite(vulcanite) mouthpieces, to satisfy the requests of our fellow pipesmokers.

Radice is a pipe which is continually evolving, keeping alive the treasured experience of 50 years of pipemaking of our father Luigi.

Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual 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 soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe once I received 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 pretty incredible. Even the darkening and marks on the rim top on the right side look much better. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were minimal and predominantly on the underside near the button. They should be easy to remove. The stamping on the shank side was readable as noted above. 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 slight darkening on the top and the edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove the damage and the darkening. Over all the rim top and edges looked much better. I polished it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and wiped off the debris. I touched up the stain on the rim top with a Cherry and a Mahogany stain pen to blend it into the surrounding bowl colour and particularly the smooth shank end. It worked very well. 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 finish on the pipe is beautiful in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter on the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper. I started polishing it with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper.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. 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 Radice Rind Hand Made in Italy Rhodesian Freehand with an acrylic saddle stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful rusticated finish really works well with the shape and the polished finish is stunning. The flared shank and smooth freehand style shank end is a great addition. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the smooth portions of the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax 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 Radice Rind Rhodesian 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: 6 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 66 grams /2.33 ounces. I will be keeping this one here for awhile. I have been wanting a Radice Rind and this one ticks all my boxes. I am looking forward to enjoying it. 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.

Restoring a unique and beautiful Stanwell Boa 198

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Blog by Steve Laug

It is finally a rainy day in Vancouver so I decided to go to the basement and work on another one that was purchased on 01/26/2023 in a lot of pipes that came to us from a seller in Copenhagen, Denmark. It included a group of Danish Made Stanwell pipes that are quite beautiful. The grain around the bowl and shank of this shape that I have decided to call a Diplomat has a mix of birdseye, straight and flame grain. The pipe is stamped (double stamped) on the underside of the shank and reads STANWELL [over] Made in Denmark.  On the underside of the left side of the shank it is stamped with the shape number 198. The pipe was a well cared for when Jeff received it. There was light dust and grime ground into the finish. It is finished in the warm stain that highlights some nice grain around the bowl and shank. The bowl was moderately caked and there was some darkening and light lava on the rim top. The inner edge shows some darkening around the bowl. There is a gold coloured band on the shank. The stem is acrylic and was dirty with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. There is a brass/gold crown S logo inlaid on the left side of the fancy saddle stem. 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 darkening and light lava on the inner edge and top of the rim. He also took some photos of the stem to show the condition of both sides. You can see the light marks 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 underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It is clear and readable as noted above. The third photo shows the Crown S logo on the left side of the saddle stem as noted above. I turned to Pipedia to an article that originally was posted here on rebornpipes and written by my late friend Bas Stevens (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell_Shape_Numbers_and_Designers). I did a screen capture of the pertinent shape number and have included it below.The list did not clarify who designed the shape so that was still a bit of a mystery. Whoever did so, created a beauty. I now knew that it was a shape that Stanwell called a Freehand Boa. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

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 soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. It came in Stanwell Pipe Sock. I removed it from the sock and took photos of the pipe once I received 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 pretty incredible. Even the darkening and marks on the rim top on the right side and the back of the bowl look much better. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were minimal and should be easy to remove. The stamping on the shank side was readable as noted above. 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 slight darkening to the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to bring the edge back into round and it looked much better. Over all the rim top and edges looked much better.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 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 Stanwell Made in Denmark Boa 198 Diplomat with 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 brass band/spacer 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 Stanwell Boa 198 Diplomat 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: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 75 grams /2.65 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the Danish 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.

