Tag Archives: bowl topping

Breathing new life into a Unique PHM System Pipe with a Horn Stem

Blog by Steve Laug

My brother first sent me the picture below of this old pipe to see what I thought of it. There was something intriguing about it from my first look. I looked at the eBay ad and all of the pictures included and told him we should go for it. I don’t recall ever seeing a pip this shape with the horn stem and the matching horn button on the bottom of the bowl. It certainly looked like it was a nice piece of briar underneath the grime of age. The horn stem looked to be in good shape overall with no splits or cracks. The horn button on the bottom of the bowl also appeared to be in good shape. The briar had no burns or serious damage to the rim or the edges of the bowl. The band was in decent shape with no dents of dings. The chunky look of the stem and the shank attracted me to the pipe. The striations of colour on the stem showed promise of looking great once buffed and polished. He bid on it and won.When Jeff received the pipe he took the following photos before he started cleaning it up. You can see some of the issues that I will need to address in the cleanup and restoration. The overall condition of the pipe is fine. The briar was very dirty and the rim and bowl had a thick, dark and oily cake that overflowed onto the top of the bowl. If you look closely at the photos of the entire pipe you will also see some damage to the horn stem. There are tooth marks on the top and underside near the button and there are some divots out of the left side of the stem.He took some close up photos of the rim and bowl. You can see the cake in the bowl and the overflow of lava on the rim top. It is hard to tell if there is damage to the inner edge of the rim at this point due to the buildup but there could be. There is some wear on the outer edges at the front of the bowl.The close up photos of the stem shows the tooth marks and the divots out of the left side. Both of these will need to be addressed in the restoration.The brass coloured band has a small diamond shaped stamp on it that is aligned on the right side. It has some kind of stamping inside the diamond but even with a light and a magnifier I am unable to read it.The PHM stamp in the oval on the left side of the shank is the only stamping on the pipe. I have hunted high and low for information on the brand and can find nothing. The shape and design of the pipe and stem make me think it is quite old and probably British made but I cannot be certain. Can any of you help identify the maker for me?It is hard to see in the photos but the airway in the bowl is at the bottom of the bowl. The horn cap on the bottom of the bowl is removable and it was hollowed into a bowl to catch the moisture from the burning tobacco. The airway into the shank is in the area where the cap screws into the bowl. The area acts as a bit of a cooling chamber for the smoke that is drawn into the airway allowing the moisture to collect in the horn bowl before wending its way into the airway in the shank of the pipe. When my brother unscrewed the cap the chamber inside was extremely dirty with tars and oils. The buildup was quite thick on both the inside of the hollowed out cap and the inside of the chamber/trap it screwed into.He removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the shank end. The brass band turned out to be more of a ferrule that wrapped the shank end. The drilling on the airway in the mortise was at a steep angle into the shank so you can see a small divot at the bottom edge of the shank. The tenon/stinger was bone and was shaped like a nipple that sat against the entrance of the airway in the bottom of the mortise.My brother scrubbed the externals of the bowl, reamed and cleaned out the internals. He said that the insides would take more work once I got it as they were very dirty. I took photos of the pipe when it arrived in Vancouver and I brought it to the work table. He had cleaned up the stem inside and out and the tooth marks and divots were ready to repair.He had been able to remove all of the cake in the bowl and it revealed the airway at the bottom of the bowl. He also cleaned the rim of the entire lava overflow. It would need to be lightly topped to remove the damage to the inner edge of the rim. He had scrubbed the reservoir under the horn plug on the bottom of the bowl but it would need a lot more work to rid it of all of the thick oils and tars accumulated there.I took a photo of the dismantled pipe to give an idea of the components and the size of the pipe. It is not a big pipe but the bowl is large for the overall size.I wiped down the tooth marks and divots on the side of the stem with a cotton pad dampened with alcohol to remove any remaining debris. I filled them in with clear super glue – slightly overfilling them to ensure that once the glue cured there would be enough for a smooth finish once sanded.While the stem glue cured I worked on cleaning out the reservoir/trap at the bottom of the bowl and inside of the cap. I used cotton swabs and alcohol to clean the area out and it took a lot of finicky cleaning to get all of the nooks and crannies clean. I also cleaned out the airway from the trap into the shank with bristle and regular pipe cleaners.I lightly topped the bowl on the topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damaged rim surface but not to change the overall shape or flow of the bowl. I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads -1500-4000 grit to remove the scratches left behind by the sandpaper on the topping board. I cleaned out the mortise and airway in the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until they came out clean and the pipe smelled fresh.I wiped down the exterior of the bowl with acetone to remove any grit and dirt that I had transferred during the interior cleanup.I used European Gold Rub’n Buff to restore the stamping on the shank. I applied it with a cotton swab and let it sit for a moment before rubbing off the excess with a clean swab. The restored stamping can be seen in the second photo below. The bottom edge of the stamp was not as deep as the rest of the stamp so I was not sure if that area would retain the gold.By this time the glue repairs on the stem had cured. I sanded them smooth with the surface of the stem using 220 grit sandpaper. For some reason the clear glue brings out a white spot in each repaired area – it may be a reaction of the horn to the glue. I will minimize those as I polish the stem but they will remain.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rub horn stems down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads to give life to the horn. I gave it a final coat of oil after sanding with the 12000 grit pad. I set the stem aside to dry. I gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and hand buffed it with a shoe brush. I would also buff it on the buffer but I wanted to see where things were at this point. Were there any areas on the bowl sides or top that I needed to do more work on to ensure that it would have a smooth finish. I worked a little more on the horn cap on the bottom of the bowl and on a few of the nicks on the sides of the bowl using 1500-4000 grit micromesh sanding pads. Once I was satisfied with the look and feel of the pipe I buffed it with Blue Diamond on the wheel being careful around the stamping. I buffed the stem with the polish as well to raise a shine and further blend in the repairs. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed them with a clean buffing pad. I finished by hand buffing the pipe with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. You will note that I did not stain the bowl at all. The rich patina is merely the wax working with the natural colour of the briar. This pipe is an oddity and a beauty. It was well worth the effort in my opinion. Thanks for walking with me through this process.

