Tag Archives: Bowls – refinishing

Restoring a Poul Stanwell Design Stanwell Jubilaeum 1942-92 Sandblast 32 Bulldog

by Steve Laug

I moved on to work on another pipe. The next one I chose was another Stanwell. We purchased this from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark on 02/16/2023. The stamping on the pipe was very clear and readable. On a smooth panel on the left underside of the shank it reads Stanwell in over Jubilaeum [over] 1942-92. On the right underside it read Made in Denmark with the shape number 32. The stem had a gold inlaid Crowned “S” Stanwell logo on the topside of the diamond saddle stem. The Jubilaeum series was the 50^th Anniversary line. The shape is a classic 32 Sandblast Bulldog design by Poul Stanwell and is easily recognizable as such. The bowl had a moderate cake but there was light lava in the sandblast of the rim top. The finish was in dirty condition and was quite polished. The stem was vulcanite and had light tooth chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It showed a lot of promise through the grime. It came with a gold 50^th Anniversary box and pipe sock. I took photos of the pipe before I started my clean up work. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before the clean up. You can see the cake in the bowl and the darkening and light lava on the inner edge and top of the rim. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the grain around the bowl and shank. The stain adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on the sides of the shank are shown in the photos below. It is clear and readable as noted above. I turned to Pipephil’s site to see if I could find any information on the Jubilaeum line of Stanwell pipes (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-stanwell.html). There was nothing specific on the line but the summary of Stanwell History is quite helpful. I quote it below.

Brand & factory were established in 1942 by Poul Nielsen. The company has been owned since 2000 by Nordisk Tobaks Kompagni A/S.

The factory in Borup crafted all Stanwell pipes from 1965 until 2009. From 2010 on the pipes are crafted by Barontini (Italy) exept for the limited editions.

Production (2007): 115 000 Pipes/year – Denmark

‘Jubilee’ (Danish: Jubilaeum) pipes

On occasion, Stanwell released special ‘Jubilee’ pipes, most notably in 1982 (40th), 1992 (50th), and 2002 (60th), though ‘Jubilee’ pipes do exist from Stanwell’s ‘registration era.’

For the 40th and 50th Jubilee, a number of iconic shapes were chosen from Stanwell’s back catalog (including shapes no longer produced). Pipes could be purchased individually, or as a full set. Different shapes featured in the Jubilee ranges. In the 1982 range, pipes were offered in natural, red, and golden contrast stains. In the 1992 Jubilee range, stems could be either standard black vulcanite, or cumberland ebonite.

For the 40th (1942-1982) Jubilee, these shapes were:

32: Poul Stanwell’s 32(a), the first shape designed for Stanwell, a classical straight bulldog, released in 1942.
71. Sixten Ivarsson’s 71, a straight pear-billiard with a saddle stem.
118. Sixten Ivarsson’s 118, a slightly bent volcano with a flush flared stem.
119. A quarter-bent Dublin, with an oval rim, and a saddle stem.
64. Sixten Ivarson’s 64(a), a quarter-bent Dublin with a plateau rim and a flush flared stem.
64M. Sixten Ivarsson’s 64M, a version of the 64(a) shape, but with a vulcanite ferrule and a push flared stem.
07. A quarter-bent apple with a diamond shank and a saddle stem.
53. A straight billiard of medium size, with a saddle stem.
108. Tom Eltang’s quarter-bent horn/scoop hybrid with a flared flush stem.
113. A Canadian with a wide, short bowl.
156. Jess Chonowitsch’s 156, a quarter-bent bulldog with a forward cant.
12. A large billiard with a tapered stem (12b).
57. A medium billiard with a tapered stem.

For the 50th (1942-1992) Jubilee, these shapes were:

32: Poul Stanwell’s 32(a), the first shape designed for Stanwell, a classical straight bulldog, released in 1942.
06: Sixten Ivarsson’s 06(a) bent Dublin, released in 1951.
70: Sixten Ivarsson’s 70(a) bent volcano, released in 1967.
35. Anne Julie’s 35(b) bent egg, released in 1975.
169. Jess Chonowitsch’s 169 straight brandy/tulip, released in 198

A six-day set of Stanwell’s 1992 Jubilee pipes in their original case. Image courtesy Nicholas Gutierrez of NG Pipes.

Tom Eltang’s 190 hexagonal-shank billiard, as featured in the ‘Sixtus’ range, released in 1992.

The Bulldog, shape 32 Bulldog is a Poul Stanwell which was a classical straight Bulldog original released in 1942. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. It came in Stanwell Box with Pipe Sock. I removed it from the sock and took photos of the pipe once I received it. I took close up photos of both the rim top and the stem. Jeff had been able to get the grime and lava off of the rim top and it looked pretty incredible. Even the darkening and marks on the rim top on the right side and the back of the bowl look much better. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were minimal and should be easy to remove.The stamping on the shank sides was readable as noted above. I also took a photo with the stem removed to give an idea of the perspective and design of the pipe. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl and shank with my fingers. I want the product to go deep into the finish because it works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. Once I was confident that it was deeply worked into the finish I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth to polish it. The pipe really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. The grain really stands out on the pipe in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-1500 grit sanding pads to further blend the sanding marks into the surface of the vulcanite. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian cloth to remove the debris from the sanding.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I am excited to put the finishing touches on this Poul Stanwell Design Stanwell Jubilaeum 1942-92 Straight Bulldog 32. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished black, fancy turned vulcanite stem was beautiful. This Stanwell Jubilaeum 1942-92 Straight Bulldog 32 is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.23 ounces/35 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that I will be putting in the Danish Pipemakers Section on the rebornpipes store. Thanks for walking through the cleanup with me as I worked over this pipe.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Breathing New Life into a Stanwell Diplomat 83 Bent Billiard

