Tag Archives: Dunhill Pipes

Cleaning up a 1965 Dunhill 631 F/T Root Briar Group 1 Billiard for Henry

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Blog by Steve Laug

If you have followed rebornpipes for long you will know that I am a sucker for older pipes and that if I have restored pipes for you in the past I will definitely be available to you for future restorations. The post just previous to this one on an old 1902 LKL Cutty was an example of both of those these maladies of mine. This post speaks to the second one – if I have worked on a pipe for you in the past I will be available as best I can for future restorations. Some of you will recognize Henry Ramirez name as he was a long time contributor to rebornpipes with his innovative restorations. Henry is a dentist who retired not long ago and got rid of his restoration tools. He wrote to see if I could help him out with the restoration of a small Dunhill he had. He wrote the following email:

Hi Steve, long time no talk. I recently moved again to San Francisco and upon opening an empty tin of vintage Dunhill tobacco found the small Dunhill that I’d thought was lost. I’ve gotten rid of my pipe cleaning supplies since moving to an apartment and was hoping you could clean this pipe up for me. You seem to be very busy and in the middle of large restorations. Let me know if you can help. Best, Henry

What could I say to such a request from a fellow pipe restorer? I sent him an email and said I would take on his pipe. He packed it up and sent it to me in Vancouver. It arrived here a couple of weeks ago. Today, I took a break from the large estates and the other repairs I have going to work on Henry’s pipe. It is a small Dunhill saddle stem billiard. It is stamped on the left side of the shank 631F/T next to the bowl shank junction. The 631 is the shape number and the F/T is the designation for a Fish Tail stem. That is followed by Dunhill over Root Briar. On the right side of the shank it is stamped with a circle 1 R next to the bowl shank junction designating the group size of the pipe – a 1 and R which says it is a Root Briar. To the left of that it is stamped Made in England5 which tells me that the pipe was made in 1965. The finish on the bowl was dirty and spotty. The bowl had a thick cake in it and the lava overflowed onto the rim top. The inner edge of the bowl was damaged on the right side with both carving from a knife and a burned area. There was some darkening on the outer rim edge at the front of the bowl. It was in rough condition. The stem was not too bad. It was heavily oxidized but other than tooth chatter was in good condition. I took photos of the pipe before I started the restoration work to document the progress that way Henry can vicariously work on this pipe. I took some close up photos of the bowl and rim top and the stem surfaces. The first photo shows the condition of the bowl and rim top. I described the damage above but I have to say I probably minimized it in my description. It is in rough shape. The inner edge is hacked and uneven showing that it had probably been reamed with a knife. There was burn damage on the right inner edge and on the front edge. The stem on the other hand looked good other than the heavy oxidation on the surface. There was light tooth chatter but it still was in great shape.I took photos of the stamping on the shank. The left side was definitely in better condition than the left. You can see the stamping on the left side in the first photo. The second photo shows the right side of the shank. It reads as noted above.I turned to Pipedia to read about the Root Briar. I have worked on enough Dunhill pipes to have a good idea of the history and I already knew I was working on a 1965 pipe but I wanted to refresh my memory on the Root Briar finish (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar).

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

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

That was a good reminder for me of the character and the rarity of the finish. Henry was going to enjoy this pipe. Now it was time to work on it. I carefully removed the stem and found that there was an inner tube stuck in the shank. I examined it and found that I could see glimmers off it under the cake in the bowl. I would need to work on the cake and try to ream the bowl a bit around the entrance of the airway to loosen it. I reamed the bowl back around the airway with the tip of a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife. I ran alcohol down the tube using a pipe cleaner. I folded the pipe cleaner and dribbled alcohol around the end of the tube sticking into the bottom of the chamber. I worked alcohol in next to the tube using pipe cleaners. I paused and wiggled the tube regularly. I heated it a bit with a lighter and wiggled some more. Finally it came free. You can see all the debris on the outside of the tube.I cleaned up the outside of the tube with sandpaper to remove the grime. Once it was gone I could see significant damage to the tube. Where it was stuck in the shank there some deep pinch marks. Where it sat in the shank also had some grooves. It was actually damaged enough that I did not want to use it again. I have a box of inner tubes that I picked up in an estate I purchased. I have probably 8-9 different tubes of different sizes. I went through the tubes and found the identical tube but undamaged. The photos below show the original tube and the new replacement tube. I checked the fit in the bowl, shank and stem and it was perfect.I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the smallest cutting head. I was able to remove the heavy cake. I cleaned up the remaining cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife and then sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper on a piece of dowel. I was pleased to see that the walls of the bowl were undamaged. I moved on to clean the interior. I scraped the walls of the shank with a pen knife to remove the oils and tars that had locked the inner tube in the shank. I was able to remove the majority of the debris with the knife. I followed up by scrubbing the airway in the shank and mortise as well as the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the exterior of the stem with some Soft Scrub to soften and remove some of the oxidation (of course I forgot to take photos of that part of the process). I used 3-4 cotton pads to scrub the stem and I was happy with the amount of oxidation that it removed. When I was finished I rinsed it off and dropped the stem into a bath of Before & After Deoxidizer. I left it in the mix for a while and turned my attention to the bowl.I topped the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper on a hard board to minimize the damage. I worked it over the sandpaper in a circular motion to reduce the scratches left behind by the sandpaper. When I finished topping it to my liking I used a folded piece of 220 sandpaper to give the inner edge of the bowl a bevel to reduce the burn damage. The third photo below shows the rim top after this treatment. It has come a long ways from the original rim top. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the debris from sanding. The photos show the developing shine on the bowl and rim top. I  used an Oak and a Maple stain pen to blend the colour of the rest of the bowl. I am happy with the blend as well as the new look of the rim top… What an improvement.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. It also works well to blend the restained areas of the bowl with the rest of the pipe. The contrasts in the layers of stain really made the grain stand out. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. This is the point that tells the truth about the blend on the rim top. It really does look good! I am very happy with the way the pipe is looking at this point in the process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I took it out of the Before & After Bath and scrubbed it with warm water to remove the bath product and blew out the airway. I buffed it with a rough cotton cloth but sadly the oxidation though better was still present. I scrubbed it again with Soft Scrub and was able to remove a lot more of the oxidation.I sanded the stem with 220 grit and 400 grit wet dry sandpaper to remove the oxidation that remained. Even after the sanding it was still present.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – Fine and Extra Fine. I finished by buffing the stem with Briarville’s No Oxy Oil. Now that the stem is finished the pipe is one step away from packing and sending back to Henry. It is a pretty little Group 1 Dunhill saddle billiard. The pipe cleaned up really well and the stem looks quite stunning in place. I put the new inner tube in place and put the pipe back together again. I buffed it on the wheel with Blue Diamond polish and then gave the entirety several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deep the shine. It really is a beauty and should serve Henry well while he holds it in trust. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: 5/8 of an inch. I will be putting it in the mail to Henry on Monday after work. I am looking forward to what he thinks of the pipe when he receives it. I am happy with the finished look of the pipe. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration. It was a fun one with its own set of challenges.

Refreshing a Dunhill Root Briar 708 F/T Oval Shank Canted Stack for Alex

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Blog by Steve Laug

Around Christmas time I got together with Alex to enjoy some great hot cocoa, smoke our pipes and talk about all things pipes. I always have a great time when we get together and this time was no exception. He greeted me at the door with slippers and an old smoking jacket. I took my seat in the living room among his latest pipe finds and was handed a great cup of cocoa. I set it down and we both loaded out pipes with some new Perretti’s tobacco that he had picked up. We touched the flame of the lighter to the tobacco and sat back and blissfully enjoyed the flavour. As we did Alex walked me through his latest finds. There were some amazing pipes to look at and savor. He had found several really nice pipes – 3 different Dunhill pipes that he wanted me to work on for him. I have already written a blog on the Dunhill Wanghee Tan Shell Briar with a Bamboo shank (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/01/08/refreshing-a-dunhill-tanshell-w60-t-1962bamboo-lovat-for-alex/). I have also written a blot on the reconstruction of a nice little Shell Briar Lovat(https://rebornpipes.com/2020/01/11/breathing-life-into-a-worn-and-beat-up-dunhill-shell-briar-ec-canadian-for-alex/). The third Dunhill he had picked up is a shape number I could find little information on – a shape 708F/T Root Briar. For lack of a better title for the shape I have called it a canted stack.

Alex had reamed the pipe and cleaned the pipe very well. The bowl was clean. The rim top had a lot of damage including burn marks and dents. The bowl was also very far out of round with damage around inner edge. There were burn marks on the inner and outer edge toward the right front side of the bowl. The finish looked very good around the bowl other than the burn mark on the left side where it looked like the bowl had been laid in an ash tray against a hot ash. He had already enjoyed smoking it and was hooked on it. He asked if I could take it home with me and see what I could do about the rim top damage and the burn mark on the bowl. I told him I would take it home and have a go at it. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank with the following nomenclature: 708F/T at the bowl shank junction followed by Dunhill over Root Briar. The Dunhill Root Briar stamp is faint but readable with a lens and light. The right side reads Made in England followed by what looks like a 2 (another 1962?) and a Circle 4 A. The 4 is the size of the pipe and the A is the designation for Root Briar. The stamping on the right side of the shank is also faint.

