Tag Archives: bowl topping

Restoring a GEFAPIP Giant 4–SM Panel Billiard – another of the 12 Pipes

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by Steve Laug

Back in January I received an email from Robert with a group 12 pipes that needed to be restored in various ways from cleanup to restemming. I chose to work on the large Panel Billiard with a saddle stem. The bowl and shank were very dirty with oils and tars on the surface of the smooth finish. The bowl had a thick cake in it that overflowed in lava onto the rim top. The lava was thick and there as darkening on the inner edge. The pipe was stamped on the underside of the shank and read GEFAPIP [over] Giant [over] France. On the shank end running horizontally it is stamped with the shape number 4-SM. This one came with the original stem in place on the shank. It was oxidized and calcified on the button end. There were light tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. The surface of the button is also tooth marked. It had the Gefapip logo the left side of the saddle stem. I took some photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. I took some closer photos of the bowl and rim top to show its condition before I started my work on the pipe. You can see the heavy cake in the bowl and the thick lava coat on the rim top. The stem photos also show the general condition of the stem as noted above. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It was stamped on a smooth panel and was faint but readable. It reads as noted above. I also captured the Gefapip logo on the left side of the saddle stem. I removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the pipe to show the look of the pipe. Pipedia gives some general information about the French origin of the GEFAPIP that is brief but helpful. I quote:

Gefapip was a French brand from the St Claude region. Their products appeared in the 1979 Tinderbox catalog, with prices ranging from $17.50 to $62.50.

The following catalog page (1979 Catalog page, courtesy Doug Valitchka) was included with the text and it added helpful information that the GEFAPIP name was started by a group of master carvers in the St. Claude region.  The production line pictured in the catalog page are examples of shapes smoked in the Saint Claude region in the 1890s according to the caption.Pipephil.eu did not produce new information but gave some additional examples of GEFAPIP pipes. The stem stamping on the pipes shown in the photos on site are identical to the stamping on the pipe I am working on.I love finding this old information and reading about the pipes I work on. It lends some colour to the work of my refurbishing to be able to read about the design ideas and the inventors themselves as I work on the pipes. Armed with new information it was time to work on the pipe.

I decided to start on the bowl itself. I reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer to clean out the heavy cake. I cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. I scraped off the lava build up on the rim top with the edge of the Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I took it back to bare briar. It looked quite good. The beveled inner edge also had build up and darkening.I scrubbed the exterior of the with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked on the rustication and the smooth rim top. I rinsed it off with warm running water and dried it off with a cotton towel. It is definitely looking better. I worked over the rim darkening with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. The smooth rim top was flat so it was an easy process to clean it up at the same time as the edge.I worked on the rim top and edges with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further remove the darkening on the briar. It is improving with each pad. I wiped the top down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. I polished it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad. The rim top looked very good. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. I cleaned out the shank, mortise and the airway in both the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The shank was very dirty. The airflow is great.I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I scrubbed the stem surface with Soft Scrub to remove the oxidation and the calcification. It looked much better. I “painted’ the surface of the stem with the flame of a lighter to try and lift the bite marks. It worked very well. I was able to remove the majority of the marks. I rebuilt the button edge and filled in some of the remaining tooth marks with black rubberized CA glue. I set the stem aside to let the glue cure. Once it cured I reshaped the button with a small flat file and sanded the stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper to blend in the repairs. I touched up the faint stamp on the stem with Antique Gold Rub’n Buff. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick and buffed it off with a soft cloth.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth to remove the sanding debris. It began to take on a shine.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I polished it further with Before & After Stem polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and then wiped it down another time with the oil. I put the Gefapip Giant 4-SM Panel Billiard and the stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish 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 original brown stains gave depth to the beautiful grain around the bowl and worked amazingly well with the polished vulcanite saddle stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. I left a small bit of oxidation on the left side of the saddle as I did not want to damage the faint stamp that remained there. This is truly a beautiful Gefapip Giant Panel Billiard. 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 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.94 ounces/56 grams. This pipe will be put in the box while I work on Rob’s other pipes in the 12 pipe lot. Once I finish them I will be mailing the lot back to him. 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.

Cleaning up the first of a lot of 12 pipes for a customer – a No Name Freehand Sitter

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by Steve Laug

Back in January, I received an email from Robert with a group 12 pipes that needed to be restored in various ways from cleanup to restemming. The first of these I chose to work on was a partially rusticated Freehand sitter. The front and the sides of the bowl were smooth part way back. The back half of the bowl and shank sides were rusticated with a unique looking rustication. The top of the shank and the underside were both smooth. The rim top and the shank end were both plateau finish. The bottom of the foot of the shank is etched with the date 11/17/79. The plateau rim top and shank end were dirty and debris in the plateau. The bowl had been reamed and was smooth on the inside walls of the bowl. There were some tars and oils in the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem. The fancy turned, vulcanite stem was oxidized and dirty with light tooth marks and chatter in the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. I took some photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. The relatively clean bowl looks quite good. There was some debris in the plateau rim top and some lava build up on the inner edge and the grooves of the plateau. It looked to be in good condition other than the debris and darkening. The fancy vulcanite saddle stem was dirty, lightly oxidized and has tooth chatter and marks on both sides. I took photos of the bowl, rim top and the stem to show the condition of both.The stamping on the shank are not to be found on the shank. There is however, an etched 11/17/79 on the flat bottom of the foot as shown in the photos below. I tried to capture the detail in the photos below. I also took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the proportion of this pipe. It is really a beauty. I turned to work on the pipe itself. I worked over the plateau rim top and shank end with a brass bristle wire brush to knock off the debris. It removed the debris and it looked much better.I scrubbed the bowl exterior with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to clean the debris in the rustication and also remove the oils and tars in the finish. I rinsed it with clean warm water and dried it off with a soft cotton cloth. I used a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the damage and darkening on the smooth inner edge of the bowl. It looked much better once the debris was removed.I cleaned out the mortise and airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I was able to remove the grime and oils in the shank and the airway in the stem.I used a black Sharpie pen to touch up the valleys and deep spots on the plateau rim top and shank end. It looks much better at this point.I polished the smooth portions of the bowl and shank along with the high spots on the plateau with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It smoothed out the finish very well and made the contrast between the ridges and valleys of the finish stand out well. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed it off with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I scrubbed the surface of the stem with cotton pads and Soft Scrub. I was able to remove the debris on the stem and the oxidation on the surface. It looked much better.I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them all considerably. I filled in the two deep marks – one on each side of the stem just ahead of the button – with black rubberized CA glue. Once it cured, I sanded the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface. It looked significantly better at this point. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further blend in the repairs and remove the residual light oxidation on the stem surface. I am happy with the way that it looked at this point.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This No Name Mixed Finish Plateau Freehand etched 11/17/79 with a vulcanite fancy saddle stem has a beautiful, unique finish with great grain on the smooth portions and rustication on the sides and shank. The medium brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has a unique finish and the polished fancy turned stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished No Name Freehand is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 7 inches, Height: 2 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inch x 2 inches long, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.57 ounces/72 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be sending it back to Robert once I finish the other 11 pipes he sent me to restore. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of this beauty. Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Dunhill Amber Root 4106 Pot