Breathing Life into a Beautiful Stanwell Maron 32 Straight Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

Another hot day in Vancouver so I decided to go to the basement and work on another one that was purchased on 01/26/2023 in a lot of pipes that came to us from Copenhagen, Denmark. It included a group of Danish Made Stanwell pipes that are quite beautiful. The grain around the bowl and shank of this Bulldog has a mix of cross, birdseye and flame grain. The pipe is stamped on the left underside of the diamond shank and reads STANWELL 32 [over] Maron [over] Made in Denmark. The pipe was a well used pipe when Jeff received it. There was dust and grime ground into the finish. It is finished in the warm stain of the Maron finish, with some nice grain around the bowl and shank under the dirt. The bowl was moderately caked and there was an overflow of lava on the rim top. The inner edge shows some darkening around the bowl and on the rim top. There is a band on the shank. It has two brass bands with an orange piece of acrylic sandwiched between them both. The stem is acrylic and was dirty with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. There is no brass/gold crown S logo inlaid on the left side of the saddle stem. 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 darkening and light lava on the inner edge and top of the rim. He also took some photos of the stem to show the condition of both sides. You can see the light marks 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 lower left side the diamond shank is shown in the photo below. It is clear and readable as noted above. 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 soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. It came in Stanwell Pipe Sock. I removed it from the sock and took photos of the pipe once I received 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 pretty incredible. There was some darkening and marks on the rim top on the right side and the back of the bowl. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were minimal and should be easy to remove.The stamping on the shank side was readable as noted above. 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 damage to the inner edge and the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to bring the edge back into round and it looked much better. Over all the rim top and edges looked much better. Now it was time to do my work on the pipe. I polished 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. 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 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. 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 Stanwell Maron 32 Straight Bulldog with an acrylic taper 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 triple layer brass and orange acrylic shank extension 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 Stanwell Maron Bulldog fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 38 grams /1.34 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the Danish 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.

Restoring a Beautiful Stanwell Pot with a Bamboo Shank and an acrylic taper stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

It is a hot day here in Vancouver so I decided to head to the basement where it is cool and work on another pipe. This one was purchased on 11/14/2022 in a lot of pipes that came to us from a seller in Copenhagen, Denmark. It included a group of Stanwell Bamboo pipe that are quite beautiful, combining a briar bowl, a bamboo shank and in this case an acrylic stem. The pipe is a nice looking pot shape. The grain around the bowl and short briar portion of the shank has a mix of cross and birdseye grain. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the bamboo and reads STANWELL vertically between the knuckles. The pipe was a well used pipe when Jeff received it. Someone had given it a coat of varnish so it was quite shiny but there was grime underneath. The mixture of brown stains highlights some beautiful grain under the dirt. The bowl had been reamed and it was clean.  There was some darkening and some nicks on the crowned rim top and one burn mark on the left rear. The inner edge had some darkening and some nicks around the edges. The outer edge on the front of the bowl had been damaged and someone had repaired it somewhere along the journey. It had been sanded smooth and changed the profile of the crowned rim at that point. I would need to rework that area. The stem is acrylic and was dirty with some deep tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. There is a brass/gold crown S logo inlaid on the left side of the taper stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started the clean up work on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before the clean up. You can see the darkening on the inner edge and top of the rim. It is hard to see but there is damage that is well hidden at this point on the front outer edge of the bowl. I took some of the stem to show the condition of both sides. You can see the deep tooth marks on the top and underside next to the button. They will take some work.The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the uniquely stained grain around the bowl and shank. The mixture of black and brown stains adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The two knuckle bamboo shank has a nice patina on it that will only get better with time. It had a black acrylic spacer between the shank and the bamboo and the stem and the bamboo.The stamping on the left side the bamboo is shown in the photo below. It is clear and readable as noted above. It also shows the gold crown S on the stem side. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe to show the flow and cut o the pipe. It is a beauty.I turned to several of the previous blogs that I have written on other Stanwell Bamboos that I have restored. I have included the information from those blogs on the line. I turned to Pipephil to get a quick review of the brand (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-stanwell.html). The Brass Crowned S inlaid logo on the stem is shown in the photo below. I have included a screen capture of the brand info there.I then turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell) for more information. The article is great and gives a lot of history on the brand. There were also links to catalogues at the bottom of the page. I am including a page from a catalogue on the site below that gives a bit of a glimpse into the brand. Here is the link (http://www.axeljeske.de/Pfeifen/Stanwell_Amager.pdf). The catalogue page gives a great description of the Bamboo line. It reads as follows: Top quality bowls perfectly fitted with porous bamboo shanks for casual elegance.