When I got home I laid it aside and today took it up to work on it. I examined the pipe to see what I was working with and took some photos. You can see from the first photo below that there was a burn mark on the left side mid bowl. It was a cosmetic burn marks in the finish but not too deep. It was like the pipe had been laid down in an ashtray. The rim top had significant darkening and damage. The stem was in good condition other than tooth chatter on both sides just ahead of and on the top of the button. Overall the pipe was in good condition. I took a close up photo of the rim top. You can see the darkening on the rim top and the damage on the front inner and outer edge of the bowl. The inner edge was hacked up like it had been poorly reamed with a pocket knife. There were also nicks and deep scratches in the rim top. It was in rough shape. The stem looked pretty good. There was tooth chatter on the top and underside of the stem and on the button surface itself. Otherwise the stem was in very good condition.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the bowl. You can see that it reads as noted above. It is indeed faint but with a lens and light it is very readable.I decided to start the refurbishing by addressing the issues with the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. I lightly topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper. Once it was smooth I worked on the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I also cleaned up the burned outer edge on the rim front. I sanded the burn mark on the left side of the bowl with the 220 grit sandpaper and was able to minimize the burn a bit. It was deeper than I initially thought. I polished the rim top and bowl with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris left behind by the sanding. I used a Maple Stain Pen to blend the sanded area on the side of the bowl and the rim top with the rest of the finish on the bowl. I have found that this particular stain pen works well to match the stain on the Root Briar.With the finish cleaned I rubbed it down with Before and After Restoration Balm. It is a product developed by Mark Hoover to clean, enliven and protect briar. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. I let it sit while I went and had some lunch. When I came back I buffed it off with a cotton cloth. You can see the results below. While the burn mark did not disappear it is significantly lighter than when I started. The rim top also looks much better. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the tooth chatter on the stem surface. The stem was in excellent condition other than that so it did not take a lot of work. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to sand out the tooth marks and then started the polishing with 400 grit sandpaper.I polished it further with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red paste that does a great job in removing the oxidation remnants in the crease of the button and also polish out some of the lighter tooth chatter.I finished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with a damp cotton pad to remove the dust. I polished it with Before and After Pipe Polish – both fine and extra fine. I finished by wiping the stem down with some No Oxy Oil that I received from Briarville Pipe Repair to experiment with. Once I finished I put the stem back on the shank and carefully buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond polish. I wanted to polish out the minute scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth. The finished Root Briar pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a great pipe and certainly looks better than when I began the process. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 7/8 inches, Outer Bowl Diameter: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber Diameter: ¾ of an inch. The pipe will soon be heading back to Alex so he can continue to enjoy it. This is a beauty that he can enjoy as he carries on the trust of these Dunhill pipes. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration.

Refreshing a Dunhill Tanshell W60 (T) (1962)Bamboo Lovat for Alex

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Blog by Steve Laug

Around Christmas time I got together with Alex to enjoy some great hot cocoa, smoke our pipes and talk about all things pipes. I always have a great time when we get together and this time was no exception. He greeted me at the door with slippers and an old smoking jacket. I took my seat in the living room among his latest pipe finds and was handed a great cup of cocoa. I set it down and we both loaded out pipes with some new Perretti’s tobacco that he had picked up. We touched the flame of the lighter to the tobacco and sat back and blissfully enjoyed the flavour. As we did Alex walked me through his latest finds. There were some amazing pipes to look at and savour. He had one that caught my eye when I had arrived. It was a Dunhill Bamboo Shank Lovat that was a Tanshell finish with a lot of nice colour happening around the bowl.

I carefully took it in my hands and examined it. While I have several Stanwell Bamboo pipes and older KBB Yello Bole Bamboos this is the first Dunhill that I had seen up close and personal. Alex told me that these bamboo-adorned pieces were referred to as “Whangee” pipes. I learned later that the term comes from the Mandarin word for bamboo, huáng lí and was used to describe canes and umbrellas with bamboo handles throughout the early to mid-1900s before being attributed to pipes — Dunhill’s in particular. I learned from reading on line that bamboo came to into use in pipemaking during the briar shortage that accompanied and followed WWII. As a means of saving on briar, pipemakers would extend the shank with bamboo.

The pipe was stamped on the heel of the bowl with the following nomenclature: W60 over a circle with a T next to it. T is the designation for Tanshell pipes. I assume that the circle with what looked like a 4 faintly in the center which was the size designation. Next to that is a superscript underlined 2 which I believe designates the year of manufacture – 1962. So now I knew the date on this interesting Bamboo.

Alex had reamed the pipe and cleaned it up very well. He had already enjoyed smoking it and was hooked on it. I even offered to buy it from him and he gently declined! He asked if I could take it home with me and see what I could do about the finish on the bowl. I told him I would take it home and have a go at it.

When I got home I laid it aside and tonight took it up to work on it. I examined the pipe to see what I was working with and took some photos. You can see from the first photo below that there were some dark spots on the left side of the bowl. They were cosmetic burn marks in the finish but not too deep. It was like the pipe had been laid down in an ashtray. The right side of the bowl had some darkening toward the top of the bowl and the rim top had significant darkening and there appeared to be some debris in the sandblast finish. The vulcanite spacer between the bowl and the bamboo shank was also oxidized. The Bamboo shank had some great patina and the characteristic crackling in the finish. It was quite stunning. The stem was in good condition other than a few small tooth marks on both sides just ahead of the button. Overall the pipe was in good condition. I took a close up photo of the rim top. It is an interesting sandblast in that there is quite a large pit on the right front rim top. It is part of the blast and thus part of the story. The rim top is a little dirty close up as there is some dust in the crevices. There is some darkening to the original finish of the rim but no burn damage. The inner and outer edges of the rim look very good. I took photos of the shank and stem as well. The vulcanite space between the bowl and the shank was lightly oxidized. The stem looked pretty good. There were small tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. Otherwise the stem was in very good condition.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the bowl. You can see that it reads as noted above.I have had good success in removing stains and oils on briar using Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scrubbed the briar with the soap using both a tooth brush and a brass bristle brush. I rinsed it off under running water and dried it off with a cotton cloth. I was able to remove most of the staining on the right side of the bowl near the top and to lighten the burn marks slightly on the left side of the bowl. The rim top cleaned up nicely with some significant lightening of the top and edges. I worked carefully around the bamboo as I did not want to damage the patina on it. Overall the cleanup left behind a beautiful looking sandblast that was very clean and defined. With the finish cleaned I rubbed it down with Before and After Restoration Balm. It is a product developed by Mark Hoover to clean, enliven and protect briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a horse hair shoe brush. I also worked it into the bamboo and the vulcanite spacer to clean up the oxidation around that thin ring. I let it sit for about 10 minutes and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. You can see the results below. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface. The stem was in excellent condition other than that so it did not take a lot of work. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to sand out the tooth marks and then started the polishing with 400 grit sandpaper. I left the rest of the stem alone with this process.I polished it further with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red paste that does a great job in removing the oxidation remnants in the crease of the button and also polish out some of the lighter tooth chatter.I finished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with a damp cotton pad to remove the dust. I polished it with Before and After Pipe Polish – both fine and extra fine. I finished by wiping the stem down with some No Oxy Oil that  received from Briarville Pipe Repair to experiment with. Once I finished I put the stem back on the shank and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond polish using a lightly loaded pad and a soft touch. I wanted the shine but not the grit filling in the crevices of the sandblast bowl. I used even a gentler touch on the bamboo. I gave the stem a vigorous polish being careful around the white spot. I gave the bowl and bamboo several coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a great piece of pipe history and looks better than when I began the process. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 7/8 inches, Outer Bowl Diameter: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber Diameter: ¾ of an inch. The pipe will soon be heading back to Alex so he can continue to enjoy it. I have told him that if he ever wants to part with it I get the right of first refusal. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration.

Restoring the Last of Bob Kerr’s Dunhills – a 1962 Dunhill Bruyere 656 F/T Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

As I continue to work through the pipes in Bob Kerr’s Estate I am enjoying choosing different brands that he had to focus on for a bit. I had eight more from his Dunhill collection that I decided to go back to and finish working my way through that sub collection of the estate. Out of the 8 pipes six were Bruyere finished pipes, one was a Made in London (turns out it is also a Bruyere finished pipe), and one was a Root Briar. What follows is a list of what I saw when I examined the 8 pipes. As I finish the pipes I will include the link to the blog on that particular pipe for easy reference. I have already restored 16 pipes from this subgroup so you can do a quick search to read about the work on the Shell Briars and Tanshell Briars that were in that part of the collection.

  1. Bruyere 656 F/T Made in England 2 Circle 4A – Group 4 size Bruyere made in 1962. Saddle stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. Appears to have a tenon made for a 9mm filter.
  2. Bruyere 112 F/T Made in England 9/11 Circle 2A – Group 2 size Bruyere made in 1969 and sold in 1971. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/28/restoring-a-1969-dunhill-bruyere-112-f-t-apple-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  3. Bruyere 0333 Made in England 16 made in 1976. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/29/restoring-a-1976-dunhill-bruyere-0333-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  4. Bruyere 41061 Made in England 18 made in 1978. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/24/restoring-a-1978-dunhill-bruyere-41061-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  5. Bruyere 142 F/T Made in England 7/9/11 Circle 4A – Group for size Bruyere made in 1967 and sent out in 1969 or 1971. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/27/restoring-a-1967-dunhill-bruyere-142-f-t-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/
  6. (A) Dunill London Inner Tube PAT N°5861/12 Shape 34. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/26/restoring-a-1913-a-dunhill-london-34-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  7. (Ao) Dunhill London 113 Made in England 5 PAT N°158709/14. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged rim edges. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/25/restoring-a-1925-ao-dunhill-london-113-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  8. Root Briar 31032 Made in England 18 – made in 1978. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/23/restoring-a-1978-dunhill-root-briar-31032-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).

I finished work on #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7 & #8 and turned my attention to sole remaining Dunhill in Bob’s Collection #1, another heavily used pipe but this time a Bent Billiard shaped pipe with a saddle stem. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank with the shape number 656 F/T next to the bowl/shank junction. That is followed by Dunhill over Bruyere. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in England 2 followed by circle 4A. It appears that the pipe stamped as this one is was made in 1962. The 656 F/T is a Bent Billiard with a fish tail (F/T) saddle stem. The circle 4 is the group/size of the pipe and A is the designation for Bruyere. This is the last pipe that I have to work on from the Dunhill collection.

I am once again including Chuck Stanion’s eloquent description of the Bruyere on the smokingpipes.com site as follows (https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/dunhill/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=346421):

The Bruyere was Alfred Dunhill’s original finish upon launching his brand of premium pipes and smoking accessories and was the only Dunhill finish from 1910 until 1917. Even after the addition of other finishes, the Bruyere maintained a high level of popularity, becoming synonymous with what is thought of, even today, as the quintessential pipe. To achieve the iconic, ruby hue and saturation, a skilled craftsman painstakingly layers particular stains in a precise manner, then meticulously polishes the pipe to a high luster. The final result is, simply put, timeless.

