Tag Archives: Bowls – refinishing

A Mobile Restoration at 10,804 Feet in the Colorado Mountains: A Butz-Choquin Régate, St. Claude 1275 Billiard

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Blog by Dal Stanton

For those in the metric world, I am 3,293 meters above sea level here in skiing heaven, Keystone, Colorado.  One of the wonderful things about being based in Golden, Colorado, is that the Rocky Mountains are literally in our back yard!  With two of my children and their families along with us (that would total 5 grandchildren to dote on!), we’ve enjoyed God’s creation looking at mountain peaks, hiking through pristine countryside and enjoying family – the frosting on the cake.  I packed my mobile work desk, and The Pipe Steward is on the road again!

What does a ‘mobile’ restoration unit look like?  I have a smaller DeWalt TSTAK tool chest that opens on the top with an organizer section and a larger open compartment below.  I’ve ordered a deeper DeWalt TSTAK that will stack with the one I have and hold the taller bottles and baskets that are now in a plastic tub.  I take a few pictures to show my DeWalt mobile system.This Butz-Choquin now on the worktable is the last of 3 pipes that Skeet commissioned from The “Pipe Dreamers” Only! collection.  His first two commissions were truly in the spirit of the Pipe Dreamers mandate – to see in a pipe its potential even when it is in its unrestored rough state.  Here are pictures of the first 2 pipes, a French Jeantet Superior Chimney and an a venerable Kaywoodie Flame Grain Pear – both turned out exceedingly well.

The final pipe is another product of St. Claude, France.  I acquired this Butz Choquin Régate from the ‘Lot of 66’ – the very first larger lot of pipes added to my online collection a few years ago benefiting the Daughters of Bulgaria.  Here are a few pictures to get a closer look.The nomenclature on the left of the shank is stamped in the chiseled diagonal cursive ‘Butz-Choquin’ [over] Régate.  The right side of the shank is stamped, but very thin, ST. CLAUDE-FRANCE [over] 1275, the shape number pointing to a BC Billiard. The stylish slightly bent stem has no ‘BC’ stamping that I can see.  The stem doesn’t appear to be a replacement stem so the expected ‘BC’ stamping on the side of the stem appears to have disappeared into historical oblivion.To provide a brief overview of the Butz-Choquin name, Pipephil.eu’s information is helpful.

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  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, already owner of EWA, took over the S.A. Berrod-Regad in 2006.

Pipedia’s Butz-Choquin article includes some BC catalog pages which unfortunately, have no dating included.  The BC Régate line is described in the catalog page below. A quick trip to Google Translate confirms that the English word is, ‘regatta’ which is essentially a boat race, usually including yachts.  The text description of the Régate below is: “The veining of the Briar is shown to particular advantage (BC Silver)”.  With the sales pitch emphasizing the beauty of the grain, I’m hopeful that the Régate on the worktable will live up to this expectation!Looking now at the BC Régate slightly bent Billiard on the table, the chamber is thick with carbon buildup.  This will be removed to allow fresh briar to emerge. The internally beveled rim has some lava flow and nicks and scratches around the rim edge.  Taking a survey of the bowl, it’s been through a bit of wear and tear with nicks, dents, and scratches.  The bowl is darkened with dirt and grime built up for some time.  There is nice looking grain beneath it all which will look nice.  The rim pictured above shows a patch of  dents and scratches.  A large dent is nestled amid several scratches on the lower left side of the bowl. There are 2 large pits that have been filled on the back side of the bowl. The lateral grain on the aft of the bowl looks good.  The heel shows scratches and scrapes but nice-looking bird’s-eye grain providing a promising backdrop. The stem has heavy oxidation and calcium buildup especially on the upper side. The bit has significant tooth chatter on the upper and lower sides. To begin the restoration of the Butz-Choquin Régate Billiard, the slightly bent tapered stem’s airway is cleaned with pipe cleaners wetted with 99% isopropyl.To get a jump on the deep oxidation in vulcanite stem and to work on the tooth chatter, 0000 steel wool is used with Soft Scrub cleanser.  Before starting with the steel wool, I take one more look at the side of the stem to confirm that there is no BC stem stamping.  Again, I see nothing even with a magnifying glass.  The stem scrubbing commences. After scrubbing with Soft Scrub and steel wool, the stem is rinsed with water.  The stem is then added to a soak of Before & After Deoxidizer along with the other pipes commissioned by Skeet which have been completed.After soaking in the Deoxidizer overnight, the stem is hooked using a stiff wire and the Deoxidizer fluid is drained.  I assist the draining by squeegeeing the fluid with my fingers.The airway is cleaned of the Deoxidizer using pipe cleaners and alcohol.  A cotton pad wetted with isopropyl 99% is also used to scrub the stem removing raised oxidation.  To help condition the stem, paraffin oil is applied to the vulcanite and set aside.With the stem on the sideline, I turn to the stummel.  To begin its restoration, the chamber is cleared of the thick carbon cake using the Pipnet Reaming Kit.  I take a fresh picture to mark the starting point.  The cake is thicker on the upper part of the chamber and opens as you go down.I use two smaller blade heads of the Pipnet Reaming Kit and transition after this to the Savinelli Fitsall Tool to scrape the chamber walls.  The clearing of carbon is completed with sanding the chamber wall using 240 grade paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen to provide some pressure. After wiping the chamber with a cotton cloth to remove carbon dust, the chamber wall is inspected revealing healthy briar.With the carbon cake cleared from the chamber, the next step is to clean the externals of the stummel starting with the rim.  I take a few pictures of the stummel surface before beginning the cleaning to compare.Using undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a cotton pad, the stummel is scrubbed. With the lava flow on the rim, I also employ a brass wired brush to scrub the rim. Brass brushes generally do not hurt the briar surface but help in the cleaning. The stummel is then taken to the sink to clean further.  Unfortunately, I discover that I had forgotten shank brushes which are usually used to scrub the internal mortise and airway.  Instead, with warmish to hot water using liquid anti-oil dishwashing soap, cotton buds are employed to clean the internal mortise and airway.  After scrubbing and rinsing the stummel thoroughly, it is brought back to the worktable.Continuing with the internal cleaning, only one cotton bud and pipe cleaner wetted with isopropyl 99%, were needed to finish cleaning this phase.  I move on!With the internals clean, I take some pictures to survey the condition of the stummel surface after the external cleaning.  The rim cleaned up nicely, though the wear and tear is still evident.The finish on the BC Régate was removed with the cleaning.  The raw briar surface shows a lot of very minuscule scratching on the front and heel of the stummel. On the aft of the stummel are two fills that I noticed earlier.  The fills have shrunk revealing gaps between the briar and filler material. The patches will need to be restored using briar putty – a mixture using briar dust and CA glue.  The old filler material is removed using a sharp dental probe.Since the two pits are small, I decide not to make the putty, but something much like it.  After cleaning the area with alcohol, CA glue is spot dropped into the pits and then sprinkled with briar dust.  A toothpick is used to mix the CA glue and briar dust so that the patch is blended. After the patches are cured, a flat needle file is used to file the excess patch material down to the briar surface.  The file stays on top of the patch so as to not impact the surrounding briar.After filing, 240 sanding paper and then 600 paper are used to further clean the excess patch material.  The patches will blend well as the sanding and polishing process continues.With the pits on the stummel refilled with fresh patch material, I turn next to the rim.  The rim has seen better days. The inner rim bevel remains darkened from charring.  The edge of the rim is skinned and worn down.Overall, the rim needs refreshing.  To do this the chopping board is used as a topping board.  I take a final ‘before’ picture to track the topping progress.The general rule of thumb is to take off only as much briar as needed to freshen the rim.  With 240 grade paper on the topping board, the stummel is inverted and rotated several times over the paper.The first look after the initial rotation shows the progress.  The rotation continues several more times and a second look.  Almost there.Finally, the rim is good to go.  I’ve reached the stopping point with the more abrasive 240 grade paper.Next, 600 paper replaces the 240 grade paper and the stummel is rotated several more times.  I’m satisfied with the progress of this phase of the rim refreshing.Next, the internal rim bevel needs refreshing as well.  This will sharpen the rim definition as well as remove the darkened, stained briar.  A few pictures show the old bevel.  In these pictures, I can still see some roughness on the outer rim edge.  I’m not concerned about this because additional sanding to clean the entire stummel will remove the rough briar on the edge of the rim. Using a hard surface against the back of the sandpaper to provide a firm cut and not a rounding effect, 240 paper is used followed by 600 grade.  This removes the darkened briar as well as provide the rim with fresh, distinct lines.Moving next to sanding the entire stummel to remove the plethora of small cuts, scratches, and dents, I first use a coarse sanding sponge on rough spots on the heel and near the rim, on the upper bowl.  I follow this with medium grade and light grade sanding sponges. I’m careful to avoid the Butz-Choquin nomenclature during the sanding.Next, continuing with sanding, the full regimen of micromesh pads is used.  This transitions from sanding to polishing starting with wet sanding with pads 1500 to 2400 and then dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000.  The grain emerges nicely during the micromesh polishing phase.  One more step with the stummel before transitioning to finishing the stem.  I apply Before & After Restoration Balm to the stummel by placing some on my finger and then working it in to the briar surface.  This product by Mark Hoover does a great job coaxing out the subtle hues in the briar.  After working the Balm in thoroughly, I put the stummel aside for about 20 minutes for the Balm to be absorbed.After the time is complete, a microfiber cloth is used to wipe off the excess Balm.  Then, another microfiber cloth is used to buff up the stummel and fully removing the excess Restoration Balm.  As usual, the Balm does a good job bringing out the hues of the briar.  I like it.Turning now to the stem, fresh pictures are taken looking at the upper- and lower-bit area.  There is tooth chatter and some small tooth compressions.  The initial application of steel wool to break up oxidation was also helpful in removing some of the roughness on the bit.  To address the remaining tooth chatter, the heating method is used initially to reduce further the chatter to enable sanding to address the remaining roughness.  Using a Bic lighter, the flame paints the upper and lower bit.  The heat expands the vulcanite enabling it to reclaim its original condition, or closer to it.  The before and after pictures show the comparison.  The method did help, especially on the lower bit. Next, the entire stem is sanded with 240 grade paper.  I first reunite the BC stem and stummel with a sanding disk between them to guard against sanding the end of the stem creating a shouldering effect.Next, the stem is wet sanded with 600 grade paper followed by applying 0000 grade steel wool. Continuing the sanding/polishing process, next the full regimen of micromesh pads is applied.  Starting with wet sanding with pads 1500 to 2400 followed by dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000.  Between each set of three pads Obsidian Oil is applied.  Obsidian Oil is used to further condition the vulcanite stem and to guard against oxidation. After trying to reunite the stem and stummel, as often happens, after the cleaning the briar in the mortise has expanded somewhat and the tenon/mortise fit it too tight.  It’s dangerous to force the tenon into the mortise because a cracked shank can be the result. To remedy the tightness, a piece of 240 paper is wrapped around the tenon and pinched to tighten it around the tenon.  I then, while holding the pinched paper stationary around the tenon, rotate the stem to create the abrasiveness to sand down the tenon.  I rotate several times and try the fit in the shank.  Eventually, the fit is snug, but not too tight.Now the home stretch.  With the stem and stummel reunited, a cotton cloth buffing wheel is mounted on the rotary tool and set at about 40% full power.  Blue Diamond compound is then applied to the entire pipe.  Blue Diamond compound is the last stage in using an abrasive for the sanding/polishing of the pipe.  After completing application of the Blue Diamond, a felt cloth is used to buff the pipe to remove the excess compound that collects on the surface.  I want to make sure compound dust is removed before applying wax.After mounting another cotton cloth wheel to the rotary tool maintaining the same speed, carnauba wax is applied to the pipe.  After completing the application of wax, the pipe is given a rigorous hand buffing to raise the shine and to disperse excess wax from the surface.This Butz-Choquin Régate of Saint Claude, France, turned out very well.  The grain is expressive and reminds one of tiger fur on the front and back of the bowl.  Bird’s eye outcroppings also can be seen.  The Billiard shape is a workhorse among pipes and this Billiard cradles nicely in the palm and will serve a new steward well.  The slightly bent stem adds a touch of class.  This is the final of 3 pipes that Skeet commissioned benefiting the Daughters of Bulgaria – helping women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited.  As the commissioner, Skeet will have the first opportunity to claim the BC from The Pipe Steward Store.  Thanks for joining me! ono

