Tag Archives: Bowls – refinishing

Bringing a Dunhill Tanshell 59 Billiard Back to Its Best

By Kenneth Lieblich

Dunhill is a name that inspires awe and warms the cockles of the hearts of many pipe smokers worldwide. Today, I am pleased to show the restoration of a wonderful tanshell briar. I acquired it in an auction last year. Other than that, I don’t know much of its provenance. Its colour and cragginess are very handsome, and I have no doubt that it was a much-loved pipe. I instinctively have a certain reverence for Dunhill pipes, and I am especially keen to restore this one so that the next pipe smoker can enjoy it. As I mentioned, this is a Dunhill Tanshell and the markings confirm this. It is a beautiful, classic billiard shape. Pleasingly, those markings are very clear and well-cut on the bottom of the shank. On the left-hand side is the model number, 59. Immediately to the right of this is Dunhill [over] Tanshell. Then, to the right of that, is Made in [over] England12. To the right of that is an encircled 4, followed by a T. Finally, the stem, of course, has the iconic white spot of Alfred Dunhill’s company. Here is a photo of Alfred, followed by the markings. Let’s have a closer look at what all of these markings mean. The model number 59 is one of the classic Dunhill shapes – that number first appeared all the way back in 1928. The page on Pipedia about Dunhill shapes says this:

The original skus/model numbers from the 1920’s until the early 1970’s stood for very specific shapes and bowls. For example, the codes 31, 34, 59, 111, 113, 117, 196, LB, LBS… were all different types of Billiard shaped pipes and there were about 50(!), such codes for the Billiard shape alone.Let’s have a closer look at what all of these markings mean. The model number 59 is one of the classic Dunhill shapes – that number first appeared all the way back in 1928. The page on Pipedia about Dunhill shapes says this:

The original skus/model numbers from the 1920’s until the early 1970’s stood for very specific shapes and bowls. For example, the codes 31, 34, 59, 111, 113, 117, 196, LB, LBS… were all different types of Billiard shaped pipes and there were about 50(!), such codes for the Billiard shape alone.Furthermore, John Loring’s fine book, The Dunhill Briar Pipe: The Patent Years and After, says this about the Tanshell:

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.The markings Made in [over] England12 give us an indication of when this pipe was manufactured. The number is the date suffix and provides us the information we need to figure out the date. I already knew the answer, but allow me to walk you through the process. I went to Pipephil’s Dunhill Dating Key (which you can find here) and I have reproduced (below) the two charts they use to date Dunhills. In the first image below, we are asked if our pipe has a date suffix. It does, so we follow the arrow and the chart asks if our pipe has a patent number. It does not, so we proceed. Then we are asked if our pipe reads Dunhill [over] London – again, it does not. As a result, we know that our pipe dates from after 1954.On to the second chart – and it is much more straightforward. The chart asks for the digits in our date suffix. In our case, it is 1 and an offset 2, so we know that the date of our pipe is the result of simple addition: 1960 + 1 = 1961 and the 2 identifies the date of sale for the Dunhill guarantee. Now we know that the year of manufacture is 1961! (thanks for the help Al). Is this your birth year? If so, have I got a pipe for you!Next, the encircled 4 and the capital T. This tells us about the size and finish of the pipe. Pipedia says:

The encircled group number indicates the size of the bowl (1, for example, is the smaller bowl). It is usually followed by a letter corresponding to the pipe finish. This number/letter code has been introduced about 1950 and was discontinued about 1976 replaced by a 4 or 5 digits code. They were reintroduced in March 2012, but only for commemorative versions.

In this case, the 4 indicates a medium/large size bowl and the T naturally refers to Tanshell.Finally, the white spot. Have you ever wondered about it? Well, very briefly, here is the origin of the famous white spot (from Pipedia):

In 1912, the famous white spot was introduced for very practical concerns. With straight pipes, customers had trouble knowing which way to insert the handmade vulcanite mouthpieces. So Alfred Dunhill ordered white spots to be placed on the upper side of the stem. This very practical solution would become a definitive trademark of Dunhill pipes. The “white spot” soon became known as a symbol of quality.

Now let’s get on with restoring this beautiful pipe!

This pipe was in generally good condition – nothing outstanding and no significant damage. As you can see, the stem had the usual wear-and-tear – some scratches, tooth dents, etc. There was some calcification, but not much oxidation. Meanwhile, the stummel was in lovely condition, but a bit dirty. The shank was dark and the bowl had lots of cake and lava. The sandblast looked rich and beautiful. I began by making an attempt at lifting some of those tooth marks. I “painted” the stem with the flame of a lighter – this can sometimes raise the vulcanite back into place. There was definitely progress, but I would need to repair the more significant dents.I wiped the stem with oil soap on some cotton pads. There was calcification there and I needed to remove it. Meanwhile, the stem was pretty dirty inside. I cleaned out the inside with various pipe cleaners and 99% isopropyl alcohol. There was quite a pile afterwards. I then wiped down the stem with cleanser to remove some surface oxidation. Once this process was done, the stem went for an overnight soak in the oxidation remover. As the name suggests, this liquid removes oxidation, but, more than anything, it helps draw oxidation to the surface of the vulcanite. This allows me to clean the oxidation off in a couple of ways: both by applying a mild abrasive cleaner to the surface, then by sanding the stem. The following day, I cleaned all of the de-oxidizing mess off with alcohol, pipe cleaners, et cetera. The oxidation had migrated to the surface and would be fairly straightforward to remove. I scrubbed with the cleanser again on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation.Next step was to address the remaining tooth marks. I filled those dents with some black cyanoacrylate adhesive that is infused with carbon and rubber. This makes a better repair than regular CA glue, as it more closely mimics the original material. When the adhesive was cured, I used my needle files to remove the excess and bring it down to the level of the vulcanite.Then I used a set of nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) which gradually erased the ravages of time and brought out the stem’s lovely black lustre. For the last five pads, I also lightly coated the stem with Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each scrubbing. At last, I set the finished stem aside. Off to work on the stummel! The outside looked very well cared-for. No notable damage and the blast maintained its great appeal. Alas, the rim had plenty of lava, but first things first. The bowl needed a thorough reaming, so I used the KleenReem to scrape off the built-up cake and I followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as possible. Generally, I prefer to sand the chamber down to bare briar. When restoring, it is important to ensure that there is no damage to the briar in the bowl, under the cake. I was pleased to see that the walls were sound.Next up, I needed to clean the shank and bowl thoroughly. I proceeded to use Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and 99% isopropyl alcohol. Holy moly – this was a dirtier pipe than I had initially anticipated. There was quite a pile of Q-tips and pipe cleaners left behind.Then, to further clean the inside of the pipe, I opted to “de-ghost” the pipe. I put some cotton balls in the bowl and in the shank, and then saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let that sit overnight to exorcize any evil spirits (i.e. bad smells and oils) from the old pipe.Time to deal with that rim. I gently scraped as much debris as I could with a piece of machine metal. However, given the craggy blast, that only worked so well. I moved on to cotton rounds and some oil soap to clean the outside of the stummel and a toothbrush with oil soap for the lava on the rim of the pipe. This worked a treat. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some Castile soap and tube brushes. At this point, I rubbed some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and left it to sit for 15 minutes or so. I brushed it with a horsehair brush and buffed it with a microfibre cloth. The balm does wonderful things to the wood, and I really like the sheen on the sandblast. Then it was off for a trip to the bench polisher. A few coats of conservator’s wax (from Lee Valley) were just what this pipe needed. Boy – that wax really makes this pipe pop! The lovely shine made the wood look absolutely beautiful. The sandblast looks fantastic and is ready to be enjoyed again by the next owner.