Like Bob’s other Dunhill pipe this one also had a thick cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls. There was a thick lava overflow on the rim so it was hard to know what kind of damage lay beneath the covering. Once it was cleaned I would have a better idea of the condition of the rim top. The grain that is poking through the grime and oils appears to be quite beautiful – birdseye grain on the bowl sides and cross grain on the front and back as well as the heel of the bowl. The stem was oxidized and calcified toward the end with some tooth chatter. There were also some tooth marks on both sides of the stem ahead of the button and on the button itself. There was the classic White Spot on the top of the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work on it.  Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thick, hard cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls of the bowl. There was a thick lava build up on the smooth rim top and the edges of the bowl. The rim top and inner edges looked pretty good but it was hard to know for sure. The outer edges looked to be okay.   Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the beautiful grain patterns around the sides of the bowl and shank. Even under the dirt and debris of the years it looked very good.     The stamping is very readable. On the left side of the shank you can see 656 F/T which is the shape number. Next to that it is stamped Dunhill over Bruyere. On the right side it reads Made in England2 and a circle 4A. Jeff included a pic of the White Spot on the stem.     Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the tooth chatter, scratching, calcification and oxidation on the stem surface and wear on the edges of the button.      I can’t begin tell you how great it feels to have Jeff’s help on cleaning up the pipes from Bob’s estate as the 125+ pipes were taking me a long time to do alone. In fact I doubt if I would have as many finished as I do now. Together we have restored over 60 pipes and Jeff has cleaned all of the remaining pipes for me. He cleaned this filthy pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. This one was a real mess and I was looking forward to seeing what he had done with this one when I took it out of his box. It looked amazing and CLEAN. He 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 good with great looking grain around the bowl and shank. The rim top looked better on this pipe. The condition of the inner and outer edges was not too bad. The stem looked a lot better. Jeff soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. The pipe was ready for me to carry on the next part of the process. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up and what needed to be done. The rim top was in remarkable condition. It was probably the best preserved rim top of the last 9 pipes I have worked on. There was some darkening all around the top of the bowl and on the inner edge. There was some burn damage on the left side of the inner edge but it was in good condition. The outer edge looked very good.  I also took close up photos of the stem to show the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface.  The stamping appeared to be as clear as it was before the cleanup work. This is just one of the things I appreciate about Jeff’s cleanup is that he works to protect and preserve the nomenclature on the shank of the pipes that he works on. I took some photos to show the stamping. Bob loved his Dunhill pipes and it was obvious that he enjoyed smoking them. Some appeared to be daily smokes while others he seemed to reserve for special occasions. Some seemed like they must have hung in his mouth while he did his carving while others were smoked in his chair. Having worked on over 60 of his pipes so far I am getting a feel for them. This one is in rough condition and I suppose it might well have been before Bob took up the trust. I suppose I won’t ever know for sure but it certainly has a long and interesting story if it could only tell it.

I am sure that many of you have read at least some of the other restoration work that I have done on previous pipes. You have also read what I have included about Bob Kerr, the pipeman who held these pipes in trust before I came to work on them (see photo to the left). Also, if you have followed the blog for long you will already know that I like to include background information on the pipeman whose pipes I am restoring. For me, when I am working on an estate I really like to have a sense of the person who held the pipes in trust before I worked on them. It gives me another dimension of the restoration work. Bob’s daughter wrote a short tribute to her father. I thank you Brian and tell your wife thank you as well.

I am delighted to pass on these beloved pipes of my father’s. I hope each user gets many hours of contemplative pleasure as he did. I remember the aroma of tobacco in the rec room, as he put up his feet on his lazy boy. He’d be first at the paper then, no one could touch it before him. Maybe there would be a movie on with an actor smoking a pipe. He would have very definite opinions on whether the performer was a ‘real’ smoker or not, a distinction which I could never see but it would be very clear to him. He worked by day as a sales manager of a paper products company, a job he hated. What he longed for was the life of an artist, so on the weekends and sometimes mid-week evenings he would journey to his workshop and come out with wood sculptures, all of which he declared as crap but every one of them treasured by my sister and myself. Enjoy the pipes, and maybe a little of his creative spirit will enter you!

It was time to get on with the restoration of this Dunhill Bruyere 656 F/T Bent Billiard. It is not only the last of the Dunhill pipes from Bob’s Estate but it was the only bent Bruyere in the collection. I want to send a shout out to Jeff for the hard cleanup work that he does on each of these pipes. They were a real mess when I sent them to Jeff and I have to tell you it was great that I can start my part of the process with a clean pipe. I decided to start the process by dealing with the the burn damage to the left inner edge of the bowl. I generally try to minimize the intrusiveness of the work on the rim and the inner edge. It was burned on the edge of the left side. I use a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to carefully bevel the inner rim with a slight bevel all the way around. The second photo shows the rim edge after the work of beveling the inner edge has been completed. I polished it lightly with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.  I polished the briar on the rim top and bowl with worn micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth. I find that the worn pads do a great job polishing and still retain the original patina of the pipe.   I rubbed the bowl and rim down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed the pipe with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I really like watching the Balm do its magic and bring the briar alive.     With the bowl done it was time to address the stem. I was a little surprised as not only was this the last of Bob’s  Dunhill’s but it was also the only one that had a tenon made to accommodate a 9mm filter. The dents in the top and underside were the right depth for me to lift them. I “painted” the surface with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the dents and it worked exceptionally well.    I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the light chatter in the stem surface and the remaining oxidation in the vulcanite. I polished it with 400 grit wet dry sand paper.  I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish. I have a few tins of this laying around so I am trying to use them up. I have found it is a great pre-polish for my use as it shows me areas that I need to work on with the micromesh sanding pads.  I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I finished by rubbing the stem down with some “No Oxy Oil” to protect the vulcanite. I am experimenting with the product from Briarville and tracking how it works so I can write a review of it. Finishing this pipe is a perfect way to end my restorations for 2019. It is the last of Bob Kerr’s Estate Dunhill Collection. It is a beautiful Dunhill Bruyere 656F/T Bent Billiard made in 1962. Like each of the pipes in Bob’s estate I really look forward to this point in the process when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain around the bowl and shank really came alive with the wax and polish. The black of the saddle vulcanite White Spot stem is a beautiful contrast to the reds and browns of the finished bowl and shank. This was another Dunhill that was a lot of fun to work on thanks to Jeff’s cleanup work. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This 1962 Bruyere Bent Billiard is a beauty should last for many more years. It is one that will be on the rebornpipes store very soon. If you are interested let me know. I have a lot more of Bob’s estate to work on of various brands. Perhaps one of those will catch your attention. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

Restoring a 1976 Dunhill Bruyere 0333 Billiard from Bob Kerr’s Estate

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

As I continue to work through the pipes in Bob Kerr’s Estate I am enjoying choosing different brands that he had to focus on for a bit. I had eight more from his Dunhill collection that I decided to go back to and finish working my way through that sub collection of the estate. Out of the 8 pipes six were Bruyere finished pipes, one was a Made in London (turns out it is also a Bruyere finished pipe), and one was a Root Briar. What follows is a list of what I saw when I examined the 8 pipes. As I finish the pipes I will include the link to the blog on that particular pipe for easy reference. I have already restored 16 pipes from this subgroup so you can do a quick search to read about the work on the Shell Briars and Tanshell Briars that were in that part of the collection.

  1. Bruyere 656 F/T Made in England 2 Circle 4A – Group 4 size Bruyere made in 1962. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  2. Bruyere 112 F/T Made in England 9/11 Circle 2A – Group 2 size Bruyere made in 1969 and sold in 1971. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/28/restoring-a-1969-dunhill-bruyere-112-f-t-apple-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  3. Bruyere 0333 Made in England 16 made in 1976. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  4. Bruyere 41061 Made in England 18 made in 1978. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/24/restoring-a-1978-dunhill-bruyere-41061-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  5. Bruyere 142 F/T Made in England 7/9/11 Circle 4A – Group for size Bruyere made in 1967 and sent out in 1969 or 1971. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/27/restoring-a-1967-dunhill-bruyere-142-f-t-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/
  6. (A) Dunill London Inner Tube PAT N°5861/12 Shape 34. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/26/restoring-a-1913-a-dunhill-london-34-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  7. (Ao) Dunhill London 113 Made in England 5 PAT N°158709/14. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged rim edges. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/25/restoring-a-1925-ao-dunhill-london-113-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  8. Root Briar 31032 Made in England 18 – made in 1978. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/23/restoring-a-1978-dunhill-root-briar-31032-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).

I finished work on #2, #4, #5, #6, #7 & #8 and turned my attention to #3, another heavily used pipe but this time an Apple shaped pipe with a tapered stem. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank with the shape number 0333 next to the bowl/shank junction. That is followed by Dunhill over Bruyere. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in England 16. It appears that the pipe stamped as this one is was made in 1976. The 0333 is a Billiard with a fish tail (F/T) tapered stem. This is the last billiard that I have to work on from the Dunhill collection.

I am once again including Chuck Stanion’s eloquent description of the Bruyere on the smokingpipes.com site as follows (https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/dunhill/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=346421):

The Bruyere was Alfred Dunhill’s original finish upon launching his brand of premium pipes and smoking accessories and was the only Dunhill finish from 1910 until 1917. Even after the addition of other finishes, the Bruyere maintained a high level of popularity, becoming synonymous with what is thought of, even today, as the quintessential pipe. To achieve the iconic, ruby hue and saturation, a skilled craftsman painstakingly layers particular stains in a precise manner, then meticulously polishes the pipe to a high luster. The final result is, simply put, timeless.

Like Bob’s other Dunhill pipe this one also had a thick cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls. There was a thick lava overflow on the rim so it was hard to know what kind of damage lay beneath the covering. Once it was cleaned I would have a better idea of the condition of the rim top. I could see however that there was definitely damage to the front inner edge of the bowl. The grain that is poking through the grime and oils appears to be quite beautiful – birdseye grain on the bowl sides and cross grain on the front and back as well as the heel of the bowl. The stem was oxidized and calcified toward the end with some tooth chatter. There were also some tooth marks on both sides of the stem ahead of the button and on the button itself. There was the classic White Spot on the top of the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work on it.  Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thick, hard cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls of the bowl. There was a thick lava build up on the smooth rim top and the edges of the bowl. The rim top looked pretty good but it was hard to know for sure. It appeared that there was damage on the front inner edge. The outer edges looked to be okay other than a few small nicks on the sides.    Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the beautiful grain patterns around the sides of the bowl and shank. Even under the dirt and debris of the years it looked very good. The stamping is very readable. On the left side of the shank you can see 0333 which is the shape number. Next to that it is stamped Dunhill over Bruyere. On the right side it reads Made in England16. Jeff included a pic of the White Spot on the stem.    Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the tooth chatter, scratching, calcification and oxidation on the stem surface and wear on the edges of the button.  I can’t begin tell you how great it feels to have Jeff’s help on cleaning up the pipes from Bob’s estate as the 125+ pipes were taking me a long time to do alone. He cleaned this filthy pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. This one was a real mess and I was looking forward to seeing what he had done with this one when I took it out of his box. It looked amazing and CLEAN. He 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 good with great looking grain around the bowl and shank. The rim top looked better on this pipe. The condition of the inner and outer edges was not too bad. The stem looked a lot better. Jeff soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. The pipe was ready for me to carry on the next part of the process. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up and what needed to be done. The rim top had a worn and burned area on the front of the inner edge. It made the bowl out of round and made that section thin at the rim top. I wet the bowl rim down with saliva to show the damaged areas. There was also a significant slope to that part of the rim. There was darkening and nicks all around the top of the bowl and on the inner edge. The outer edge looked good.  I also took close up photos of the stem to show the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface. The stamping appeared to be as clear as it was before the cleanup work. This is just one of the things I appreciate about Jeff’s cleanup is that he works to protect and preserve the nomenclature on the shank of the pipes that he works on. I took some photos to show the stamping. Bob loved his Dunhill pipes and it was obvious that he enjoyed smoking them. Some appeared to be daily smokes while others he seemed to reserve for special occasions. Some seemed like they must have hung in his mouth while he did his carving while others were smoked in his chair. Having worked on over 60 of his pipes so far I am getting a feel for them. This one is in rough condition and I suppose it might well have been before Bob took up the trust. I suppose I won’t ever know for sure but it certainly has a long and interesting story if it could only tell it.