 

New Life for a Patent Era 1915-18 Dunhill A Bruyere 66 Standing Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

This Dunhill Standing Billiard was one of five Dunhills that came to us in the same lot as the 1922 Dunhill Bruyere Reading Pipe, a cracked shank 1962 Dunhill Shell Briar Pot, a 1928 Dunhill Bruyere EK7 Panel Billiard and the 1905 BBB Calabash Reading Pipe and 1911 BBB Glokar Poker. I have drawn a red box around the pipe in the picture to the left. It is an interesting flat bottom silver banded Standing Billiard. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank DUNHILL [over] Duke St. S.W. On the right side of the shank it was stamped MADE IN ENGLAND [over] “INNER TUBE” [over] PATENTED MARCH 9-15 that is followed by the shape number 66.

It was another filthy pipe with a thick cake in the bowl and a heavy lava overflow on the rim top. The finish was tired and dirty with grime and debris stuck to the surface of the briar. The stem has a small white dot on top and the button on the topside had a deep tooth mark and damage. There was tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he did his clean up work. He took photos of the bowl and rim to give a picture of the thickness of the cake and lava on the rim top. This must have been a favourite pipe to have that thick of a cake and lava buildup. The stem has tooth chatter and marks on both sides. The top is worse than the underside with deep marks in the top of the button. The pipe is old enough that it had an ivory white spot on the topside. Jeff took photos of the bowl from various angles to give a sense of the dirtiness of the finish but also the unique shape of the billiard sitter. It is going to be a real beauty! Jeff took photos of the stamping on the left side of the shank . The stamping on the right side is quite faint and could not be captured with a camera. There are some faint spots but over all it is readable as noted above. The second photo shows the band on the shank stamped Sterling Silver.I turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Root Briar Pipes to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Bruyere

The original finish produced (usually made using Calabrian briar), and a big part of developing and marketing the brand. It was the only finish from 1910 until 1917. A dark reddish-brown stain. Before the 1950s, there were three possible finishes for Dunhill pipes. The Bruyere was a smooth finish with a deep red stain, obtained through two coats, a brown understain followed by a deep red.

There was a link on the above site to a section specifically written regarding the Bruyere finish (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Bruyere). I turned there and have included the information from that short article below.

Initially, made from over century-old briar burls, classified by a “B” (denoted highest quality pipe); “DR” (denoted straight-grained) and an “A” (denoted first quality), until early 1915. After that, they became a high-end subset to the Dunhill ‘Bruyere’. The DR and B pipes, a limited production, they should be distinguished as hand-cut in London from burls as opposed to the Bruyere line which was generally finished from French turned bowls until 1917, when the Calabrian briar started to be used, but not completely. Only in 1920 Dunhill took the final step in its pipe making operation and began sourcing and cutting all of its own bowls, proudly announcing thereafter that “no French briar was employed”.

Bruyere pipes were usually made using Calabrian briar, a very dense and hardy briar that has a modest grain but does very well with the deep red stain.

“Before the 1950s, there were three possible finishes for Dunhill pipes. The Bruyere was a smooth finish with a deep red stain, obtained through two coats, a brown understain followed by a deep red. The Shell finish was the original sandblast with a near-black stain (though the degree to which it is truly black has varied over the years). Lastly, the Root finish was smooth also but with a light brown finish. Early Dunhill used different briars with different stains, resulting in more distinct and identifiable creations… Over the years, to these traditional styles were added four new finishes: Cumberland, Dress, Chestnut and Amber Root, plus some now-defunct finishes, such as County, Russet and Red Bark.”