Rescuing a Peterson’s English Made 203 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

I wrote about the estate lot that I was tasked to clean up and sell on a previous blog at https://rebornpipes.com/2016/10/25/this-favourite-gbd-marquis-752-was-a-mess-not-any-more/. About a month ago a friend of mine, Richard who has a tobacco shop here in Vancouver gave me a call and asked me to stop by for a visit. I went on a Sunday afternoon and we visited for a while. At the end of the visit he took me to another counter in his shop and brought out some display cases of pipes – four of them and a small bag. He told the story to me. An elderly gentleman who was a customer of his had died and his wife had stopped by and gave him the fellow’s pipes. She wanted nothing for them she just wanted him to get them cleaned up and sold to folks who would appreciate them. Richard is a reader of the blog and he thought that I would have fun cleaning these up and selling them. As we went through the display cases and bag I was pretty pumped about the collection. There were some really nice GBD pipes, Comoy’s, Stanwells, Peterson’s as well as some brands I was not familiar with.

The second pipe I chose to work on was a Peterson’s Dublin oval shank billiard shaped pipe.The old gentleman seemed to favour Peterson’s as there were quite a few in the estate lot. It was very dirty. It was stamped on the topside of the shank with K&P over DUBLIN. There is also a silver band on the shank that bears three hallmarks over Sterling Silver. On the right side of the shank is the shape number 203. On the underside of the shank it is stamped with a COM (Country of Manufacture) circle that reads Made in England with the “in” stamped in the centre of the circle. The stamping is clear and sharp. The finish is in decent shape with a medium brown stain over mixed grain. There is an uneven cake in the bowl that spilled thickly over the beveled rim. It is hard to tell if there is rim damage as it is so dirty. There were sandpits on the left side of the bowl and on the back side above the shank. There is no P stamping on the P-lip stem but it appears to be an original not a replacement. There is calcification from a softee bit on the stem and button. There are light tooth marks and chatter on the top and bottom side of the stem ahead of the P-lip. The button itself was in good shape.

Here are some photos of the pipe when I started cleaning it. The pipe has good lines and some interesting grain underneath the grime. I took some close up photos of the bowl, stamping, band and stem to give a good picture of what I needed to work on. The first photo shows the cake in the bowl and the overflow of hard carbon buildup on the rim. The photo of the silver band shows the Sterling Silver stamp and three hallmark symbols. It is hard to read them but with a magnifying lens they read K&P. I was hoping to be able to date the pipe by the hallmarks but no such luck. The photos of the stamping show that they are faint but still readable. The stem photos show the tooth chatter and wear on the button itself. When I removed the stem I could see some divots in the end of the shank. There were cutouts that as far as I could see served no purpose. Someone had tried to repair them but left a bit of a mess so the stem did not fit snugly. I cleaned out the divots and smoothed them out with needle files until they matched the inside of the mortise. I filled in the end with some super glue and briar dust to even out the shank end.The lava buildup on the rim top was rock hard. I scrubbed at it but it would not come off. The outer edges of the rim were also damaged from knocking out the pipe on hard surfaces. I lightly topped the bowl to remove the hard tars and clean up the outer edges.I reamed the bowl with the Savinelli Pipe Knife and took the cake back to bare briar.There were some drops of a clear hard substance on the back of the bowl and on the right side that I could not take off without damaging the bowl. I scrubbed them down with some alcohol on a cotton pad and was able to soften them enough to remove them. I restained the rim to match the bowl using a combination of a medium and a dark stain pen. I also touched up the light areas around the silver band on the shank end.I polished the silver with some tarnish remover applied with cotton pads. I finished polishing it with a jeweler’s cloth. Once I had finished I could see the hallmarks more clearly and they read K&P – each letter in its own cartouche. I gave the bowl a quick coat of Conservators Wax and hand buffed it to see where I stood. I chose to leave the sandpits on the left side and back of the bowl as they add character. I sanded the tooth chatter, reshaped the button and removed the calcification and oxidation on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper.I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed it down with a coat of Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. With all the parts finished individually I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. The Blue Diamond is a plastic polish and gives the finish a glass like polish. I really like the way it works. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to finish the polishing process. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This second pipe from the older gentleman’s estate is a beauty. The fit and finish give it a look of elegance. This pipe is also available for sale. If you are interested in the pipe let me know via email at slaug@uniserve.com or through a message on Facebook. Thanks for walking through the process of restoration with me.