I thoroughly enjoyed bringing this Dunhill Tanshell 59 Billiard back to life and 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 “British” pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the Dunhill are as follows: length 5⅜ in. (137 mm); height 1⅞ in. (46 mm); bowl diameter 1¼ in. (33 mm); chamber diameter ⅔ in. (18 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1¼ oz. (36 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this 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.

Restoring a Gorgeous Danish Freehand Canted Egg

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by Kenneth Lieblich

Wow – this is one breathtaking pipe. I acquired this beauty from a kind lady in the Vancouver area who sold me her late husband’s pipes. He had good and modest taste, and I immediately took a liking to this pipe. The combination of smooth and sandblasted briar is very attractive and the blast itself is really craggy and wonderful. The restoration was good fun too. This is a Royal Guard 535M freehand canted egg – or, at least, that’s what I’m going to call it. I learned from previous research that “Royal Guard” is a Stanwell sub-brand (in this case). I believe there was also a full Stanwell line called Royal Guard too, but that’s a topic for another time. It’s all a bit confusing, but this pipe is definitely of the sub-brand variety. As is typical of Stanwell sub-brands, the quality is immaculate and it’s not at all obvious why this wasn’t a full-blown Stanwell. This canted egg is a very attractive shape and it really makes an impression. It has beautiful, partially-sandblasted briar from the bowl and down the shank to the vulcanite shank extension. It also has a lovely flared push stem. The underside of the shank reads 535M [over] Royal Guard [over] Made in Denmark and, on the stem, the letters RG, indicating the Royal Guard make. Both Pipedia and Pipephil list Royal Guard as being a Stanwell sub-brand or second (and not much else), as per the photo below.I did some searching for that “535M” shape number, but came up empty. Stanwell does not have a 535 shape number. Sometimes a digit can be added to a shape number, but the Stanwell 35 shape does not correspond to this pipe at all. I learned that some of the Stanwell sub-brands used the Stanwell shape numbers and some used their own. Apparently, Royal Guard uses their own. Meanwhile, Pipedia has a good amount of information on the Stanwell brand and its history. I certainly recommend looking it over: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell.

Anyway, this really is a good-looking pipe. No major issues to resolve – just a few minor ones. The stem was a bit dirty, and had some small dents. There was also some oxidation on the vulcanite. The rim on the stummel was a bit blackened, but not seriously. The insides were dirty and would need some work to clean out. The stem was first on my list. I wiped down the outside of the stem with oil soap on some cotton pads. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame in order to lift the bite marks and dents. This worked reasonably well, but I would still need to sort out the dents. Then, I cleaned out the insides of the stem with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. Once this process was done, I used some cleanser and cotton pads to wipe down the stem before throwing it in the oxidation remover overnight. The following day, I cleaned all of the de-oxidizing mess and again scrubbed with the cleanser on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation. This worked well. I used some nail polish to restore the letters “RG” on the stem. I painted the area carefully and let it fully set before proceeding.Before I moved on to the Micromesh pads, I built up the dents on the stem with black, carbon-and-rubber-infused cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure.I sanded the adhesive down with my needle files to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used pipe stem oil in between each pad scrubbing (from 3600 on up). I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners, and isopropyl alcohol. There was some filth inside this stummel, but it wasn’t too bad. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes.I decided to de-ghost the pipe, so I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this.At this point, I turned my attention to the vulcanite shank extension. This, like the stem, needed to be cleaned and deoxidized. However, I did not want to soak the whole shank in the deox fluid. Similarly, I couldn’t risk getting any of the powerful cleanser on the beautiful briar. So, I took some clear hockey tape and carefully, precisely masked the briar with it, as protection. I then proceeded to clean the vulcanite safely with the cleanser. I’m glad I did – boy, was it dirty!I then moved on to cleaning the outside of the stummel with oil soap, some cotton pads, and a toothbrush. That removed any latent dirt hidden in the lovely recesses of the sandblast.As I mentioned earlier, there were some very minor burn marks on the rim of the stummel that also needed to be addressed. Fortunately, I was able to resolve this by gently sanding the interior rim edge to remove any remnants that remained. This worked perfectly and didn’t affect the pipe at all. Since this was a partial sandblast, I only needed to use the Micromesh pads on the smooth sections near the rim and shank. Of course, I also sanded the vulcanite shank extension and, like the stem, I used pipe stem oil on it. A light application of Before & After Restoration Balm brought out the best in the stummel. The balm does wonderful things to the wood and really emphasizes how beautiful this pipe is. I’m going to be sorry to see it go.

I took the pipe to my bench polisher and gave it a thorough going-over with my buffing compound and carnauba wax. This pipe was a delight from the start and its beauty only increased through the restoration process. This Royal Guard 535M freehand canted egg is elegant, light, and incredibly comfortable to hold. Finally, 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’ pipe 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 5½ in. (142 mm); height 2⅛ in. (54 mm); bowl diameter 1½ in. (39 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅜ oz. (41 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this 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.

New Life for a NOS French Churchwarden

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by Kenneth Lieblich

Next up is a charming apple churchwarden that I found in one of my bins and it piqued my interest. It’s got the typical shape and feel of a regular churchwarden, but this one is a bit smaller – and perhaps a bit more manageable. It’s hard to know how old this one is, but it feels old and it has certainly seen better days. I’m looking forward to this one.

Frankly, this one didn’t look like it had been smoked at all. It was certainly filthy, but that seemed to be from questionable storage rather than smoking. The only markings were on the left side of the shank: Bruyère [over] Garantie which translates to ‘Genuine Briar’. The words Bruyère Garantie on a pipe are the bane of my pipe restoration existence. They are found on a plethora of different pipes, usually without any other identification. Ugh. One comment on the old Pipes Magazine forums confirms exactly what my meagre research has uncovered:

“Lots of French and German pipes, even pre-war ones, were given the label “Bruyere Garantie.” At least the ones I’ve seen for sale were listed as being from the 1920s and 30s. But I suspect that is a genuine date for those because many of them had horn stems, which are much rarer in post-war pipes and some of them definitely had an Art Deco/Art Nouveau look about them as well as old-fashioned rounded buttons.” — pitchforkThis pipe doesn’t have the old orific button, but it might date from just after that time period. Anyway, time to get to work! I started by sending the stinger for a soak in some lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. I let it sit for several hours, cleaned it off and gave it a quick polish. Good as new!The shank had a lovely, thin band around it – but it was quite encrusted. I removed it, looked closer, and saw that there was rust! Interesting – the band must have some iron in it. I dropped the band in a little plastic bowl of plain white vinegar and let it soak overnight. I scrubbed with some 0000-grit steel wool and that worked a treat. Gave it a quick polish with my Micromesh pads and it looked good as new.Next, I went to work on the long stem. It appears to be acrylic – definitely not vulcanite. I gave it a good wipe-down with some soap on cotton rounds and that helped. As mentioned earlier, I don’t think this pipe was smoked and, though I can’t be sure about that, the stem’s insides had dust-type filth rather than tobacco debris. Regardless, I cleaned it out with pipe cleaners and 99% isopropyl alcohol. It wasn’t too dirty.Fortunately, the stem was in good enough shape that it didn’t show any tooth marks/dents. So, I skipped the cyanoacrylate treatments and jumped straight to the Micromesh pads. I used all nine pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing (from 3,600 onward).Now for the stummel. As the photos show, the finish on the wood has crackled and/or degraded somewhat over the years. It looks terrible and I’ll have to address that. First, I decided to ream out the bowl – but there wasn’t anything to ream! This is another clue that suggests an unsmoked pipe. It was certainly dusty inside – very. I cleaned out the insides with pipe cleaners and 99% isopropyl alcohol. I also cleaned the insides with some soap and tube brushes. It was nice and clean after this.Now to deal with the finish on the stummel. I grabbed some Murphy’s and rubbed the surface to clean things up. This did precious little. Since there was a fill that also needed to be fixed under this finish, I took some acetone and thoroughly cleaned the surface – that was the best decision I made! The pipe looked so much better with the old finish removed. There was actually some very nice wood under there.I examined the nicks in the briar. I took my iron and a damp cloth to try to raise them. The hot and moist steam can often cause the wood to swell slightly and return to shape. This worked well – I was pleased with the results. However, some lumps and bumps remained on the rim and a big fill to boot. In order to safely remove the marks on the rim, I “topped” the pipe – that is to say, I gently and evenly sanded down the rim on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. This effectively removed the damage, without altering the look of the pipe. Then, I made a mix of cyanoacrylate and briar dust and filled the fill. I sanded the repair down with 400-grit sandpaper, then proceeded to use the Micromesh pads over the whole thing. Oh boy, it really looked good. I glued the band back on the shank and applied some Before & After Restoration Balm. I let it sit for 20 minutes or so. It does lovely things to the wood. I polished it with a microfibre cloth and it shone. Wow – the pipe really looks lovely.

Off to the bench polisher I went. I applied some White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax and they added the finishing touch. This old Bruyere Garantie churchwarden was in need of a new lease on life. 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 “French” pipe 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 7⅜ in. (185 mm); height 1⅛ in. (28 mm); bowl diameter 1¼ in. (32 mm); chamber diameter ⅔ in. (15 mm). The weight of the pipe is ¾ oz. (23 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this 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.

Restoring a Bari Ruby Made in Denmark 8042 Rhodesian

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By Steve Laug

The next pipe on the worktable is a Danish made pipe from the workshop of Viggo Nielsen. It is a great looking long shank ¼ Bent Rhodesian. The pipe came to us from eBay on 01/22/2024 from a seller in Jordan, Minnesota, USA. It has great grain around the bowl and shank with some small fills on the bowl and the shank that are a bit swollen. The pipe is stamped on the left side and clearly reads BARI [over] Ruby and on the right side it reads Made in Denmark [over] 8042. The finish was dirty with dust and grime ground into the briar but great grain still shone through. The pipe is very dirty with a thick cake in the bowl and lava on the rim top. The rim top is thin and looks like the bowl might be slightly out of round but it was hard to know what was under the lava coat on the top and edges. There was a coat of varnish on the bowl that was spotty and uneven. The vulcanite taper stem was oxidized and dirty and had some light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took these photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took photos of the rim and bowl to show the condition of the bowl and rim top. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and a thick coat of lava on the rim top. He also took photos of the stem surfaces to show its overall condition when it arrived. It was oxidized and dirty and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the grain showing through the finish around the bowl and shank sides. The rich reddish stain adds depth to the finish. He took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It was clear and readable as noted above. He also took a photo of the BARI stamp on the left side of the stem. Before I started working on it I did a bit of research on the brand to remind myself of the maker. I have worked on quite a few Bari’s in the past so rather than rework all of that I am including the information I found while working on a Bari Special Handcut Made in Denmark Dublin Freehand (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/07/22/cleaning-up-a-danish-made-bari-special-handcut-b-dublin-freehand/). I quote below from that blog.

I quoted a section from Pipedia on Bari pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Bari). It is good to be reminded of the fact that Viggo Nielsen was the pipe maker.

Pipedia states that Bari Piber was founded by Viggo Nielsen in Kolding, Denmark around the turn of 1950/51. His sons Kai and Jørgen both grew into their father’s business from a very young age and worked there till 1975. Both have become successful pipe makers.

Bari successfully adapted the new Danish design that had been started mainly by Stanwell for its own models. Bari was sold in 1978 to Van Eicken Tobaccos in Hamburg, Germany though the pipes were still made in Denmark. From 1978 to 1993 Åge Bogelund and Helmer Thomsen headed Bari’s pipe production.

Helmer Thomson bought the company in 1993 re-naming it to “Bari Piber Helmer Thomsen”. The workshop moved to more convenient buildings in Vejen. Bogelund, who created very respectable freehands of his own during the time at Bari got lost somehow after 1993. 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 were what they turned out. The most famous series are the smooth “Classic Diamond” and the blasted “Wiking”.

I did a quick look at Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b1.html) and did a screen capture of the section on Bari pipes.Now that I was reminded about the Viggo Nielsen connection it was time to work on the pipe on my end. Jeff had done a great clean up of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. He cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and a shank brush. He cleaned the exterior of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and the lava on the rim top. There were several fills on the bowl and the shank that were swollen and needed to sanded smooth. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the debris that had accumulated on it. The stem was soaked in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and then rinsed clean. The pipe looked clean and ready for the next step in the process. Here are some photos of it when I brought it to the table. I took photos of the rim top and the top and underside of the stem. You can see the clean bowl and rim top. The rim top showed some light damage on the top and the inner edge of the bowl. The inner edge was slightly out of round with nicks in the briar. The stem has light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. It is a nice looking pipe.The next photos show the stamping on the left and right sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. The Bari stamp on the left side of the stem is visible in the first photo below. I also took the stem off the shank and took a photo of the pipe to show its parts. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the damage on the rim top and the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It looked much better once finished.To remove the damaged and spotty varnish coat I wiped the bowl down with alcohol on cotton pads. I was able to remove the spotty coat and the briar looked much better. The fills showed clearly on the shank the bowl. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I worked over the damaged fills at the same time. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It really began to take on a shine. I rubbed the bowl down with some Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, renew and protect briar. I let it do its work for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The pipe is really quite a beauty. I set the bowl aside and I polished the stem on both sides using micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded the stem with the 1500-12000 grit pads, then wiped it down with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After stem polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. This is another pipe I am excited to finish. It is a beautiful Bari Ruby Made in Denmark Bent Rhodesian. I put the pipe back together and buffed it lightly 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 stem with the golden acrylic spacer. It really was a beautiful pipe. The sandblasted grain shining through the rich browns/black stain on this Bari Ruby Bent Rhodesian 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 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.66 ounces/47 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the cleanup with me as I worked over this pipe. 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 those who follow us.