I am sure that many of you have read at least some of the other restoration work that I have done on previous pipes. You have also read what I have included about Bob Kerr, the pipeman who held these pipes in trust before I came to work on them (see photo to the left). Also, if you have followed the blog for long you will already know that I like to include background information on the pipeman whose pipes I am restoring. For me, when I am working on an estate I really like to have a sense of the person who held the pipes in trust before I worked on them. It gives me another dimension of the restoration work. Bob’s daughter wrote a short tribute to her father. I thank you Brian and tell your wife thank you as well.

I am delighted to pass on these beloved pipes of my father’s. I hope each user gets many hours of contemplative pleasure as he did. I remember the aroma of tobacco in the rec room, as he put up his feet on his lazy boy. He’d be first at the paper then, no one could touch it before him. Maybe there would be a movie on with an actor smoking a pipe. He would have very definite opinions on whether the performer was a ‘real’ smoker or not, a distinction which I could never see but it would be very clear to him. He worked by day as a sales manager of a paper products company, a job he hated. What he longed for was the life of an artist, so on the weekends and sometimes mid-week evenings he would journey to his workshop and come out with wood sculptures, all of which he declared as crap but every one of them treasured by my sister and myself. Enjoy the pipes, and maybe a little of his creative spirit will enter you!

It was time to get on with the restoration of this Dunhill Bruyere 0333 Billiard. It was a change of pace from the last bunch of billiards that I had worked on because of the issues with the rim. I really need to send a shout out to Jeff for the hard cleanup work that he does on each of these pipes. They were a real mess when I sent them to Jeff and I have to tell you it was great that I can start my part of the process with a clean pipe.

I decided to start the process by dealing with the the damage to the inner edge of the bowl. Usually I want to minimize the intrusiveness of the work on the rim and focus just on the rim edge. But the front inner edge on this pipe was in very rough condition. It was burned and thin and also at a steep bevel. It did not go deep into the bowl so I was good there. The remaining wood was solid. I have circled the damaged area in Photo 1 below. I cleaned the edge with alcohol on a cotton swab and gave it a light coat of clear Krazy Glue to fill in the taper a bit. I used a dental spatula to fill that glue in with briar dust. Photo 2 shows the repair at this point in the process. Once the repair cured I sanded the area smooth with 220 grit sandpaper carefully focusing on the rim top to flatten the repaired area and giving the inner rim a slight bevel all the way around. Photo 3 shows that work. Photo 4 shows the rim top after the work of beveling the inner edge and smoothing the flat surface has been completed. I polished it lightly with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. You can see the extent of the repaired area in that photo. Once I had it smoothed out I stained the rim top with a Maple stain pen to match the colour of the rest of the rim top and hide the blackened areas a bit. Photo 5 below shows the rim top at this point in the process. Now it needs to be polished with the rest of the bowl and waxed. I polished the briar on the rim top and bowl with worn micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth. I find that the worn pads do a great job polishing and still retain the original patina of the pipe. I rubbed the bowl and rim down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed the pipe with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I really like watching the Balm do its magic and bring the briar alive.    With the bowl done it was time to address the stem. The dents in the top and underside were the right depth for me to lift them. I “painted” the surface with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the dents and it worked exceptionally well.    I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the light chatter in the stem surface and the remaining oxidation in the vulcanite. I polished it with 400 grit wet dry sand paper.  I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish. I have a few tins of this laying around so I am trying to use them up. I have found it is a great pre-polish for my use as it shows me areas that I need to work on with the micromesh sanding pads.  I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I finished by rubbing the stem down with some “No Oxy Oil” to protect the vulcanite. I am experimenting with the product from Briarville and tracking how it works so I can write a review of it. Once again at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. This is the seventh of the Dunhill smooth pipes in Bob’s estate that I am working on. It is a beautiful Dunhill Bruyere 0333 Billiard made in 1976. Like each of the pipes in Bob’s estate I really look forward to this point in the process when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. The rim top looked significantly better. The repair looks like darkening on the front of the top but the bowl is round and to me is in better condition. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain around the bowl and shank really came alive with the wax and polish. The black of the tapered vulcanite White Spot stem is a beautiful contrast to the reds and browns of the finished bowl and shank. This was another Dunhill that was a lot of fun to work on thanks to Jeff’s cleanup work. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown 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. This 1976 Bruyere Billiard is a beauty should last for many more years. It is one that will be on the rebornpipes store very soon. If you are interested let me know. I have a lot more of Bob’s estate to work on of various brands. Perhaps one of those will catch your attention. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

Restoring a 1969 Dunhill Bruyere 112 F/T Apple from Bob Kerr’s Estate

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

As I continue to work through the pipes in Bob Kerr’s Estate I am enjoying choosing different brands that he had to focus on for a bit. I had eight more from his Dunhill collection that I decided to go back to and finish working my way through that sub collection of the estate. Out of the 8 pipes six were Bruyere finished pipes, one was a Made in London (turns out it is also a Bruyere finished pipe), and one was a Root Briar. What follows is a list of what I saw when I examined the 8 pipes. As I finish the pipes I will include the link to the blog on that particular pipe for easy reference. I have already restored 16 pipes from this subgroup so you can do a quick search to read about the work on the Shell Briars and Tanshell Briars that were in that part of the collection.

  1. Bruyere 656 F/T Made in England 2 Circle 4A – Group 4 size Bruyere made in 1962. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  2. Bruyere 112 F/T Made in England 9/11 Circle 2A – Group 2 size Bruyere made in 1969 and sold in 1971. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  3. Bruyere 0333 Made in England 16 made in 1976. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  4. Bruyere 41061 Made in England 18 made in 1978. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/24/restoring-a-1978-dunhill-bruyere-41061-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  5. Bruyere 142 F/T Made in England 7/9/11 Circle 4A – Group for size Bruyere made in 1967 and sent out in 1969 or 1971. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/27/restoring-a-1967-dunhill-bruyere-142-f-t-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/
  6. (A) Dunill London Inner Tube PAT N°5861/12 Shape 34. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/26/restoring-a-1913-a-dunhill-london-34-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  7. (Ao) Dunhill London 113 Made in England 5 PAT N°158709/14. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged rim edges. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/25/restoring-a-1925-ao-dunhill-london-113-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  8. Root Briar 31032 Made in England 18 – made in 1978. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/23/restoring-a-1978-dunhill-root-briar-31032-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).

I finished work on #4, #5, #6, #7 & #8 and turned my attention to #2, another heavily used pipe but this time an Apple shaped pipe with a tapered stem. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank with the shape number 112 F/T next to the bowl/shank junction. That is followed by Dunhill over Bruyere. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in England 9 with a slightly superscript 11 with a Circle 2A. It appears that the pipe stamped as this one is was made in 1969 and shipped or sold in 1971. The 112 F/T is an Apple with a fish tail (F/T) tapered stem. The 2A stamp gives the Group or size number which in this case is a 2. The A stamp denotes a Bruyere pipe. Working on this is a change after the group of billiards I have worked on so far.

I am once again including Chuck Stanion’s eloquent description of the Bruyere on the smokingpipes.com site as follows (https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/dunhill/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=346421):

The Bruyere was Alfred Dunhill’s original finish upon launching his brand of premium pipes and smoking accessories and was the only Dunhill finish from 1910 until 1917. Even after the addition of other finishes, the Bruyere maintained a high level of popularity, becoming synonymous with what is thought of, even today, as the quintessential pipe. To achieve the iconic, ruby hue and saturation, a skilled craftsman painstakingly layers particular stains in a precise manner, then meticulously polishes the pipe to a high luster. The final result is, simply put, timeless.

Like Bob’s other Dunhill pipe this one also had a thick cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls. There was a lava overflow on the rim so it was hard to know what kind of damage lay beneath the thick covering. Once it was cleaned I would have a better idea of the condition of the rim top. I could see however that there was definitely damage to the front inner edge of the bowl. The grain that is poking through the grime and oils appears to be quite beautiful – birdseye grain on the bowl sides and cross grain on the front and back as well as the heel of the bowl. The stem was oxidized and calcified toward the end with some tooth chatter. There were also some tooth marks on both sides of the stem ahead of the button and on the button itself. There was the classic White Spot on the top of the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work on it.  Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thick, hard cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls of the bowl. There was a lava build up on the smooth rim top and the edges of the bowl. The rim top looked pretty good but it was hard to know for sure. It appeared that there was damage on the inner edge. The outer edges looked to be okay other than a few small nicks on the sides.  There was a burn mark on the right side of the bowl from where the pipe had been laid down in an ashtray. It was not deep but it was permanent.Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the beautiful grain patterns around the sides of the bowl and shank. Even under the dirt and debris of the years it looked very good.   The stamping is very readable. On the left side of the shank you can see 112 F/T which is the shape number followed by the F/T for a Fish tail stem. Next to that it is stamped Dunhill over Bruyere. On the right side it reads Made in England 9/11 followed by Circle 2A. Jeff included a pic of the White Spot on the stem.  Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the tooth chatter, scratching, calcification and oxidation on the stem surface and wear on the edges of the button.    I can’t begin tell you how great it feels to have Jeff’s help on cleaning up the pipes from Bob’s estate as the 125+ pipes were taking me a long time to do alone. He cleaned this filthy pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. This one was a real mess and I was looking forward to seeing what he had done with this one when I took it out of his box. It looked amazing and CLEAN. He 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 good with great looking grain around the bowl and shank. The rim top looked better on this pipe. The condition of the inner and outer edges was not too bad. The stem looked a lot better. Jeff soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. The pipe was ready for me to carry on the next part of the process. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up and what needed to be done. The rim top had a worn and burned area on the left front of the inner edge. There was darkening and nicks all around the top of the bowl and on the inner edge. The outer edge looked good.  I also took close up photos of the stem to show the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface.  I also took a close up photo of the burn mark on the right side of the bowl. The stamping appeared to be as clear as it was before the cleanup work. This is just one of the things I appreciate about Jeff’s cleanup is that he works to protect and preserve the nomenclature on the shank of the pipes that he works on. I took some photos to show the stamping. Bob loved his Dunhill pipes and it was obvious that he enjoyed smoking them. Some appeared to be daily smokes while others he seemed to reserve for special occasions. Some seemed like they must have hung in his mouth while he did his carving while others were smoked in his chair. Having worked on over 60 of his pipes so far I am getting a feel for them. This one is in rough condition and I suppose it might well have been before Bob took up the trust. I suppose I won’t ever know for sure but it certainly has a long and interesting story if it could only tell it.