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by Steve Laug

It is a beautiful chilly day in Vancouver without rain so I decided to go to the basement and work on another pipe that was purchased on 02/16/2023 in a lot of pipes that came to us from a seller in Copenhagen, Denmark. It included a group of Danish Made Stanwell pipes that are quite beautiful. The grain around the bowl and shank of this shape that I have decided to call a Bent Billiard has a mix of birdseye, straight and flame grain. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads STANWELL [over] Diplomat. On the right side of the shank it is stamped with the shape number 83. On the underside of the shank it is stamped Made in Denmark. The pipe was dirty when Jeff received it. There was dust and grime ground into the finish. It is finished in the warm stain that highlights some nice grain around the bowl and shank. The bowl was heavily caked and there was some darkening and lava on the rim top. The inner edge shows some damage and darkening around the bowl. The stem is vulcanite and was dirty with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. There is a brass/gold crown S logo stamped on the left side of the taper stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before the clean up. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the darkening and lava on the inner edge and top of the rim. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the grain around the bowl and shank. The stain adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on the sides of the shank are shown in the photos below. It is clear and readable as noted above. I turned to Pipephil’s site to see if I could find any information on the Diplomat line of Stanwell pipes (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-stanwell.html). There was nothing specific on the line but the summary of Stanwell History is quite helpful. I quote it below.

Brand & factory were established in 1942 by Poul Nielsen. The company has been owned since 2000 by Nordisk Tobaks Kompagni A/S.

The factory in Borup crafted all Stanwell pipes from 1965 until 2009. From 2010 on the pipes are crafted by Barontini (Italy) exept for the limited editions.

Production (2007): 115 000 Pipes/year – Denmark

I turned to Pipedia to an article that originally was posted here on rebornpipes and written by my late friend Bas Stevens (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell_Shape_Numbers_and_Designers). The list did not clarify who designed the shape so that was still a bit of a mystery. Whoever did so, created a beauty. I now knew that the shape 83 was a Bent Billiard of medium size with tapered stem made in the late 1950s. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. It came in Stanwell Box with Pipe Sock. I removed it from the sock and took photos of the pipe once I received it. I took close up photos of both the rim top and the stem. Jeff had been able to get the grime and lava off of the rim top and it looked pretty incredible. Even the darkening and marks on the rim top on the right side and the back of the bowl look much better. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were minimal and should be easy to remove.The stamping on the shank side was readable as noted above. I also took a photo with the stem removed to give an idea of the perspective and design of the pipe. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the damage on the inner edge of the bowl with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and a sphere to remove the damage. I then used a half sphere to further shape the rim top to bring the edge back into round and it looked much better. Over all the rim top and edges looked much better. I sanded the outside of the bowl and rim with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to remove the scratching and marks on the briar. I wiped the bowl down between pads with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. I polished the smooth bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads using 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiping it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust and debris. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl and shank with my fingers. I want the product to go deep into the finish because it works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. Once I was confident that it was deeply worked into the finish I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth to polish it. The pipe really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. The grain really stands out on the pipe in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter and I was able to lift the light tooth marks to the surface. I sanded what remained with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them out and blend them in. I wiped it down with an Obsidian cloth to remove the debris. I sanded the stem with 320-1500 grit sanding pads to further blend the sanding marks into the surface of the vulcanite. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian cloth to remove the debris from the sanding.I touched up the gold Crown S Stanwell logo stamp on the left side of the stem with Antique Gold Rub’n Buff. I worked it into the stamping with a tooth pick and then buffed off the excess with a soft cloth.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. This Stanwell Made in Denmark Diplomat 83 Bent Billiard with a vulcanite taper stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful finish really highlights the grain and the polished finish is stunning. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Stanwell Diplomat 83 Bent Billiard fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 38 grams /1.34 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the Danish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in purchasing this pipe send me a message or an email.

Restoring an Elegant Savinelli Punto Oro 104

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by Kenneth Lieblich

What a handsome pipe this is! When I first saw it, I thought, ‘Oh, someone’s going to love this pipe’. As you can see, this is a Savinelli Punto Oro 104. It is a beautifully sandblasted billiard, with a sterling silver band, and a vulcanite military mount stem. I acquired it in a recent auction and was pleased to get it. It’s a wonderful pipe and it deserves to be part of someone’s collection again. This pipe promises to be a great smoker. Let’s look at the markings. The underside of the shank reads Savinelli [over] Punto Oro. Savinelli, of course, is an Italian pipe company, and the words Punto Oro mean, literally, ‘gold point’. To the right is the Savinelli coat of arms, showing a stylized ‘S’ on a shield, topped by two pipes. Next to this are the marks 104 [over] Italy. Naturally, the number refers to the shape – a billiard – and the three digits tell us that the pipe dates from the 1970s or later. The sterling silver mount on the shank also has markings. On one side it reads 925 [over] Savinelli, and on the other side it reads Sterling [over] Mounted. The photos show an almost gold look to this mount, but that’s just the coating on top of the silver. The coating is peeling off. Finally, there is a gold-coloured dot on the stem (made of brass) – a very nice touch. Savinelli is one of the most recognized names in pipe smoking and they have a long and storied history. You can read about them from their own website or from Pipedia’s article about them. I was particularly interested in learning more about the Punto Oro line. Sadly, Pipedia had nothing on this subject. I checked with Pipephil and they did have a bit of information, which I display below.I also found a bit of information on the Punto Oro line from Savinelli’s own website. They write:

PUNTO ORO pipe was the first pipe created by Achille Savinelli after the opening of the factory in 1958; a pipe that has always distinguished the Savinelli brand, its elegance, reliability and tradition. It is a top quality pipe with a wonderful grain. It is important to know it is very difficult to find a briar piece suitable to become a PUNTO ORO: just 1,2% of the whole choice is selected for this series, therefore not all our shapes are always available for these pipes.What’s the condition of the pipe? Very good, I’m pleased to say. The stummel is in beautiful shape – no damage or significant lava. There’s some cake in the bowl, but nothing of note. The silver mount looks like it has scratches – but it doesn’t. This is where the old coating on the silver was coming off. The stem is a bit oxidized and heavily calcified, but we can sort that out. The stem’s calcification was quite substantial. I used an old butter knife and gently scraped some of the thicker accretion off. Doing this now helps later in removing the oxidation.I used isopropyl alcohol on a few cotton rounds and wiped down the stem to provide an initial cleaning of filth before moving on to the next steps. The primary cleaning came next. I disinfected the inside of the stem with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly to make sure the interior was very clean.The goal of the next step is the removal (or minimization) of oxidation. Going to my sink, I used cream cleanser, cotton rounds, and a toothbrush, and scoured the stem to remove as much surface oxidation as possible. As the photos show, the result was a hideous, ochre-coloured mess – but better off the stem than on it.Once the stem was reasonably clean, I soaked it overnight in some Briarville Stem Oxidation Remover. This solution works to draw oxidation in the stem to the surface of the vulcanite. This is a major aid and an important step in ensuring a clean stem. The following day, I drew out the stem from its bath and scrubbed the lingering fluid with a toothbrush.The penultimate step for the stem is sanding. I used all nine of the micromesh sanding pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand out flaws, even out the vulcanite, and provide gentle polishing of the finished surface. I also applied pipe-stem oil while using the last five micromesh pads. There was a wonderful, deep black shine to the stem when I was done.As the stem was (nearly) complete, I moved on to the stummel. The first step was to ream out the bowl – that is to say, remove all the cake inside the bowl. This accomplished a couple of things. First (and most obviously), it cleaned the bowl and provided a refurbished chamber for future smoking. Second, when the old cake was removed, I could inspect the interior walls of the bowl and determine if there was damage or not. I used a reamer, a pipe knife, and a piece of sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel. Collectively, these ensured that all the debris was removed.Similar to the stem, I then cleaned the stummel with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. It took quite a while and much cotton to clean.I then decided to ‘de-ghost’ the pipe – that is to say, exorcize the remaining filth from the briar. I filled the bowl and the shank with cotton balls, then saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused the remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton.To tidy up the briar, I wiped down the outside, using a solution of a pH-neutral detergent and some distilled water, with cotton rounds. I also used a toothbrush in the crevices. This did a good job of cleaning any latent dirt on the surface of the briar. The last step of the cleaning process was to scour the inside of the stummel with the same mild detergent and tube brushes. This was the culmination of a lot of hard work in getting the pipe clean.I rubbed some LBE Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. The balm moisturizes the wood and gives a beautiful depth to the briar. I then buffed the stummel with a microfibre cloth. For the final step, I took the pipe to my bench polisher and carefully buffed it – first the stem with a blue diamond compound, then the stummel with three coats of conservator’s wax. This procedure makes the pipe look its best – the stummel sings and the stem glows. When I was done, I use my jeweller’s cloth and buffed the silver mount – wow!

All done! This Savinelli Punto Oro 104 billiard looks fantastic again and is ready to be enjoyed by its next owner. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘Italian’ section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5⅔ in. (144 mm); height 1¾ in. (45 mm); bowl diameter 1⅓ in. (34 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (18 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅛ oz. (33 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Putting the Shine on a Bari Excellent 7054 Freehand Egg

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by Kenneth Lieblich

I recently got my hands on a few pipes, and this one caught my eye right away: it’s a Bari Excellent 7054 freehand egg. It’s a Danish beauty and it’s in lovely condition to start. It has a very attractive shank extension and sumptuous curves. I couldn’t help but think that this pipe deserves a new home and someone to light it up. Many of the pipes I just received came with their own pipe socks – and this is one of them. So if you want this pipe, you also get your very own Bari-branded pipe sock! On the underside of the shank, we see the following markings: Bari [over] Excellent [over] Made in [over] Denmark [over] 7054. Along the top of the stem, we also see the Bari logo, prominently placed.I have worked on Bari pipes before, but it is worth it to review the background of the maker. From Pipedia, here is a very brief history of the Bari company:

Bari Piber was founded by Viggo Nielsen in Kolding around the turn of 1950-51. Viggo’s sons Kai Nielsen and Jørgen Nielsen both grew into their father’s business from a very young age and worked there till 1975. Bari had very successfully adapted the new Danish Design that had been started mainly by Stanwell for its own models. When Viggo Nielsen sold Bari in 1978 to Joh. Wilh. von Eicken GmbH in Hamburg, Bari counted 33 employees. From 1978 to 1993 Åge Bogelund and Helmer Thomsen headed Bari’s pipe production. Thomsen bought the company in 1993 re-naming it to Bari Piber Helmer Thomsen. The workshop moved to more convenient buildings in Vejen. Bari’s basic conception fundamentally stayed the same for decades: series pipes pre-worked by machines and carefully finished by hand. Thus no spectacular highgrades but solid, reliable every day’s companions.Let’s take a look at the state of the pipe. The stummel is in great condition. Minimal wear to the rim and the sides of the bowl. There are a couple of small fills, but nothing to worry about. The inside looks quite good, with only a small amount of cake. The stem is also in good shape – just some oxidation and calcification. But that just goes with the territory. First things first. The stem’s calcification needed to be removed. I used an old butter knife and gently scraped some of the thicker accretion off. Doing this now helps later in removing the oxidation.I used isopropyl alcohol on a few cotton rounds and wiped down the stem to provide an initial cleaning of filth before moving on to the next steps. The primary cleaning came next. I disinfected the inside of the stem with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly to make sure the interior was very clean.The goal of the next step is the removal (or minimization) of oxidation. Going to my sink, I used cream cleanser, cotton rounds, and a toothbrush, and scoured the stem to remove as much surface oxidation as possible. As the photos show, the result was a hideous, ochre-coloured mess – but better off the stem than on it.Once the stem was reasonably clean, I soaked it overnight in some Briarville Stem Oxidation Remover. This solution works to draw oxidation in the stem to the surface of the vulcanite. This is a major aid and an important step in ensuring a clean stem. The following day, I drew out the stem from its bath and scrubbed the lingering fluid with a toothbrush.I then used all nine of the micromesh sanding pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand out flaws, even out the vulcanite, and provide gentle polishing of the finished surface. I also applied pipe-stem oil while using the last five micromesh pads. There was a wonderful, deep black shine to the stem when I was done.As the stem was (nearly) complete, I moved on to the stummel. The first step was to ream out the bowl – that is to say, remove all the cake inside the bowl. This accomplished a couple of things. First (and most obviously), it cleaned the bowl and provided a refurbished chamber for future smoking. Second, when the old cake was removed, I could inspect the interior walls of the bowl and determine if there was damage or not. I used a reamer, a pipe knife, and a piece of sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel. Collectively, these ensured that all the debris was removed.Similar to the stem, I then cleaned the stummel with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. It was fairly dirty, but nothing extraordinary.I then decided to ‘de-ghost’ the pipe – that is to say, exorcize the remaining filth from the briar. I filled the bowl and the shank with cotton balls, then saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused the remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton.To tidy up the briar, I wiped down the outside, using a solution of a pH-neutral detergent and some distilled water, with cotton rounds. I also used a toothbrush in the crevices. This did a good job of cleaning any latent dirt on the surface of the briar. The last step of the cleaning process was to scour the inside of the stummel with the same mild detergent and tube brushes. This was the culmination of a lot of hard work in getting the pipe clean.I used some of my micromesh pads to sand the outside of the stummel (and the acrylic shank extension) and finish it off. This sanding minimizes flaws in the briar and provides a beautiful smoothness to the wood. I rubbed some LBE Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. The balm moisturizes the wood and gives a beautiful depth to the briar. I then buffed the stummel with a microfibre cloth. For the final step, I took the pipe to my bench polisher and carefully buffed it – first with a blue diamond compound, then with three coats of carnauba wax. This procedure makes the pipe look its best – the stummel sings and the stem glows.

All done! This lovely Bari Excellent 7054 Freehand Egg looks fantastic again and is ready to be enjoyed by its next owner. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘Danish’ section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 6⅛ in. (155 mm); height 1⅞ in. (48 mm); bowl diameter 1½ in. (38 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1½ oz. (46 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Rejuvenating another Royal Comoy – a 298 Saddle Stem Lumberman

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is another beautiful Comoy Royal – a Lumberman with a vulcanite saddle stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the top side of the shank and reads Royal [over] Comoy. On the underside it is stamped with the Comoy COM stamp – in this case Made in London in a circle over England [followed by] the shape number 298 next to the bowl shank union. The stamping is clear and readable. It has rich finish with a blend of brown stains that highlight the grain around the bowl and shank that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava on the top and edges. The stem was quite dirty and oxidized. The stem was quite dirty and oxidized. It had a three part C on the left side of the saddle stem. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem.The stamping on the top and underside of the shank are shown in the photos below. It looks very good and is readable. It reads as noted and explained above. I captured the detail in the photos below. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the proportion and look of the pipe. Al Jones, upshallfan has worked on several Royal Comoy pipes in the past and had some write ups on rebornpipes. I have included the link and the pertinent information below.

https://rebornpipes.com/2015/01/28/royal-comoy-603/

I couldn’t find much about the Royal grade and this one was particularly unusual in that it was only stamped “Comoy” versus “Comoys”. The only reference point I could find was an old Ebay ad from Tony Soderman see below and the accompanying picture. He describes the grade as below. I find very few use of the singular “Comoy” stamping. This pipe doesn’t feel like a Blue Riband quality grade and my selling price definitely didn’t reflect that either. Tony uses “Comoy” and “Comoys” in his ad titles which makes the designation a little less clear. At any rate, it is a Comoy not often seen.

Old timers know that the ROYAL COMOY was the predecessor to the fabled “Blue Riband”!!! The name is from the “old” Comoy’s Nomenclature (like “Prima,” “Grand Slam,” “Old Bruyere,” “Lions Head” and so on). Those pre-date the more familiar modern grading (like “Selected Straight Grain,” “Blue Riband,” “Specimen Straight Grain” and so forth). While the Blue Riband was NEVER Comoy’s highest grade, the ROYAL COMOY originally appeared as the absolute top-of-the-line Comoy in the late 1930’s! (ALL pre-World War II Royal Comoy’s were top-of-the-line pipes!) The Royal was “downgraded” only though the addition of higher grades (much like Charatan did indirectly downgrading their top-of-the-line “Supreme” through the addition of higher grades)! Shortly before World War II, Comoy replaced the ROYAL COMOY with the Blue Riband (at the same time as they introduced the Specimen Straight Grain). The ROYAL COMOY reappeared after World War II and was always a HIGH GRADE Comoy – – – either at or near the TOP-OF-THE-LINE!!! From there I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-comoy.html). I have included a screen capture of the listing for Royal Comoy that was there. It is interesting to me in that the Royal Comoy that I am working on is the same shape number as the one shown in the photo. I also have included the side bar information.Three pieces (two black, one white) inlaid “C” logo. This marking/inlay method was canceled in the early 80s.

