Tag Archives: fitting a stem

Who would have guessed that there was a Beauty in this Beast

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Blog by Steve Laug

Sometimes you have to look past the state of a pipe to really see what could be present underneath all of the layers of dirt and grime. You have to have the right perspective as well. You need to be able to see these pipes as well loved rather than abused; as a favourite pipe rather than a neglected one. This the context in which the next pipe that crossed my worktable is to be viewed. Here is the back-story. Not too long ago I received an email from a friend of mine named Jim, whose pipes I have worked on in the past. He had an interesting story to tell me and a request. I thought rather than tell the story for him I would let him tell it himself. Here is his email in full:

Hey Steve,

I have been hunting about 1200 acres of Farm and Woodland Property owned by an area farmer and old friend of mine named Stephen Lehner. Steve knows I am a pipe aficionado, and approached me the other day with a pipe that had belonged to his father. I was able to get a little history of how this pipe came to be in this abysmal condition. Steve’s father was rather hard on his pipes. As the original owner of this pipe, Steve said his dad, in the latter years of his life, was not given to cleaning his pipes. His cleaning routine, if you could call it that, consisted of digging any ash and unburnt tobacco from the bowl with a pocket knife, then grasping the pipe by the stem, toward the mouthpiece/lip area, and banging it violently against any nearby hard object – trees, brick walls, car mirrors. It was hard enough that Steve’s son, Shawn, remarked that the old man actually damaged the mirrors on his trucks! Mr. Lehner’s pipes were so abused, that he routinely broke stems, necessitating that he acquire new stems – some of which were not well fitted.

In any case, Steve handed me this pipe, stating that it is one of a very few connections he has to his late father, and asked if I could do a cursory cleaning so he could display it as a keepsake (He is not a pipe smoker). I thought the pipe was interesting, if in bad condition. I cannot clearly make out any markings. On one side, there is a partially legible stamping, “…vage” with some cursive writing below it which I cannot make out. On the other side, I can read the number “75.”  I think it is a bulldog style. The tenon will not enter all the way into the mortise, and I am not sure if that is because there is so much crud inside or because it is not the correct bit.  The bowl is heavily caked and cracked. It also looks as though there was some ad hoc rustication on the bowl, as well. The bowl shows a distinct area of impact where it was banged during cleaning as well.

I attached some pix so you could behold this wonder:Once I saw the pictures I was quite taken back by the sheer beastly look of this old pipe. It had quite literally been beaten to death. The bowl was cracked on the outside of the bowl that started at the front of the bowl and extended to almost the back side. There was a second crack below that on the front of the bowl extending from the bottom of the first crack and extending toward the other side of the bowl. The bowl was so badly caked that I could not even get my pinky finger in the bowl. I tried to blow through the end of the shank and I was unable to get any air through the bowl. The finish was dirty and sticky to touch. The worm trail rustication ran over the bowl surface but was filled in with dirt and grit. From the photos it appeared that the shank inside was incredibly dirty. I think that it is fair to say this pipe was a stranger to pipe cleaners. The stem that was in the shank was not a fit. It was of smaller diameter than the shank. The slot in the stem was almost clogged.

After reading his email and looking over the photos I wrote back to my friend. I was pretty certain from the look of the rustication and the shape number he gave me that the pipe was a GBD. The three letters that he could read on the left side of the shank were age. That led me to look in the GBD list I have and concluded that the pipe was a GBD Sauvage. I looked up some information on a chart I have of GBD lines and knew that the pipe was originally sold with a light brown stain, smooth bowl with deep carved lines to hide flaws. It was similar to a Savinelli Sherwood, but much deeper carved lines. The GBD shape number 75 was a Rhodesian with a1/4 Bent Saddle stem. While this old pipe was a mess it was awfully hard to tell if it ever was a Rhodesian. I sent him this information in my reply.

He wrote back and said he wondered if I would be willing to tackle the restoration on this one. If so he would send it to me. I wrote back and said I would do the work. I guess I will find out if my guesses on the brand of this pipe were correct. I would know more once it arrived.