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by Steve Laug

The first pipe on the table since I returned from my long Asia trip for work is one that was sent to me by Jim for restoration. It is a nice-looking Dunhill Amber Root Pot. The stamping on the left side of the shank reads 4106 (the shape number), near the bowl shank junction. It is followed by some unique stamping that reads Alfred [over] The White Spot [over] dunhill’s. On the right side it is stamped Amber Root [over] Made in England15. The pipe was in decent condition, just well used and stunk of an aromatic, vanilla tobacco. The outside of the bowl and shank were dirty and dull with hand oils but the flash on the photos shows the nice grain. The bowl had been reamed recently and there was no cake in the bowl. The rim top had some darkening around the inner edge and on the top. The inner edge has some damage and is slightly out of round. The outer edge looked good. The vulcanite taper stem was oxidized and had some light tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. The shank of the pipe was quite dirty with the oils and tars of the aromatic tobacco that had been smoked in it. I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to my work table and before I started the clean up. Try to imagine how the pipe smelled. Even your imagination cannot begin to capture the smells of the briar in your hand. The relatively clean bowl looks quite good. There are some nicks in the inner edge from zealous reaming that left it rough and damaged. The vulcanite, taper stem was dirty, lightly oxidized and has tooth chatter and marks on both sides. I took photos of the bowl, rim top and the stem to show the condition of both.The stamping on the sides of the shank are shown in the photos below. It looks very good with portions of it faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. I tried to capture the detail in the photos below. I also took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the proportion of this pipe. It is really a beauty. I wanted to unpack the Dunhill stamping on the shank and work to understand each element of the stamp. I generally use the Pipephil site to gather as much initial information as possible (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/amber1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number 4106 is the shape number that unpacks as follows: the 4 is the bowl size, 1 is the normal identifier for a taper stem, 06 is the shape designation – a Pot. The Amber Root stamp refers to the finish. The superscript 15 following the D of England would give the date the pipe.Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has a number 15  following the D in England. There was no patent number so that took me to the section on the chart below (column one) which instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being made “posterior to 1954”.I followed the link under “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The last column (suffix 00, 01, 02…) led me to the section with a 15 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 2000 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 2015. From that I knew that the pipe was made in 2015. I chose this column rather than the second column which would have dated it as 1975 because of the date that the Amber Root was released by Dunhill being 1995. I hope that the logic of the dating is clear. I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill pipes to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Amber Root – Introduced in 1995. A warm yellow-orange stain, reminiscent of the original Root Briar finish. Cumberland stems were used, although recently, Amber Root pipes have appeared with black stems. This is also a limited production pipe that is found in mainly Company stores and Principle Pipe Dealers. Straight grained pipes are made available in this finish under the name Amber-flame and are graded from one to three flames.

Note: While the Amber Root finish existed in the past with Cumberland and black Vulcanite mouthpieces (now we use usually the black Vulcanite variety only)[32].

I have also included a chart from the site spelling out the Standard Pipe Finishes and giving a timeline. You can see that the Amber Root Finish (a smooth polished medium stain) was introduced in 1995 so this is definitely dates this 15 year stamped pipe to 2015. I turned to work on the pipe itself. I cleaned out the mortise and airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I was able to remove a lot of the grime and oils in the shank but the stench of the strong aromatic still remained.To help remove the ghost in the bowl I stuffed it with cotton bolls and rolled a plug from cotton for the shank end. I filled the bowl with 99% Isopropyl alcohol and let it sit overnight to wick out the strong oils and tars from the bowl walls and the shank. In the morning when I checked it the cotton was heavily darkened with the oils. I removed them and set the bowl aside to airdry. I set the bowl aside to airdry after deghosting and turned to address the stem issues. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them all considerably. I filled in the two deep marks – one on each side of the stem just ahead of the button – with black rubberized CA glue. Once it cured, I used a small, flat needle file to recut the button edge and flatten the repair. I sanded the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface. It looked significantly better at this point. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further blend in the repairs and remove the residual light oxidation on the stem surface. I am happy with the way that it looked at this point.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I set the stem aside and went back to the bowl. I used some Before & After Briar Cleaner to remove the tars from the finish. I scrubbed the surface of the bowl with a tooth brush. I rinsed of the debris with warm water and dried it off with a soft cloth. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the rough inner edge of the bowl. I also sanded the scratches and the darkening of the rim top with the sandpaper. It did not take much and it looked much better.There was a dent on the right side of the bowl toward the heel. I used a damp cloth and a hot knife to steam the dent out as much as possible. I was able to lift it to a large degree but not completely with the steam. I polished the rim top and bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the dust. The rim top and the bowl came out looking very good. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed it off with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar comes alive with the balm. This 2015 Dunhill Amber Root 4106 Pot with a vulcanite taper stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill smooth finish with great grain. The medium orange brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has a unique finish and the polished taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Amber Root 4106 Pot is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.55 ounces/44 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be sending it back to Jim on the weekend. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of this beauty. Thanks for your time.