A Graceful Swan-Necked Tania Billiard

Refurbishing a Dulwich Quaint Oom Paul 64

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I took out of the refurbishing box was an Oom Paul that had a lot of character and some nice grain. It was stamped on the left side with the name Dulwich over Quaint. On the right side it was stamped with the number 64. It was also stamped on the underside, horizontally at the stem shank union with the words Made in England. I have searched for information on the internet for the brand in the past and not been able to find anything helpful. In a previous blog I wrote on a pair of Dulwich Quaint pipes the only link I could find was that the shape number was an Orlik shape number. Here is the link to the other blog: https://rebornpipes.com/2016/03/13/a-rare-find-a-pair-of-fieldcraft-dulwich-quaints/

My brother took some photos of the pipe when he received it and before he had done any cleanup work on it. He took some close up photos of the pipe. The first photo shows the top of the rim was in good shape. There was some light tars and some scratching on the surface of the rim. The second and third photos show the stamping – first the Dulwich over Quaint and then the Made in England. Both sides of the stem looked like the photo below. There was a lot of tooth chatter and marks on the stem surface on the top and bottom. The button was worn down by teeth mid button.My brother scrubbed the pipe with his usual mixture of Murphy’s Oil Soap and water. He rinsed the bowl with running water. He scrubbed out the internals of the pipe with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. When it arrived I took the following pictures to show its condition. The finish was worn and uneven all around the bowl. The shank was also unevenly finished. The finish on the rim was also worn. I took some close up photos of the rim top to show what it looked like before I started. I took some photos of the stem surface to show the condition of the stem. It shows the tooth chatter and some mild oxidation on the stem. I scrubbed the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish. I also sanded the bowl lightly with a medium grit sanding block to break up the finish that remained on the bowl. I wiped it again to remove all the finish that remained. The clean bowl is shown in the photos below. I sanded out the tooth chatter and marks on the stem from the button forward. I reshaped the surface of the button with sandpaper to smooth out the tooth marks and redefine the sharp edge of the button on the top and the bottom sides.I removed the stinger from the end of the stem and sanded the saddle portion of the stem to smooth out the scratches.I wiped down the bowl with a light coat of olive oil and hand buffed the bowl to give it a shine. The next photos show the bowl at this point. I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-1400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. I set it aside to dry once the final pad was used. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to smooth out the finish and the stem. I gave both multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. It raised a shine on the bowl and stem. I used a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. I hand buffed it until it shone. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It has a wide open draw and should be a delightful smoking instrument. Thanks for looking.

A Surprising Collaboration between Sasieni and Tinderbox – an Ivory London Made by Sasieni 107 Freehand

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n SanBlog by Steve Laug

My brother sent me this pipe that was stamped on the left side of the shank Ivory over London Made over by Sasieni and on the right side of the shank was the rugby ball shaped stamping Made In England and the shape number 107. When I saw the photos that my brother sent I have to admit, I thought it was an ugly, strangely shaped deformed pipe. I was not sure what to make of it but I ‘knew’ I did not like it. I thought. The shape did not do anything for me and the blandness of the grain that I saw in the left side photo did not help. Too me there was not much redeeming about the look of the pipe. (The next photos are the ones my brother sent me.)I had not heard of the Ivory made by Sasieni pipe stamping before. It was a new one to me. So I did a little searching. On one of the online forums I found a clue that the Ivory was mentioned in the 1979 Tinderbox catalogue at pipepages. I went to pipepages and found the link to the catalogue: http://pipepages.com/tinderbox.htm. There was a 1979 Tinderbox Catalogue there that had the following quotation regarding the Ivory. “Made to our specifications by Albert Sasieni of London. The Sasieni Ivory is a Tinder Box exclusive.” The mention of the name Albert Sasieni I believe is an error as the company was run by Alfred Sasieni.

I knew from the link that the pipe was made for Tinderbox in 1979, the end of the family era. The collaboration between Tinderbox and Sasieni was established in that catalogue. In a way the Ivory made by Sasienin was like the Unique made by Charatan’s. Both were special orders by Tinderbox from those pipe companies. I have included a copy of the page in the 1979 catalogue from the pipepages site.I also found a Sasieni Shape Chart online and copied the page that had the 107 shape listed. It is circled in red in the photo below. The 107 is called a Waterloo and has a xs* notation in the catalogue. The note on the top of the page says that the xs* means that the pipe is a premium priced pipe in the 4 dot grades only.I also looked on pipephil’s logos and stampings site and found the Sasieni Ivory there as well. There was a great photo of the stamping on the shank and the stem. The stamping on the one I have is identical in all but the shape number. Mine is a 107 shape. The S on the stem is also exactly the same and in the same position on the saddle.