The pipe arrived and it was indeed a mess. On top of the beat up old pipe, the reek of Middleton’s Cherry pipe tobacco filled the room when I opened the box. My daughters immediately commented on how strong the smell was. I examined the pipe with a lens to see if I could identify the pipe. It was stamped on the left side of the shank with the GBD logo in an oval over Sauvage over Collector in script. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in England over 75 which is the shape number. The next photos show what the pipe looked like when I received it. I took a close up photo of the rim to show the absolute dreadful condition this pipe was in when it arrived. The bowl had a thick cake that still reeked of the aroma of burnt Middleton’s Cherry pipe tobacco. The rim had been hammered to what looked like the point of no return – though I would not know for sure until I had removed the cake and the buildup on the rim top. The stem was a replacement one and it was obviously a poor fitting one. The diameter of the stem and the shank were not a match and the tenon could not be pushed into the shank because of the grit and tar built up inside. The button had been flattened by biting and there were tooth dents on it and also on the top and bottom sides. I would definitely need to make a new stem for the pipe. I decided to start by reaming the bowl back to bare wood. I wanted to see if the cracks on the outside continued into the bowl. I fully expected the bowl to fall apart once the carbon was removed and ceased to hold everything together. I started reaming with the smallest cutting blade on the PipNet pipe reamer and worked up to the largest cutting head. I finished reaming the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife.I rolled a piece of 80 grit sandpaper on my index finger and sanded the inside of the bowl. I wanted to be able to clearly see if the cracks on the outside continued into the bowl. The second photo below shows the inside of the bowl. The crack on the left side of the bowl did not seem to show through inside. The one on the front of the bowl still needed some more work to be certain but it also looked like it did not show through. Notice the buildup on the rim it probably protected the top of the bowl to a large degree.I scraped the rim with a pen knife to peel off the cake that overflowed on the top. I carefully held the blade against the surface of the rim and scraped it slowly until all of the buildup was gone. Underneath all of the buildup the rim was in rough shape. It had been beaten pretty hard and the damage was quite extensive. The rim top showed signs of being knocked about hard against that truck mirror mentioned above. If this pipe could have talked I would love to hear the stories it could tell.I topped the bowl on the topping board using 220 grit sandpaper. I decided that I would sand it until the top of the rim was smooth and the damage on the outer edge of the rim was minimized.With the rim topped and smooth I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the grime and clean up the surface so I could assess the next steps in dealing with the external cracks on the left side and bowl front. I used a microdrill bit on my Dremel to drill pin holes at each end of the cracks in the bowl. The length of the bit ensures that I will not be able to drill too far and go into the bowl itself. There were five distinct ends to the series of cracks in the briar.I used a dental pick to clean out the cracks with surprisingly had closed tighter once the cake was removed from the bowl releasing the pressure. Once they were clean I pressed briar dust into the crack surfaces and the drill holes in the bowl. I dripped clear super glue on the cracks and into the plugs in the drill holes. I gave the repair several more coats of briar dust and super glue until the surface was filled. The pictures tell the story. I sanded the dried repair and the rest of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the excess briar dust and glue. I wiped the bowl down with alcohol on a cotton pad. I used a Black Sharpie pen to colour in the worm trail rustication around the bowl sides. I had done some research and found that the rustication on the Sauvage line had been darker than the stain on the bowl.I used the drill bit from the KleenReem Pipe reamer to drill out the buildup in the airway from the mortise to the bowl. It was thick and hard so the drill bit took several passes through the airway to clean it out. I used a dental spatula to scrape out the thick, hard tars that lined the walls of the mortise. I scrubbed out the mortise and airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners until the internals were clean.I stuffed the bowl with cotton balls until they were just below the edge of the rim. I put a pipe cleaner in the airway to wick the alcohol into the shank. I used an ear syringe to fill the bowl and shank with alcohol. I set the bowl upright in an ice cube tray and let it sit over night to draw the oils out of the briar. In the morning I took a photo of the darkened cotton balls. I used a dental pick to pull them out of the bowl. I cleaned out the shank and the bowl with cotton swabs to remove all the excess alcohol. I let the bowl dry.I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain thinned 50/50 with alcohol to make it more transparent. I flamed the stain and restained it. I repeated the process of staining and flaming the surface until the briar had even coverage. I buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and then took the following photos to send to Jim to show him the state of the bowl at this point in the process. There were still scratches in the finish that would need to be polished out but the bowl was showing promise and beauty was emerging from the beast. I left the pipe on my work table while I traveled to Idaho for my mom’s 90th birthday. I stay with my brother Jeff when I am there and as usual he had a batch of pipes for me. There were some amazing pipes there but what caught my eye this time was the stem I needed for this Sauvage. It was slightly bigger in diameter than the shank but it would not take much to fit it to the pipe. When I got home I lightly sanded the tenon with a Dremel and sanding drum until it fit snugly into the mortise. I took the photo below to show the new stem and the one that was with the pipe when it arrived. I took photos of the stem to show the difference in diameters of the shank and the stem. You can also see the deep tooth marks in the top and bottom sides of the stem near the button.I sanded the diameter with a sanding drum on the Dremel. I do this with the stem inserted in the mortise so that I can remove as much of the excess vulcanite as possible without damaging the briar on the shank. I nicked the edged of the briar but fortunately the nick was not deep. I also lightly sanded the top and underside of the stem with the Dremel and minimized the tooth marks. I sanded the areas on the stem where the tooth marks had damaged the vulcanite with 180 grit sandpaper and smoothed out the surface damage. What remained were the deeper tooth marks. I wiped down the surface of the stem with alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the debris and dust from the tooth marks. I filled the remaining tooth marks with black super glue and set the stem aside to dry.When the repairs had cured I sanded them with 180 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the stem. I sanded the saddle portion of the stem to remove the marks left behind by the sanding drum.I put the stem in the shank and sanded the stem and shank with 220 grit sandpaper to make the transition really smooth. I could have done this differently but there was enough damage to the shank that the sanding would smooth out the briar as well. I wet sanded the stem and shank with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the scratches on the briar and the vulcanite. I was able to remove most of the scratches. The rest would come out with more elbow grease. I cleaned out the inside of the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol until they came out clean. I used a sharp knife to bevel the airway into the stem. I have found that doing this directs the airflow from the bowl to the button. I put the stem in the shank and took the following photos. There is still a lot of polishing to do but the pipe is beginning to look pretty decent. I continued sanding with the 3200-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads to polish the stem. After each set of three pads I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil and sanded some more. After the last pad I gave it a final coat of the oil and let it sit to dry.I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and then gave both the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing wheel to raise the shine and hand buffed it with a microffibre cloth to deepen it. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I am repairing and refitting the original stem to send back with the pipe as well. Once it finished I will buff the two stems and finish removing any scratches that can still be seen in the pipe and then send it back for the surprise that Jim has in mind for it. Thanks for looking.