Giving Some Life Back to a Kirsten Companion K

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by Kenneth Lieblich

The latest restoration story belongs to a handsome Kirsten Companion ‘K’. Once again, this pipe is going to a young man from a local family who wanted some pipes restored. I’ve always been interested in Kirsten pipes – I’m not sure I always like them, but I always study them. The young fellow who acquired this pipe wanted something unusual and unlike the rest of his family – and he certainly got that! I quite like Steve’s description of Kirsten pipes:

Kirsten pipes have always been a bit of an enigma to me. The combination of briar and aluminum is unique. It is a pipe that is not really fish or fowl in terms of briar or metal. It is a pipe with an aluminum radiator with a bowl attached to it. The vulcanite stem is attached to an aluminum metal pin that extends the length of the radiator. On the end is a valve that controls the flow of air to bowl and is adjustable. This pipe has some markings. Interestingly, the name Kirsten is not one of them, but this is unquestionably a Kirsten pipe. On the left side of the aluminum body is the word, Companion. On the underside of the body are the words, Made in U.S.A. – next to that is the shape letter, K.Kirsten pipes have a long and interesting history. Naturally, Pipedia has a long article on this, but, in fact, that information comes from the fascinating Smoking Metal website. I encourage you to read the various articles they have on Kirstens.Let’s examine the pipe a bit. The aluminum is in decent shape – no major dents or scratches. There are merely micro-scratches, but no big deal. Similarly, the stem was in really nice shape. Only very minor tooth wear. Little oxidation and calcification. However, the briar bowl did have some issues. It had some cake in the bowl and was fairly dirty. The main problem was a significant burn on the rim. I’d have to take a closer look at that.My first step was to take the entire pipe apart. Here is a good photo of the various components of this Kirsten – plus the screwdriver I used to take the pipe apart.I decided to work on the briar bowl first on this occasion. The first step for the bowl is to ream it out – that is to say, remove all the cake inside. This accomplishes a couple of things. First (and most obviously), it cleans the bowl and provides a refurbished chamber for future smoking. Second, when the old cake is removed, I can inspect the interior walls of the bowl and determine if there is damage or not. I used a reamer, a pipe knife, and a piece of sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel. Collectively, these ensure that all the debris is removed.The damage to the rim is significant. In order to lessen the burns and nicks on the rim, I ‘topped’ the pipe – that is to say, I gently and evenly sanded the rim on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. This effectively minimizes the damage, without altering the look of the pipe.Some of the burn remained on the rim, so I took some crystalized oxalic acid and dissolved it in warm water. I took some cotton swaps, dipped in the solution, and rubbed the burned spot vigorously. Some of the burn was removed, but, unfortunately, some will always remain as part of this pipe’s history.To tidy up the briar, I also wiped down the outside with some oil soap on cotton rounds (and a toothbrush). This does a good job of cleaning any latent dirt on the surface of the briar. The last step of the cleaning process is to scour the inside of the stummel with some soap and tube brushes. This is the culmination of a lot of hard work in getting the bowl clean.I took a solid wooden sphere, wrapped a piece of 220-grit sandpaper around it, and sanded the inner edge of the rim. This achieves two things: first, it removes some of the burn marks; and second (and more importantly), the circular shape and motion of the sphere gradually returns the edge to a perfect circle. I then used all nine micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) on the outside of the stummel to finish it off. This sanding minimizes flaws in the briar and provides a beautiful smoothness to the wood. I rubbed some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and let it sit for 20 minutes or so. The balm moisturizes the wood and gives a beautiful depth to the briar. I then buffed it with a microfibre cloth. On to the stem. I cleaned the inside with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 99% lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly to make sure the interior was clean.The goal of the next step is the removal (or minimization) of oxidation. Going to my sink, I used cream cleanser, cotton rounds, and a toothbrush, and scoured the stem to remove as much surface oxidation as possible. As the photos show, the result is a hideous brownish mess – but better off the stem than on it.Once the stem was reasonably clean, I soaked it overnight in some de-oxidation fluid. This solution works to draw oxidation in the stem to the surface. This is a major aid and an important step in ensuring a clean stem. The following day, I drew the stem out from its bath and scrubbed the lingering fluid with a toothbrush.I used all nine of the micromesh sanding pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand out flaws, even out the vulcanite, and provide gentle polishing of the finished surface. I also applied pipe-stem oil while using the last five micromesh pads. There was a wonderful, deep black shine to the stem when I was done.Next was the aluminum body of this old Kirsten. In order to loosen up some of the old filth, I soaked all the metal pieces in a vinegar solution. This was only mildly successful and I would need to do more.Just like other pipes, I cleaned the insides thoroughly with cotton swabs dipped in 99% lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. This wasn’t enough – I also cleaned the inside of the aluminum with my cream cleanser and some tube brushes. That worked well! I then used my grey micromesh pads and polished the metal to a beautiful shine. Boy, it looked terrific after that.For the final step, I took the bowl to my bench buffer and carefully polished it – first with a white diamond compound, then with three coats of carnauba wax. This procedure makes the pipe look its best – the stummel sings and the stem glows.All done! This Kirsten Companion K looks fantastic again and is ready to be enjoyed by its new owner. It was great fun to work on. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5⅓ in. (136 mm); height 1⅞ in. (48 mm); bowl diameter 1½ in. (39 mm); chamber diameter ⅞ in. (22 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅝ oz. (49 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restemming and Restoring a Rogers Rarity Imported Bruyere 310 Bulldog

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by Steve Laug

I decided to restem another bowl that I had here in the box. Jeff and I purchased on 10/17/2017 from am antique shop in Pocatello, Idaho, USA. It is a nicely grained bowl that came with some odd stem stuck in the shank. It was obviously the wrong one so it would have to go. The left side of the shank is stamped and reads Rogers [over] Rarity in an oval. The right side is stamped Imported [arched over] the shape number 310 and underneath was arched Bruyere. The bowl had a thick cake and lava overflow on the rim top and inner edge. The briar is oily and dirty with some lava coming down the outer edge of the rim top onto the bullcap. There was some great grain hidden by the grime. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his work on cleaning it up. He included photos of the stem that came on it when we purchased it.He captured the cake in the bowl and the thick eruption of lava on the rim top and edges exceptionally well in the next photo. It was very clear that the pipe had not been seriously cleaned in a very long time. But it is also very clear that it was an exceptional smoker! The incorrect stem is oxidized and dull with tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It was going to be replaced but I always find it interesting to see what pipesmokers do to make a pipe remain usable. Jeff somehow captured some of the beauty of the shape and the grain in the next photos. You can certainly see what lies beneath the grime on the briar. You can also see a few small fills in the bowl and along the twin rings of the bullcap. He took photos of the stamping on the top left and right of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above.From reading Bill Unger’s book on Custom-Bilt Pipes I remember “Rogers Rarity” was made by the same company as one of its non-sculptured or rusticated pipes. I did a Google search to see if I could confirm that online. I found a pipe labeled Rogers Rarity for sale on Worthpoint, an online sales site (https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/rogers-rarity-custombilt-large-briar-1821532853). In the description they made the link to Custombilt. I quote:

Rogers Rarity briar pipes were made by Custombilt, and show all the beauty and originality of the brand.