I thought Pipedia was worth checking on the Royal Comoy and it took some digging but I did find it buried in a list of brands. It was just two lines but had some interesting information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/A_History_Of_Comoy%27s_and_A_Guide_Toward_Dating_the_Pipes). I quote from there below.

Royal. The Royal has always been a high-grade Comoy, and, pre-WW II, it was the highest standard grade after the Prima was dropped. Priced at $7.50 in 1936.

I wanted to know when the line was dropped so I googled (https://vkpipes.com/pipeline/comoys-royal-185/) for further information. I found some helpful information on the vkpipes site. I quote that below.

The Comoy’s Royal grade is both one of the oldest and one of the rarest to date. Royal Comoy pipes appeared in the late 1930s and were then considered the absolute highest grade. However, very soon, the Royal pipes were replaced by the Blue Ribband series. After the Second World War the Royal series reappeared as one of the top lines until it was discontinued in the early 1980s. In any case, all our sources agree that “The Royal has always been a high-grade Comoy.”

From what I can find the brand was displaced as top of the line when the Blue Riband came out in 1936. It seemed to have been dropped shortly after that and then reappeared after WWII as a top line until it was discontinued in the early 1980s. Now it was time to start working on the pipe.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the second and third cutting head. I took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and then sanded the bowl walls with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. The bowl looked very good at this point there were no burn marks and only light checking on the walls. I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners.I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the rim top and inner bevel of the rim. Once it was finished it looked significantly better.I sanded the bowl and shank with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. It was beginning to look very good. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The pipe began to take on a rich finish. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the rusticated rim top and the smooth briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.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 interestingly stamped Royal Comoy 298 Saddle Stem Lumberman with a vulcanite saddle stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The rich browns and blacks of the contrasting stains came alive with the polishing and waxing. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Royal Comoy 298 Lumberman is a beauty and fits nicely in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 35 grams/1.20 ounces. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!

Rejuvenating a Royal Comoy 480 Saddle Stem Dublin

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a beautiful Comoy Royal Dublin with a straight vulcanite saddle stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Royal [over] Comoy. On the right side it is stamped with the Comoy COM stamp – in this case Made in London in a circle over England [followed by] the shape number 480 next to the bowl shank union. The stamping is clear and readable. It has rich finish with a blend of brown stains that highlight the grain around the bowl and shank that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava on the top and edges. The stem was quite dirty and oxidized. It had a three part C on the left side of the saddle stem. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem.The stamping on the sides of the shank is shown in the photos below. It looks very good and is readable. It reads as noted and explained above. I captured the detail in the photos below. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the proportion and look of the pipe. Al Jones, upshallfan has worked on several Royal Comoy pipes in the past and had some write ups on rebornpipes. I have included the link and the pertinent information below.

https://rebornpipes.com/2015/01/28/royal-comoy-603/

Old timers know that the ROYAL COMOY was the predecessor to the fabled “Blue Riband”!!! The name is from the “old” Comoy’s Nomenclature (like “Prima,” “Grand Slam,” “Old Bruyere,” “Lions Head” and so on). Those pre-date the more familiar modern grading (like “Selected Straight Grain,” “Blue Riband,” “Specimen Straight Grain” and so forth). While the Blue Riband was NEVER Comoy’s highest grade, the ROYAL COMOY originally appeared as the absolute top-of-the-line Comoy in the late 1930’s! (ALL pre-World War II Royal Comoy’s were top-of-the-line pipes!) The Royal was “downgraded” only though the addition of higher grades (much like Charatan did indirectly downgrading their top-of-the-line “Supreme” through the addition of higher grades)! Shortly before World War II, Comoy replaced the ROYAL COMOY with the Blue Riband (at the same time as they introduced the Specimen Straight Grain). The ROYAL COMOY reappeared after World War II and was always a HIGH GRADE Comoy – – – either at or near the TOP-OF-THE-LINE!!! From there I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-comoy.html). I have included a screen capture of the listing for Royal Comoy that was there. It is interesting to me in that I have a second Royal Comoy that is the same shape number. I also have included the side bar information. There are three pieces (two black, one white) inlaid “C” logo. This marking/inlay method was canceled in the early 80s.

Royal. The Royal has always been a high-grade Comoy, and, pre-WW II, it was the highest standard grade after the Prima was dropped. Priced at $7.50 in 1936.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the second and third cutting head. I took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and then sanded the bowl walls with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. The bowl looked very good at this point there were no burn marks and only light checking on the walls. I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the rim top and inner bevel of the rim. Once it was finished it looked significantly better.I sanded the bowl and shank with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. It was beginning to look very good. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The pipe began to take on a rich finish. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the rusticated rim top and the smooth briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.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 interestingly stamped Royal Comoy 480 Saddle Stem Dublin with a vulcanite saddle stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The rich browns and blacks of the contrasting stains came alive with the polishing and waxing. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Royal Comoy 480 Dublin is a beauty and fits nicely in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 29 grams/1.02 ounces. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!