I am sure that many of you have read at least some of the other restoration work that I have done on previous pipes. You have also read what I have included about Bob Kerr, the pipeman who held these pipes in trust before I came to work on them (see photo to the left). Also, if you have followed the blog for long you will already know that I like to include background information on the pipeman whose pipes I am restoring. For me, when I am working on an estate I really like to have a sense of the person who held the pipes in trust before I worked on them. It gives me another dimension of the restoration work. Bob’s daughter wrote a short tribute to her father. I thank you Brian and tell your wife thank you as well.

I am delighted to pass on these beloved pipes of my father’s. I hope each user gets many hours of contemplative pleasure as he did. I remember the aroma of tobacco in the rec room, as he put up his feet on his lazy boy. He’d be first at the paper then, no one could touch it before him. Maybe there would be a movie on with an actor smoking a pipe. He would have very definite opinions on whether the performer was a ‘real’ smoker or not, a distinction which I could never see but it would be very clear to him. He worked by day as a sales manager of a paper products company, a job he hated. What he longed for was the life of an artist, so on the weekends and sometimes mid-week evenings he would journey to his workshop and come out with wood sculptures, all of which he declared as crap but every one of them treasured by my sister and myself. Enjoy the pipes, and maybe a little of his creative spirit will enter you!

It was time to get on with the restoration of this Dunhill Bruyere 112F/T Apple. It was a bit of a change of pace from the last bunch of billiards that I had worked on. I really need to send a shout out to Jeff for the hard cleanup work that Jeff does on each of these pipes. They were a real mess when I sent them to Jeff and I have to tell you it was great that I can start my part of the process with a clean pipe. I decided to start the process by dealing with the the damage to the inner edge of the bowl. I wanted to minimize the intrusiveness of the work on the rim and focus just on the rim edge. I carefully worked on the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and gave it a very slight bevel. I was able to remove much of the darkening and damage. The first photo shows the damaged inner edges of the bowl and the darkening around the full bowl. The second photo below shows the process I used with the folded sandpaper. The third photo shows the rim top and edges after my work on them…though not perfect I think it is an improvement. I polished the briar on the rim top and bowl with worn micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth. I find that the worn pads do a great job polishing and still retain the original patina of the pipe. I rubbed the bowl and rim down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed the pipe with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I really like watching the Balm do its magic and bring the briar alive. With the bowl done it was time to address the stem. The dents in the top and underside were the right depth for me to lift them. I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the remaining oxidation in the vulcanite. I polished it with 400 grit wet dry sand paper.  I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish. I have a few tins of this laying around so I am trying to use them up. It does a pretty good job polishing the stem.  I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I finished by rubbing the stem down with some “No Oxy Oil” to protect the vulcanite. I am experimenting with the product from Briarville and tracking how it works so I can write a review of it.   Once again at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. This is the sixth of the Dunhill smooth pipes in Bob’s estate that I am working on. It is a beautiful Dunhill Bruyere 112 F/T Apple made in 1969 and shipped or sold in 1971. Like each of the pipes in Bob’s estate I really look forward to this point in the process when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. The nicks on the right outer rim edge and the small burn mark look better – minimized a bit. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain around the bowl and shank really came alive with the wax and polish. The black of the tapered vulcanite White Spot stem is a beautiful contrast to the reds and browns of the finished bowl and shank. This was another Dunhill that was a lot of fun to work on thanks to Jeff’s cleanup work. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This 1969 Bruyere Apple is a beauty should last for many more years. It is one that will be on the rebornpipes store very soon. If you are interested let me know. I have a lot more of Bob’s estate to work on of various brands. Perhaps one of those will catch your attention. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

Restoring a 1967 Dunhill Bruyere 142 F/T Billiard from Bob Kerr’s Estate

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

As I continue to work through the pipes in Bob Kerr’s Estate I am enjoying choosing different brands that he had to focus on for a bit. I had eight more from his Dunhill collection that I decided to go back to and finish working my way through that sub collection of the estate. Out of the 8 pipes six were Bruyere finished pipes, one was a Made in London (turns out it is also a Bruyere finished pipe), and one was a Root Briar. What follows is a list of what I saw when I examined the 8 pipes. As I finish the pipes I will include the link to the blog on that particular pipe for easy reference. I have already restored 16 pipes from this subgroup so you can do a quick search to read about the work on the Shell Briars and Tanshell Briars that were in that part of the collection.

  1. Bruyere 656 F/T Made in England 2 Circle 4A – Group 4 size Bruyere made in 1962. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  2. Bruyere 112 F/T Made in England 9/11 Circle 2A – Group 2 size Bruyere made in 1969 and sold in 1971. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  3. Bruyere 0333 Made in England 16 made in 1976. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  4. Bruyere 41061 Made in England 18 made in 1978. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/24/restoring-a-1978-dunhill-bruyere-41061-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  5. Bruyere 142 F/T Made in England 7/9/11 Circle 4A – Group for size Bruyere made in 1967 and sent out in 1969 or 1971. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  6. (A) Dunill London Inner Tube PAT N°5861/12 Shape 34. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/26/restoring-a-1913-a-dunhill-london-34-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  7. (Ao) Dunhill London 113 Made in England 5 PAT N°158709/14. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged rim edges. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/25/restoring-a-1925-ao-dunhill-london-113-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  8. Root Briar 31032 Made in England 18 – made in 1978. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/23/restoring-a-1978-dunhill-root-briar-31032-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).

I finished work on #4, #6, #7 & #8 and turned my attention to #5, another heavily used Billiard with a tapered stem. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank with the shape number 142 F/T next to the bowl/shank junction. That is followed by Dunhill over Bruyere. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in England 7/9/11 with a Circle 4A. It appears that the pipe stamped as this one is was made in 1967 and shipped or sold in 1969 or 1971. The 142 is a Billiard with a tapered stem. The 4A stamp gives the Group or size number which in this case is a 4. The A stamp denotes a Bruyere pipe. Working on this is a change after the two old timers.

I am once again including Chuck Stanion’s eloquent description of the Bruyere on the smokingpipes.com site as follows (https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/dunhill/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=346421):

The Bruyere was Alfred Dunhill’s original finish upon launching his brand of premium pipes and smoking accessories and was the only Dunhill finish from 1910 until 1917. Even after the addition of other finishes, the Bruyere maintained a high level of popularity, becoming synonymous with what is thought of, even today, as the quintessential pipe. To achieve the iconic, ruby hue and saturation, a skilled craftsman painstakingly layers particular stains in a precise manner, then meticulously polishes the pipe to a high luster. The final result is, simply put, timeless.

Like Bob’s other  Dunhill pipe this one also had a thick cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls. There was a lava overflow on the rim so it was hard to know what kind of damage lay beneath the thick covering. Once it was cleaned I would have a better idea of the condition of the rim top. I could see however that there was definitely damage to the front inner edge of the bowl. The grain that is poking through the grime and oils appears to be quite beautiful – birdseye grain on the bowl sides and cross grain on the front and back as well as the heel of the bowl. The stem was oxidized and calcified toward the end with some tooth chatter. There were also some tooth marks on both sides of the stem ahead of the button and on the button itself. There was the classic White Spot on the top of the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work on it.     Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thick, hard cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls of the bowl. There was a lava build up on the smooth rim top and the edges of the bowl. The rim top looked pretty good but it was hard to know for sure. It appeared that there was damage on the inner edge. The outer edges looked to be okay other than a few small nicks on the sides.    Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the beautiful grain patterns around the sides of the bowl and shank. Even under the dirt and debris of the years it looked very good. The stamping is very readable. On the left side of the shank you can see 142 F/T which is the shape number followed by the F/T for a Fishtail stem. Next to that it is stamped Dunhill over Bruyere. On the right side it reads Made in England 7 9 11 followed by Circle 4A. He included a pic of the White Spot on the stem.  Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the tooth chatter, scratching, calcification and oxidation on the stem surface and wear on the edges of the button.    I am really happy to have Jeff’s help on cleaning up the pipes from Bob’s estate as the 125+ pipes were taking me a long time to do alone. He cleaned this filthy pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. This one was a real mess and I was looking forward to seeing what he had done with this one when I took it out of his box. It looked amazing and CLEAN. He 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 good with great looking grain around the bowl and shank. The rim top looked better on this pipe. The condition of the inner and outer edges was not too bad. The stem looked a lot better. Jeff soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. The pipe was ready for me to carry on the next part of the process. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up and what needed to be done. The rim top had a small area toward the left front of the inner edge that was worn or burned. There was darkening and nicks all around the top of the bowl and on the inner edge. The outer edge looked good.  I also took close up photos of the stem to show the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface.  The stamping appeared to be as clear as it was before the cleanup work. This is just one of the things I appreciate about Jeff’s cleanup is that he works to protect and preserve the nomenclature on the shank of the pipes that he works on. I took some photos to show the stamping. Bob loved his Dunhill pipes and it was obvious that he enjoyed smoking them. Some appeared to be daily smokes while others he seemed to reserve for special occasions. Some seemed like they must have hung in his mouth while he did his carving while others were smoked in his chair. Having worked on over 60 of his pipes so far I am getting a feel for them. This one is in rough condition and I suppose it might well have been before Bob took up the trust. I suppose I won’t ever know for sure but it certainly has a long and interesting story if it could only tell it.

I am sure that many of you have read at least some of the other restoration work that I have done on previous pipes. You have also read what I have included about Bob Kerr, the pipeman who held these pipes in trust before I came to work on them (see photo to the left). Also, if you have followed the blog for long you will already know that I like to include background information on the pipeman whose pipes I am restoring. For me, when I am working on an estate I really like to have a sense of the person who held the pipes in trust before I worked on them. It gives me another dimension of the restoration work. Bob’s daughter wrote a short tribute to her father. I thank you Brian and tell your wife thank you as well.