There was also a link to a catalogue page that gave examples and dates that the various finishes were introduced (https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:Dunnypipescatalog-1.png)I turned to Pipephil’s dating guide to show how I arrived at the date of manufacture for this pipe (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I am including a chart that is provided there for the dating of a pipe. I have drawn a red box around the pertinent section in the chart. Since the pipe I am working on has no clear patent number but says Patented March 9-15 I take that to clearly show that the pipe was made prior to 1921 and would have been included in the exceptions.I also turned to John Loring’s, The Dunhill Briar Pipe – The Patent Year and After, to work on understanding the DUNHILL [over]DUKE ST. S.W. I found information on page 5 of the book. It read as follows:

The Bruyere pipes were stamped DUNHILL over DUKE ST. S.W. on the shank with an “A” near the bowl to indicate first quality (the reverse side stamping in 1910 is presently unknown) and given shape numbers beginning with 31.

I read earlier sections of the book to do some checking on the Patent Stamping on this pipe. I found what I was looking for on page 58 where he spells out the Smooth Finish Patent Nomenclature Usage. In a very helpful chart he identifies PATENTED MARCH 9-15 that links the pipe to a US Patent for the years between 1915-23.On page 9 it reads:

…Dunhill applied for Canadian and American patents (granted in 1914 and 1915 respectively).

On page 12 it reads:

…From 1910 through October 1918 Dunhill branded its pipes with DUNHILL over DUKE ST. S.W….Inner tube patent numbers or references also serve to denote the earliest the pipe could have been manufactured., e.g. an English patent reference (PAT. No 5861/12) would not have been stamped prior to the 1913 grant, nor a Canadian patent reference (PATENTED 1914) prior to the 1914 grant nor a US patent reference (PATENTED MARCH.9-15 or PAT.AMERICA1915) prior to the 1915 grant.

I now knew that I was working on a Bruyere that came out in between 1915 and 1918 when the Duke St. SW stamp ceased to be used. The shape of the pipe was one of many Billiards that Dunhill put out and that the 66 was a normal Billiard Sitter shape with a taper stem.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had carried out his usual thorough cleanup of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer to remove the cake and cleaned the reaming up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and scrubbed it down with Soft Scrub All-Purpose cleaner to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very clean when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. You can see the darkening on the rim top. It is roughened and slightly out of round with nicks on the inner edge. The stem had deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button and on the button itself. The oxidation was gone.  The damage on the topside at the button can be seen in the second photo of the stem surface below.I took photos of the sides of the shank to show the stamping. It is faint but readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe.I decided to start the restoration on this one by working on the damage on the inner edge of the bowl. It had darkening and some damage to the edge. The pipe is almost 100 years old so it is not surprising that there was burn and reaming damage marks on the edge from a previous pipeman. I worked it over with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove and minimize the damage. When I finished with it, the bowl and the rim top looked much better. I polished the rim top and bowl 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. Even though there were small marks on the briar from the pipe’s journey it began to take on a shine.   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 15 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and work on the stem. I filled in the tooth marks in the stem surface and rebuilt the edge of the button on the top side. Once the repairs cured I recut the edges of the button with a file and smoothed out the repairs. I sanded them with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. 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 Dunhill A Bruyere 66 Patent Standing Billiard from 1915-18 is a beautiful looking piece of briar that has a shape that follows grain. The Bruyere is an early finish that Dunhill specialized in making. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition. The red and brown stain on the bowl works well to highlight the grain. The Sterling Silver Band is a great break between the briar and the stem. The polished black vulcanite panel 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 1915-18 Dunhill A Bruyere 66 Patent Standing Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1  ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 31grams/1.09oz. I am still working through what I am going to do with this old timer. I will keep it with me for a while until I decide. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe is classic reminder that we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next generation.

Breathing Life into a 1958 Dunhill Root Briar 90 Group 2R Poker

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us in a group of pipes that we purchased from an Antique Mall on the Oregon Coast, Oregon, USA. It is a Dunhill Root Briar Poker/Sitter that is in good condition. It is stamped both sides of the shank. On the left side it is stamped with the shape number 90 followed by Dunhill [over] Root Briar. On the right side it is stamped with 2 in a circle followed by R for Root Briar next to the bowl. That is followed by Made in [over] England8. Interpreting that stamp it is as follows: The 90 is the shape for a Poker. The Dunhill Root Briar is the finish which is corroborated by the R at the end of the stamping. The 8 following the D of England gives the date the pipe was made and identifies it as 1958. The stamping is clear and readable. The age of the pipe and the oils in the finish has given the pipe a rich reddish brown finish. There is also some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dirty with dust ground into the surface of the bowl and shank. There was a thick cake in the bowl and tobacco debris stuck to the walls of the bowl. The rim top showed darkening and some lava on the surface. The vulcanite taper stem was oxidized, calcified and had light tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button on both sides.  Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it.  He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the darkening and lava overflow on the rim top. There were also nicks around the outer edge of the bowl. The photos of the stem show the oxidation, calcification and tooth marks and chatter on the surface on both sides.  The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the great grain on the pipe. It is a beauty under the grime and dust.    The stamping on the sides of the shank is shown in the photos below. It looks faint but is still readable. It reads as noted and explained above. The third photo shows the white spot on the stem.      I turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Root Briar Pipes to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Root Briar

Introduced in 1931 and highly prized because the grain is more pronounced in this finish (usually made using Corsican briar – was made exclusively from that briar into the 60s). The Root Briar finish requires a perfectly clean bowl with excellent graining. Therefore, it is the most expensive of the Dunhill pipes. Corsican briar was most often used for the Root finish since it was generally more finely grained. This is a rare finish, due to the scarcity of briar suitable to achieve it. These pipes are normally only available at Company stores, or at Principle Pipe Dealers. Straight grained pipes were formerly graded A through H, but are now only “Dr’s” and graded with one to six stars, with the letters G and H still used for the very finest pieces.

“Dunhill introduced its third major finish, the Root finish, in 1931. Corsican mountain briar is characteristically beautifully grained and the Root was made exclusively from that briar into the 1960s. The pipe was finished with a light natural stain to allow the beauty of the graining to show through. Although always available with a traditional black vulcanite bit, the Root was introduced in either 1930 or more likely 1931 and fitted with a marble brown dark and light grained vulcanite bit that has since become known as the ‘bowling ball’ bit because of the similarity in appearance between the bit’s finish and that of some bowling balls of the time. With the war, however, the bowling ball bit was dropped from production. Through 1954 (and after) the Root pipe nomenclature (including shape numbers) was identical to that of the Bruyere except that instead of the “A” of the Bruyere, the Root was stamped with an “R”. In 1952 when the finish rather then LONDON was placed under DUNHILL, ROOT BRIAR rather then BRUYERE was used for the Root.” Loring, J. C., The Dunhill Briar Pipe, The Patent Years and After (self-published, Chicago, 1998).

There was also a link to a catalogue page that gave examples and dates that the various finishes were introduced (https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:Dunnypipescatalog-1.png). I turned to Pipephil’s dating guide to show how I arrived at the date of manufacture for this pipe (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). I am including the chart that is provided there for the dating a pipe. I have drawn a red box around the section. Since the pipe I am working on has a suffix 8 that is raised, underlined superscript it points to the 1958 line on the chart below.I now knew that I was working on a Root Briar that came out in 1958. The shape of the pipe was a Poker/Sitter circle 2R in a shape 90 with a taper stem.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had carried out his usual thorough cleanup of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer to remove the cake and cleaned the reaming up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and scrubbed it down with Soft Scrub All-Purpose cleaner to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very clean when I received it.    I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. You can see the darkening on the rim top. The bowl is roughened and slightly out of round. The stem came out looking quite good. There are light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button but the oxidation was gone.     I took photos of the sides of the shank to show the stamping. It is faint but readable as noted above.      I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe. I decided to start the restoration on this one by working on the damage on the inner edge of the bowl. It had darkening and some damage to the edge. There were burn and reaming damage marks on the edge from a previous pipeman. I worked it over with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to minimize the damage on the edge. When I finished with it, the bowl and the rim top looked much better.          I polished the rim top and bowl 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 briar began to take on a shine.     With the repair completed 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 15 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm.     I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. 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 Dunhill Root Briar 90 Group 2R Poker from 1958 is a beautiful looking piece of briar that has a shape that follows grain. It is a great looking pipe that came out looking even better after the cleanup. The Root Briar is an early finish that Dunhill specialized in making. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition. The brown stains on the bowl works well to highlight the grain. The polished black vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. With the grime gone from the finish and the bowl it was a beauty and is eye-catching. 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 1958 Root Briar 90 Poker is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 4 ¾ inches, Height: 1 5/8 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 27grams/.95oz. It will soon be added to the British Pipe Makers section on the rebornpipes store. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next generation.