Restemming and Breathing Life into a Dunhill Tanshell 59 Billiard

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a beautiful Dunhill Tanshell Billiard with a straight vulcanite saddle stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads 59 on the heel of the bowl followed by Dunhill [over] Tanshell. Following that it is stamped Made in [over] England with the number ⁸ underlined and in superscript after the D. Below the ⁸ there is a superscript underlined ⁹. The stamping is clear and readable. It has rich finish with a blend of brown stains that highlight the depths of the sandblast around the bowl and shank that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava on the top and edges. The stem was quite dirty and oxidized. It was the wrong stem for the pipe as it was a Charatan Double Comfort Stem rather than a white spot stem. It will need to be replaced with a Dunhill stem. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem.The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It looks very good and is readable. It reads as noted and explained above. I captured the detail in the photos below. I need to fit the bowl with a new stem and will take photos then.One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/tanshell1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number 59 is the shape number for a Billiard. The Tanshell stamp refers to the finish which is corroborated the T at the end of the stamping. The size of the pipe 4 in a circle is a Group 4. The ⁸ following the D of England gives the date the pipe. There is also a ⁹ down and to the right of the ⁸. The second number is typically stamped to show the date the pipe sold to a retailer.Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has ⁸ following the D in England. That is followed by ⁹.

I followed the link following the “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The third column (suffix 5…9) led me to the section with an ⁸ after the D in England that a superscript. It is followed by a superscript ⁹. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1950 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 1958. The superscript 9 is the date it went to the retailers – 1959.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Root Briar to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Tanshell

The first lot was distributed in 1952 (usually made using Sardinian briar). The prototype was called “Root Shell “, produced in 1951. The Tanshell is a light tan sandblast. Sardinian briar was used for this sandblast. There is a distinct contrast in the sandblasts using Sardinian as opposed to Algerian briar. The Sardinian is much denser and much harder. The resulting pattern, when blasted, is far more even and regular both in terms of the surface texture and the finish.

The TanShell was Dunhill’s fourth finish and its first major post-war line addition. Introduced in 1951/1952 the TanShell was a naturally stained sandblasted pipe made exclusively from Sardinian briar through the 1960s. The TanShell apparently was not simply a light stained Shell but rather was also the product of “certain processes [unrevealed] not previously employed.” Initially, it appears that the pipe was to be named the Root Shell and a stamp to that effect was ordered and received by Dunhill in May 1951. Ultimately, however, the name TanShell was settled upon but the stamp for the TanShell name was not received by Dunhill until the beginning of December. Thus while the Tanshell was in production in 1951 it appears that most if not all TanShells made in that year did not enter into retail distribution until 1952 and were given a 1952 date code. Loring, J. C., The Dunhill Briar Pipe, The Patent Years and After (self-published, Chicago, 1998).

See more examples here: Dunhill Tanshell
See more about the patents applied here: Shellbriar & Tanshell, Patents 1917-1954

I have also included a chart from the site from Dunhill spelling out the Standard Pipe Finishes and giving short information and a timeline.Before I started working on the bowl I decided to see if I could restem it with an original Dunhill stem. I went through the boxes of pipes Jeff sent me and low and behold there was a Sasieni London Made 17 Billiard and it had a Dunhill White Spot taper stem. It looked like it would fit quite well. I removed the stem and checked it on the Tanshell. The tenon was a little large for the shank. I used a flat file and 220 grit sandpaper to reduce the diameter of the tenon to fit the shank.With that finished I inserted it in the shank and took photos of the fit. The diameter of the stem was very slightly wider than the shank. The flat bottom on the stem matched the flat portion of the shank. There were also some tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. I filled in the tooth marks with black CA glue and set the stem aside to let the repairs cure on the surface. It took about 20 minutes to harden. Once it hardened I flattened it with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to blend it into the vulcanite. I also worked on the diameter of the stem to reduce it to match diameter of the shank. I used the Dremel and sanding drum to further reduce the diameter of the stem. I worked it over further with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the scratches and blend in the marks to the surface of the vulcanite. I also wanted to really adjust the fit to the shank.I sanded the stem further with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads and wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It started to look very good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I set the stem aside and turned to work on the bowl. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the second and third cutting head. I took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and then sanded the bowl walls with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. The bowl looked very good at this point there were no burn marks and only light checking on the walls. I worked over the sandblast rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the debris in the valleys of the blast. It looked better.I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I continued scrubbing the bowl and rim top with Before & After Extra Strong Briar Cleaner. I scrubbed it with a brass bristle wire brush to clean out the rim top and the darkening on the backside of the bowl. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the rusticated rim top and the smooth briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I put the stem back on the bowl of this 1958 Dunhill Tanshell 59 Group 4 Billiard with a newly fitted Dunhill Taper Stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that was deep and craggy and crisp. The Tanshell finish highlights a classic Dunhill rugged sandblast around the bowl and shank. The polished black vulcanite 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 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 lightweight Dunhill Tanshell 59 Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.09 ounces/32 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I appreciate you taking time to read the writeup.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Breathing Life into a GDB International London Made 357 Prince

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a beautiful GBD Prince with a slight bend to the vulcanite taper stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads GBD in an oval [over] International [over] London Made. On the right side it is stamped London. England [over] the shape number 357. The stamping is clear and readable. It has rich finish with a blend of black and brown stains that highlight the grain around the bowl and shank that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The International rusticated rim top had a thick lava coat on the top and edges. The stem was quite dirty and oxidized. It has a GBD brass logo on the left side and light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the lava coat on the rim top. There was some tobacco debris in the bottom of the bowl. The stem photos show the condition of the taper stem ahead of the button.The stamping on the sides of the shank is clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is a real beauty. I looked on Pipephil’s site for information on the particular International Line and found the following screen capture listed (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-gbd.html). It is interesting in that the second pipe pictured below is the same as the one I am working on. I also went to the GBD article on Pipedia and found nothing in the great historical article that was pertinent. I did follow a link to the GBD Model Information article to see if there was some help there (https://pipedia.org/wiki/GBD_Model_Information). The article listed the following information on the line.