My brother also took some close up photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank and the rim to show me the damage to the rim top and the cake in the bowl. He also took a photo of the top side of the stem to show the tooth marks on that surface. There was a matched set on the underside of the stem. Combined with the surrounding tooth chatter the stem was a bit of a mess.My brother did his usual stellar job of cleaning up the pipe. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed it under running water. He was able to remove the wax and oils on the surface of the bowl and leave the briar pretty bare. The rim was better but the burn marks would need more work. He cleaned out the mortise and airway in the shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I took the next photos of the pipe before I started working on it. I took close up photos of the rim and the stem to show what I had to work with on this pipe. My brother was able to get the majority of the stuff off the rim. There was still some remaining buildup and tars on the rim. There were also some burn marks on the rim. The stem closeup photos reveal the dents and tooth marks on both sides of the stem and the damage to the edge of the button. I sanded the rim with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the rim damage. I also sanded the inside edge of rim. I was able to remove the damage to the rim and edge. It is a nice looking piece of briar from the top down.I sanded the bowl with microfibre sanding pads to polish the briar. I sanded with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. With the bowl finished I turned my attention to the stem. I heated the dents in the stem to raise them. I was able to raise them a bit and then sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them out. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I was able to remove much of the oxidation. I left the area around the S stamp on the left side of the saddle. The stem looks far better at this point in the process than when I started.I scrubbed the stem with the Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to work on the oxidation around the S stamp. I was able to remove the majority of the oxidation without damaging the stamping. I scrubbed it with multiple applications of the deoxidizer until the oxidation was gone. I polished it with the Before & After Pipe Stem Polish Fine and Extra Fine. I sanded the stem with 3200-4000 grit micromesh sanding pads to further polish it. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I sanded it with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil. I set it aside to dry. I decided not to stain the pipe but leave it with a natural finish. I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond and gave it several coats of Carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I received an email from Wikus, a reader in the South Africa asking if I could show some photos of the pipe after the final machine buff and before the hand buffing to show the difference in results of the two techniques. The photos below show the pipe at this point in the process. I took it back to the worktable and hand buffed with a microfibre cloth. The remaining photos were taken after the hand buffing. It removed some of the surface shine on the bowl and added more depth. To me the hand buffing has always improved the quality of the shine and adds another dimension. Overall the restoration on this pipe moved it from a thing of ugliness in my eyes to one that actually had beauty and felt good in the hand. Even the rather bald grain on the left side of the pipe shined up well and reflects the briar nicely. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Thanks for looking.

Getting Lazy – A Simple Restore on a Loewe Cutlass 10

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Blog by Steve Laug

The last three or four pipes I have taken out of the refurbishing box have been very simple restorations. My brother sent me this Loewe’s pipe that is stamped Loewe over Cutlass on the underside of the shank with the shape number 10 at the shank stem union. In the photos he sent me it appeared to be in pretty decent shape. The finish looked dirty and murky but otherwise good. The rim had some tars and overflow from the cake in the bowl but not too bad. There were some nicks and dings in the rim but none too deep. The stem was virtually flawless with no tooth chatter or tooth marks. The boxed L logo on the stem was worn and almost illegible but with a lens it is clear.While I have heard of and enjoyed quite a few older Loewe’s pipes the shape of this one and the name were not familiar to me. Even the shape number was not recognizable. I looked on the pipephil site to see if I could find any information on this particular iteration of the brand and found what I was looking for. There on his site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-l5.html) I found a pipe with the same stamping but a different number. The one in my hands does not have a COM stamp so I do not know where it was made. I have included the photo of the stamping and the stem logo to the left from that site as it is parallel to the one I have. I have also included some information from the listing there.

The brand was founded 1856 by Emil Loewe and was first bought out by Civic. Eventually the brand became part of Cadogan Group along with BBB, Civic, Comoy, GBD, Loewe and Orlik in about 1979. Judging from the age and the stamping on this pipe I would surmise that it was made after that merger and is a Cadogan pipe.

I also did some reading on the history of the brand on Pipedia and include a short excerpt here that is pertinent to the age and stamping on this pipe: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Loewe_%26_Co.#Bottom_of_shank: “By studying the website of one UK dealer I was able to deduce that the present shape numbers (early 2003) mostly (probably all) differ from those used from 1967. For example, a Billiard is now a 28, a Lovat an 834, a Canadian a 296. Some shape numbers now have 4 digits. But even today, Cadogan will occasionally still stamp a pipe with a shape name instead of a number, though only on request.”

It looks to me that I am dealing with a pipe made around 2003 jusding from the change in shape numbers to a two digit numbering system at some level. Though there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the dating of Loewe pipes after the Cadogan buy out.