Restoring and Repairing a Larsen Copenhagen Handmade Made in Denmark Rustica

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By Steve Laug

The next pipe on the worktable is a Danish made pipe from the workshop W.O. Larsen. It is a combination of rustication and smooth portions and a horn shank extension. The bowl is a classic Danish looking Canadian. The pipe came to us from eBay on 01/22/2024 from a seller in Jordan, Minnesota, USA. The pipe is very dirty with a thick cake in the bowl and lava on the rim top. The rim edge looks like it might be slightly out of round but it was hard to know what was under the lava coat on the top and edges. It is stamped on the underside of the bowl and shank on a smooth panel. It reads Larsen [over] Copenhagen [over] Handmade [over] Made in Denmark. On the top side it is stamped Rustica. The finish was dusty and there were oils and grime ground into the rusticated and the smooth finish around the sides of the bowl. The horn shank extension had a metal insert to protect it from cracked and a tube inside connecting the extension to the shank. The stem fit well and was oxidized and dirty with tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. Jeff took a photo of the rim top to show the thick build up of lava on the rim top. It is also built up on the inner edge of the bowl. The thick cake in the bowl is very visible. He captured the oxidation and tooth marks on both sides of the stem ahead of the button as well. He took photos of the sides and the heel of the bowl to show the combined smooth and rusticated finish on the pipe. It is a unique finish that really gives depth to the rustication and shows the grain in the smooth portions. He took two photos to capture the stamping top and underside of the shank just ahead of the horn extension. Each one moves down the shank to the horn shank extension. It is clear and readable as noted above. You can also see that the horn extension is loose from the shank end.Once the stem was removed the shank extension came off in his hand. He took a photo of the parts.I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-l2.html) to get a quick view of the brand once again. I did a screen capture of the site’s information and have included that below. The pipe I am working on is a Larsen as it is stamped similarly to the ones in the photos. It is interestingly stamped with a lot more detail than any of the ones shown in the screen capture below.I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/W.%C3%98._Larsen) for a quick read. The site is worth reading the history of the shop and the brand and its influence on Danish pipe carving. There was no additional information on the unique stamping on this pipe.

What I learned from the research is that the pipe is a Larsen made pipe that could have been designed by W.O Larsen himself or at least one of the shop carvers. It is a beauty that uses a unique finish to give definition to the shape. It is very similar to a previous Larsen that I restemmed and repaired (https://rebornpipes.com/2024/06/09/argggh-sometimes-the-easiest-restoration-becomes-a-real-nightmare/).

With that information I moved forward to work on the pipe itself and see what I had to do with it. Jeff had done an amazing job in removing all of the cake and the lava on the sand blast rim top. He had reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He took the cake back to bare briar so we could check the walls for damage. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime on the bowl and rim and was able to remove the lava and dirt. The finish on the bowl and rim top looked very good showing a unique and beautiful combination of smooth and rusticated finishes. He cleaned out the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until they came out clean. He cleaned the stem with Soft Scrub on the outside and alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs on the inside. He soaked it in Briarville’s stem deoxidizer to remove the oxidation. It certainly looked better when it arrived. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration. I took some close up photos of the rim top showing the inner edge of the bowl – damages and nicks in the edge. I took photos of the stem to try and capture the tooth marks but they are hard to see in the photos.I took photos of the stamping on the top and underside of the shank to show the condition after the cleanup. This stamping is clearer than the photos show. I took a photo of the bowl with the stem next to it to show the overall look of the pipe. I decided to start my work on this pipe by regluing the horn shank extension to the briar. I have used different types of glue in the past but I have gone back to using Weld Bond all purpose glue. It gives me lots of time to fine tune the fit to the shank. Once I have it in place I push the parts together to squeeze out the excess glue and let it start to cure. I wiped down the excess glue on the briar and horn and set it aside to cure over night. Once the repair cured I went on to address the chipping and marks on the inner edge of the rim. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage. I gave the rim a very subtle bevel and the damage disappeared.I polished the briar and the horn shank extension with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the smooth and the rusticated finish of the bowl, rim top and shank with my fingertips and a shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect it. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. The contrasts in the layers of stain and the contrasting finish really made the grain stand out. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth and shoe brush to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a cloth containing some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. This Larsen Copenhagen Handmade Rustica Canadian is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The shape is elegant and flowing with a thin, fitted taper vulcanite stem. I put the stem 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 rusticated parts of the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the smooth portions 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 Larsen Copenhagen Rustica Canadian 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: 7 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.98 ounces/56 grams. I will be putting it on the Danish Pipe Maker Section of the rebornpipes store shortly. 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!

Fresh Life for a Mastercraft Standard Calabash with a Bakelite Bowl

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By Steve Laug

I don’t know what it is but there is something about these Campaign style pipes that captures my eye and my imagination. They are really quite ugly in terms of aesthetics so it can’t be that so I am not sure. It is basically a briar calabash pipe with a Bakelite bowl. I have had a few over the years so I know that they smoke very cool much like a gourd calabash. The bowl is screwed into the briar base with threads on both. The entrance of the airway is at the top of the bowl so the entire briar bowl is a cooling chamber to allow the settling of tars, oil and debris from the smoke before it rises to be drawn into the stem and your mouth. This pipe came to us on 12/07/2023 from a seller in Milwaukee, Oregon, USA. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Mastercraft [over] Standard in the Mastercraft logo shield. On the right side it reads IMPORTED BRIAR with the letter I missing on the shank end. There is no other stamping on the bowl, the insert or the vulcanite stem. The externals of the bowl and stem are quite dirty with oils and tars ground into the briar and light oxidation and chatter on the stem surface. The Bakelite bowl insert has a heavy cake in it with some lava on the rim top. The pipe was obviously someone’s favourite. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started to clean it up. I have included them below. Jeff took close-up photos of the bowl and rim top to show its condition. The bowl had a thick cake on the walls of the Bakelite and some lava overflow on the rim top. The edges looked very good at this point under the lava. The stem was lightly oxidized and showed some tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel to show the condition of the bowl at this point. It was dirty as can be seen. There appear to also be a few small fills on the right side of the bowl near the top. It will be interesting to see how well this cleans up.He took photos of the stamping on the shank sides. You can see that it is clear and readable as noted bove. You can also see the letter “I” is missing on the right side of the shank. It probably was stamped in the gap between the stem and the shank.Jeff unscrewed the Bakelite bowl from the briar bowl and took photos. You can see the rubber gasket at the top of the inside of the Bakelite cap. You can also see the three holes in the bottom of the Bakelite cup. This kind of Briar Calabash has been made by many companies – WDC, Kaywoodie, Mastercraft, Dunhill and others. They have come out with different names. They have been branded as Campaign pipes, Captain Warren pipes, Lyon Pipes, the General Dawes pipes and other names. Obviously, the concept of the inserted bowl is quite popular and has been around for a long time. The bowl insert has been made of different things in various pipes – the bowls could be meerschaum, briar or as in this case Bakelite. It really is a true calabash that acts to filter out tars, oils and debris and deliver a smooth smoke.