International — France, unknown if also made in England: medium brown smooth, carved top rim, rim stained black. -TH: Matte take off finish “with just a hint of surface waxing” – catalog (1976)

That article gave me some helpful information. I knew that the pipe line often had a carved rim top stained black. The one I was working on was smooth and stained the same at the rest of the pipe. I also knew that the 357 shape number tied back to a classic GBD Prince. Now to work on the pipe.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I worked over the sandblast rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the debris in the valleys of the blast. It looked better.I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I restained the black rusticated/carved rim top with a black stain pen. I wanted it to match the original International Line stain. The rim top was originally black. Once stained it looked very good once the stain was complete.I sanded the bowl and shank with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. It was beginning to look very good. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The pipe began to take on a rich finish. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the rusticated rim top and the smooth briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.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 interestingly stamped GBD International London Made 357 Prince with a carved, rustic rim top and a vulcanite taper stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The rich browns and blacks of the contrasting stains came alive with the polishing and waxing. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished GBD International 357 Prince is a beauty and fits nicely in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 33 grams/1.16 ounces. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!

Reconditioning and Restoring a 1975 Republic Era Peterson’s Centenary 4S Bent Billiard

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a Peterson’s Deluxe Style pipe with a silver band and a saddle stem. I would call the shape a Bent Billiard but others may have other ideas. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Peterson’s in script [over] a block printed Centenary. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in the Republic of Ireland in three lines and underneath it is stamped with the shape number 4S. On the underside of the shank it is stamped 0/20. The stamping is clear and readable. The silver ferrule/band is stamped Sterling Silver arched over a circle that bears the stamping 1875 [over] Peterson [over] 1975. Underneath it is stamped with three silver hallmarks. The first was Hibernia seated, arm on a harp for the country of manufacture. The second was a Crowned Harp designating sterling quality. The third mark was a date stamp and, in this case, a lower-case cursive “h” which dated the pipe as a 1975. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava coat on the top and inner and back edges. The stem was quite dirty and lightly oxidized. It has light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show their general condition. You can see the tars on the bevelled inner edge of thick lava coated rim top. The cake in the bowl is quite thick and there is tobacco debris on the walls of the bowl. The finish on the bowl is very dirty with grime and oils ground into the bowl, but still very stunning. This pipe has a classic Peterson’s P-lip stem that has some light oxidation, calcification on the surface of the vulcanite. There is chatter and tooth marks on the top and underside.The stamping on the sides of the shank is faint in spots but readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. You can also see the aluminum chimney in the tenon end. The pipe is a real beauty. I did a bit of work on Google to gather background on the Centenary line of pipes. The first information I found was on the Peterson’sPipenotes.org website that gave a general base of information (https://petersonpipenotes.org/preserving-a-peterson-centenary-commemorative-xl339/). I quote from the description of the line below. I have highlighted several key portions in bold black for emphasis.

On my first visit to the Peterson factory in 2009, I fell into a conversation about the stand-out pipes in Peterson’s long history with then-factory manager Tony Whelan, Sr. and silversmith David Blake, since retired. They began a back-and-forth litany of the pipes they felt were truly important in the time they’d been working there. Their list began with the 1975 Centenary pipes.

1975 was an incredible year for Peterson, a high-water mark not seen since the 1910s: pipe sales were going through the roof, the company had a new factory out in what was then the countryside of Dún Laoghaire (the workers played football in the field behind it for many years), and they were celebrating what they thought of as their 100^th Anniversary. As part of that celebration, the company released the first of its true commemorative pipes—the 1875 – 1975 Centenary issues. Unsmoked and with their original boxes and certificates, these will become among the most highly sought-after collectibles in the Peterson world, and they deserve to be for a number of reasons:

they were the first true commemoratives of the company;
they were among the first forays into the “collectible mindset” that would signal a sea change in the pipe-collecting world at the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s;
the bowls were high grades;
they were individually, serially stamped by bowl shape – that is, “x” out of so many—it could be 1/11 or 22/83, depending on the bowls Peterson was able to source in that particular shape;
they all featured the complete P-Lip: button, graduated bore, aluminum tenon;
the bent shapes featured a System reservoir.

Issued in smooth bowls, they were uniformly given a deep undercoat of black – you’ll notice the striking black grain pattern popping through – followed by a rich dark mahogany top coat. The sterling bands were stamped with the 1875 – 1975 Centenary logo, hallmarked “h.”

I turned to Pipedia to see what I could find. Buried in a paragraph in the Republic Era section was a note on the Centennial Limited Edition (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson). I quote below:

In 1975 Peterson issued the Centennial Limited Edition 1875 – 1975. The Peterson Centennial pipes, were released in celebration of 100 years of the company’s pipe making. Two pipes were issued, 100 of each shape, a sterling silver banded straight and a bent shape 69, both were offered for sale individually.

The quote above spells out something that is a bit different from the pipe I have in hand. The above talks about two pipes in lots of 100 pipes – a sterling silver banded straight and bent 69. However, the pipe I have is a Deluxe 4S shape.

From that information I knew how the DeLuxe fit in the hierarchy of Peterson’s pipes. It was always the highest tier of the System pipes. It also was made with the gap in the fit of the stem to the shank on purpose with the idea that the distance would decrease over time with prolonged use. The attachment of a aluminum chimney at the end of the tenon to maximize System performance.