Restoring a Badly Burned Kaywoodie Super Grain 86B

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Blog by Alex Heidenreich

Earlier this week I received and email with an attachment from Alex about a Kaywoodie pipe he had restored for a friend. He wanted my opinion on the restoration and on the piece he had written about it. I took time this weekend to read over the piece and study the photos and I have to say I was quite impressed with his work. I wrote him back with some questions and asked if I could post his piece on the blog. He said he was thrilled and honoured to be asked so without further ado I introduce you to Alex Heidenreich’s Kaywoodie Super Grain 86B restoration.

Introduction:

Kaywoodies are some of my favorite pipes. I love the history of the company and the amazing quality briar used in the older pipes. So, when I saw this poor Kaywoodie on eBay, I was quick to bid on it. When it arrived in the mail, I took a closer look at it. It was in even worse shape than the pictures had led me to believe. It was dented and dinged on the outside of the bowl. The rim was badly chewed up and then caked over with a thick coating of lava that had spilled all the way down onto the shank. The stem was badly oxidized, and I couldn’t get a pipe cleaner through the stem or the shank. This pipe looked like a lot of work. So, I ended up setting it aside for a while. Later, a friend of mine from our pipe group on PipeTobaccoDiscord said he was looking to add a Kaywoodie to his collection. I sent him some pictures of the ones in my restoration pile and despite the damage, he fell in love with this one, and thus the work began.

Acquisition Pictures: History:

As Steve has talked about many times, finding the exact date of a pipe can be difficult. Kaywoodie has a rich history, and a good amount of it is documented over on https://pipedia.org/wiki/Collector%27s_Guide_to_Kaywoodie_Pipes. The first thing I did was head over to their documentation on the shape numbers: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Kaywoodie_Shape_Numbers. This told me that the 86B shape number was a Large Apple with a flat top bowl and was produced from 1947-1971. For many shapes of Kaywoodies, the logo was printed on top of the stem until the late 1940s or early 1950s. Since this logo was on the side of the stem, I surmised it was probably a post-1955 model. Just after this time (somewhere in the mid-50s or 60s), Kaywoodie also moved from a 4-hole stinger to a 3-hole stinger. Since this pipe has the logo on the side, but still had a 4-hole stinger, it was likely made in that interim period from 1959-1965.

Picture from a 1955 Catalog showing the 86B (notice the logo is on the top of the stem)Picture from: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Collector%27s_Guide_to_Kaywoodie_Pipes courtesy ChrisKeene.com

Restoration:

I took the pipe apart to see how bad it was. It was extremely dirty, and the finish was badly damaged. There were burn marks and lava all over the rim and shank.

I started by reaming the pipe. The bowl is large. So, it took a lot of reaming to get clean. The outside was extremely dirty. So, I cleaned the pipe 4 or 5 times with Murphy’s Oil Soap. I really soaked the rim well to try to soften the lava. It took a ton of scrubbing and a little work with a knife, but I was able to get most of it off and remove a lot of the burn marks on the shank. Unfortunately, this revealed a great deal of damage to the rim. There were also multiple fills, and I even had to remove a protruding grain of sand from the briar. To repair the damage to the rim, I carefully sanded back the damaged areas on a topping board, careful not to change the shape of the rim. I put a dab of Vaseline on the logo to protect it, then soaked the stem in an oxyclean bath. This would help loosen up all the gunk inside and make it easier to clean the oxidation off the outside. I also filled the bowl with cotton balls, stuck pipe cleaners in the shank, and then used a syringe to fill the bowl with alcohol to help remove any ghosting in the pipe, as well as loosen up any remaining cake inside the bowl to make it easier to clean.   After I got the stem out of the oxy bath, it revealed a lot of oxidation that would need to be cleaned up. The internals of the stem were also gooped up, but I was able to now force a pipe cleaner through it. I cleaned much of the surface oxidation with a Magic Eraser, then moved on to the internals.I sanded the stem with 600, 800, 1000, then moved into micro mesh pads from 1200 – 12000. Once finished, I oiled the stem with Obsidian Stem Oil and let it soak in. I turned my attention back to the bowl and did my best to clean out the inside of the shank and bowl with Q Tips and Pipe Cleaners soaked in alcohol. Then I set it aside for day 1.

Cleaning the shank and the stem took A LOT of pipe cleaners and Q Tips… After letting the pipe dry over night, I was able to see more clearly the inside and outside of the pipe. No surprise with how burned the outside of the pipe was that there were also heat fissures inside the bowl. I inspected them carefully and gauged their depth with dental picks. They, luckily, were not too deep. I was also now able to see some of the fills, scratches, and sand pits better on the outside of the bowl. I used a wet rag and a hot iron to try to raise them a bit. Then I carefully cleaned them out with my dental picks. At this point, I got a little ahead of myself as I focused on cleaning out the pits. I moved on to filling the pits and scratches with CA glue before fully stripping the finish. After the glue cured, I sanded down the glue spots. Then I wiped the entire stummel down with high-proof alcohol followed by acetone to really remove the finish. Since I did my steps slightly out of order, the CA glue had softened in a couple of the fills. So, I picked it out and refilled it. I let the glue cure and then sanded the entire stummel. I had to be very careful over the stamping to preserve it. With the finish removed and the stummel sanded, I placed a wine cork in the bowl and coated it with dye.It’s hard to tell in the pictures, but the dye came out a little too dark, more similar to a Flame Grain. To keep it authentic with a Super Grain, I needed to lighten it back up a bit. I lightly sanded it with my sequence of micromesh pads which also brought the shine back. After the stummel was sanded, the color was nearly perfect. I then buffed it using Tripoli, followed by White Diamond, and finally Carnauba. Now that the outside was finished, I moved on to the inside. After really inspecting the fissures, some of them were deeper than I would like. If it was my pipe, I would have done a bowl coating and just kept an eye on them to address later, but since this pipe was for someone else, I wanted to address it now. This way they won’t have to deal with it down the road. I mixed up some JB Weld, which dries inert and can handle the heat. I carefully stuck it only into the fissures, using as little as possible so as not to coat the briar, since JB Weld won’t breathe like briar.After it cured, I sanded down the JB Weld to make the bowl smooth and flush, as well as to remove any that was not inside the fissures.Then I coated the bowl with activated charcoal in a great method I learned from Dad’s Pipes. (https://dadspipes.com/2015/08/12/a-simple-effective-bowl-coating/)After cleaning the charcoal off the rim, I noticed it had dulled a little bit. So, I threw the buffing wheel back on and gave it another coat of Carnauba. The pipe was now complete! I hope it will bring its new owner joy for many years!