I have restored several of them over the years and always enjoyed working on them. They are also some good smoking pipes. Here are some links to a few of the pipes I have worked on over the years.

https://rebornpipes.com/2017/07/02/loving-the-old-wdc-campaign-pipe/

https://rebornpipes.com/2018/02/03/61583/

https://rebornpipes.com/2021/04/04/resurrecting-a-briar-wdc-campaign-pipe/

I found an excellent article on Pipedia on the Campaign style of pipes and two particular brands that were issued. It has some great history on the General Dawes and the Captain Warren pipes and the men behind them both. Give the article a read and take time to take a trip back in time. (https://pipedia.org/wiki/The_General_and_the_Captain:_Two_Period_Pipes_of_the_Early_Twentieth_Century).

The pipe I am working on is a little different than these because of the Bakelite Bowl that screws into the briar bowl. The others above were typically briar bowls and even a meerschaum bowl occasionally but I had not seen one of these with a Bakelite cup. It was now time to do my part of the work on the pipe.

Jeff reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. The finish on the bowl looked really good when I got it. The rim top and edges looked very good. He soaked the twin bore stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer bath to remove the oxidation. The stem looked better and the deep tooth marks and chatter on the surface were also visible. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked much better than when he found it. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took photos of the condition of the rim top and stem before I started working. The rim top looks very good and the bowl is spotless. The stem is much better but still shows some oxidation and tooth chatter and deep marks on both sides near the button. I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above.I took the bowl and stem apart and took a photo of the pipe to show the look of the pipe. The first one shows the bowl unscrewed and the threads on both. The other photos show the parts with the stem removed.Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. The bowl was in very good condition so I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl, rim top and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. The contrasts in the layers of stain really made the grain stand out. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The bowl really looks good at this point. I polished the Bakelite cup top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the rim top down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. It really took on a shine. I wiped the threads down on both the cup insert and the briar bowl with Vaseline. I rubbed it deep into the threads of the briar and on the threads of the insert. 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 gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. This Mastercraft Standard Calabash with a Bakelite Bowl Cup and a vulcanite taper stem has a beautiful, uniquely grained outer bowl that houses the threaded Bakelite cup. The polished 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 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 Mastercraft Standard Calabash 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 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.45 ounces/41 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store in the American Pipe Makers Section. Thanks for your time.

Repairing a Broken Tenon and Restoring A Ben Wade Golden Matt Handmade Freehand

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Blog by Steve Laug

To me there is something almost electric about handling and working on a pipe designed and carved by Preben Holm. I can’t describe adequately the feeling I have when I turn the bowl and stem over in my hands even before I start working on one of these his pipes. All I know is that there is an energy and fluidity that flows through the pipe because of the way he carved and shaped the briar. He is a master of chasing the grain in the briar. Every time I get a chance to work on one I am excited about the possibility. So, a few weeks ago when I got an email from a reader of the blog about his Ben Wade, Preben Holm pipe it was with no hesitation that I accepted working on it. I have included that email below along with a photo I asked him to send me to see the pipe.

I wondering if you can find me a replacement pipe stem for my Ben Wade pipe. Dropped my pipe and broke it. — TomThis Ben Wade Golden Matt was no exception to my experience with Ben Wade pipes. Tom sent it to me and today it arrived. I was excited to be able to work on it. This one has incredible grain around the bowl sides and shank. The bowl had a very thick cake on the walls. The plateau on the rim top is filled with tars and lava but it is a large top. The shank end also has a plateau finish. It is very unique pipe. The combination of dark and medium stains highlights grain that runs like flames across both sides of the bowl culminating at the flat heel of the bowl. The rim top is plateau and it looks quite unique – with the valleys and hills in the top and also something that looked like it had been wire brush. The variegated copper, brown and gold acrylic stem is beautiful and the turning of acrylic give it an amazing look. The tenon is broken off and fortunately the piece has been pulled from the shank. It is a smooth break which makes things easier. There were tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. I took photos of the pipe to try and capture what it looked like before I started working on it. It really is a beauty in spite of the grime in the finish. I took some time to really examine the condition of the pipe. I made some notes of what I saw. It is clear to me that this is one of Tom’s favourite pipes as you can see from the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top. It is hard to know the condition of the inner edge of the bowl due to the lava on the edges. The outside of the bowl and plateau portions are dirty and dusty but the grain pops through. The fancy acrylic turned stem still had a faint BW Cross and Crown logo on the top just past the fancy turnings. The stem as a whole was dirty and dusty with tooth marks and chatter on the both sides ahead of the button. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank to capture all of the stamping. It was clear and read Ben Wade in script at the top [over] Golden Matt [over] Hand Made [over] in [over] Denmark. Though the photo is a bit blurry the stamping is much clearer in person.I wanted to get a sense of the background of the pipe. I always enjoy the background as a part of my work on a pipe. I am including the history that I included in a previous blog. It includes the idea that the Preben Holm pipes were marketed under the Ben Wade label in the US and imported through Lane Ltd. I turned to Pipedia and read the listing on the brand to refresh my memory and flesh out the knowledge of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Wade). I have included a photo from that site that was taken from a Tinderbox advertisement. The pipe labelled D in the advertisement is a Ben Wade Golden Matt Freehand.

Ben Wade Ad in a Tinder Box catalogue, courtesy Doug Valitchka

I quote the portion of the article that summarizes the history of the brand.

Young Copenhagen master pipemaker Preben Holm had made a meteoric career heading a pipe manufacture employing 45 people at the age of 22! But around the turn of 1970/71 he was in major financial difficulties. His US distributor, Snug Harbour Ltd. in New York City, left him in the lurch. Holm had three unpaid invoices on his desk and another large shipment was ready for the USA, when Snug Harbour’s manager told him on the phone that there was no money at all on the account to pay him.

So, the Dane went to New York for an almost desperate search for a new distribution partner. He made contacts with Lane Ltd. and met Herman G. Lane in February 1971. Lane Ltd. had no interest in Holm’s serial pipes produced at that time but so much the more in the hand-carved freehands because the hype for Danish freehands and fancies in the States was still on its way to the climax then. The meeting resulted in an agreement to start a cooperation. Lane insisted to improve the quality considerably and in return he assured to be able to sell essentially larger quantities.

Holm went back home to work on new samples with all-new designs and altered finishes for Lane. Both, Lane and Holm, agreed that it would be unwise to sell the pipes under Preben Holm’s name as long as Snug Harbour had a considerable stock of Preben Holm pipes and might sell them pipes at very low prices just to bring in some money.

So, on Mr. Lane’s proposal it was determined to use the name Ben Wade belonging to Lane Ltd. Lane spent considerable amounts of money for advertising the new brand in the big magazines– the centerpiece being whole-page ads showing a very exclusive Seven Day’s Set.

The cooperation with Lane Ltd. proved to be an eminent business success for both partners. Within a very short time Ben Wade Handmade Denmark sold in much larger quantities and at higher prices than they had ever dreamed of. And the hype these freehands and fancy pipes caused went on unbroken long after Herman G. Lane deceased. Preben Holm – obviously much more brilliant in pipe making than in pipe business – was in major troubles again in 1986 and had to sack most of his staff. The Ben Wade production was significantly lowered but continued until his untimely death in June of 1989.

Up to now Preben Holm made Ben Wade pipes are cult and highly sought for on the estate markets.

This pipe was another Preben Holm made Freehand distributed in the US by Lane Ltd under the name Ben Wade. The freehand rage occurred in the late 70s and the pipes were made until Preben’s death in 1989. My guess would be that this pipe was made sometime during that time period and potentially in the late 70s.