Armed with that information about the pipe it was time to work on the pipe. I scraped out the cake remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I scrubbed out the internals with 99% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to remove the oils and tars. While the pipe was fairly clean I was able to remove the remaining oils. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the damage to the inner edge and the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to bring the edge back into round and it looked much better. I worked over the burn mark on the back left outer edge and top and smoothed it out. I also worked on the previously repaired damage to the front of the bowl outer edge. It had been knocked against something hard and then smoothed out. I reshaped the crown on the outer edge of the bowl. Over all the rim top and edges looked much better.In order to clean up the grime under the varnish coat on the bowl I washed it down with acetone on a cotton pad. I was able to remove the shiny coat and remove the grime in the finish. Once the shiny coat was gone the pipe cleaned up very well. The photos below show the look of the pipe once it was cleaned. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad to remove the grit. The bowl began to take on a rich shine. It is a beauty. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and into the bamboo with a horsehair shoe brush. I let it sit for 10 minutes and the Balm did its magic. It enlivens, cleans and preserves the briar. It certainly brought this bowl back to life. I buffed it off with a clean cloth and took the following photos. I set the stem aside and turned my attention to the stem. The acrylic stem had deep tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. Heat would not lift them so they would need to be filled in with black rubberized CA glue. I filled them in and spread the repair with a dental spatula. Once the repair cured I used a small file to recut the button edge and to flatten out the repairs. I used 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the stem surface and started the polishing with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. 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 Stanwell Bamboo Pot with an acrylic taper 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. 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 Stanwell Bamboo Pot 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: 1 ½ 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. I will be adding the pipe to the Danish 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.

New Life for a Unique Ratos N7 Sitter Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is an interesting pipe in many ways – shape, style and stamping. We purchased it on 11/14/2022 from our connection in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is a shape that is hard to define – a cross between a Billiard and a poke. The bottom of the shank and heel of the bowl is flattened and the pipe stands leaning to the right side. This makes it quite unique. The stamping is clear and readable. On the left side it reads RATOS [over] Standard. That is followed by a stamping that runs at an angle toward the stem and reads Old Briar. On the right side it is stamped N7 which I assume is a shape number. The bowl had a thick cake and lava overflow on the inner edge of the rim. It was hard to estimate the condition of the edges with the cake and lava coat but I was hoping it had been protected from damage. The outer edge appeared to be in good condition. The finish was dull and dirty but had some nice grain under the grime and the finish appeared to be in good condition. A lot would be revealed once Jeff had worked his magic on it. The 9mm filter stem was dirty, lightly oxidized, calcified and had tooth chatter and tooth marks near the button on both sides. There was a faint RATOS stamp on the left side of the taper stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work.Jeff took some close up photos of the rim top and the inner edge of the bowl to give an idea of the condition the pipe when he received it. I am sure glad that this was another one that he worked on. The bowl has a very thick cake and the rim top and a lava overflow around the entire top. The stem was lightly oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides. Jeff took photos of the sides of the bowl and heel to show the finish around pipe. You can see the grime and the oils in the finish that are ground into the bowl. You can also see the great looking grain around the bowl. The next series of photos capture the stamping. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. I turned to Pipedia and looked up the Ratos brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Ratos). I quote from the article below to show the information that was available on this brand.

Ratos is a Swedish classic that has been on the Swedish market for more than 40 years. Pipe smokers know Ratos as an affordable quality pipe in many different shapes. Quality are all equally high, only genuine ‘Old’ briarroot may be used. Some of the pipes have meerschaum lined bowls. In 2009, all Ratos pipes are fitted with filters.