I am delighted to pass on these beloved pipes of my father’s. I hope each user gets many hours of contemplative pleasure as he did. I remember the aroma of tobacco in the rec room, as he put up his feet on his lazy boy. He’d be first at the paper then, no one could touch it before him. Maybe there would be a movie on with an actor smoking a pipe. He would have very definite opinions on whether the performer was a ‘real’ smoker or not, a distinction which I could never see but it would be very clear to him. He worked by day as a sales manager of a paper products company, a job he hated. What he longed for was the life of an artist, so on the weekends and sometimes mid-week evenings he would journey to his workshop and come out with wood sculptures, all of which he declared as crap but every one of them treasured by my sister and myself. Enjoy the pipes, and maybe a little of his creative spirit will enter you!

It was time to get on with the restoration of this beautiful Bruyere 142F/T Billiard. I really appreciate the hard cleanup work that Jeff did on each of these pipes. They were a real mess when I sent them to Jeff and I have to tell you it was great that I did not need to clean this pipe. I decided to start the process by dealing with the the damage to the inner edge of the bowl. I worked on the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and gave it a very slight bevel. I was able to remove much of the darkening and damage. The first photo shows the damaged inner edges of the bowl and the darkening around the full bowl. The second photo below shows the process I used with the folded sandpaper. The third photo shows the rim top and edges after my work on them…though not perfect I think it is an improvement. I gave the rim top a quick polish with 400 grit wet dry paper and 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and it brought back some of life to the rim top. I used a Maple stain pen to touch up the edge of the bowl and took a photo to show the work. I polished the briar on the rim top and bowl with worn micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth. I find that the worn pads do a great job polishing and still retain the original patina of the pipe.   I rubbed the bowl and rim down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed the pipe with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I really like watching the Balm do its magic and bring the briar alive.     With the bowl done it was time to address the stem. The dents in the top and underside were the right depth for me to lift them. I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the remaining oxidation in the vulcanite. I polished it with 400 grit wet dry sand paper. I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish. I have a few tins of this laying around so I am trying to use them up. It does a pretty good job polishing the stem.  I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I finished by rubbing the stem down with some “No Oxy Oil” to protect the vulcanite. I am experimenting with the product from Briarville and tracking how it works so I can write a review of it. Once again at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. This is the fifth of the Dunhill smooth pipes in Bob’s estate that I am working on. It is a beautiful Dunhill Bruyere 142 F/T Billiard made in 1967 and shipped or sold in 1969 and/or 1971. Like each of the pipes in Bob’s estate I really look forward to this point in the process when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain around the bowl and shank really came alive with the wax and polish. The black of the tapered vulcanite White Spot stem is a beautiful contrast to the reds and browns of the finished bowl and shank. This was another Dunhill that was a lot of fun to work on thanks to Jeff’s cleanup work. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown 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. This 1967 Bruyere Billiard is a beauty should be able to last for many more years. It is one that will be on the rebornpipes store very soon. If you are interested let me know. I have a lot more of Bob’s estate to work on of various brands. Perhaps one of those will catch your attention. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

Restoring a 1925 “Ao” Dunhill London 113 Billiard from Bob Kerr’s Estate

5 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

As I continue to work through the pipes in Bob Kerr’s Estate I am enjoying choosing different brands that he had to focus on for a bit. I had eight more from his Dunhill collection that I decided to go back to and finish working my way through that sub collection of the estate. Out of the 8 pipes six were Bruyere finished pipes, one was a Made in London (turns out it is also a Bruyere finished pipe), and one was a Root Briar. What follows is a list of what I saw when I examined the 8 pipes. As I finish the pipes I will include the link to the blog on that particular pipe for easy reference. I have already restored 16 pipes from this subgroup so you can do a quick search to read about the work on the Shell Briars and Tanshell Briars that were in that part of the collection.

  1. Bruyere 656 F/T Made in England 2 Circle 4A – Group 4 size Bruyere made in 1962. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  2. Bruyere 112 F/T Made in England 9/11 Circle 2A – Group 2 size Bruyere made in 1969 and sold in 1971. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  3. Bruyere 0333 Made in England 16 made in 1976. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  4. Bruyere 41061 Made in England 18 made in 1978. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/24/restoring-a-1978-dunhill-bruyere-41061-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).
  5. Bruyere 142 F/T Made in England 7/9/11 Circle 4A – Group for size Bruyere made in 1967 and sent out in 1969 or 1971. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  6. Bruyere A Inner Tube Patent No. 5831412 Shape 34. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. Missing the inner tube.
  7. (Ao) London 113 Made in England 5 PAT N°158709/14. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged rim edges.
  8. Root Briar 31032 Made in England 18 – made in 1978. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/23/restoring-a-1978-dunhill-root-briar-31032-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).

I finished work on #8 and turned my attention to #7 a heavily abused Billiard with a tapered stem. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank with the Ao number next to the bowl/shank junction. That is followed by Dunhill over London. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in England 5 with “Inner Tube” underneath that with PAT N°158709/14 underneath. I turned to the PipePhil website to see if I could pin down the time from for the entrance of the inner tube and also see if I could clear up the date of the patent number on the pipe (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/root-bru-guide.html). I did a screen capture of the pertinent info on that below.It appears that the pipe stamped as this one is with the Made in England 5 with “Inner Tube” over Pat. No. places this pipe as a 1925 Pipe. I went on to a separate page on the site to see if I could identify the Ao stamp (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/bruyere1.html). From there is appears that the stamp means that the pipe is a Bruyere from 1925and that also is attested by the “DUNHILL over LONDON” marking.

Chuck Stanion eloquently describes the Bruyere on the Smokingpipes.com site as follows (https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/dunhill/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=346421):

The Bruyere was Alfred Dunhill’s original finish upon launching his brand of premium pipes and smoking accessories and was the only Dunhill finish from 1910 until 1917. Even after the addition of other finishes, the Bruyere maintained a high level of popularity, becoming synonymous with what is thought of, even today, as the quintessential pipe. To achieve the iconic, ruby hue and saturation, a skilled craftsman painstakingly layers particular stains in a precise manner, then meticulously polishes the pipe to a high luster. The final result is, simply put, timeless.

On rebornpipes I have a blog by Eric Boehm on Dunhill shape numbers and I turned to that to help identify the shape number on this pipe. Eric notes that the shape number 113 designates a Billiard with a tapered stem. (https://rebornpipes.com/2012/11/01/dunhill-pipe-shapes-collated-by-eric-w-boehm/).

Now I knew I was dealing with one of Bob’s oldest Dunhill pipes. It was a 1925 Dunhill Bruyere with a patent number and stamping that established the date for me. It was time to turn to the pipe. There was a thick cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls. There was a lava overflow on the rim that filled in all of the damage to the surface of the rim top and edges. Once it was cleaned I would have a better idea of the condition of the rim top. I could see however that there was definitely damage to both the inner and the outer edge of the bowl. The grain that is poking through the grime and oils appears to be quite beautiful – diagonal or flame grain and some birdseye grain on the heel of the bowl. The stem was oxidized and calcified toward the end with some tooth chatter. There were also some tooth marks on both sides of the stem ahead of the button and on the button itself. There was the classic White Spot on the top of the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work on it.  Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thick, hard cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls of the bowl. There was a lava build up on the smooth rim top and the edges of the bowl. The rim top looked pretty good but it was hard to know for sure. It appeared that there was damage at the back and the front of the inner edge. The outer edges looked good.    Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the beautiful grain patterns around the sides of the bowl and shank. Even under the dirt and debris of the years it looked very good.   The stamping is readable with a lens and a bright light. On the left side of the shank you can see Ao (which turns out to be the designation for a Bruyere finish) followed by Dunhill over London. On the right side it reads Made In England with the date stamp 5 after the D in England underneath that it is stamped “Inner Tube” over PAT N°158709/14. He included a pic of the White Spot on the stem.  Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the tooth chatter, scratching, calcification and oxidation on the stem surface and wear on the edges of the button.   I am really happy to have Jeff’s help on cleaning up the pipes from Bob’s estate as the 125+ pipes were taking me a long time to do alone. He cleaned this filthy pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. This one was a real mess and I was looking forward to seeing what he had done with this one when I took it out of his box. It looked amazing and CLEAN. He 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 very good with great looking grain around the bowl and shank. The rim top was the biggest issue with this pipe. The inner and outer edges were really quite rough and that would need to be dealt with. The stem looked a lot better. Jeff soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. The pipe was ready for me to carry on the next part of the process. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up and what needed to be done. The rim top had a dent on the right outer edge and some darkening toward the back of the bowl and on the inner edge. There was also some burn damage on the front inner edge of the bowl. The outer edge looked very good.  I also took close up photos of the stem to show the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface.The stamping appeared to be as clear as it was before the cleanup work. This is just one of the things I appreciate about Jeff’s cleanup is that he works to protect and preserve the nomenclature on the shank of the pipes that he works on. I took some photos to show the stamping. Bob loved his Dunhill pipes and it was obvious that he enjoyed smoking them. Some appeared to be daily smokes while others he seemed to reserve for special occasions. Some seemed like they must have hung in his mouth while he did his carving while others were smoked in his chair. Having worked on over 60 of his pipes so far I am getting a feel for them. This one is in rough condition and I suppose it might well have been before Bob took up the trust. I suppose I won’t ever know for sure but it certainly has a long and interesting story if it could only tell it.

I am sure that many of you have read at least some of the other restoration work that I have done on previous pipes. You have also read what I have included about Bob Kerr, the pipeman who held these pipes in trust before I came to work on them (see photo to the left). Also, if you have followed the blog for long you will already know that I like to include background information on the pipeman whose pipes I am restoring. For me, when I am working on an estate I really like to have a sense of the person who held the pipes in trust before I worked on them. It gives me another dimension of the restoration work. Bob’s daughter wrote a short tribute to her father. I thank you Brian and tell your wife thank you as well.

I am delighted to pass on these beloved pipes of my father’s. I hope each user gets many hours of contemplative pleasure as he did. I remember the aroma of tobacco in the rec room, as he put up his feet on his lazy boy. He’d be first at the paper then, no one could touch it before him. Maybe there would be a movie on with an actor smoking a pipe. He would have very definite opinions on whether the performer was a ‘real’ smoker or not, a distinction which I could never see but it would be very clear to him. He worked by day as a sales manager of a paper products company, a job he hated. What he longed for was the life of an artist, so on the weekends and sometimes mid-week evenings he would journey to his workshop and come out with wood sculptures, all of which he declared as crap but every one of them treasured by my sister and myself. Enjoy the pipes, and maybe a little of his creative spirit will enter you!