Armed with that information I moved forward to work on the pipe itself and see what I had to do with it. I reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer using the second and the third cutting head to take the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the remnants of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished the bowl internals by sanding the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The bowl walls looked very good with no checking or cracking to the walls. I worked over the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to knock off the loose debris on the rim top. I worked it over to clean out the grooves and valleys of both the plateau top and the wire marks across the surface of the rim. It really is a beautiful pipe and a unique looking rim top finish. It cleaned up quite well.With the internals of the bowl cleaned I worked on the airway in the shank, mortise and the stem. I cleaned it with pipe cleaners – both regular and bristle, cotton swabs and 99% isopropyl alcohol. I was able to remove a lot of the debris and oils in the pipe. It smells much better. Now that the reaming and scrubbing of the interior was finished, I moved on to the exterior of the pipe. I scrubbed the plateau rim top and shank end along with the smooth bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. The grime and oils just rinsed off under the warm water that I ran over the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and I was please with how clean it was and how the grain stood out. I sanded the briar with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the briar down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the debris that was left behind. By the time I finished the last pad the briar was very smooth and clean to the touch. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The bowl began to really shine with the polishing. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the smooth briar with my finger tips. I worked it into the plateau on the rim top and shank end with a horse hair shoebrush. The product works well to clean, enliven and protect the briar and really brings it back to life. I have been using it for quite a few years now and really like the way it makes the briar come alive and makes the grain pop. The bowl is finished and really looks amazing. All that remains is that I have to polish it on the buffer. I set it aside and turned my attention to the broken tenon. I went through my collection of tenons and found a couple that would work. The difference was in the diameter of the portion of the tenon that went into the stem.I chose the top one in the photo above as the tenon insertion point was smaller in diameter and would fit better in the stem. I used a Dremel and sanding drum and 220 grit sandpaper and a topping board to flatten the broken end on the snapped tenon. I wanted a flat surface to be able to drill the airway for the new tenon.Once it was flattened I used progressively larger drill bits to open the airway. By the third drill bit the opening was perfect for the diameter of the tenon insert end. I smoothed out the junction of the tenon and the stem using a flat file and the transition was very smooth. I flattened the threads of the insert end with the file at the same to make the fit snug. I knew that once I glue it in place it would be secure and strong.I painted the end of the threaded portion of the tenon with rubberized black CA glue. I inserted a pipe cleaner in the stem and threaded the new tenon onto the pipe cleaner. Once everything was aligned I pressed the tenon in place in the stem end. It aligned perfectly with the pipe cleaner as a guide.Once the glue had set and the tenon was firmly in place I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to achieve a snug fit in the shank.I touched up the Cross & Crown stamp on the top of the stem with Rub’n Buff Antique Gold and buffed it off with a cotton pad. It was faint but it was readable. I sanded the tooth marks and chatter on both sides with the 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the marks and minimise them. It looked better.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I used 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris on the surface of the stem. I polished the new tenon at the same time and both took on a rich shine and looked better. I finished by polishing the stem and tenon with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish and gave it a final wipe with Obsidian Oil. This is a beautiful Hand Made Preben Holm made Ben Wade Golden Matt Freehand with a fancy, turned, variegated acrylic stem. It has a great look and feel. The shape fits well in the hand with the curve of the bowl and shank junction a perfect fit for the thumb around the bowl when held. I polished stem and the bowl with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the plateau on the rim top and shank end multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax. 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 andwith a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The rich combination of browns and black in the smooth finishes and the black plateau areas took on life with the buffing. The rich colour of the briar works well with the polished stem. I like the grain and finished look of this Preben Holm Ben Wade Golden Matt Freehand. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 wide x 2 ¼ inches long, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 74 grams/2.61 ounces. This Danish Freehand is a real beauty. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. It will be heading back to Tom shortly and he will once again have his favourite pipe to enjoy. Thanks for your time.

New Life for a GBD Speciale Standard London England 788 D Bent Apple

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By Steve Laug

The next pipe on the worktable is an English made oval shank bent Apple with a classic brown finish. It is a combination reddish brown stains. The pipe came to us from a lot that we bought from a Facebook auction from Beach Lake, Pennsylvania, USA on 01/29/2024. The pipe is very dirty with a thick cake in the bowl and lava on the rim top. The rim edge looks good but it was hard to know what was under the lava coat on the top and edges. It is stamped on the top and the underside of the shank. On the topside it reads GBD in an oval [over] Speciale [over] Standard. On the underside it is stamped London, England [over] the shape number 788 followed by the letter D. The finish was dusty and there were oils and grime ground into the finish around the sides of the bowl. The stem is a vulcanite saddle stem with grime on the surface and tooth chatter and deep marks ahead of the button on both sides. There is an inlaid GBD oval medallion on the top of the saddle stem. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. Jeff took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the pipe. There was a thick cake in the bowl and a build up of lava on the smooth rim top. It is also built up on the inner edge of the bowl. The stem photos show the grime and the deep tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. He took photos of the sides and the heel of the bowl to show the finish on the pipe. It is a unique stain on it that really shows the grain around the bowl sides. He took two photos to capture the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted aboveI turned to PipePhil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-gbd.html) to see what I could find. The site had nothing particular on the GBD Speciale Standard line of pipes.

I then turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/GBD) to see if there was info the brand. It is a great read in terms of history but there was nothing giving details on a GBD Xtra Straight Grain.

The claims after the 1st World War demanded further distinctions. First of all was the London Made, which became the Standard London Made, followed by the New Era– in 1931 the top model asking 12½ Shilling. The Pedigree, although sketched around 1926, was not produced until the later 1930s. The New Standard was introduced in order to give the popular Standard of the 20s a higher rank in value. The Prehistoric, a deeply sandblasted black pipe, that still carried the small GBD Xtra stamp, was entirely new and unusual.

The French GBDs more or less followed the same developments, although Xtra and Speciale very longly used there. In the late 1920s a GBD with a metal filter system was introduced under the name Extra Dry. Also, from Paris came another important new feature: the introduction of the inserted metal plate with the GBD initials on the stems. That insert added a further “touch of class” to the pipes and in London it was attached immediately.

From that small note I knew that I was working on a post WW1 Pipe that carried the GBD Speciale Standard stamp.

I then followed a link at the end of the article to another article on Pipedia about model information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/GBD_Model_Information). There I found a note to the Speciale stamp that stated Production in France.

Further on in the thread on the Speciale pipe I found this response by snagstangl that reads as follows:

I was re reading a Jacques Cole article concerning GBDs titled “Story of a Pipe Brand” it had this to say about this topic:

“We have seen that early Briar GBDs were made in only one, later two qualities and the need to mark the difference did not arise. There were few finishes but towards the end of the 19th century demand was changing, for instance the UK had a “penchant” for the darker finishes. Qualities were therefore sub-divided and we see the introduction of the GBD XTRA (note the spelling). The GBD Speciales were as the name implied, special models, finishes and fittings. GBD XTRAs were the cream, being mostly straight grains. The “ordinary* quality was simply
stamped GBD. Demand after the First World War called for further identification starting with GBD ‘London Made* which became ‘Standard London Made*, followed by GBD “New Era’, top of the range in 1931 at 12/6d! GBD ‘Pedigree’, although first thought of around 1926, was well established in the late 1930s. GBD “New Standard’ was created to give a boost to the “Standards’ of the 1920s and a newly introduced sandblast was called GBD ‘Prehistoric’, still bearing a small GBD ‘Xtra* stamp. French made GBDs followed more or less the same ideas, still however using ‘Xtra’ and ‘Speciale’ while in the late ’20s a metal system GBD was introduced under the name GBD ‘Extra Dry*. The 1920s also saw an important development with the introduction of the metal GBD inlay on mouthpieces which gave the pipes that extra ‘touch of class’. This inlay has been used on GBDs for nearly 60 years.”