Some of these pipes are distributed by the Borkum Riff tobacco brand at pipe smoking contests.

In 2009, Ratos pipes are manufactured in France, in the oldest factory still operating.

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 soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe once I received 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 the rim top and it looked much better. There was some darkening on the rim top and edges. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were minimal and should be easy to remove. I took photos of the stamping on the shank sides to show that they are very clear and readable.I started my work on the pipe by addressing the remaining darkening on the rim top and the inner edge of the bowl. I sanded the bevelled edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I worked over the rim top at the same time and smooth out and remove the darkening. It looked much better.Now it was time to do my work on the pipe. I polished 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. 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 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 RATOS Standard Old Briar N7 Sitter Billiard was another fun pipe to work on and I really was looking forward to seeing it come back together again. With the grime and debris gone from the finish and the rim top the birdseye grain is beautiful. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I carefully avoided the stamping on the shank during the process. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad on the buffer. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The rich finish on the bowl looks really good with the black vulcanite stem. It is very well done. Give the finished RATOS N7 Standard Old Briar a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: 5/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 42grams/1.48oz. This is truly a great looking Ratos Sitter Billiard. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the Pipes From Various Makers Section. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

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 Sasieni Fantail 93 Stack

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Blog by Steve Laug

The pipe was purchased on 02/02/22 from an online auction from a seller in Colts Neck, New Jersey, USA. It is a smooth finished Sasieni Stack with a unique shape and smooth finish. It has a Fantail stem that is unique to the Sasieni Fantail line. It is stamped on the left side of the shank next to the bowl/shank junction and has the football shaped Made In London stamp vertically. That is followed by Sasieni [over] Fantail. On the right side of the shank it is stamped London Made and the shape number 93. The stamping around the shank end near the stem reads PATD-170067. The pipe is very dirty with grime ground into the finish of the tall bowl. The bowl was thickly caked with an overflowing lava coat on the top of the rim. The edges looked to be in good condition though I would not know for sure until the bowl and rim had been reamed and cleaned. The stem was oxidized, dirty and had light tooth chatter and marks on the top and underside near the button. The stem had a very lightly stamped “F” on the left side of the fantail stem. The fit of the stem in the shank was tight and clean. The pipe had promise under all of the grime and dirt. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started the cleanup work. Jeff took some close up photos of the rim top and the bevelled inner edge of the bowl to give an idea of the condition the pipe when he received it. I am sure glad that this was another one that he worked on. The bowl has a thick cake and the rim top and a lava overflow at the back of the bowl. The stem was lightly oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides. Jeff took photos of the sides of the bowl and heel to show the finish around pipe. You can see the grime and the oils in the finish that are ground into the bowl. You can also see the scratches and small nicks in the finish. The next series of photos capture the stamping. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. I have included a screen capture of the pertinent section of the Sasieni section of PipePhil’s Logos and Stamping website and included the link should you want to look at on the site. (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-sasieni2.html). The second pipe in the photo below shows a pipe with the same stamping as the one that I am working on. It reads Sasieni Fantail, London Made, PAT D -170067. The difference is the location of the Patent stamp. On the one that I am working on is around the shank end.I turned to Pipedia and found a patent diagram for the Fishtail stem that Doug Valitchka posted (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Sasieni). I have included that document below. It was filed in 1953 and received the patent July 21, 1953. Which helps to date this pipe as post patent.          That helps to cinch the dating of this pipe as Family Era pipe made somewhere between 1946–1979. The change of “Sasieni” script without the fish-tail initiated by Alfred Sasieni occurred after Second World War. This puts the date of the pipe between 1946 and 1979 – a large spread.