I searched further and found a conversation asking about the brand on Pipesmagazine online forum. There was a great conversation about the brand.

(https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/help-with-dating-a-pipe.62314/). I found a particular response by Jon Guss of the Seattle Pipe Club particularly helpful. I quote from Jon in full.

First, “Rodgers” is a misspelling; it was always spelled “Rogers”. Three generations of the Rogers family ran one of the leading importers of pipes (including Petersons for a number of years) and resellers of pipes and smokers articles; they also did a bit of manufacturing. The name of the company was Rogers Imports, Inc.

Second, for several reasons I also believe that Rogers Rarity pipes were made for Rogers Imports by CustomBilt.

The Rogers Rarity line was introduced by the company in late 1945. The advertising copy from the spring of 1946 described Rogers Rarity pipes as “The height of pipe luxury and enjoyment”, and claimed that they were “Carved by hand of Algerian bruyere over 150 years old”. Was it true? I would guess not, but age fabrication regarding the briar from which pipes were made was a kind of industry trope for generations. While most of the Rarity pipes apparently sold for $5, the listed price range stated various models cost from $5-25. The $5 pipes were available in natural and grain finishes; there was also a $10 version called the Rogers Rarity Deluxe that was sterling banded and meerschaum lined.

I can’t be sure when the line ceased production, but believe it was by the end of 1949. Certainly Rogers Rarity pipes are no longer listed in the RTDA Almanac from 1950 on, and mentions of the pipe in advertisements to consumers become thin on the ground. More tellingly newspaper ads from 1951 show the pipe heavily discounted, suggesting that excess inventory of an obsolete line was being flushed through the channel…

Now I knew that my memory was correct. The pipe was made by CustomBilt for Rogers Imports. I also knew that it was made between 1945-1949 when the line was no longer made. It was a bit of an old timer… Now it was time to work on the pipe.

I was amazed at how clean and new the pipe looked when I took it out of the box. It is really a beautiful piece. Jeff had done a great cleanup on the pipe. He 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 bowl exterior with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the grime on the finish of the bowl and the lava from the rim top. He rinsed it under running water. One of the benefits of this scrub is that it also tends to lift some of the scratches and nicks in the surface of the briar. He dried it off with a soft cloth. We put the stem in our stem can. I took photos of the pipe bowl as I saw it when I put it on the table. I took photos of the rim top to show the condition. The rim top had some darkening on the top and outer edge but did not look deeply damaged. The inner edge of the bowl showed some damage and was slightly out of round.The stamping on the top left and right sides of the diamond shaped shank are clear and readable as noted above.I started my work on this pipe by fitting a new stem to the shank. Once I had that done I would move on to cleaning up the bowl. I had a stem picked out that was a clear/Perspex style acrylic that would look great on this pipe. I first adjusted the fit of the tenon to the shank with my Dremel, files and sandpaper. Once I had a fit I took some photos. I think the stem would work very well with this pipe. As is usual with pipes the shank was not a true diamond and I needed to adjust the facets of the diamond shank to properly match those of the shank. I did this by hand using a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was fortunate that the top facets lined up well so I could avoid the stamping on them. I set the stem aside and dealt with the damage to the inner edge of the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the inner edge and give it form once again. It worked quite well. Then I used a wooden sphere and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to lightly bevel the inner edge of the rim to remove the burn damage. The result was actually quite good. I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I worked over the rim top, bowl sides, shank (carefully avoiding the stamping). I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The briar began to look very good and the grain richly shone. I polished the briar with 1200-1500 micromesh sanding pads and wiping it down with damp cloth after each sanding pad. As I worked through the cycle of pads the shine developed with each change of pad. The pipe looks very good. Now it was time to bend the stem. I have had better luck bending acrylic/Perspex stems with boiling water than a heat gun. I boiled some water in the microwave and put the stem in the hot water. I repeated it several times to soften the acrylic. I bent it over a pill bottle to give it a correct bend. I set the bend with cool water. I put it partially in the shank to check the bend. I and happy with the way it turned out. It had a nice smooth bend.The button had a small round opening. I used a slot saw and three different files to shape an oval slot in the shank. It was a well-shaped slot that I smoothed out. With the bend in the stem and new slot it was very workable. I fit the stem in shank and took photos of the new look to the slightly bent bulldog. The Perspex stem fit well and looked very good. I removed the stem and rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 10 minutes, then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The Balm did its magic and the grain stood out on the briar. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to polishing the stem. I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down between pads with a Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It was looking much better.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped down again with Obsidian Oil and set it aside while I worked on the stem. This Chubby 1945-49 Rogers Rarity 310 Bent Bulldog with an Acrylic/Perspex saddle stem is a well grained pipe with a flowing shape that looks great. The rich browns of the darkened natural finish make the grain come alive 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 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 Rogers Rarity Bent Bulldog really is a beauty and fits nicely 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: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.90 ounces/54 grams. This old timer will soon be on the American Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store 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.