That was followed by a response from osiris01:

I started with either this text or one using it as source and it does explain well the reason for creating, first the Xtras and Speciales, and later, the other graded lines like New Era, Pedigree etc. The problem is that the Xtra and Speciale were discontinued in 1937/8 (Pipedia et al) because the new lines provided a more refined grading system. And yet, the Xtra was listed in the catalogs until 1950.

My guess is that the French factory continued with the Xtra, for a reason unknown to me. The only evidence I have of this is a badly translated sentence from Pipedia that describes the process of creating additional lines. It reads “The French GBDs more or less followed the same developments, although Xtra and Speciale very longly used there.” What ‘Longly used there’ means I don’t know, but somewhere was still making them, and if you translate ‘longly’ as ‘longer’, it does imply that they continued making them for a longer period. It’s a far from perfect explanation but, as I said, they were still being made somewhere and it does imply that the French factory were responsible. However, they were different to the Xtras made in the 20s/30s since the later ones had a chamfered rim, different stems etc.

However, reading you text again, I wonder if the it is hinting at a COM. “Demand after the First World War called for further identification starting with GBD ‘London Made* which became ‘Standard London Made*,”. It doesn’t say that a COM was not used before then (that would be too easy), but you wouldn’t stamp a pipe “Xtra, London Made, London Made” or similar.

I just don’t have enough evidence, reference points, old models to compare against etc. Even describing it as an educated guess is still stretching it a bit. The best guess, perhaps.

However, what I do know is that the 1930s Xtras were fitted with a specific stem with an unusual button called the ‘curved wafer tip of comfort’ (just rolls off the tongue). The following images shows the detail from a 1938 catalogue and the button on my pipe, and to my eye, they are the same. Not in any way conclusive, but it’s the best I’ve been able to come up with.

Now I knew that I was dealing with a French made GBD Speciale Standard created in the 1950s.

Jeff reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. The finish on the bowl looked really good when I got it. The rim top and edges looked very good. He soaked the twin bore stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer bath to remove the oxidation. The stem looked better and the deep tooth marks and chatter on the surface were also visible. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked much better than when he found it. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took photos of the condition of the rim top and stem before I started working. The rim top looks very good and the bowl is spotless. The stem is much better but still shows some oxidation and tooth chatter and deep marks on both sides near the button. I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above. I took the bowl and stem apart and took a photo of the pipe to show the look of the pipe. Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. The bowl was in very good condition so I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl, rim top and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. The contrasts in the layers of stain really made the grain stand out. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The bowl really looks good at this point. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks on the surface of the stem and was able to lift them partially. I cleaned out the tooth marks with alcohol and q-tip then filled in the ones that remained with some rubberized, black CA glue. Once the glue cured I flattened out the repairs and recut the button edge with small files to start the process of blending them into the surface of the vulcanite. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further blend in the repairs. I wiped the stem down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil saturated cloth to remove the grime and protect 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 wiped it down again with some Obsidian Oil and let it sit and dry. I always look forward to the moment when all the pieces are put back together. The pipe makes a final trip to the buffing wheel and is met first with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. That is followed by multiple coats of carnauba wax over the whole pipe. Then I do a step that not everyone does but I learned from one of the old pipe men who no longer with us, I buff the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. Finish my buffing by hand with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with black vulcanite stem. This richly stained GBD Speciale Standard 788 Bent Apple is light weight and ready for you to load up a tobacco of preference and enjoy. Have a look at it in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 48 grams/1.69 ounces. This is one that will go on the British Pipemakers Section of the rebornpipes online store shortly. Let me know if you are interested in adding it to your rack. 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.

A Nice Break after a few complicated ones – a Comoy’s Classic 184 Bent Globe

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the worktable is an English made Bent Globe with a classic brown finish. It is a combination dark and medium brown stains. The pipe came to us from a lot that we bought from an estate in Spring Branch, Texas, USA on 02/29/2024. The pipe is very dirty with a thick cake in the bowl and lava on the rim top. The rim edge looks good but it was hard to know what was under the lava coat on the top and edges. It is stamped on the sides of the shank. On the left side it reads Comoy’s [over] Classic. On the right side it is stamped with the shape number 184. Next to the shank/stem junction it has a circular COM stamp that reads Made London in a circle around “In” in the centre [over] England. The finish was dusty and there were oils and grime ground into the finish around the sides of the bowl. The stem is acrylic with grime on the surface and tooth chatter and marks ahead of the button on both sides. The is a single stamped C on the left side of the taper stem. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. Jeff took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the pipe. There was a thick cake in the bowl and a build up of lava on the smooth rim top. It is also built up on the inner edge of the bowl. The stem photos show the grime and light tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. He took photos of the sides and the heel of the bowl to show the finish on the pipe. It is a unique stain on it that really shows the grain around the bowl sides. He took two photos to capture the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I looked on both Pipedia and Pipephil’s sites for information on the Comoy’s Classic Line. Neither site had any information about that particular stamping. The name stamp obviously remains a bit of a mystery. The COM stamp on the shank was a Comoy’s style stamp as noted above. I would need to move ahead and do some work on the shape number to see if what I could learn of that.

I turned to Pipedia’s Comoy’s shape chart and sure enough the 184 shape was a Comoy’s shape. I have included the link (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Comoy%27s_Shape_Number_Chart). I did a screen capture of the section on the 184 shape. The shape is a Medium sized half bent pipe that was called a GLOBE.I now knew that the pipe I was working on was made by Comoy’s (thanks to the shape number and the COM stamp on the shank). It was a beauty for sure and one that would only become more beautiful as it was restored.

I really enjoy working on classic shaped pipes so I was glad to be working on this one. Jeff had reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. The finish looks better but there is still some darkening on the rim top and edges of the bowl. Jeff scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the vulcanite. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked a lot better. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took some close up photos of the rim top and the condition of the bowl. I also took photos of the top and the underside of the stem.I took photos of the stamping on the top and underside of the shank to show the condition after the cleanup. This stamping is clearer than the photos show. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts of the pipe to show the overall look of the pipe. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the finish of the bowl, rim top and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. The contrasts in the layers of stain made the grain stand out. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the bite marks on both sides ahead of the button with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper remove the damage.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a cloth containing some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. This Comoy’s Classic Made in London 184 Bent Globe is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The shape is elegant and flowing with a taper acrylic stem. I put the stem 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 Comoy’s Classic 184 Bent Globe fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.45 ounces/41 grams. I will be putting it on the British Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store shortly. 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.