Final Pictures:

Restemming and Restoring a Monte Verde Hand Made Freehand Bowl

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I chose to work on was a Monte Verde bowl sans stem that was purchased from an online auction on 03/06/18 from Nampa, Idaho, USA. It has been sitting in my box of bowls since that time. Jeff cleaned it up and mailed it to me. I have been postponing restemming any of the pipes for a while now but after restemming that little gourd calabash a couple of days ago I was ready to do a few more. I pulled this one out of the box first and set aside to be the next pipe to work on. It has a very craggy rustication that is quite stunning and a square flared shank. Overall it is a pretty pipe. The bowl had thick cake in the bowl and the rim top had a coat of lava on the inner edge of the bowl and in the grooves of the rim top. The finish had a lot of dust and debris in the valleys of the rustication. The stamping on the smooth panel on the underside of the shank was clear and readable. It was stamped Monte Verdi [over] Made in Denmark [over] By Hand [over] Golden Tan in script. I knew that the Monte Verdi line was made by Preben Holm of Ben Wade and Preben Holm Freehand fame. Jeff took some photos of the bowl before he cleaned it up. The next two close up photos show the condition of the bowl and rim top. You can see the lava coat on the inner edge of the bowl and the debris in the rustication of the rim top. Jeff took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It read as noted above and is  clear and readable.I decided to confirm my thinking that the pipe was connected with Preben Holm/Ben Wade. I turned to Pipephil’s site to get a read on the brand (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-m6.html). Sure enough the Monte Verdi line was made by Preben Holm. The pipe in the photo had a very similar rustication to the Monte Verdi bowl I was working on. I did a screen capture of the section on Pipephil. I have included it below.  There were also photos that were included on Pipephil of what this particular pipe looked like when it had left Denmark. The rustication around the bowl and shank is very similar. The pipe I have does not have a shank extension but otherwise the finish is much the same.The pipe originally had a fancy turned vulcanite stem. The stem was long gone when Jeff picked it up so I had some decisions to make about the stem I would use to restem it.I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had carried out his usual thorough cleanup of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer to remove the cake and cleaned the reaming up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. The pipe looked very clean when I received it. The rim top and shank end cleaned up really well as can be seen in the close up photos below.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It really is clear and readable.I went through my can of stems and found turned freehand style vulcanite stem that would work well with the bowl and shank. The bend in it was perfect. There were tooth marks in surface of the top and underside of the stem at the button that would need to be dealt with in the restoration. I took a photo of the stem and bowl together to give a sense of the look of the pipe and the proportion of the stem. I shortened the length of the tenon with my Dremel and sanding drum and smoothed out the tenon with 220 grit sandpaper and fit the stem in the shank and took pictures of the pipe and stem. I removed the stem and rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 15 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm.   I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks on both sides of the stem with the flame of a lighter to lift them as much as possible. I filled in the tooth marks that remaining with clear super glue and set it aside to cure. Once it had cured I used a flat file to reshape the edge of the button and flatten the repairs on the stem surface. I blended the repairs into the surface of the vulcanite with 220 grit sandpaper. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. The stem was looking much better. I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. In speaking with Kenneth yesterday I remembered that I had used a product in the past called Meguiar’s Scratch X2.0 to polish the surface of the stem after all of the previous polishing I had done. I took photos of the stem after polishing with the compound and did give a rich shine.   This restemmed, rusticated Preben Holm Hand Made Monte Verdi Golden Tan Freehand is a beautiful looking pipe that combines a rusticated finish with a unique shaped. The brown stains on the bowl work well to highlight the finish. The polished turned fancy black vulcanite stem adds to the mix. I put the finished stem on the bowl and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 7 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 63grams/2.22oz. It will soon be added to the Danish Pipe Makers section on the rebornpipes store. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next generation.

Restemming and Restoring a Gepetto 303 Rusticated Bowl

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I chose to work on came to us from an antique shop in Houston, Texas, USA that Jeff visited in 2018. It has been sitting in my box of bowls since that time. Jeff cleaned it up and mailed it to me. I have been postponing restemming any of the pipes for a while now but after restemming that little gourd calabash a couple of days ago I was ready to do a few more. I pulled this one out of the box first and set aside to be the next pipe to work on. It has a very craggy rustication that is quite stunning and it has a smooth rim cap and ring  that make me call it a Rhodesian. It also has a smooth band on the shank end. Overall it is a pretty pipe. The bowl had been reamed before Jeff purchased it and was pretty clean. The rim top had a coat of lava that covered the majority of the cap. The finish had a lot of dust and debris in the valleys of the rustication. The stamping on the smooth panel on the underside of the shank was clear and readable. It had a J in circle [over] the shape number 303. That is followed by Gepetto [arched over] Italy [over] Hand Made. The J stamp made me immediately think of a connection to Ser Jacopo but I would look into that later in the blog. The next two close up photos show the condition of the bowl and rim top. You can see the thick lava coat on the top and you can see the reamed bowl sides on the left rear. It would need to be cleaned up but it was surprisingly clean for the condition of the rim top. Jeff took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It read as noted above and is clear and readable.I decided to confirm my thinking that the pipe was connected with Ser Jacopo. I turned to Pipephil’s site to get a read on the brand (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-g2.html). Sure enough the Gepetto line is called a second of Ser Jacopo. I did a screen capture of the section on Pipephil on both the Gepetto line and the informative side bar from the Ser Jacopo section that also states that the line is a second. I have included them below.  There were also photos that were included on Pipephil of what this particular pipe looked like when it had left Italy. The rustication around the bowl and shank is very similar though the stain on this one is darker and the grain on the smooth rim cap much more prominent. The pipe originally had an acrylic saddle stem with a silver inlaid Pinnochio on the top of the stem. The stem was long gone when Jeff picked it up so I had some decisions to make about the stem I would use to restem it. I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had carried out his usual thorough cleanup of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer to remove the cake and cleaned the reaming up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. The pipe looked very clean when I received it. The rim top looked better but still needed a lot of work. I went through my can of stems and found an acrylic one that had the right colour combination of browns and golds to work with the finish on the bowl. It was a little too bent but that would not be an issue. There were also tooth marks in the top and underside of the stem at the button that would need to be dealt with in the restoration. I fit the stem in the shank and took a picture of the pipe. The stem is a little larger in diameter than the shank. I will need to sand it down to match the shank. I will also need to straighten the stem. I took a close up photo of the rim top. You can see the cleanness of the bowl and rim. There is darkening around inner edge of the rim and crown top. You can also see the stem is a little larger in diameter than the shank in the photos below. You can also see the tooth marks in the second and third photos below.I straightened the stem over my heat gun. I put a pipe cleaner in the shank and heated it until the stem was flexible and I was able to straighten it to match the bend in the stem. I took photos of the pipe and stem after the straightening.I set the stem aside and worked on the rim edges and top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove the damage to the rim edges and top.I polished the rim top with micromesh sanding pads and wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. The crown took on a rich shine. I stained the rim top with a Maple and Cherry stain pen to match the finish on the smooth portions on the bowl.With the repair completed I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 15 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm.   In the process of rubbing the bowl down with Before & After Balm I noticed a hairline crack in the underside of shank that needed to be addressed. I don’t know if it was present or if it cracked when I fitted the new stem. Either way it needed to be repaired. I sanded the smooth area on the shank end down with 220 grit sandpaper in  preparation for the band I wanted to put on it. I found a nice brass band that was grooved to look like a double band. I heated the band and pressed it in place. The band looked very good on the shank. I filled in the tooth marks on the stem with clear super glue and set it aside to cure. Once it had cured I sanded it down with 220 grit sandpaper. I also sanded the diameter of the stem to match the diameter of the shank. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I polished the acrylic stem 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 restemmed, rusticated Gepetto 303 Rhodesian is a beautiful looking pipe that combines a smooth rim cap and rusticated bowl and shank. The brown stains on the bowl work well to highlight the grain. The polished variegated brown/gold half saddle acrylic stem adds to the mix. I put the finished stem on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The rusticated pipe is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 57grams/2.05oz. It will soon be added to the Italian Pipe Makers section on the rebornpipes store. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next generation.