The Berwyck Poker Compromise

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Blog by Aaron Henson

Last summer’s tip to Dallas netted me several great pipes. One of which was my first poker.  It was in a basket in an out of the way corner of a second hand store.  Very dirty and grimy but I could tell the grain underneath was beautiful with a nice contracting stain.  The stem was broke off about half way but I thought I could turn it into a nice stubby.  I looked forward getting it home and start working on it.ber1 ber2The stem had a heavy amount of oxidation and a buildup of white near the broken end.  This leads me to guess that the previous owner had used a softy bit to compensate for the broken stem.  I set the stem to soak in a mild Oxi-clean bath to raise the oxidation. After 24 hours I removed the oxidation with a magic eraser and an application of Walker Briar Works Pipe stem cleaner.ber3 ber4I wiped down the outside of the stummel with 91% on a cotton pad to remove the dirt and oils.  I was looking for any hidden issues that might be need to be addressed.  Thankfully there were none just a few handling dents/scuffs.  In fact, there weren’t even any fills.  The grain was beautiful and the existing contracting stain really made it stand out.

There was a healthy buildup of tars on the rim but not a lot of cake in the bowl.  What little cake there was came out easily with my reaming tool.  I smoothed out the interior of the bowl with 80-grit paper wrapped around a ½ inch dowel.ber5I like to clean the inside of the pipe before working on the outside so next came the interior of the shank. Lots of cotton swabs dipped in alcohol eventually saw it clean.

Next, I finished the bowl by doing a salt and alcohol soak.  I plugged the shank with a cotton swab and filled the bowl with salt.  Sometimes I use cotton balls but this time I chose salt – no reason why.  I filled the bowl to the top with grain alcohol and let it soak 24 hours.  This leached out a lot of the leftover tars and removed the smell of the old tobacco from the bowl.

Not wanting to top the bowl, I tried something new.  I placed a little Oxi-clean powder on a green pad in a shallow dish of water. Inverting the bowl, I worked it in a circular motion on the pad.  This had the desired effect and only a little bit of sanding was required on the rim.ber6Returning to the stem I began work on a new button. I taped off the end and mixed up a slurry of black super glue and charcoal powder using a tooth pick to apply it to the stem.  Several coats of slurry were needed to build up the button.ber7 ber8After the slurry dried, I used a flat file to rough out the shape of a new button.  Trying it out, I realized that the stem was too thick and narrow to be comfortable.  So I began to file the top and bottom of the stem to make it a more comfortable fit.  But as I did so, I had another revelation: the Berwyck was a filtered pipe.  The filter chamber extends back to where I was trying to shape a flat spot in the stem. ber9While I didn’t file into the airway I decided not to continue for fear that I would.  It was at this point that I decided to abandon the idea of a stubby and start looking for a replacement stem.  I figured I had a few of options: 1) I could buy an old stem that matched, 2) I could make my own stem using the tenon of the old stem, 3) I could splice a fish tail onto the existing stem (this would allow me to keep the spade trademark – thank you, Dal for this idea), or 4) I could try Dr. Grabow and see if the factory could supply me with a new stem.