A Portland Pipe from my Grandfather

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by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is a very personal pipe – and one that is staying in my collection. The pipe you see belonged to my late grandfather. It is this pipe’s restoration that I am recounting today. I have blogged here about some of my grandfather’s pipes before, but I haven’t done one in a while. In this case, I do not know where my grandfather acquired it (or under what circumstances), but I suppose it does not ultimately matter. My grandfather was an enthusiastic pipe smoker and I am definitely looking forward to cleaning this one up. It has a value well beyond dollars – especially because this is actually the first pipe I ever smoked. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t know what I was doing it with it, so any damage you see is almost certainly from me! I don’t remember why I picked this pipe of his to try, but it definitely worked well. The pipe is a classic billiard shape with a lovely, long stem. What a handsome pipe! I do not know the exact date of the pipe, but, knowing what I do about my grandfather and his pipes, it seems likely to be from the 1950s or 1960s. On the left-hand side of the shank, the pipe’s markings read, First Call [over] London. To the right of that is the number 69 – presumably a shape number. The right hand side of the shank also has markings, but they are more worn. They read, Portland Pipe Product [over] Made Wholly in England. I wasn’t familiar with these names, so I did some digging.I began my research with José Manuel Lopes’ book, Pipes: Artisans and Trademarks. As the photo shows, there was a little information, but not a lot.The connection with Barling was interesting, so I also checked Wilczak and Colwell’s book, Who Made That Pipe? From the photos below, you can see that First Call refers me to the Portland Pipe Co. and that they both make a connection to Barling too.Time to check online. Pipephil had a similarly brief write-up (included here).Pipedia was a bit more helpful. Their page on the Portland Pipe Co. includes the following information (the typos are in the original and are NOT mine):

Portland Pipe Company was an English pipe maker, and appears to have started in the 1930’s, and went out of business in 1962. It’s though they had ties to Barling pipes from the 1930’s. They might have been a sub-brand or “second” which was separate from, but fully owned by Barling’s all along. It also thought that after Portland closed down, and during Barling’s corporate era (BB&S), Barling picked up some of the Portland brand (Londoner, Cragmoor and Portland) and made them for a while. WILCZAK & COLWELL in their book “Who Made That Pipe?” acknowledge the brand as from England, though some have been made in Italy as well (see Pipephil.eu). The Brand John Peel is a pipe which has the stamping: JOHN PEEL, A PORTLAND PIPE, MADE WHOLLY IN ENGLAND. I have a model with is also stamped SPECIAL, it’s a stack design with shape number 801. This pipe might have been made either by Portland or Barling. According to a 1940 price sheet, the following models were offered, along with the correlating prices:

Vintage (10/6)
Exchange (7/6)
Londoner (7/6)
Mosaic (7/6)
Portland Super (7/6)
Crustor (5/6)
Diploma (5/6)
Port Royal (5/6)
Port-de-Luxe (5/6)
Portland Patent (5/6)
Souk-el-Arba (5/6)
Times (4/6)
British Sovereign (3/6)
John Peel (3/6)
Jubilee (3/6)
Sirdar (3/6)
Campaigner (2/6)
Dandy (2/6)
First Call (2/6)
Knobby (2/6)
Topsall (2/6)
Topsall Comfort (2/6)
Portman (2/-)
British National (1/6)
Ruf Kut (1/6)

This seems to confirm that this pipe is in the lower range of Portland Pipes AND that it likely comes from before 1962. However, there are a few other tidbits of information. The PipesMagazine.com forums include an interesting comment from Barling expert Jonathan Guss:Finally, over at the Very Keen on Pipes website, a reader commented on one of their posts by saying:

“… Portland pipes make up one of the great mysteries of London pipe making. No one knows when Barling bought Portland but most of us barling guys believe it was mid to late 30’s. I saw a reference once online using the year 1936 but this cannot be confirmed. Next, John Peel was for a long time thought to have been a shop but there is no evidence proving that. However, John Peel pipes were almost certainly made by Portland. What most of use want in a pipe of this type is a pipe made before 1962, when the barling family was let go by the new owners and the brand went into a downward spiral quality wise. Re Portland, a number of them have recently turned up as a result of a “garage find” of a batch of pipes from the Toronto Canada area and they were mixed in with other wood from the 50’s and that seems to indicate a 50’s date of manufacture. Note: in those days several of the larger pipe makers made pipes or just bowls for other brands and these were mostly Charatan, Comoy and other makers such as Orlick. What is almost certain is that never did barling make / sell any pipes that were not carved by barling carvers untill after 1970. So, Portland and Peel were never actually barling made, these pipes were either made by Portland in house or, in later years past 1962, by Charatan and others. Also, if one looks at the style of the bits it evident that Portland and Peel pipes were not made that long ago, probably 50’s and 60’s unless there is a BB&S stamp which indicates post 1970 age (the & symbol being the give away since B.B.S was used in the older pre 1962 era.) Just some info for you to keep in mind… “

Let’s tie it all together. By inference (and some educated guesswork), this pipe of my grandfather’s was made in England, prior to 1962, and that the Portland Pipe Co. who made it was owned by Barling. As for the “69” shape number, I do not know what to say – this doesn’t correspond to Barling, so I suppose Portland had their own numbering system. It’s a nifty pipe – however, it was not without its issues. The stem had plenty of tooth chatter and was pretty oxidized. The stummel was actually in pretty good shape, except for the rim. I burned it pretty darn thoroughly. It had some minor wear, but nothing too tricky. The stem was first on my list. I wiped down the outside of the stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. Then, I cleaned out the insides with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. Then it went so soak in the deoxidizing fluid. After that, I wiped it down with some cleanser and removed the rest of the oxidation. Once clean, I built up the nicks and dents and scratches on the stem with black cyanoacrylate adhesive and let it fully cure.I then sanded the adhesive down with my grey pads to bring the repairs to the level of the stem. I ensured that the stem kept its shape and looked like it should. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to emphasize the beautiful black of the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing, after 3,600. On to the stummel, and the usual cleaning procedures were in order for this pipe. I used the KleenReem to remove the built-up cake, and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper to remove as much as I could. I wanted to take the bowl down to bare briar 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 the shank with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners, and isopropyl alcohol. There was quite a bit of filth inside this stummel – it took many pipe cleaners et cetera to clean it out. I decided that a de-ghosting session would be a good idea. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused the oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this.I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes. I then moved on to cleaning the outside of the stummel with Murphy’s Oil Soap and some cotton pads. Because of the extensive burning to the rim, I sanded away the damage on my topping board and it looked much improved. Now, it was time to sand down the stummel. I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to wet/dry sand everything smooth. After that, a light application of Before & After Restoration Balm brought out the best in the stummel’s grain. What a difference that made! There is some beautiful wood there! Then it was off for a trip to the buffer. A dose of White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax were just what this pipe needed. The lovely shine made the wood look absolutely beautiful.This is a beautiful pipe that has a very elegant feel to it. I hope the final product is worthy of my beloved grandfather’s memory. Obviously, this is one pipe that I am keeping for myself and adding to my collection. The approximate dimensions of the Portland First Call are as follows: length 6⅓ in. (160 mm); height 1¾ in. (44 mm); bowl diameter 1¼ in. (32 mm); chamber diameter ⅔ in. (17 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1 oz. (30 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much I as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.