Restoring an Odd, Old Genuine French Briar Slug Style Pocket Pipe

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one that has always interested me. Jeff called it a Slug and we purchased it on 07/27/2019 from a seller in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, USA. The stamping on the left side of the pipe reads Genuine French Briar at an angle on the short shank. On the underside at the stem shank union it is stamped Made in France. It is clear and readable. The hard rubber stem has a crown stamped on the left side of the taper. The finish on the pipe did not have a shiny varnish coat but it was very dirty and had oils ground into the bowl sides. There were a lot of nicks and scratches in the briar. The rim was darkened and hard to tell whether it was burned or just tarry. The bowl was nicked and out of round but it also had a cake that would need to be reamed out before addressing the out of round inner wall of the rim. The hard rubber stem had nicks and gouges on both side that looked liked someone had used pliers to try to remove it. There was light tooth chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button, however, it was clean and sharp as was the slot in the in the end of the button. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. You can see what I have pointed out above in the photos. Jeff took some close-up photos of the damage to the rim and the stem. Looking closely at the photos of the rim top of the photo you can see the damage to the rim itself and the scratches in the top. The bowl also has a thick cake with some lava on the top and edges. The photo of the underside of the stem shows the nicks and gouges in the rubber. The top side also mirrors that though there is no photo of it. Jeff took photos of the grain around the bowl sides and the heel. It is interesting to note the also foot like bottom of the bowl which looks like the tread of a slug. The bowl is very dirty and oily on the outside and there are many nicks and scratches in the finish. The next photos show the stamping on the sides of the shank and the logo on the stem. It is clear and readable as noted above. Jeff removed the stem to show the damaged and corroded stinger that was in the shank. It appeared to me to have corroded a portion off the end as the bottom of the bowl showed a trough where it extended into the bowl.I knew that there were several blogs on rebornpipes about this style of pipe and in the middle of the night it hit me that they had horn stems so I did a quick search on the blog for horn stems and found two articles. The Mokin is an article on a restoration by Anthony Cook and is very helpful. The second is one I did on a Bruyere Garantie Pocket pipe and it is also a help in solidifying what I knew about the shape and the pipe. Here are the links:

https://rebornpipes.com/2015/10/20/ship-shape-refurbishing-a-mokin-corsaire-7087/

https://rebornpipes.com/2015/11/09/cleaning-up-a-bruyere-garantie-pocket-pipe-with-a-horn-stem/

Since this pipe is stamped Genuine French Briar I did a quick search on the blog for both Genuine French Briar and GFB pipes. I have restored a few of those over the years so I have included those links as well to try to pin down the history of the brand.

I went back and reread the posts on the GFB pipes I had refurbished to remind myself of their history. There I described the process of hunting down information on the brand. I summarize that here for those may not have read the posts. I quote below from the articles the pertinent information on the brand.

(https://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/restemming-and-reclaiming-an-older-unsmoked-gfb-briar-calabash/ , https://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/restoring-a-gfb-bent-billiard-another-reclamation-project/, https://rebornpipes.com/2013/11/21/restoring-an-older-gfb-three-star-horn-stem-bent-bulldog/#)

The first thing I found was information that the GFB brand was an older French Trademark and that it came from Saint Claude, France. A more focused search for GFB French Briar Pipes led to information that the stamping GFB stood for Great French Briar – something about that did not seem right to me so I continued to look and finally came across the following advertisement from a Sears Catalogue that I have included below. It shows a full page of GFB pipes and the header says GENUINE FRENCH BRIAR. That made much more sense to me, and all three of the GFB pipes I had worked on match the pipes in the catalogue. It was good to be reminded of the old brand. I am pretty sure that all three of my GFB pipes come from either the late 1890’s or the early 1900’s.Judging from the description above, the pipe I am working on is an older French Made pipe by the GFB company – Genuine French Briar. The best I can tell the pipe was made in the early 1900s. I have worked on horn stem examples of this but this is one of the first with  a hard rubber stem. Now it was time to work on the pipe itself.

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. Surprisingly the walls looked unscathed from the heavy cake. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. When I examined the stem, it looked very good. The pipe looked far better when it arrived. I took some close up photos of the rim top and edges to show how well it had cleaned up and the edges around the bowl. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the gouges, scratches and light tooth chatter on the surface ahead of the button on both sides.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to have a look at the parts and overall look. I worked on the out of round bowl with a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the damaged areas and bring it back to as close to round as I could get it. I smoothed out the rim top at the same time to remove damage on the surface.I sanded the scratching and marks around the bowl sides with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the briar down after each sanding pad. I was able to smooth out most of the marks and the bowl looked much better. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The grain really began to sing. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and filled in the deep nicks and gouges with black CA glue. Once it cured I sanded out the chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button with 220 grit sandpaper.I sanded the stem surface with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. The repairs were blended in and the chatter was gone on both sides ahead of the button looked very good. The stem began to shine.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I went through my collection of stingers and found one that was probably much like the broken one that was in this tenon. It extended into the bowl the correct distance judging by the bowl bottom. It would work well. I fit it in the stem after polishing it.I am excited to finish this GFB Genuine French Briar Pocket Pipe. Jeff called it a slug and that certainly fits the shape. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful mixed grain all around it, looks great with the polished black hard rubber stem. This smooth Old GFB Pocket Pipe is both ugly and great looking at the same time. The pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 35 grams/1.23 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I am not sure what I am going to do with it at the moment. I have it on my desk and keep picking it up and looking at it. Thanks for your time as I walked through the restoration.

Restoring “A Peterson’s Product” Made in the Rep. of Ireland Shamrock 268 Zulu

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe was a pipe that was in surprisingly good condition. The finish on the bowl and rim top looked very good other than being dirty. This old pipe is a smooth Zulu that has a rich coloured finish around the bowl sides and shank under the grit and grime of years. It was purchased from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark on 01/08/2024. It was stamped on the top side of the shank and read SHAMROCK. It was stamped to the underside of the shank and reads “A Peterson’s Product” [over] Made in the Rep. [over] of Ireland. The shape number 268 was on the right side of the shank next to the bowl. It was dirty when Jeff brought it to the table. There was a thick cake in the bowl and the inner edge but there was no lava on the rim top. The taper fishtail vulcanite stem was lightly oxidized and there was tooth chatter ahead of the button. There was also a Shamrock “S” logo on the topside of the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work. Jeff took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is heavily caked so it is hard to know the condition of the edges under the lava overflow. The stem looked surprisingly good. Jeff took photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the grain that was around this bowl. You can see the grime but the grain around the bowl is beautiful. Even so, it is a nice looking pipe. He took photos of the top and underside of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is clear and readable in the photos below as noted above. He did not capture the shape number stamp on the right side of the shank. The “S” logo on the top of the stem looks very good. I am including the link to the Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Peterson’s Shamrock Pipe. On page 312 it had the following information.