It was time to get on with the restoration of this old and worn 1925 Dunhill Bruyere Billiard. I really appreciate the hard cleanup work that Jeff did on these pipes. They were a real mess when I sent them to Jeff and I have to tell you it was great that I did not need to clean this pipe. I decided to start the process by dealing with the the damage to the edges and the rim top of the bowl. I used some clear Krazy Glue to stabilize the ragged edges of the rim top. You can see the cuts and gouges but there are also some areas that looked like splintering. I spread the glue on the rim top to smooth and bind it all together. Once it cured I lightly topped the bowl to get a flat surface to work with. It looked good once it was cleaned up. It looks like a more radical topping than it actually is. I know some of you would have left it as it stood, but I decided to address the roughness. I was afraid it would splinter out and cause more damage so I chose to minimize the damage as much as possible without radically changing the profile. The inner edge of the rim looked bad at this point. Hacked and carved up. It would take a bit of work to reduce it. The outer edge also had some issues that would need to be addressed. I worked on the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and gave it a very slight bevel. I was able to remove much of the damage. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage on the outer edge of the bowl as well.  The second photo below shows the rim top and edges after my work on them…though not perfect I think it is an improvement. I was hoping that polishing the rim top and briar would help to blend to the top with the bowl enough that I would not need to stain it. Remember I said that I gently topped it. When I wet the briar it actually looked very close! Here is hoping! I polished the briar on the rim top and bowl with worn micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth. I find that the worn pads do a great job polishing and still retain the original patina of the pipe.  By the time I was finished the rim top was looking very close in colour to the rest of the bowl. I was not going to have to stain it.    I rubbed the bowl and rim down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed the pipe with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I really like watching the Balm do its magic and bring the briar alive.    With the bowl done it was time to address the stem. The dents in the top and underside were the right depth for me to lift them. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to raise the dents in the surface. I was able to lift most of them to the point that a repair would be less complex.   I filled in the damaged areas on the top and bottom button edges and the small remaining dents on both sides of the stem with clear Krazy Glue. I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the remaining oxidation in the vulcanite. I polished it with 400 grit wet dry sand paper.    I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish. I have a few tins of this laying around so I am trying to use them up. It does a pretty good job polishing the stem.  I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I finished by rubbing the stem down with some “No Oxy Oil” to protect the vulcanite. I am experimenting with the product from Briarville and tracking how it works so I can write a review of it. Once again at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. This is the third of the Dunhill smooth pipes in Bob’s estate that I am working on. It is another one that turned out to be a beautiful 1925 Bruyere Billiard. It was in really rough condition so I really was looking forward to this point in the process when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain around the bowl and shank really came alive with the wax and polish. The black of the tapered vulcanite White Spot stem is a beautiful contrast to the reds and browns of the finished bowl and shank. This was another older Dunhill that was a lot of fun to work on thanks to Jeff’s cleanup work. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown 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. This 1925 Bruyere Billiard is a beauty should be able to last beyond the life of the next pipeman or women who carries on the trust. I have a lot more of Bob’s estate to work on of various brands. Perhaps one of those will catch your attention. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

Restoring a 1978 Dunhill Bruyere 41061 from Bob Kerr’s Estate

7 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

As I continue to work through the pipes in Bob Kerr’s Estate I am enjoying choosing different brands that he had to focus on for a bit. I had eight more from his Dunhill collection that I decided to go back to and finish working my way through that sub collection of the estate. Out of the 8 pipes six were Bruyere finished pipes, one was a Made in London, and one was a Root Briar. What follows is a list of what I saw when I examined the 8 pipes. As I finish the pipes I will include the link to the blog on that particular pipe for easy reference. I have already restored 16 pipes from this subgroup so you can do a quick search to read about the work on the Shell Briars and Tanshell Briars that were in that part of the collection.

  1. Bruyere 656 F/T Made in England 2 Circle 4A – Group 4 size Bruyere made in 1962. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  2. Bruyere 112 F/T Made in England 9/11 Circle 2A – Group 2 size Bruyere made in 1969 and sold in 1971. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  3. Bruyere 0333 Made in England 16 made in 1976. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  4. Bruyere 41061 Made in England 18 made in 1978. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  5. Bruyere 142 F/T Made in England 7/9/11 Circle 4A – Group for size Bruyere made in 1967 and sent out in 1969 or 1971. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  6. Bruyere A Inner Tube Patent No. 5831412 Shape 34. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. Missing the inner tube.
  7. Made in London 113 539/14. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged rim edges.
  8. Root Briar 31032 Made in England 18 – made in 1978. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. I finished the restoration on it. Here is the link to the blog – (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/12/23/restoring-a-1978-dunhill-root-briar-31032-billiard-from-bob-kerrs-estate/).

I finished work on #8 and turned my attention to #4 a Bruyere 41061 Pot with a tapered stem.     Chuck Stanion eloquently describes the brand on the Smokingpipes.com site as follows (https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/dunhill/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=346421):

The Bruyere was Alfred Dunhill’s original finish upon launching his brand of premium pipes and smoking accessories and was the only Dunhill finish from 1910 until 1917. Even after the addition of other finishes, the Bruyere maintained a high level of popularity, becoming synonymous with what is thought of, even today, as the quintessential pipe. To achieve the iconic, ruby hue and saturation, a skilled craftsman painstakingly layers particular stains in a precise manner, then meticulously polishes the pipe to a high luster. The final result is, simply put, timeless.

The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank with the five digit shape number next to the bowl/shank junction. It read 41061. That is followed by Dunhill over Bruyere. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in England 18 which would make it a pipe made in 1978. The shape number code can be broken down to give a lot of information. Typically Dunhill pipes are stamped with a four digit code. The first digit (1-6) denotes the group size of the pipe. In this case it is a Group 4 sized pipe. The second digit denotes the style of the mouthpiece (0,1=tapered, 2=saddle). In this case it is a 1 which matches the tapered stem on the shank. The third and fourth digits give the generic shape in the chart below. I have captured part of the chart to identify this pipe as a 06 or a straight Pot. When 5 digits occur, the meaning of the 4 first remains the same (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shapes.html). There was a thick cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls. There was a lava overflow on the rim. The top and edges of the rim appear to be in good condition though there appears to be a little burn damage on the left front inner edge of the bowl. The outer edge looks very good. The grain on this is beautiful – diagonal or flame grain and some cross grain on the heel of the bowl. I think that there is a beautiful pipe underneath all of the buildup of years of use. The sides of the bowl had some darkening from oils and tars. The stem was oxidized and calcified toward the end with some tooth chatter. There were also some tooth marks on both sides of the stem ahead of the button and on the button itself. There was the classic White Spot on the top of the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work on it.  Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thick, hard cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls of the bowl. There was a lava build up on the smooth rim top and the edges of the bowl. The rim top looked pretty good but it was hard to know for sure. It appeared that there was damage at the back and the front of the inner edge. The outer edges looked good.    Jeff took a photo of the side and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the beautiful grain patterns around the sides of the bowl and shank. Even under the dirt and debris of the years it looked very good.The stamping is readable and on the left side of the shank you can see the shape number 41061 as noted above followed by Dunhill over Bruyere. On the right side it reads Made In England with the date stamp 18 after the D in England. He included a pic of the White Spot on the stem. Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the tooth chatter, scratching, calcification and oxidation on the stem surface and wear on the edges of the button. I am really happy to have Jeff’s help on cleaning up the pipes from Bob’s estate as the 125+ pipes were taking me a long time to do alone. He cleaned this filthy pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. This one was a real mess and I was looking forward to seeing what he had done with this one when I took it out of his box. It looked amazing and CLEAN. He 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 very good with great looking grain around the bowl and shank. It looked like there were some dents in the briar on the right side of the bowl that would need to be dealt with. The stem looked a lot better. Jeff soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. The pipe was ready for me to carry on the next part of the process. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up and what needed to be done. The rim top had a dent on the right outer edge and some darkening toward the back of the bowl and on the inner edge. There was also some burn damage on the front inner edge of the bowl. The outer edge looked very good.  I also took close up photos of the stem to show the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface.The stamping appeared to be as clear as ever on the shank sides. This is just one of the things I appreciate about Jeff’s cleanup is that he works to protect and preserve the nomenclature on the shank of the pipes that he works on. I took some photos to show the stamping. Bob loved his Dunhill pipes and it was obvious that he enjoyed smoking them. Some appeared to be daily smokes while others he seemed to reserve for special occasions. Some seemed like they must have hung in his mouth while he did his carving while others were smoked in his chair. Having worked on over 60 of his pipes so far I am getting a feel for them.

I am sure that many of you have read at least some of the other restoration work that I have done on previous pipes. You have also read what I have included about Bob Kerr, the pipeman who held these pipes in trust before I came to work on them (see photo to the left). Also, if you have followed the blog for long you will already know that I like to include background information on the pipeman whose pipes I am restoring. For me, when I am working on an estate I really like to have a sense of the person who held the pipes in trust before I worked on them. It gives me another dimension of the restoration work. Bob’s daughter wrote a short tribute to her father. I thank you Brian and tell your wife thank you as well.

I am delighted to pass on these beloved pipes of my father’s. I hope each user gets many hours of contemplative pleasure as he did. I remember the aroma of tobacco in the rec room, as he put up his feet on his lazy boy. He’d be first at the paper then, no one could touch it before him. Maybe there would be a movie on with an actor smoking a pipe. He would have very definite opinions on whether the performer was a ‘real’ smoker or not, a distinction which I could never see but it would be very clear to him. He worked by day as a sales manager of a paper products company, a job he hated. What he longed for was the life of an artist, so on the weekends and sometimes mid-week evenings he would journey to his workshop and come out with wood sculptures, all of which he declared as crap but every one of them treasured by my sister and myself. Enjoy the pipes, and maybe a little of his creative spirit will enter you!