 

 

Restemming a Dunhill Pipe – A Patent Era 1936 Dunhill Bruyere 35 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

This Dunhill Billiard was one of five other Billiards that came to us in the same lot as the 1922 Dunhill Bruyere Reading Pipe, a cracked shank 1962 Dunhill Shell Briar Pot and the 1905 BBB Calabash Reading Pipe and 1911 BBB Glokar Poker. It was a great looking Bruyere Billiard that had a Yello-Bole stem instead of the original Dunhill stem. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank with the letter A next to the bowl and the was followed by DUNHILL [over] LONDON. On the right side of the shank it was stamped MADE IN ENGLAND [over] PAT. NO 41757416 that is followed by the shape number 35.

It was another filthy pipe with a thick cake in the bowl and a heavy lava overflow on the rim top. It looked like it had a shiny coat of varnish or shellac on the bowl that would need to be removed so I could work on the rim top and nicks in the bowl sides. The stem would need to be replaced so Jeff and I would look over what he had there in terms of stems we had set aside. Perhaps there would be one in the lot that would work. Jeff removed the Yello-Bole stem from the shank and took photos of the bowl before he did his clean up work.  He took photos of the bowl and rim to give a picture of the thickness of the cake and lava on the rim top. This must have been a favourite pipe to have gone through a Dunhill stem and then pressing a Yello-Bole stem into service. I would need to find a Dunhill stem for it but it had promise even under the thick cake in the bowl.  Jeff took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank but they are quite blurry because of the refection of the shiny varnish/shellac coat. I am including them anyway here as the give a sense of where the stamp was on the shank sides.I turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Root Briar Pipes to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Bruyere

The original finish produced (usually made using Calabrian briar), and a big part of developing and marketing the brand. It was the only finish from 1910 until 1917. A dark reddish-brown stain. Before the 1950s, there were three possible finishes for Dunhill pipes. The Bruyere was a smooth finish with a deep red stain, obtained through two coats, a brown understain followed by a deep red.

There was a link on the above site to a section specifically written regarding the Bruyere finish (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Bruyere). I turned there and have included the information from that short article below.

Initially, made from over century-old briar burls, classified by a “B” (denoted highest quality pipe); “DR” (denoted straight-grained) and an “A” (denoted first quality), until early 1915. After that, they became a high-end subset to the Dunhill ‘Bruyere’. The DR and B pipes, a limited production, they should be distinguished as hand-cut in London from burls as opposed to the Bruyere line which was generally finished from French turned bowls until 1917, when the Calabrian briar started to be used, but not completely. Only in 1920 Dunhill took the final step in its pipe making operation and began sourcing and cutting all of its own bowls, proudly announcing thereafter that “no French briar was employed”.

Bruyere pipes were usually made using Calabrian briar, a very dense and hardy briar that has a modest grain but does very well with the deep red stain.

“Before the 1950s, there were three possible finishes for Dunhill pipes. The Bruyere was a smooth finish with a deep red stain, obtained through two coats, a brown understain followed by a deep red. The Shell finish was the original sandblast with a near-black stain (though the degree to which it is truly black has varied over the years). Lastly, the Root finish was smooth also but with a light brown finish. Early Dunhill used different briars with different stains, resulting in more distinct and identifiable creations… Over the years, to these traditional styles were added four new finishes: Cumberland, Dress, Chestnut and Amber Root, plus some now-defunct finishes, such as County, Russet and Red Bark.”

There was also a link to a catalogue page that gave examples and dates that the various finishes were introduced (https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:Dunnypipescatalog-1.png).I turned to Pipephil’s dating guide to show how I arrived at the date of manufacture for this pipe (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I am including two charts that are provided there for the dating a pipe. I have drawn a red box around the pertinent section in each chart. Since the pipe I am working on has a suffix 16 that is raised superscript it points to 1920+ 16 for a date of 1936 on the charts below. I now knew that I was working on a Bruyere that came out in 1936 because of the date stamp 16. The shape of the pipe was one of many Billiards that Dunhill put out and the #35 was a normal billiard shape with a taper stem. That helped me figure out the kind of stem I would need to restem the pipe.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had carried out his usual thorough cleanup of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer to remove the cake and cleaned the reaming up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He had included a stem that we thought could work with the pipe and had soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and scrubbed it down with Soft Scrub All-Purpose cleaner to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The biggest issue with the stem was the large chunk of vulcanite missing on the button on the underside but I thought we could make it work. The stem was from the wrong era and the button was the wrong shape but it would work until the proper stem was located. The pipe looked very clean when I received it. I took a photo of the bowl and the stem I was planning on using. I sanded the tenon to slightly reduce the diameter and leave a snug fit in the shank. It did not take too much to get a nice fit. Note that the diameter of the stem is slightly larger than the shank and it is flattened on the bottom. Since it is larger the flatten portion will not be an issue and with a little work the stem will be a perfect fit.  The fourth photo of the underside of the stem shows the damage to the button that will need to be repaired. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. You can see the darkening, scratches and damage on the rim top. It is roughened and slightly out of round. The varnish/shellac coat is peeling on the top. The stem came out looking quite good. There are tooth marks and chatter on the top side near the button and a large chunk of the button missing on the underside. 

I took photos of the stamping on both sides of the shank to try to capture it better than the photos above. It is better and is readable it reads as noted above. Also not the variation in the diameter of the stem that will need to be addressed.It was time to work on the stem. I decided to tackle the repair to the missing part of the button on the underside of the stem first. I would also need to work on the diameter of the stem at the shank and the shape of the stem to match the year it was made. There was a lot of work to do on the stem.

I got the repair station set up. I use a piece of cardboard with two strips of packing tape to mix the putty. I used Loctite 380 rubberized Black CA glue and three capsules of charcoal powder. I made a cardboard wedge covered in packing tape to fit in the slot and keep me from filling the slot in with the mixture.  I put a pool of the glue on the middle of the cardboard base so I could mix the charcoal powder into it.I mixed the powder and the glue together with a dental spatula. I stirred it until I got a thick putty like paste. I used the spatula to place the mixture on the top of the stem and fill in the missing chunk. I always overfill the area as I can easily remove the excess with the Dremel and files. I sprayed the repair with accelerator to harden the surface so I could remove the cardboard wedge. I took out the wedge and took a photo of the stem at this point in the process.I let the repair cure overnight and in the morning I used a rasp and file to begin to shape the stem surface and flatten the repair. It was a good solid repair and with a lot of shaping and sanding it would work well.I continued to shape the stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper to the button and stem surface smooth. I also worked on the diameter of the stem and removed the flattened bottom. Lots more work to do but it is getting there.I knew that the 1936 stem would not have had the flared fishtail look but probably would have been more of a straight taper. I did a search on Google for a 1936 Dunhill Bruyere in a shape 35 to see if I could find one that would provide a pattern for the shaping of this replacement stem. I found one (https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1936-dunhill-bruyere-grade-billiard-490781280). I copied several of the photos to get a pattern to work with.

You can see from the photos to the left that the stem was significantly different in shape than the fishtail stem that I was working with. The taper on the sides from the shank to the button was far more gentle and almost straight. The taper on the top and bottom the stem is very similar to what I have. The biggest difference was in the last half inch of the stem and button. I would need to remove the horns or fish tail edges from the button and smooth out the transition on the button end so that it is not flared.