My brother took the first and the following photos of the pipe before he did the cleanup. What follows are a series of close up photos of the stamping, the rim and bowl and the sandblast look on the bottom of the bowl. In the bowl bottom photo you can see the dust and debris in the grooves of the blast. My brother cleaned out the internals – the mortise and the airways in the shank and stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol. He scrubbed the externals with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap and was able to not only remove the grime from the finish but most of the finish also. When it arrived in Vancouver the pipe looked like virgin briar. The stem is acrylic so there was no oxidation on it. The next photos show the pipe when I brought it to my work table. The blast on the briar is quite shallow and shows mixed grain. I took some close up photos of the rim and the stem to show their condition. My brother was able to remove the tars on the rim. There was some slight rim darkening on the inner edge but other than that it was clean. The scratches and dings were also raised. The photos of the stem show how clean it was as well when it arrived. I sanded the inner edge of the rim with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and remove the darkening and light burn marks. I also sanded it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to remove the scratch marks left behind from my sanding.I wiped the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove any remnants of the previous finish and the dust from sanding. I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain cut 50/50 with isopropyl alcohol. I flamed it and repeated the process until the coverage on the bowl was even.I hand buffed the bowl and took the photos below to show what it looked like at this point in the process. I gave the bowl and stem several coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This one will also soon be on the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in adding it to your rack let me know through email at slaug@uniserve.com or by message on Facebook or a comment here. Thanks for looking.

Another Easy Restoration – a GBD Seventy Six 255 Canadian

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Blog by Steve Laug

When I opened the box of pipes from my brother there was a long shanked clear stem pipe that stood out to me. The stem was in perfect condition, with no tooth chatter or marks and was very clean. In fact, the stem was probably a replacement made of Lucite. Looking at the classic shape and the grain on it I was pretty sure it was a GBD but had not even looked at it. When I got around to examining the pipe I saw that it was stamped on the top of the shank with GBD in the oval logo over Seventy Six in script. On the underside of the shank it is stamped Made in England over the shape number 255 which when I looked it up was a GBD number for a Canadian with an oval taper stem. Finding out that pretty well sealed the fact that the stem is a replacement. It is an oval shaped saddle stem.I remembered reading about the Seventy Six line before but had to look it up again. From what I found with a simple search I could see that the pipe was introduced by GBD in1976 in honor of the American Bi-Centennial. According to what I read the pipe was released as a polished dark brown “take off” finish. The best I can understand is that the dark brown was removed leaving it in the dark grain and birdseye of the pipe.

So my memory was nudged and I remembered that Al Jones (Upshallfan) had written about his repair of a classic GBD Seventy Six and given information on the brand in this link: https://rebornpipes.com/2013/06/17/gbd-oval-shank-pot-seventy-six-restoration/ I quote: “In 1976 GBD introduced a series called the “Seventy-Six” to commemorate the United States Bicentennial. I was a Sophomore in high school during 1976 and the year-long celebration had a big impact on me. The Seventy-Six model remained in the GBD catalog until 1981.”

He also quotes from the 1976 Catalogue: “The GBD “Seventy-Six” is our contribution to the Bicentennial celebrations. We have really pushed out the boats for “the colonies” in launching this new series that will be remembered by its proud owner long after the celebrations are forgotten.”My brother took the above photos and the close up photos that follow before he did any clean up on the pipe. The first photos shows the condition of the bowl and the rim. There was a cake in the bowl and an overflow of lava on the rim. I did not know until the pipe arrived that the rim was beveled inward to the bowl. There appeared to be a lot of damage on the rim. The second and third photo show the stamping on the top and underside of the stem. It is clear and readable. The last photo shows the condition of the stem. There were no bite marks on the top and underside near the button. There was some light tars in the airway in the stem. My brother scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the wax and the buildup on the rim. It removed the oils and wax and left the pipe clean and natural briar. He cleaned out the airway in the shank and stem. He also cleaned out the mortise with alcohol, cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol. The photos below show the pipe when I received it. When I saw the rim it was then that I knew that it was beveled inward. The briar on this pipe was truly stunning. There were no sandpits or flaws in the briar. He was able to remove most of the lava on the rim and what had appeared to be burned areas was merely dirty. It would not take much to clean it up and make it shine.There was still some inner edge darkening and some damage on the inner edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the darkening and the damage. The third photo shows the process of sanding the inside of the bowl with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around the end of a Sharpie pen to smooth out the inside of the bowl. The fourth and final photo shows the interior of the bowl after it was sanded. I decided not to stain the pipe but to leave it natural. I rubbed it down with a light coat of olive oil to bring life back to the briar. I liked the look of the pipe with the natural oil finish. I buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to raise the shine. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise a shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below.