It was time to get on with the restoration of this beautiful and worn Dunhill Bruyere Pot. I really appreciate the hard cleanup work that Jeff did on these pipes. They were a real mess when I sent them to Jeff and I have to tell you it was great that I did not need to clean this pipe. I decided to start the process by dealing with the the damage to the inner edge of the bowl. I worked on the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and gave it a very slight bevel. I was able to remove much of the damage. I gave the freshly beveled edge a stain coat with a walnut stain pen to blend the edge into the rim top finish. There was a large dent in the rim top near the outer edge that I wanted to deal with. You can see on it in the first picture below. I have used a red arrow to clearly identify the issue that I wanted to address. It looks almost like a fill but it is not – just a deep dent.  I set up my wife’s steam iron on the kitchen counter top. I put a damp cloth next over the dent and applied the steam iron to the surface. It took several attempts but the dent raise to the surface.   I polished the briar on the rim top and bowl with worn micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth. I find that the worn pads do a great job polishing and still retain the original patina of the pipe.   I rubbed the bowl and rim down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed the pipe with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I really like watching the Balm do its magic and bring the briar alive.    With the bowl finished I turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the remaining oxidation in the vulcanite. I polished it with 400 grit wet dry sand paper.  I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I finished by rubbing the stem down with some “No Oxy Oil” to protect the vulcanite. I am experimenting with the product from Briarville and tracking how it works so I can write a review of it.  Once again at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. This is the second of the Dunhill smooth pipes in Bob’s estate that I am working on. It is a beautiful Bruyere 41061 Pot. I always look forward to this point in the process when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain around the bowl and shank really came alive with the wax and polish. The black of the tapered vulcanite White Spot stem is a beautiful contrast to the reds and browns of the finished bowl and shank. This Dunhill was a lot of fun to work on thanks to Jeff’s cleanup work. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This 78 Bruyere Pot is a beauty that is already spoken for by fellow in the US. I have a lot more of Bob’s estate to work on of various brands. Perhaps one of those will catch your attention. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

Restoring a 1978 Dunhill Root Briar 31032 Billiard from Bob Kerr’s Estate

11 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

As I continue to work through the pipes in Bob Kerr’s Estate I am enjoying choosing different brands that he had to focus on for a bit. I had eight more from his Dunhill collection that I decided to go back to and finish working my way through that sub collection of the estate. Out of the 8 pipes six were Bruyere finished pipes, one was a Made in London, and one was a Root Briar. What follows is a list of what I saw when I examined the 8 pipes. As I finish the pipes I will include the link to the blog on that particular pipe for easy reference. I have already restored 16 pipes from this subgroup so you can do a quick search to read about the work on the Shell Briars and Tanshell Briars that were in that part of the collection.

  1. Bruyere 656 F/T Made in England 2 Circle 4A – Group 4 size Bruyere made in 1962. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  2. Bruyere 112 F/T Made in England 9/11 Circle 2A – Group 2 size Bruyere made in 1969 and sold in 1971. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  3. Bruyere 0333 Made in England 16 made in 1976. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  4. Bruyere 41061 Made in England 18 made in 1978. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  5. Bruyere 142 F/T Made in England 7/9/11 Circle 4A – Group for size Bruyere made in 1967 and sent out in 1969 or 1971. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.
  6. Bruyere A Inner Tube Patent No. 5831412 Shape 34. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge. Missing the inner tube.
  7. Made in London 113 539/14. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged rim edges.
  8. Root Briar 31032 Made in England 18 – made in 1978. Stem is oxidized, tooth marks and chatter near the button, some calcification with damage to the button. Finish is dirty, bowl caked and lava overflow on the rim top. Bowl is out of round, damaged edge.

I chose to work on #8 next, the sole Root Briar pipe remaining in the collection. Paresh had picked up an earlier one that I had finished to add to his collection in India. The highest honor for a Dunhill pipe is to receive the prestigious Root Briar appellation. Root Briars have been coveted by pipesmokers ever since they first debuted in 1931, due to the fact that each pipe must boast briar completely free of even the most minor of blemishes. Dunhill has the strictest of standards and expectations for quality with all of their pipes, and so any block of briar that comes to bear the Root Briar stamp must indeed be superlative.

The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank with the five digit shape number next to the bowl/shank junction. It read 31032. That is followed by Dunhill over Root Briar. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in England 18 which would make it a pipe made in 1978. The shape number code can be broken down to give a lot of information. Typically Dunhill pipes are stamped with a four digit code. The first digit (1-6) denotes the group size of the pipe. In this case it is a Group 3 sized pipe. The second digit denotes the style of the mouthpiece (0,1=tapered, 2=saddle). In this case it is a 1 which matches the tapered stem on the shank. The third and fourth digits give the generic shape in the chart below. I have captured part of the chart to identify this pipe as a 03 or a straight Billiard. When 5 digits occur, the meaning of the 4 first remains the same (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shapes.html). There was a thick cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls. There was a lava overflow on the rim. The top and edges of the rim appear to be in good condition though there appears to be a little burn damage on the left front inner edge of the bowl. The outer edge looks very good. The grain on this is beautiful – diagonal or flame grain and some birdseye on the heel of the bowl. I think that there is a beautiful pipe underneath all of the buildup of years of use. The sides of the bowl had some darkening from oils and tars. The stem was oxidized and calcified toward the end with some tooth chatter. There were also some tooth marks on both sides of the stem ahead of the button and on the button itself. There was the classic White Spot on the top of the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thick, hard cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls of the bowl. There was a lava build up on the smooth rim top and the edges of the bowl. The rim top looked pretty good but it was hard to know for sure. It appeared that there was damage at the back and the front of the inner edge. The outer edges looked good.    Jeff took photos of the side and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the beautiful grain patterns around the sides of the bowl and shank. Even under the dirt and debris of the years it looked very good.The stamping is readable and on the left side of the shank you can see the shape number 31032 as noted above followed by Dunhill over Root Briar. On the right side it reads Made In England with the date stamp 18 after the D in England. He included a pic of the White Spot on the stem. Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the tooth chatter, scratching and oxidation on the stem surface and wear on the edges of the button.I am really happy to have Jeff’s help on cleaning up the pipes from Bob’s estate as the 125+ pipes were taking me a long time to do alone. He cleaned this filthy pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. This one was a real mess and I was looking forward to seeing what he had done with this one when I took it out of his box. It looked amazing and CLEAN. He 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 very good with great looking grain around the bowl and shank. It looked like there were some dents in the briar on the right side of the bowl that would need to be dealt with. The stem looked a lot better. Jeff soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. The pipe was ready for me to carry on the next part of the process. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up and what needed to be done. The rim top had some darkening toward the back of the bowl and on the inner edge. There was also some burn damage on the front inner edge of the bowl. The outer edge looked very good.  I also took close up photos of the stem to show the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface.   The stamping appeared to be as clear as ever on the shank sides. This is just one of the things I appreciate about Jeff’s cleanup is that he works to protect and preserve the nomenclature on the shank of the pipes that he works on. I took some photos to show the stamping. Bob loved his Dunhill pipes and it was obvious that he enjoyed smoking them. Some appeared to be daily smokes while others he seemed to reserve for special occasions. Some seemed like they must have hung in his mouth while he did his carving while others were smoked in his chair. Having worked on over 60 of his pipes so far I am getting a feel for them.

I am sure that many of you have read at least some of the other restoration work that I have done on previous pipes. You have also read what I have included about Bob Kerr, the pipeman who held these pipes in trust before I came to work on them (see photo to the left). Also, if you have followed the blog for long you will already know that I like to include background information on the pipeman whose pipes I am restoring. For me, when I am working on an estate I really like to have a sense of the person who held the pipes in trust before I worked on them. It gives me another dimension of the restoration work. Bob’s daughter wrote a short tribute to her father. I thank you Brian and tell your wife thank you as well.

I am delighted to pass on these beloved pipes of my father’s. I hope each user gets many hours of contemplative pleasure as he did. I remember the aroma of tobacco in the rec room, as he put up his feet on his lazy boy. He’d be first at the paper then, no one could touch it before him. Maybe there would be a movie on with an actor smoking a pipe. He would have very definite opinions on whether the performer was a ‘real’ smoker or not, a distinction which I could never see but it would be very clear to him. He worked by day as a sales manager of a paper products company, a job he hated. What he longed for was the life of an artist, so on the weekends and sometimes mid-week evenings he would journey to his workshop and come out with wood sculptures, all of which he declared as crap but every one of them treasured by my sister and myself. Enjoy the pipes, and maybe a little of his creative spirit will enter you!

It was time to get on with the restoration of this beautiful and worn Dunhill Root Briar Billiard. I really appreciate the hard cleanup work that Jeff did on these pipes. They were a real mess when I sent them to Jeff and I have to tell you it was great that I did not need to clean this pipe. I decided to start the process by dealing with the dents in the briar on both sides of the bowl. I heated a knife with the flame on our gas stove and dampened a cloth. I put the cloth over the dents and applied the hot knife to the surface. The heat generated steam and lifted the dents. I applied the knife several times before I was happy with the look of the bowl. I then went on to address the damage to the inner edge of the bowl. I worked on the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and gave it a very slight bevel. I was able to remove much of the damage. There was still a slight “dip” in the edge at the front. The photos show the progress.   I polished the briar on the rim top with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-4000 grit pads and I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth.  The grain progressively stood out as I polished the pipe with the pads.   I paused the polishing to restain the rim top to match the rest of the pipe. I used a walnut stain pen and was able to get the match. The rim top would need to be polished but the colour was right so time would tell.I continued to polish the bowl with 6000-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth.   I rubbed the bowl and rim down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed the pipe with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I really like watching the Balm do its magic and bring the briar alive.    With the bowl done it was time to address the stem. The dents in the top and underside were the right depth for me to lift them. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to raise the dents in the surface. I was able to lift most of them to the point that a repair would be less complex.   I filled in the damaged areas on the button edge and the small remaining dents in the underside of the stem with clear Krazy Glue. Once the repair had cured I used a flat needle file to reshape the button and edges. The stem is starting to take shape.  I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the remaining oxidation in the vulcanite. I polished it with 400 grit wet dry sand paper.    I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish. I have a few tins of this laying around so I am trying to use them up. It does a pretty good job polishing the stem.  I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I finished by rubbing the stem down with some “No Oxy Oil” to protect the vulcanite. I am experimenting with the product from Briarville and tracking how it works so I can write a review of it.  Once again at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. This is the first of the Dunhill smooth pipes in Bob’s estate that I am working on. It is a beautiful Root Briar 31032 Billiard. I always look forward to this point in the process when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain around the bowl and shank really came alive with the wax and polish. The black of the tapered vulcanite White Spot stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the finished bowl and shank. This is Dunhill was a lot of fun to work on thanks to Jeff’s cleanup work. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This 78 Root Briar Billiard is a beauty that I am still trying to figure out whether to sell it or buy it. It will take a bit of time and once I decide I will either enjoy it or it will be going on the rebornpipes store. I have a lot more of Bob’s estate to work on of various brands. Perhaps one of those will catch your attention. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.