Shamrock (c1941-2009) Originally stamped SHAMROCK with no brand name, an inexpensive line first described in George Yale (New York) mail order booklet in 1941, imported by Rogers Import. The line was actively promoted beginning in ’45, aggressively promoted in US by Rogers from early ‘50s when they registered the Shamrock logo with US Patent Office, claiming propriety since ’38. Over the years offered with P-lip or fishtail mouthpiece, with or without nickel band, with or without Shamrock logo on the band, with or without S stamped in white or later in gold on mouthpiece. Appearing in 2008 as unstained smooth and rustic, fishtail mouthpiece with gold impressed P on the stem. COMS of MADE IN over IRELAND (C1945-1965), MADE IN IRELAND forming a circle (c1945-1965), “A PETERSON’S PRODUCT” over MADE IN IRELAND (c1945-1965), MADE IN THE over REPUBLIC over OF IRELAND (c1948-1998). Model is always difficult or impossible to date.

Judging from the description above, the pipe I am working on is stamped with the stamp noted in red above. The stamping Made in the Rep. of Ireland narrows the date to approximately 1948-1998. It is just stamped SHAMROCK with no brand name and the S stamping on the stem.

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. Surprisingly the walls looked unscathed from the heavy cake. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. When I examined the stem, it looked very good. The pipe looked far better when it arrived. I took some close up photos of the rim top and edges to show how well it had cleaned up and the edges around the bowl. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the light tooth chatter on the surface ahead of the button on both sides. I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to have a look at the parts and overall look. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The grain really began to sing. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and sanded out the chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button with 220 grit sandpaper.I sanded the stem surface with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. The chatter was gone on both sides ahead of the button looked very good. The stem began to shine.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I am excited to finish this “Peterson’s Product” Made in the Rep. of Ireland Shamrock 268 Zulu. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful mixed grain all around it, looks great with the polished black vulcanite stem. This smooth Classic Shamrock 268 Zulu is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 32 grams/1.13 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will be putting on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers Section. Let me know if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for your time as I walked through the restoration.

Restoring the fourth and final of six pipes for a Vancouver Pipeman – A Brigham 4244 Full Bent

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by Steve Laug

Last week I received an email from Steffen regarding a few more pipe projects that he had for me to work on. He dropped them off here yesterday for me to work on. There were six pipes in the lot. Two were his that I had worked on a few years ago – a Mayfair 1005 rusticated tree stump and a Jost Supreme. Both were favourite pipes of his. One was a Savinelli Bent Billiard that he purchased on a trip to Italy. The final three were pipes that belonged to his father who would soon be visiting him in Vancouver – a Brigham full bent four dot 4244, a Savinelli Portofino Bent Pot and a Bent Rhodesian with no name stamped on the shank sides. Steffen texted me this photo of the pipes before he sent them.I decided to work on the two pipes at the bottom before addressing the final pipe of Stephen’s Dad’s pipes. This involved stem tightening on two of Stephen’s pipes that are really straight forward. I did not write a blog on them. It is now time to work on the final one of Steffen’s father’s pipes. It is a rusticated Full Bent Pipe. It is a beautiful rusticated piece of briar that I fully appreciate why his Dad chose it. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank. It reads P 4244 M followed by Brigham. There is no Canada stamp on it. The stem bears 4 dots on the left side of the saddle. The briar is dirty from use with a moderate cake in the bowl and some chipping and dents in the rim top on the outer edge of the bowl. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had some tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside of the stem ahead of a hand carved button that his father carved in the stem end. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work and included them below. I took a photo of the stem surfaces and the bowl and rim to give a sense of condition of the pipe. You can see the cake in bowl and the lava overflow and the heavy nicking and denting on the edges and rim top of the bowl. The stem surface is very dirty and you can see the tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There is also a paper wash inserted in the mortise of the pipe to tighten the fit of the stem.I took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank to show its clarity. It read as noted above. I also removed the stem from the shank of the pipe and took a photo of the parts to show the flow of the pipe. It has some great grain. For the needed background I am including the information from Pipedia on Brigham pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Pipes). Charles Lemon (Dadspipes) is currently working on a book on the history of the brand. Until that is complete this article is a good summary. I have included it below.

Roy Brigham, after serving an apprenticeship under an Austrian pipesmith, started his own pipe repair shop in Toronto, in 1906. By 1918 the business had grown to include five other craftsmen and had developed a reputation across Canada for the high quality of workmanship. After repairing many different brands of pipes over the years, Roy noted certain recurring complaints by pipe smokers, the most common referred to as “tongue bite”. Tongue bite is a burning sensation on the smoker’s tongue, previously thought to be due to the heat of the smoke (i.e. a “hot smoking pipe”).

He soon began manufacturing his own pipes, which were lightweight, yet featured a more rugged construction, strengthening the weak points observed in other pipes. The problem of tongue bite intrigued him, and he decided to make overcoming it a future goal.

About 1938, Roy’s son Herb joined him to assist in the business. The business barely survived the great depression because pipes were considered to be a luxury, not a necessity, and selling pipes was difficult indeed. In approximately 1937 [1], after some experimentation, Roy and Herb discovered that tongue bite was in fact a form of mild chemical burn to the tongue, caused by tars and acids in the smoke. They found that by filtering the smoke, it was possible to retain the flavour of the tobacco and yet remove these impurities and thereby stop the tongue bite.

Just as Thomas Edison had searched far and wide for the perfect material from which to make the first electric light bulb filaments, Roy & Herb began experimenting with many materials, both common and exotic, in the quest for the perfect pipe filter. Results varied wildly. Most of the materials didn’t work at all and some actually imparted their own flavour into the smoke. They eventually found just two materials that were satisfactory in pipes: bamboo and rock maple. As bamboo was obviously not as readily available, rock maple then became the logical choice.