A Worn Royal Danish 936 Wide Oval Shank Pipe given new life

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Blog by Steve Laug

When I saw the pictures of the way this pipe looked – at least the first picture I thought it was in pretty decent shape. The finish was a little worn; particularly some of the high spots on the sand blast had worn off. The smooth patches were also worn and lifeless. The back edge of the rim looked really rough – as if the pipe had been knocked about on concrete or another hard surface to remove the dottle from the bowl. It was ragged. The inner edge of the rim also looked worn and the cake in the bowl was a bit odd looking – as if it was partially removed. It seemed heavier on one side than the other. The stem looked okay in the first picture but the second hinted that all was not well with it either.The close up photos reveal the issues that I hinted at above. The first shows the strangely caked bowl – heavily built up toward the left side and rear of the bowl as well as the rough back rim top and edge of the bowl. The inner edge of the rim also looks like it has taken some damage. The second photo shows the slight cap at the stem junction that to my mind spoke of a tarry and caked mortise that kept the stem from seating properly. The finish also shows some wear in the photos. The pipe is stamped Royal Danish and Made in Denmark. The shape number is 936 which is a Stanwell shape.The next two photos show the issues with the stem. There were tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem that went from quite deep to very shallow. The button top and bottom were worn down and had deep tooth marks. There was also a heavy build up of oxidation on the stem. The stem logo on the top is very faint. It made me wonder if I would be able to feel it with my finger once it arrived in Canada.I am so glad my brother does the heavy work on cleaning out these pipes. I have reamed and cleaned out the shanks of a lot of pipes and I can’t say that I miss it. I still get to do my share of cleanups on pipes that I find but these that he sends me come ready for the restoration process. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and was able to remove the wax and tars on bowl and rim. He reamed the bowl back to bare briar and scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and stem. When it arrived the stain was quite washed out and the stem was really oxidized. The damaged rim top was very visible and it was in rough shape. I took some close up photos of the rim and the stem when it arrived here. The roughness of the rim top and inner edge are seen in the first photo. The tooth marks and wear on the stem top and underside in the second and third photos. My brother had cleaned out the mortise so the stem fit tightly against the shank so my guess mentioned above about a dirty mortise appears to have been correct. The crown logo on the top of the stem could hardly be felt by touch. I started sanding the stem then decided to run a few pipe cleaners and alcohol through the airway in the stem and shank as well as in the mortise. They were quite clean and did not take too much work to remove the little bit of debris that was still left.I sanded the rim lightly to take away the roughness but still leave the finish looking like the sand blasted portion of the rim that had not been damaged. I stained the bowl with a dark brown stain mixed 50/50 with isopropyl alcohol. I applied the stain and flamed it and repeated the process until the coverage was what I was looking for. I wanted the dark stain in the deep grain of blast to show through the brown top stain.I hand buffed the bowl with a microfibre cloth to raise a shine and to give an even look to the finish. The photos below show the pipe at this point in the process.In the second photo below the rim surface is visible. There will need to be some contrast applied to the finish to make it blend in and not look merely “less damaged”.To address the contrast issue on the rim mentioned above I used a black Sharpie Pen to provide some darkening in the crevices of the pitted surface. I used a dark brown stain pen to give the top coat over the black stain.I sanded the inner edge of the rim with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the roughened inner edge. In retrospect I probably should have done this before staining the bowl but I did not so I put it in the order I did the work. In the second photo below you can see how the contrast stain worked on the rim top.When I finished sanding I stained the inner edge of the rim with the dark brown stain pen and added some streaks of black Sharpie pen to give it some contrast. I buffed the rim lightly Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and with a microfibre cloth. The photos below show the pipe bowl after buffing. Notice the change to the rim after the sanding, staining and buffing. I set the bowl aside and worked on the issues with the stem. I sanded the area around the button on both sides of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and scrubbed the deeper tooth marks with cotton swabs and alcohol. Once they were clean I filled the deeper marks and built up the button surface with black super glue.I sanded the repairs once they had cured with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them into the surface of the stem. I reshaped the top of the button on both sides of the stem with the sandpaper.The edge of the button on the underside of the stem was still rough so I used a needle file to shape and sharpen the straight edge.I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 micromesh sanding pads. I rubbed the stem down with Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and a paper towel to further remove the oxidation on the stem. I polished the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish both Fine and Extra Fine with paper towels. The stem was beginning to shine. I sanded the stem once again with the micromesh sanding pads using 1500-12000 grit pads. Each successive grit of sanding pad added more shine and depth to the shine. The more I polished the stem the more the crown logo disappeared.I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and then gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I rubbed the bowl down with Conservator’s Wax by hand. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The pipe is clean and looks new. The restoration brought it back to life. Thanks for looking.