It took some work but I used the Dremel to roughly shape the stem like the sides of the stem and the button edges. I took off a lot of vulcanite and when I was done it was very close. I think the rest of the work would be done with sandpaper.I continued shaping it with 220 grit sandpaper. It is looking very good at this point. I still have work to do on the repair to take care of air bubbles but I am happy with how it is coming out so far.I filled in the air bubbles on the stem and button surfaces with black super glue and set the stem aside for the repairs to cure.I turned my attention to the bowl. I decided to start the restoration on it by working on the damage on the inner edge of the bowl. It had darkening and some damage to the edge. There were burn and reaming damage marks on the edge. I worked it over with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to give the edge a light bevel and remove and minimize the damage on the edge. When I finished with it, the bowl and the rim top looked much better.I wiped down the bowl with alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the shellac/varnish coat. It removed a lot of the shiny coat but the polishing with micromesh will remove the rest of it. I polished the rim top and bowl 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 briar began to take on a shine.    I paused the sanding with the micromesh to stain the rim top with a Mahogany Stain pen to match the colour around the bowl. Afterwards I picked up the micromesh pads 3200-12000 and completed the cycle to polish the bowl. 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 15 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I was excited to be finishing this pipe. I still had work to do but thought I would take a look at the stem and pipe together. I put the stem in place and tried I tried to blow through it and only got read in the face. I tried to put a pipe cleaner through the button and it went into the area of the repair and stopped. I tried to push a wire through the blockage and it would not budge. My stem repair had sealed off the airway!!!!. I usually do a stem repair with a folded greased pipe cleaner in the airway. This time I tried the cardboard wedge that both Dal and Paresh have used many times with no issues, thinking this stem would be a great candidate for that. I made a wedge and fit it in place but it must have had a small opening at the end that allowed the repair material to go past it. The airway was sealed tight and hard as a rock! I set the stem aside and went to the Post Office to mail a package. While I waited for the clerk I had an idea. When I got home I tried it. I put the smallest drill bit I had in the chuck of my cordless drill and carefully drilled it through. I up the bit to the second smallest one and the airway was clear! Whew… but even more amazing is that with all the drilling and fussing at the button lip the repair did not chip or loosen. The repair was solid. That at least was very good news in the midst of this mess.I worked on the stem some more fine tuning the fit against the shank and the shape of the button and stem to get as close as possible to the pictures that I found and included above. I sanded and shaped and sanded and shaped… did I say sanded and shaped?? It seemed almost endless. 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 Dunhill A Bruyere 35 Patent Billiard from 1936 is a beautiful looking piece of briar that has a shape that follows grain. It is a great looking pipe that came out looking even better after the cleanup and restemming. The Bruyere is an early finish that Dunhill specialized in making. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition. The red and brown stain on the bowl works well to highlight the grain. The polished black vulcanite taper stem that I repurposed to replace the Yello-Bole stem adds to the mix. It is not the 1936 stem but I reshaped it to a close approximation. It will work until I find the proper era stem. 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 Bruyere 35 Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 5/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 31grams/1.06oz. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next generation.

 

The Volkswagen Beetle of Pipes

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

I was very flattered by all the attention that the first restoration of my grandfather’s Dunhill received on this blog. Your kind words gave me the encouragement to carry on publishing the stories of my pipe restorations. Indeed, I will be posting restorations of my grandfather’s other pipes in the weeks ahead. Today’s pipe is not from my grandfather, but from eBay. This Brigham Two-Dot Algonquin (254) is a straight-stemmed pot billiard. It is much more modest than my grandfather’s Dunhill, but it is a charming pipe with its own story to tell. As usual, Steve’s advice was invaluable and – also as usual – any compliments on this restoration are for him; any criticisms are for me. I gave this story the title that I did because this pipe reminds me of the old Volkswagen Beetle: solid, hard-working, reliable, practical – but not very pretty. The very first lot of pipes that I purchased on eBay came from Sudbury, Ontario – the nickel capital of the world. This group of pipes had a little bit of everything in it (you will see some others in the coming weeks), but the one thing these pipes had in common was their filth. Perhaps they all sat at the bottom of a nickel mine and accumulated this filth over the years. Who knows? I started with this pipe because it was the least dirty and least blemished of the bunch. I figured this might be a relatively straightforward restoration – and so it was. The pictures you see here do not do justice to the filth. I may have wiped this pipe down a bit before starting, so you will just have to take my word for it. Fortunately, there were no major structural problems with this pipe. There were scratches on the stummel, some lava on the rim, plenty of cake in the bowl, lots of tooth marks on the stem, and an overall sense of fatigue. The pipe just felt lethargic somehow. By the way, I apologize for the lack of variety of photographs on this pipe. It was being restored while my mind was on other things and I did not snap the pictures quite as often as I should have.

Anyway, to work! Naturally, the first steps involved reaming out the pipe. This pipe has quite a wide bowl and it required both the PipNet Reamer and the KleenReem. I took it down to bare briar, as I wanted to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the walls of the bowl. Fortunately, there were none. I then proceeded to clean out the insides of both the shank and stem with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and a lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. Now, I know that sounds more like something you would find in a ladies’ beauty salon, but, in fact, it is a pretty impressive cleaner (more about that perhaps in a future post). I took a BIC lighter and (to quote Steve) ‘painted’ the stem with its flame. This was fairly successful in raising some of the dents. One dent remained, but I dealt with that later. Once this process was done, the stem went for an overnight soak in the Before & After Hard Rubber Deoxidizer. I then moved on to cleaning the outside of the stummel with Murphy’s Oil Soap and an old toothbrush. My father is a dentist, so I know I have a good place from which to source my dental supplies! Actually, that cleaning with the brush tipped the balance of this pipe from a sorry, Sudbury sojourner to a pipe with character and purpose. I followed that up with a smear of Before & After Restoration Balm. That always makes everything look better – even a Volkswagen Beetle pipe. Perhaps applying some on my ugly mug would help, but I digress… The time had come to deal with this pipe’s biggest problem – a problem that pictures will not convey: the stench. The previous owner had clearly enjoyed a very floral, perfumy aromatic tobacco. How shall I put this delicately? It was not to my taste. It took four (or maybe even five) de-ghosting sessions to rid this pipe of the aromatic fetor. This de-ghosting consisted of thrusting cotton balls in the bowl and the shank, and saturating them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. This causes the tars and dreadful smells to leech out into the cotton. Finally, a relatively clean and fresh-smelling bowl emerged. I went back to the stem and cleaned all of the de-oxidizing goop (technical term) off with alcohol, pipe cleaners, et cetera. The oxidation had migrated to the surface and would be fairly easy to remove. Following in the footsteps of Steve the Master, I used 220, 400, and 600 grit sandpapers to address this issue. Before I moved on to the Micromesh pads, I filled the remaining tooth dent in the stem with cyanoacrylate adhesive, let it fully cure, and then sanded it down to meld seamlessly into the stem. Once complete, I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely lustre on the stem. Naturally, I used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad. I was particularly pleased with how nicely the two Brigham dots gleamed after the Micromesh pads. Back to the stummel. The three patches of rustication (on the rim and the outside) needed a little attention. They did not look quite like Brigham rustication would have looked. I took some stain and applied it to the crevasses of the rustication, carefully avoiding the high spots wherever possible. I also applied some Before & After Restoration Balm to help blend everything together. This looked a lot better and restored a real ‘Brigham’ look to the stummel. The Before & After Restoration Balm had really brought out the best of the wood, but the little nicks and scratches that occur over time had removed some of the charm from this pipe. Lazy Me was hoping that I could get away with just buffing the thing and leaving it at that, but Perfectionist Me knew that that was not going to happen. So, I pulled out all nine Micromesh pads again and went from proverbial stem to stern over the stummel to try and coax some beauty out of this Volkswagen Beetle. It worked! Some beauty was found! I applied more Before & After Restoration Balm and Paragon II Wax. I polished it by hand with a microfibre cloth (deliberately avoiding an electric buffer) and voilà! I now have a Brigham pipe of my very own. This Algonquin Two-Dot pot billiard is never going to win a swimsuit competition, but that does not matter. It is a good, solid pipe that does what it is supposed to do. What more can you ask for? The dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 6 inches (15.5 cm); height 1¾ inches (4.2 cm); bowl diameter 1½ inches (4 cm); chamber diameter: ⅞ of an inch (2.3 cm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅝ ounces (or 48 grams of mass).

Thank you very much for reading and, once again, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Shades of Tolkien and Lewis – Restoring a Stunning Figural Briar “Dryad”

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Blog by Steve Laug

Over the Christmas holidays I listen to the audio book of the Hobbit and the entire Chronicles of Narnia. I am not sure if that influences what I see in the next pipe or not, but to me it is what I imagined when both spoke of the Dryads, Wood Nymphs or Entwives. The carved figure coming out of the back of the bowl of this pipe perfectly captures what I imagined. The hair on both sides is entwined with leaves, vines and fruit (grapes). There is a symbol like a flower with a jewel in the centre at the top of the forehead that seems to be on a band around the head. The feminine features are well worked on the face and as you hold it looking at it you can easily imagine it watching you.