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 soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe once I received it.   I took close up photos of both the rim top and the stem. Jeff had been able to get the grime and lava out of the plateau on the rim top and it looked pretty incredible. There was some darkening on the high spots on the sandblast rim top and edges. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were minimal and should be easy to remove. The stamping on the shank sides was faint but still readable as noted above. I also took a photo with the stem removed to give an idea of the perspective and design of the pipe. Now it was time to do my work on the pipe. I polished 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. 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 tooth marks with the flame of a lighter to lift them. All of the came up slightly. I filled in those that remained with some black rubberized CA glue. I set it aside to cure. Once it had hardened I flattened out the repair areas with a small file. I sanded the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the stem. I started polishing with 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 Sasieni Fantail 93 Stack is a beautiful looking pipe. I put the stem back in place in the shank and buffed the bowl and stem lightly with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe and stem with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the bowl with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The contrast of the dark brown and a medium brown that shines through give the finish a rich patina. The Sasieni Fantail London Made 93 Stack has some amazing grain around the bowl sides and shank. The bowl has been cleaned and the entire pipe is ready to smoke. The stem is in great shape with a few small nicks in the surface of the top and underside. It is a beautiful pipe, just a little big for my liking or I would hang on to it. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outer diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ inches. The weight of the pipe is 1.59 ounces/45 grams. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store soon in the British Pipemakers Section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection email me at slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message on Facebook. Thanks for looking.

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.

Breathing Fresh Life into a Georg Jensen 08 or is it an 80 Canadian?

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Blog by Steve Laug

This particular pipe came to us from our source in Copenhagen, Denmark on 01/26/2023. We have purchased a lot of good pipe from him over the past several years. The pipe was stamped on the topside of the shank and read Jensen [over] Made in Denmark. On the underside of the shank it is stamped either 08 or 80 depending on how you look at it. The rustication on the bowl and the smooth shank on the Canadian make it comfortable in the hand. It has some nice mixed grain on the shank sides and the sandblast on the bowl shows a lot depth. The finish was dirty with hand oils and grime ground into the finish. The blasted rim top had lava from the bowl and darkening in the rough finish. The inner edge of the rim also has thick lava and a thick cake lining the bowl walls. The stem has a short vulcanite taper stem. The stem has light tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. The pipe is very dirty but you can see the beauty through the grime. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he worked his magic in the cleanup process. Jeff took some close up photos of the sandblast rim top and inner edge of the bowl to give an idea of the filthy condition the pipe was in when he received it. I am sure glad that this was another one that he worked on. The bowl has a thick cake and the blast on the rim top is almost filled in with the lava overflow at the back of the bowl. The stem was lightly oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides. Jeff took photos of the sides of the bowl and heel to show the sandblast finish around pipe. You can see the grime and the oils in the finish that are ground into the bowl. You can also see the scratches and nicks in the finish. The next series of photos capture the stamping. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The shape number on the underside of the shank can be read as either 08 or 80. The is a faint GJ stamp on the top side of the stem. When I brought the pipe to the worktable this is what I saw. 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 bowl, rim and shank. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. The lava mess on the rim was thoroughly removed without harming the finish underneath it. Without the grime the finish looked really good. He soaked the stem in Before and After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He rinsed it under running water and dried it off with a clean cloth. He cleaned out the airway with pipe cleaners and alcohol. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was very clean. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. It really is quite a beauty.  I took close up photos of both the rim top and the stem. Jeff had been able to get the grime and lava out of the plateau on the rim top and it looked pretty incredible. There was some darkening on the high spots on the sandblast rim top and edges. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were minimal and should be easy to remove.The stamping was still readable and curved around the underside of the shank. It reads as noted above. I also took a photo with the stem removed to give an idea of the perspective and design of the pipe. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the grooves and crevices of the sandblast 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 blast 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 blast has depth and the grain really stands out on the shank in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I sanded out the tooth chatter and marks on the stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper. I started polishing with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 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 polished the Georg Jensen 08/80 Canadian and the stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and 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 pipe polished up pretty nicely. The mix of brown stains worked really well with the black vulcanite stem. The darkened plateau really sets of the pipe and gives it a unique look. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outer diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ inches. The weight of the pipe is 34 grams/1.23 ounces. I will be putting this unique freehand on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipemakers Section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection please let me know. Thanks for walking through this restoration with me as I worked over this beauty.