The Rim on this De Jarnett Handmade Needed Attention

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Blog by Steve Laug

My brother sent me photos of this interestingly shaped De Jarnett pipe and wondered about it. I agreed there was something about it that grabbed me too. The grain on the darkly stained bowl, the Cumberland style Lucite stem, the curves of the pipe following the grain, the mushroom cap on the top of the bowl all were a part of the mystique of the pipe. He bid on it and the pipe was his. I received it in the mail in the last box of pipes he sent me. Last night I took it out to have a closer look at the pipe. I always have my brother take photos of the pipe before he does any work on it so he sent the following photos along with the pipe.It looks really nice but I had no idea how large the pipe was until I had it in hand. It is 6 ½ inches long, 2 ¾ inches tall, 2 ¼ inches in diameter with a chamber size of 7/8 inch. It is a handful. The stamping on the underside of the shank has a cactus which was Horace’s logo and the name De Jarnett with the J stylized into a pipe. Underneath it says Handmade in Arizona over 58-04. My guess is that the number stamping tells me that the pipe is the 58th pipe he made in 2004.The photo he sent me of the rim shows the cake in the bowl and the damage to the inner edge of the rim. It looks like it is burned but once I see it and examine it I will know how bad the burn mark is. There is also a sizable dent on the bowl top and some overall darkening of the rim cap.I had heard of De Jarnett pipes in the past and talked to others about them. I have also done repairs on one of them in the past but I had never taken the time to read about the maker. I assumed he was still living which turns out to be false. I turned to my two go to sites Pipephil and Pipedia for information and found little other than the dates of the maker which showed he had died and the location of the shop which is on the pipe anyway. However, Pipedia was more fruitful. Here is the link: https://pipedia.org/wiki/DeJarnett_Pipes

When I read the write up on Pipedia I found that Horace DeJarnett had died on July 24, 2013. He had been battling with terminal cancer, but his wife reported that he ultimately died of a stroke. Since I had also suffered a stroke this gave me a sense of connection with the carver. I only wish that I had been able to have a chat with him before he died. I find that those conversations I have had with pipe makers have been highlights of my pipe collecting and repair/restoration hobby.

Pipedia also included a photo of Horace that was taken by Pipes& Tobacco Magazine and used by courtesy. I have included much of the Pipedia article here for ease of reference. For the details and the remainder of the article use the link above.

Horace wrote of his pipes: “All of my pipes are carved from the finest quality Algerian briar I can find. I coat each bowl with a special pre-carb treatment which speeds up the break-in process. After the third bowl, it will smoke as if it had been in your collection for years. I get a lot of positive feed-back on this feature.

Standard draft holes are 5/32″. I think that’s too small and many pipe smokers agree with me. So I drill mine to 3/16″ for a better draw. You won’t have to send my pipes out to a pipe repairman to have them opened up, as many do.

For over 40 years I worked in the grocery industry. In 1984 I founded my own food brokerage business. It prospered and grew into a multi-state corporation. In 1999 I sold my portion of the business and retired.

Due to health concerns and public scrutiny, I quit smoking cigarettes in 1993 and took up the pipe.

(I believed then – and still do – that health risks are greatly reduced by not inhaling and just puffing.) Serious pipe-smoking is conducive to day-dreaming, and thus the idea of making my own pipes became a quest.

I was fortunate to study under Andrew Kovacs, a well-known carver in Northern Arizona (trade name “Jandrew”) for about a year, off and on. I learned a lot of the basics from Andy, but some of my best counsel came via long telephone conversations with Mark Tinsky.

Over the years I have made and sold approximately 1,000 pipes, most of them here in the United States, but I do have customers in Indonesia, Germany, Japan, England, Israel, Canada, and Thailand.

What began as a hobby has become my passion. I lost my leg in 2001 due to a blood clot, so fortunately for me, I have an occupation that is “handicap friendly”.

That glimpse of Horace from his own words gives a clear picture of what he brought to the making of each pipe that he sent out. I have no idea where the pipe that arrived in Vancouver has been before coming here nor do I know where it will go afterward. But I know that it will certainly outlive me. The quality of briar and craftsmanship give it a great chance at longevity.

My brother Jeff did his normal thorough cleanup of the exterior and the interior of the pipe. When it arrived it had been reamed, cleaned and sent to me for the final touches. It is really nice to have him doing the grunt work on these pipes. This was no exception. I took a few photos of the cleaned up pipe when I brought it to my work table. The next photo shows the darkening and burn mark on the rim. A close up of that area is shown in the photos that follow.The burn mark and darkening at the front of the bowl was more extensive than I had originally guessed from the photos sent. The front inner edge is burned and beveled inward with the darkening extending quite a way into the rim top. The back edge also shows some burning that will need to be address. The second photo gives another view of the stamping.The stem had some tooth chatter on the top and the underside and the edge of the button was worn and flattened. To remove the burn damage on the inner edge of the rim I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to bevel the rim edge inward to accommodate the damage on the bowl front. I carried that bevel around the entire rim edge to clean up the damage at the rear as well. The next two photos show the newly beveled rim. The angle on the second photo makes the bevel appear to be thicker at the front of the bowl than the back. However, in hand the bevel is the same size around the bowl.I wet sanded the rim with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads to polish the scratches and the new bevel. I used a dark brown stain pen to touch up the inner edge of the rim to match the colour of the bowl. All that remains of the burn mark is a small dark spot on the front top of the bowl and some darkening in the inner edge. It is far better than when I began. I sanded out the tooth chatter and reshaped the button with 220 grit sandpaper. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads, wiped it down with a damp cloth and dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth a final time. I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise and shine and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a big pipe so it will eventually be listed on the store for sale. If you are interested in it before that time just send me an email at slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message or a comment here or on Facebook. Thanks for looking.