They were able to manufacture a replaceable hollow wooden tube made from rock maple dowelling, which when inserted into a specially made pipe, caused absolutely no restriction to the draw of the pipe, yet extracted many of the impurities which had caused tongue bite. The result was indeed a truly better smoking pipe…With the information from Charles’ article and the chart above that he included I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping and the age of this pipe. I learned that this 4244 (the 4XX shape number) is a Brigham Director (4-Dot) Full Bent. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

I used a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the debris on the bowl top. The small rusticated patterns were quite filled in with lava and dirt. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the second and third cutting head to trim the cake back. I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife to clean up the remnants leaving bare briar. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The bowl was undamaged under the cake and was now significantly cleaner. I cleaned out the airway in the shank and mortise as well as the stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. It was dirty but it cleaned up very well. I scrubbed the surface of the briar with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I rinsed it with warm running water and repeated the process until the pipe was clean. It looked much better. I sanded the smooth panel on the right side of the bowl and the smooth ring around the rim top and shank end with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. I polished the smooth portions of the briar with 1500-12000 micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding the bowl with the pads and wiping it down after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. It is looking much better. I left the nicks on the outer edge as they are a part of the pipe’s journey. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a shoe brush to work it into the rustication. The product works to clean, restore and preserve the briar. I let it do its magic for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a cotton cloth. The pipe looks very good at this point in the process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the vulcanite saddle stem. I cleaned the stem area around where Stephen’s father had cut off the damaged button and notched the side of the stem. I used alcohol and cotton swabs. I rebuilt the button on both sides of the stem with black CA glue. I also filled in the notches with the glue. I layered it on multiple times to build up the button surface. The glue I use has both rubber and carbon in the mix that harden as it dries but does not become brittle. Once it cured I flattened the repairs and reshaped the button edge with a flat needle file. I gave the button top and bottom as well as the notches another layer or two of black CA glue. Once it cured I continued the process of reshaping and then sanded the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris and dust. The stem looked very good. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.  I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Oil to preserve and protect the stem. I fitted the tenon system with a Brigham Hard Rock Maple Filter. It fit well and the pipe is ready to smoke with it in place. This Brigham 4244 Full Bent Four Dot Director is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The mix of brown stains really highlight the grain and the polished finish has depth. The nicks on the outer edge give a bit of character and history to the pipe. I put the vulcanite stem with the rebuilt button 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 Brigham 4244 Full Bent Four Dot Director 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 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 66 grams /2.33 ounces. I had finished the stem tightening on two of Stephen’s personal pipes and cleaned them up. This is the last of the other four of Stephen’s pipes that needed to be worked on and restored. I will give him a call in the week ahead and get them back to him to enjoy with his father.

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 Butz-Choquin Vendôme Extra 1688 Apple

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by Kenneth Lieblich

Here’s a charming pipe! I’ve been restoring a good number of pipes for a local family and this is the latest of the bunch: a Butz-Choquin Vendôme Extra 1688. This is an apple shape (in French, the shape is called boule – meaning ball), with a round shank and a tapered stem. It’s an attractive pipe, but it has seen better days. Time to spiff it up for its new owner. Let’s have a look at the markings on this pipe. As the photos show, the left side of the shank reads, Butz-Choquin [over] Vendôme [over] Extra. The right side of the stem reads, St Claude [over] France [over] 1688. Additionally, the stem shows the BC logo of Butz-Choquin in a clear, acrylic circle. Both Pipedia and Pipephil have good write-ups on the history of Butz-Choquin and I encourage you to read both. Also, Steve has restored quite a few and it’s worth having a look at his writings too. For the moment, here is some information from Pipedia:

The pipe, from Metz to Saint-Claude.

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

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

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

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

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

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

In an old Butz-Choquin catalogue, I found the pipe shape in question, listed with its requisite number:An inspection of the pipe showed a few flaws to be addressed. The bowl was dirty and stained. It also had some burn marks on the rim top. Furthermore, it had an unattractive lacquer-like finish to it. Meanwhile, the stem was dirty and scratched. There were minor bite marks and there was some oxidation.To begin, I used oil soap on a few cotton rounds and wiped the stem down to provide an initial cleaning of filth before moving on. The primary cleaning comes next. I cleaned the inside of the stem with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 99% lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly to make sure the interior was clean.The goal of the next step is the removal (or minimization) of oxidation. Going to my sink, I used cream cleanser, cotton rounds, and a toothbrush, and scoured the stem to remove as much surface oxidation as possible. As the photos show, the result is a hideous brownish mess – but better off the stem than on it.Once the stem was reasonably clean, I soaked it overnight in some de-oxidation fluid. This solution works to draw oxidation in the stem to the surface. This is a major aid and an important step in ensuring a clean stem. The following day, I drew the stem out from its bath and scrubbed the lingering fluid with a toothbrush.Now that the stem is clean and dry, I set about fixing the marks and dents in the vulcanite. This is done by filling those divots with black cyanoacrylate adhesive, impregnated with carbon and rubber. I left this to cure and moved on.The penultimate step for the stem is sanding. First, with my set of needle files, I reduce the bulk of the cyanoacrylate repairs. I want to remove the excess adhesive as near to the surface as possible, without cutting into the vulcanite. Following that, I use all nine of the micromesh sanding pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand out flaws, even out the vulcanite, and provide gentle polishing of the finished surface. I also apply pipe-stem oil while using the last five micromesh pads. There was a wonderful, deep black shine to the stem when I was done.Now that the stem is (nearly) complete, I can move on to the stummel. The first step for me is to ream out the bowl – that is to say, remove all the cake inside the bowl. This accomplishes a couple of things. First (and most obviously), it cleans the bowl and provides a refurbished chamber for future smoking. Second, when the old cake is removed, I can inspect the interior walls of the bowl and determine if there is damage or not. I used a reamer, a pipe knife, and a piece of sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel. Collectively, these ensure that all the debris is removed. Plenty of cake in there…The inside of the stummel needs to be cleaned thoroughly. Similar to the stem, I then cleaned it with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 99% lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. With a pipe this dirty, it took quite a while and much cotton to get clean (as the photos will attest).I then decided to ‘de-ghost’ the pipe – that is to say, exorcize the remaining filth from the briar. I filled the bowl and the shank with cotton balls, then 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.To tidy up the briar, I also wiped down the outside with some oil soap on cotton rounds (and a toothbrush). This does a good job of cleaning any latent dirt on the surface of the briar. The last step of the cleaning process is to scour the inside of the stummel with some soap and tube brushes. This is normally the culmination of a lot of hard work in getting the pipe clean.However, I noticed that the lacquer was flaking and looking terrible. As a result, I chose to remove it all with acetone on some cotton rounds. Of course, acetone is a volatile chemical, and I only use it rarely and judiciously in my pipe work. In this case, it acted perfectly to remove what I needed and left beautiful wood underneath. In fact, it looked so much better after having wiped it down. The damage to the rim is not terrible, but it is notable. In order to lessen the burns on the rim, I ‘topped’ the pipe – that is to say, I gently and evenly sanded the rim on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. This effectively minimizes the damage, without altering the look of the pipe. A little of the burn remains, but that is part of this pipe’s life story.I used all nine micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) on the outside of the stummel to finish it off. This sanding minimizes flaws in the briar and provides a beautiful smoothness to the wood.The removal of the lacquer was a positive, necessary step, but it made the stummel a bit pale. I decided to stain the wood with an alcohol-based, aniline dye. I use this type of dye because it is easy to work with, uniform in colour, quite penetrating, and is easily thinned with isopropyl alcohol. For this pipe, I chose a light brown colour, as it most closely resembled what the pipe would have looked like when new. I spread the dye all over the outside of the stummel with a small dauber and then applied a gentle flame to it. This flame assists in setting the stain by quickly evaporating the isopropyl alcohol. If necessary, the stain can be lightened by wiping the briar with pure alcohol – and, in this case, that’s precisely what I did. I rubbed some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and let it sit for 20 minutes or so. The balm moisturizes the wood and gives a beautiful depth to the briar. I then buffed it with a microfibre cloth. For the final step, I took the pipe to my bench buffer and carefully polished it – first with a white diamond compound, then with three coats of carnauba wax. This procedure makes the pipe look its best – the stummel sings and the stem glows.This Butz-Choquin Vendôme Extra 1688 apple is a very handsome pipe and will provide many years of smoking pleasure for its new owner. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5¼ in. (134 mm); height 1⅝ in. (40 mm); bowl diameter 1⅓ in. (34 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅛ oz. (34 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring the third of six pipes for a Vancouver Pipeman – No Name Bent Rhodesian