I did a bit of research on Google and found ought a fair bit about Dryads. I included this picture from Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2440813268) as well as a close up of the face of the woman in the pipe I am working on. I summarize what I learned about Dryads below: According to Greek mythology a Dryad is a tree nymph or tree spirit. The Greek word Drys signifies “oak”, and dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, but the term has come to be used for tree nymphs in general, or human-tree hybrids in fantasy.

I found another photo of a Dryad that is stunning. She is reaching out of the tree for the person coming towards her (http://testforbloggerandgadgets.blogspot.com/2014/04/spritesdryads-spritesnymphs.html). The pipe I am working on has a shank that is like a hollow branch with the stem carved like a hand reaching out toward the smoker and grasping the blade of the stem.Jeff picked the pipe up from an auction from a fellow in Los Angeles, California, USA. The grain on the pipe was stunning with straight and flame grain around the bowl and shank. The rim top was plateau briar and the carver had used it to form almost a leafy overhang over the face. There were chips out of the overhanging edge on the left rear of the bowl and the right side. It was visible but did not detract from the carving. The pipe was dirty and needed a lot of work to clean up in terms of grit and grime in the carving’s features and ground into the smooth bowl sides. The pipe had been smoked and there was a moderate cake and some lava on the beveled inner edge of the rim. Jeff took photos of the pipe to give a sense of the overall look and condition it was in before he worked his magic on it. He took photos of the plateau rim top and the bowl to show the condition of both. You can see the lava on the beveled inner edge at the back of the bowl. The plateau is actually quite nice and the beveled rim edge should look stunning once it is cleaned up.The unique carved hand coming off the tenon and holding the blade of the stem is really interesting. The shank end is carved like a snapped off tree branch and the hand is reaching out of it .The left hand fingers and thumb hold what looks like a crescent moon and the top of the stem flows out of that. Look closely at the carving of the stem and the shank end in the photos below. The stem is heavily oxidized and scratched and will take a lot of work to clean up in all the grooves of the hand. He took some close up photos of the stem surface on both sides. It is heavily oxidized but there are not any tooth marks or chatter.Jeff took photos of the smooth portions of the bowl sides to show the amazing grain on the pipe. It is straight/flame grain that flows up from the flattened heel of the bowl to the plateau of the rim top.Jeff took a series of photos to show the details of the carving around the backside of the bowl and the curves around the edges. You can see the floral like band on the forehead and the vine like hair framing the face. The detail of the emblems hanging on the sides of her face and hair are very similar looking to the one that is on the forehead. At first I thought they were earrings but I am not pretty certain they hang from the head band on the sides of her head. There is some stamping on the left side of the shank that is carved in by hand. There are several possibilities as to what it says but I cannot find any information on any of them. One possibility could be Chambers 70 which would be the name of the carver and the date. Another possibility is Cham Cerato but I cannot find anything like that name for a carver. Do any of you know who it could be?Jeff reamed the bowl with a Pipnet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He carefully scrubbed the bowl, plateau rim top, beveled inner edge and the carving on the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a soft tooth brush. He was able to remove the grime from the surface of the briar and the carving without damaging the face. He cleaned the internals of the mortise, airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol and cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. This pipe is so ornate that it took some time and care to not damage it in the process of the cleaning. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub to remove some of the oxidation on the surface in the fingers of the carving. He soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer to further remove the oxidation. While he got a good portion of it there was still some deep oxidation on the stem surface and in the grooves of the carving that I would  need to deal with. I took photos of the pipe at this point in the process. It looks significantly better.  I took a close up photo of the plateau rim top and beveled inner edge. The inner edge looks very good. The stem photos show the remaining oxidation on both sides.I took a photo of the stamping and show the knot like spot below the carving.I took a photo of the pipe taken apart to give a sense of proportion to the whole that is hard to see with the stem in place in the shank. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the bowl and shank with my fingertips. I worked it into the carvings with a q-tip or cotton swab. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then carefully buffed it off with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process.   Earlier in the process I had put the stem to soak in the Briarville Deoxidizer Bath while I worked on the bowl. It was time to take it out – almost 2 hours in the bath. While it definitely was not as brown as it had been the hand and wrist still showed a lot of oxidation. This was going to be a bear to work on and would take a lot of time to get it all off!I scrubbed the stem and all the grooves with Soft Scrub using cotton swabs and cotton pads. Many pads and cotton swabs later it was finally looking better. Still a lot of work to do but I feel like I am making some progress. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet 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 Mythical Dryad/Wood Nymph/Entwife Pipe. I put the pipe back together and hand buffed it with a soft cloth and clean tooth brush. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of a coat of Conservators Wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfibre cloth to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful mixed grain and carved face emerging from the back of the bowl looking at you while you hold it. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem with the hand reaching out of the branch like shank made a stunning pipe. This incredible hand carved Dryad/Wood Nymph/Entwife pipe is great looking and feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 8 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 ½ inches long x 2 inches wide, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 54grams/1.90oz. It is a beautiful pipe that I will be keeping in my own collection. I am looking forward to my yearly reading of the Lord of the Rings and will enjoy a bowl of tobac as I read. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Putting together a Great Looking Gourd Calabash from Parts

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Blog by Steve Laug

For years now I have kept a box of parts and bowls for a variety of pipes. It has briar bowls that I want to one day restem and shank extensions etc. Periodically Jeff will send me bits and bobs in the boxes of pipes that he sends me. I don’t remember where I picked up the gourd calabash with a meerschaum cup below. It was large and in excellent condition. It was missing the acrylic  shank extension that was glued into the shank of the calabash and it was missing a stem. In the latest box that Jeff sent me he included a shank extension and a stem that I thought would work perfectly to complete this calabash. I put the extension in the shank and took pictures of the parts of the pipe. It worked very well together and once it was all glued and fitted it would look great. I glued the shank extension in the end of the calabash and set it aside to cure. Once the glue was set the shank extension was ready for the new stem.I used some Vaseline Petroleum Jelly to rejuvenate the cork gasket in the bowl. I worked it into the cork with my finger tips to soften the gasket. Once it had absorbed a bit it would be soft and hold the meerschaum bowl in the gourd easily.I put the meerschaum bowl in the gourd and put the stem in the shank extension and took photos of the newly constructed calabash.  I took a photo of the meerschaum cup from the top to show the general condition. It was in decent condition with some scratching and staining around the top surface. The inside of the bowl was in excellent condition. The edges of the bowl and chamber  were in excellent condition. The stem was virtually unused with no tooth marks or chatter on either side.  I took a photo of the bowl and stem from the side to give a sense of proportion. It is a great looking pipe.I started my work on the bowl by polishing the meerschaum bowl with micromesh sanding pads – polishing with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping them down with a damp cloth after each pad. I waxed the meerschaum bowl with Clapham’s Beeswax Polish. I rubbed it into the meerschaum with my finger tips and once it had dried I buffed it out with a soft cotton cloth.    I polished the gourd down with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. The gourd had taken on a great shine. I rubbed the gourd down with Before  and After Restoration Balm to clean and rejuvenate the  gourd and give the calabash and briar a fresh look. I put the meerschaum cup in the gourd calabash bowl and took photos of this portion of the restoration of this pipe. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both fine and extra fine.   I really enjoyed putting this pipe together and restoring it because I love the final touches that make it sing. I put the Gourd Calabash back together and lightly buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the gourd and 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. It is fun to see what the polished meerschaum bowl looks like with the smooth finished gourd and the black vulcanite stem. This richly finished Gourd Calabash is light weight and ready for you to load up a tobacco of preference and enjoy smoking it. Have a look at it in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 7 inches, Height: 4 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 3 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 142grams/5.04oz. This is one that will go on the Meerschaum Pipemakers section of the rebornpipes online store shortly. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next generation.