An odd assortment of tiny Salesmen’s Pipes

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Blog by Steve Laug

Over the past six months or so I have been taking the tiny pipes that my brother has sent and stack them to the side of the desk in a “maybe someday” pile. That is a pile that I might work on some day – you know what I mean kind of a cast of pipe pile. Finally last evening I was looking at them again. It may have been triggered by the refurbish I just did on the little KBB Yello-Bole bent billiard that refurbished recently (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/10/08/a-living-tiny-kbb-yello-bole-salesmans-pipe/). I am not sure but whatever it was I picked up the three pipes that were in the pile. The first was a rusticated bent billiard that looks like an old WDC System pipe. It is stamped Well Pipe over Italy on a smooth portion of the left side of the shank. The second one was a straight prince shaped pipe that was stamped Tom Thomb over Imported Briar on the left side and top of the shank. The third was a very unique pipe made of Bakelite I believe. It is a tiny carved figural head of a man who looks like a page. It is stamped Bob’er on the left side of the shank. On the neck and chin of the figural it was stamped on the left side Reg.US.Pat.Off and on the right side neck and chin Des.Pat. 71062. I took two photos of the group of three pipes as they were when I started.The first pipe, the Well Pipe was a fascinating little fellow. It is 3 ½ inches long, 1 ½ inches tall and the diameter is 1 inch. The chamber diameter is ½ inch. Proportionally, the pipe is very nicely done. The metal rim is oxidized. The bowl had a light cake that my brother had taken out. The stem was cast rubber with a typical P-lip type stem though the airway is directly in the end. The stem was chewed and there was a chunk out of the side of the stem below the button on the left side.I took some close up photos of the stamping on the side of the shank and the condition of the stem. The bowl and stamping were in great shape. The nickel band was dirty and oxidized. The stem has a chunk missing out of the end of the stem. I have circled it in in red.The second pipe, the Tom Thomb prince was in decent shape. The bowl had a light cake that my brother reamed before sending it to me. The finish was peeling off the bowl on the right side and the bottom of the bowl. The rim had a tar buildup and some cake over flow. It is 4 inches long, 1 inch tall and the diameter is 1 inch. The chamber diameter is ½ inch. Proportionally, the pipe is very nicely done. The vulcanite stem was oxidized and there were two blisters on the top and bottom left side ahead of the button. I took a close up photo of the rim to show the condition and the stamping to show its location on the shank. You can also see the oxidation in the vulcanite stem.The third pipe was the unique pipe Bakelite figural head of a man. The carved face is quite well done. It is a cast as the pipe has a seam on the top of the stem across the bowl and down the front and underside of the bowl and shank. It is 2 1/2 inches long, 3/4 inch tall and the diameter is 1/2 inch. The chamber diameter is 1/4 inch. The stem and bowl are pristine. The bowl is unsmoked. There is a cross hatched pattern on the shank. The casting is quite well done. I took some close up photos of the stamping on the pipe. The first photo shows the left side shank stamp shows up clearly as Bob’er. The second photo shows the stamping on the left side of the neck and chin of the figural. The Reg.US.Pat.Off. stamping is very clear. The final photo shows the stamping on the right side neck and chin. Again the Des.Pat. 71062. is very clear.I wiped down the bowls with alcohol on cotton pads. I scrubbed the prince with acetone on a cotton pad. I was able to remove the grime and build up on the Well and the Bob’er. The acetone barely dented the surface of the peeling finish on the Tom Thomb.I started working on the stem of the Well pipe. I took a photo of the missing chunk. I cleaned the area with alcohol and then filled it in with black super glue using a tooth pick to place it in the divot.Once the repair had cured I sanded it with 229 grit sandpaper and shaped it with a needle file. I wanted it to match the right side of the stem and look like it had originally. I also shaped the P-lip on the top and bottom sides.I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads. After each set of three pads I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. After the final sanding of the 12000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I buffed the stem and the bowl with Blue Diamond and gave them multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then by hand with a microfibre cloth. The finished Well pipe is shown in the photos below. With the Well Pipe finished I focused on the Tom Thomb prince. I started by sanding out the blisters on the stem. On both the top and the bottom there were blisters on the left side near the button. I forgot to take a photo of the bubbles but after I had started sanding it with 220 grit sandpaper I took the next photo. I sanded out the bubbles and then wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit sanding pads. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads and let it dry after the last pad. I sanded off the finish on the bowl and shank avoiding the stamping. I wiped it down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the remaining finish. I stained the pipe with Danish Oil and Cherry stain. I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then by hand with a microfibre cloth. The finished Tom Thomb pipe is shown in the photos below. The last pipe, the Bakelite pipe did not take a lot of work. I gave it a coat or Conservator’s Wax and hand buffed it with a shoe brush and a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I thought I would take some photos of the finished lot. The tiny pipes shine with a new sparkle. As I look at them I wonder if this is what they looked like when the salesmen carried to the pipe shops to sell orders for year’s pipes. Thanks for looking.