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by Steve Laug

Earlier this week I received an email from Stephen regarding a few more pipe projects that he had for me to work on. He dropped them off here yesterday for me to work on. There were six pipes in the lot. Two were his that I had worked on a few years ago – a Mayfair 1005 rusticated tree stump and a Jost Supreme. Both were favourite pipes of his. One was a Savinelli Bent Billiard that he purchased on a trip to Italy. The final three were pipes that belonged to his father who would soon be visiting him in Vancouver – a Brigham full bent four dot 4244, a Savinelli Portofino Bent Pot and a Bent Rhodesian with no name stamped on the shank sides. Stephen texted me this photo of the pipes before he sent them.I decided to work on the second of Stephen’s father’s pipes. It is a smooth Bent Rhodesian. It is a beautiful grained piece of briar that I can appreciate why he chose it. The pipe is unstamped and does not appear to have even the remnants of any stamping. The briar is dirty from use with a moderate cake in the bowl and a lot of chipping and dents in the rim top and the twin rings on Bullcap on the bowl. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had some tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside of the stem ahead of and on the surface of the button. There is no stamping on the side of the stem as it was unmarked. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work and included them below. I took a photo of the stem surfaces and the bowl and rim to give a sense of condition of the pipe. You can see the cake in bowl and the lava overflow and the heavy nicking and denting on the edges and rim top of the bowl. The stem surface is very dirty and you can see the tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There is also a paper wash inserted in the mortise of the pipe to tighten the fit of the stem.I removed the stem from the shank of the pipe and took a photo of the parts to show the flow of the pipe. It has some great grain.I used a dental spatula to scrape out the paper washer from the inside of the shank. It had been glued to the right side of the shank to thicken the wall of the right side. It was not an effective way as the shank was not drilled evenly. It was straight but the shank was not round. The stem turned the same way the stem was.To address the damage on the rim top I topped it with 220 grit sandpaper on a topping board. I took off the rim damage and smoothed out the top of the rim. It looked much better. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the second and third cutting head to trim the cake back. I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife to clean up the remnants leaving bare briar. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The bowl was significantly cleaner. I cleaned out the airway in the shank and mortise as well as the stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. It was dirty but it cleaned up very well. I cleaned the surface of the briar with a cotton pad and acetone to remove the grime and the remnants of the finish on the briar. It looked much better.There was a large divot on the bottom of the bowl that I decided to repair. I filled it in with some clear CA glue and pressed briar dust into the glue. I repeated the process until the damaged area was filled in. Once the repair cured I sanded it flat to blend it into the surrounding surface of the briar. It looked much better when I was finished. I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. I polished the briar with 1500-12000 micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding the bowl with the pads and wiping it down after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. It is looking much better. I left the nicks on the twin rings around the top of the Bullcap as they are a part of the pipe’s journey. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a shoe brush to work it into the rings around the Bullcap. The product works to clean, restore and preserve the briar. I let it do its magic for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a cotton cloth. The pipe looks very good at this point in the process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the vulcanite taper stem. I scrubbed the surface of the stem with Soft Scrub to break through the oxidation, calcification and clean up the tooth marks.I filled in the tooth marks on the stem surface and on the surface of the button on both sides with black CA glue. The glue I use has both rubber and carbon in the mix that harden as it dries but does not become brittle. Once it cured I flattened the repairs and reshaped the button edge with a flat needle file. I cleaned up the repaired areas with 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris and dust. The stem looked very good. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.  I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Oil to preserve and protect the stem. This No Name Bent Rhodesian is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The mix of brown stains really highlight the grain and the polished finish has depth. The nicks in the rings give a bit of character and history to the pipe. I put the vulcanite 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 Bent 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: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 48 grams /1.69 ounces. I have three more of Stephen’s pipes to work on. Once I have finished I will get them back to him to enjoy with his father. 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.