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 Wenhall Dane Craft E Freehand

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Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff and I love picking up freehand pipes that are unusual or have unique grain around the bowl. This particular pipe came to us from a lady in Cleveland, Ohio, USA on 04/09/2022. We purchased her husband’s estate pipes from her and there were some very nice ones. The pipe was stamped on the underside of the shank and read Wenhall [over] Dane Craft [over] E. The shape and the unusual stem combination are familiar with other freehands in this series. It is an unusual piece with some grooves in the bowl sides and a “nose” on the front of the bowl at the heel. These make it very comfortable in the hand. It has some nice straight grain on the bowl sides and shank. The finish was dirty with hand oils and grime ground into the finish. The plateau rim top had lava from the bowl and darkening in the rough finish. The inner edge of the rim also has thick lava and a thick cake lining the bowl walls. The stem is different in that it is one that I would expect on a Danish Made Celius pipe or possibly some of the British style Hardcastle freehands. The chairleg style stem seems to be made of high-quality vulcanite as it is not oxidized. The stem has tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button and a hole in the top surface. The pipe is very dirty but you can see the beauty through the grime. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he worked his magic in the cleanup process. Jeff took some close up photos of the plateau rim top and inner edge of the bowl to give an idea of the filthy condition the pipe was in when he received it. I am sure glad that this was one that he worked on. The bowl has a thick cake and the plateau rim top is almost filled in with the lava overflow at the back of the bowl. The stem was lightly oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides. There was also a bite through on the topside of the stem ahead of the button. There was a calcification on the surface of the stem and some minor oxidation. Jeff took photos of the sides of the bowl and heel to show the grain around pipe. You can see the grime and the oils in the finish that are ground into the bowl. You can also see the scratches and nicks in the finish. The next series of photos capture the stamping. The stamping is faint on the edges but together you can see that it reads Wenhall over Dane Craft over the letter E. The last photo in this series shows the fit of the stem to the dirty shank. There is a gap that should disappear with cleaning. I remembered working on a Wenhall Dane Craft Freehand in the past so I turned back to a previous blog I had written on that one (https://rebornpipes.com/2018/06/18/new-life-for-a-wenhall-dane-craft-b-freehand/). I reread the blog and was reminded of the background information on the brand that I had researched prior. It is a beautiful pipe. I quote from that blog below.

In the back of my mind I remembered a connection between Wenhall and Karl Erik pipes. I could not remember the details of the connection but I remembered there was one. I’ll tell you what, even that is pretty good for this old bird. I looked it up on the pipephil pipes, logos and stampings website and found nothing on that site that linked the two. I turned to Pipedia and looked it up in the Pipe Makers list that is included there. I found the link to Wenhall pipes that I was looking for. Here is the link, https://pipedia.org/wiki/Wenhall. It was a short article but it made a lot of connections to names that I was familiar with from working on pipes. I include the majority of the article because of the pertinent information that it provides.

Wenhall Pipes Ltd. was a distribution company out of New York City.

By the end of the 1970’s Wenhall approached Michael Kabik and Glen Hedelson, at that time operating from a farm house in Glen Rock, Maryland to create a line of freehands called Wenhall. The situation was favorable, because Kabik & Hedelson had ended their cooperation with Mel Baker of Tobak Ltd. to produce the famed Sven-Lar freehands shortly before.

Upon Wenhall’s offer the partners got a bank loan and set up a studio of 2000 square feet in a fairly new industrial park in Bel Air, Maryland and took on the name Vajra Briar Works. Wenhall initially wanted 500 pipes a week! But Kabik & Hedelson doubted that they could move that much product and told them they would produce 250 pipes per week. Happily, some of the old crew from Sven-Lar joined them at Vajra Briar Works, and thus they rather quickly met the production demands.