From there I also turned to Pipedia to read an article by Jim Lilley – take time to read it at the link below. (https://pipedia.org/wiki/A_Closer_Look_at_The_Peterson_Deluxe_System_Pipe).

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I scraped the rim top and bevel with the edge of the pipe knife to remove the buildup of lava. I sanded it carefully with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to further remove the lava. I cleaned out the inside of the shank, the airway in the stem as well as the inside of the chimney and the seat in the tenon with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I sanded out the scratches in the bowl with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I worked on the Sterling Band to remove the dark scratches at the same time. I carefully used the pads on it. I wiped the bowl and band down between sanding pads with a damp cloth to remove the debris from the sanding. I started my polishing regimen on the bowl. I used nine micromesh sanding pads and dry sanded the bowl with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. The bowl really shines by the final three pads. I polished the Sterling Silver ferrule with a jewellers polishing cloth to remove the tarnish and protect it from further tarnishing. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. Once finished I put the chimney back in the tenon. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I don’t know how many times I have said this but I love it when I come to the end of a restoration and all of the parts come together and the pipe looks better than when we started the cleanup process. I put the stem back on the Peterson’s 1875-1975 Centenary 4S System Bent Billiard and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I carefully avoided the stamping on the shank sides during the process. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad on the buffer. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is a real stunning example of a Republic Era Peterson’s Centenary 4S Bent Billiard. Once again, the grain and the way the shape follows the grain is amazing. Give the finish pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.80 ounces/59 grams. This Peterson’s Centenary 4S is a great piece of pipe history that is in exceptional condition. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be putting this one on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipemakers Section. Let me know if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Quirky Kaywoodie 179R Bent Billiard

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by Kenneth Lieblich

It’s been a while since I worked on a Kaywoodie and the time has come again. This is an interesting pipe and a type that I haven’t seen before. It is a craggy Kaywoodie 179R sandblast and it is a fully-bent billiard, with a crown as a rim. It’s almost an Oom Paul – almost, but not quite. I could only find one other example of this same pipe online, so I suppose it’s a little unusual. This pipe’s logo is a black cloverleaf in a white circle. On the underside of the stummel, we can see this pipe’s markings. First, we see Kaywoodie [over] Relief Grain. Then, to the right, is the shape number: 179R. The R, of course, refers to relief grain. Three-digit shape numbers seem to date from the 1970s and 80s, so it’s safe to assume that this pipe is from that time period. It’s also worth noting that the ‘Drinkless Filter’ (i.e. the stinger) on this pipe is fully intact and has three holes (not four).Kaywoodie is a venerable institution in the United States, and has a long and interesting history. I encourage you to read the Pipedia article here and the Pipephil article here.Let’s look at this particular pipe’s condition. The stem is dirty and quite heavily chewed. It is made from acrylic, so there is no issue with oxidation. The tenon screws into the mortise in the stummel and is also quite dirty. The stummel looks to be in decent shape. It’s been well loved, so it’s quite dirty – inside and outside. The craggy blast on the briar has a few flecks of white paint, but that should be easily removed. On with the work! I started by using isopropyl alcohol on a few cotton rounds and wiped down the stem to provide an initial cleaning of filth before moving on to the next steps. The primary cleaning came next. I disinfected the inside of the stem with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly to make sure the interior was very clean.Even thought the stinger was now clean, it still looked a bit drab. So I sanded it with some 0000-grit steel wool – not to make it shine, but to make it look decent again.As the stem was now clean and dry, I set about fixing the marks and dents in the acrylic. This was done by filling those divots with black cyanoacrylate adhesive, impregnated with carbon and rubber. I left this to cure and then sanded. I used all nine of the micromesh sanding pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand out flaws, even out the acrylic, and provide gentle polishing of the finished surface. I also applied pipe-stem oil while using the last five micromesh pads. There was a wonderful, deep black shine to the stem when I was done.As the stem was (nearly) complete, I moved on to the stummel. The first step was to ream out the bowl – that is to say, remove all the cake inside the bowl. This accomplished a couple of things. First (and most obviously), it cleaned the bowl and provided a refurbished chamber for future smoking. Second, when the old cake was removed, I could inspect the interior walls of the bowl and determine if there was damage or not. I used a reamer, a pipe knife, and a piece of sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel. Collectively, these ensured that all the debris was removed.Similar to the stem, I then cleaned the stummel with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. With a pipe this dirty, it took quite a while and much cotton to clean.I then decided to ‘de-ghost’ the pipe – that is to say, exorcize the remaining filth from the briar. I filled the bowl and the shank with cotton balls, then saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused the remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton.To tidy up the briar, I wiped down the outside, using a solution of a pH-neutral detergent and some distilled water, with cotton rounds. I also used a toothbrush in the crevices. This did a good job of cleaning any latent dirt on the surface of the briar. The last step of the cleaning process was to scour the inside of the stummel with the same mild detergent and tube brushes. This was the culmination of a lot of hard work in getting the pipe clean.I rubbed some LBE Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. The balm moisturizes the wood and gives a beautiful depth to the briar. I then buffed the stummel with a microfibre cloth. For the final step, I took the pipe to my bench polisher and carefully buffed it – first with a blue diamond compound, then with three coats of carnauba wax. This procedure makes the pipe look its best – the stummel sings and the stem glows.

All done! This handsome Kaywoodie 179R Relief Grain looks fantastic again and is ready to be enjoyed by its next owner. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘American’ section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 4¼ in. (108 mm); height 5½ in. (141 mm); bowl diameter 1⅓ in. (34 mm); chamber diameter ⅞ in. (21 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1½ oz. (44 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.