Furthermore during this time, Wenhall requested to create a line of pipes consisting of 12 different shapes. The line was called “The Presidential” and, while they repeated the same 12 shapes for this series, each one was freehand cut. Although they came up with interesting designs, mainly developed by Hedelson, especially Kabik was never really happy with the line or the concept, but, by this time, they had nine people on full-time payroll.

The stint with Wenhall lasted a couple of years, at which time they asked them to join Wenhall in a move to Miami, Florida. But by this time Kabik and Hedelson felt very uncomfortable with the owners of Wenhall and decided that they’d rather close the shop than make the move. Time proved that decision very wise, as Wenhall folded shortly after the move. All the same they had to close Vajra, but scaled down to the two of them and moved the operation to the farm house Glen was currently living in.

I could see the link to Michael Kabik and Glen Hedelson and the Svenlar line of pipes that I have worked on in the past. The problem was that these were American made pipes and I was pretty sure that they would have been stamped accordingly. Even though they were Danish style I don’t know if they would have stamped their pipes Danish Craft. The next short paragraph made the link to Karl Erik that I was looking for.

Presumptively for a shorter period only Wenhall had pipes made in Denmark by Karl Erik. (BTW K.E. Ottendahl ceased all sales to the USA in 1987.)…

The article went on to tie the pipes to some Italian makers as well. I stopped reading at this point and tried to summarize what I had found out so far. I knew that the pipe I held in my hand was made between the late 1970s and 1987. It possibly could have been made by Michael Kabik and/or Glen Heldelson or even by Karl Erik. Something about the flow of the shape and the way the bowl flows with the grain reminds me a lot of Karl Erik pipes that I have worked on. Either way the pipe is between 36-53 years old and in great condition for an older piece.

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 bowl, rim and shank. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. The lava mess on the rim was thoroughly removed without harming the finish underneath it. Without the grime the finish looked really good. He soaked the stem in Before and After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He rinsed it under running water and dried it off with a clean cloth. He cleaned out the airway with pipe cleaners and alcohol. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was very clean. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. It really is quite a beauty. I took close up photos of both the rim top and the stem. Jeff had been able to get the grime and lava out of the plateau on the rim top and it looked pretty incredible. There was some darkening on the high spots on the plateau and lighter brown colouring in the valleys and crevices particularly on the back side of the bowl. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were very visible and would need to be addressed. The tooth hole on the top of the stem will need to be repaired. The stamping was still readable and curved around the underside of the shank. It reads as noted above. I also took a photo with the stem removed to give an idea of the perspective and design of the pipe.I turned to work on the pipe. I started with the darkening on the plateau rim top. I used a brass bristle wire brush and worked over the plateau rim. It looked much better. I worked in some Murphy’s Oil Soap with the brass brush and rinsed it off with warm running water. It look significantly better one it was rinsed and dried off.I polished the briar bowl 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 debris from the sanding. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the grooves and crevices of the plateau rim top and the smooth 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 blast 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 in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I decided to address the bite through in the top of the stem. I cleaned out the hole with alcohol and then greased a pipe cleaner with Vaseline and inserted it beneath the hole. I filled in the hole with black CA glue. I sprayed it with accelerator to cure it. I removed the pipe cleaner and filled in the remaining small pinholes with more CA glue. I set the stem aside to let the repair cure. Once the repair had hardened I used several small files to flatten the repairs and the marks on the underside as well. I smoothed out the surface with 220 grit sandpaper and blended them into the surface of the stem. I started polishing the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 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 polished bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and 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 pipe polished up pretty nicely. The medium brown stain worked really well with the black vulcanite stem. The darkened plateau really sets of the pipe and gives it a unique look. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outer diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 inches. The weight of the pipe is 56 grams/1.98 ounces. I will be putting this unique freehand on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipemakers Section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection please let me know. Thanks for walking through this restoration with me as I worked over this beauty.

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.