I started with the last option first.  I figured if I was willing to buy and old stem, why not buy a new stem with a better chance of a good fit.  I sent an email off to International Pipes & Accessories, the Dr. Grabow factory in Sparta, North Carolina, but received a disappointing response.  So my next course of action was to begin a search online for someone with an old stem to sell that would fit.  I eventually posted the story of my quest on the Dr. Grabow Collectors Facebook page.  It was not long before I was contacted by Joe Mansueto, the moderator for the Dr. Grabow Collectors Forum.  Joe very kindly offered to use his contacts at International Pipes and too my surprise he was told that I should send the pipe to them.

I had not completed the work on the stummel and I wanted to have it at the 95% complete point before sending to the factory.  So, steamed out the dents using a wet terry cloth rag and my wife’s clothes iron.  Next came a light sanding with 1500-3200 grit micro mesh pads.

The rim was is in need of some stain and I had just received a set of Guardsman stain pens I bought from Amazon.  This was my chance to try the out.  I was very happy with the way they worked.  I have used other stain pens in the past but with less than satisfactory results.  Blending the three pens I got a good color match with the rest of the stummel.

With the stummel done, I packaged up the pipe with a hand written letter describing the situation and my connection with Joe.  I included a $15 check ($12 for the stem and $3 for return shipping) and sent the pipe off to Sparta.  The pipe left on a Thursday and arrived in North Carolina on Monday.  I had no idea what to expect for timing so I determined to wait as patiently as I could, figuring it would be 3-4 weeks.

To my pleasant surprise it was just a week and a half later.  I was on the road in Texas again when my son told me that a package had arrived from Dr. Grabow.  When I got home I was like a kid at Christmas wanting to get the pack open and see what Santa sent me.  I was not disappointed.  The new nylon stem looked great.  It returned all the grandeur and dignity that the pipe once had.  I was glad now that the stubby conversion had not worked out.

Although I am not a big fan of nylon stems, mostly to the fact that they are a pain to repair, clean and polish.  But this one being new was not a problem.  I did polish the stem using 6000-12000 grit micromesh.  The stem also needed a little deburring at the air hole and smoothing out on the face of the button.  All of which was done in short order.

I finished the pipe at the buffing station while smoking a bowl of McClelland’s Stave Aged in a Yello-bole Chesterfield – a previous repair.  I started with red diamond rouge on a rag wheel then finished with three coats of carnauba wax.  I could not be happier with the results.  Thank you for taking the time to read this.ber10 ber11 ber12

 

 

 

Renewing and restemming a La Strada Staccato Bent Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

This tired old La Strada came to me for repairs. It was in rough shape. The stem had been gnawed, broken and gnawed again. The finish was shot and covered in oils and grease to the point that it was hard to see the rope rustication around the bowl. The bowl had a thick crumbling cake and smelled heavily or aromatics. The lava from the bowl had flowed over the top of the rim and darkened the finish there. The outer edge of the rim was heavily damaged on the front left side and looked as if the bowl had been dropped. There were dents on the underside of the bowl as well from a similar event. The shank was so dirty that the stem would not fit into the mortise. I was able to get it in but the fit was not tight against the shank. The shank is slightly off round so the stem was slightly different.la1 la2The next photo is out of focus but the road rash on the bowl bottom is visible.la3I took a series of close up photos of the bowl and rim and the stem to show the condition of the pipe when I started. In the first photo you can see the thick crumbly cake and the damage to the rim surface and edges. It was hard to tell if the inner edge of the bowl was damaged and only after reaming would I be able to know for certain. The stem was a write off as the damage was too extensive to repair. The fit against the shank also warranted a new stem.la4 la5I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and went through the various cutting heads. I cleaned up the remaining cake in the bowl bottom with the Savinelli Pipe Knife. I took the cake completely out of the bowl and reamed it back to bare briar.la6I wiped down the surface of the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish. It came off with a bit of scrubbing but there were places where it did not come off with the acetone. It would take some sanding to remove the totality of the finish.la7 la8The damage to the bowl top and outer edges required that I top the bowl. I gently topped it on the topping board so as not to remove too much and remove the smooth portion above the rope rustication on the top edge.la9I sanded the bowl and rim top with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge and took the following photos.la10 la11I cleaned out the internals of the shank and the replacement stem that I fit to the shank with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. It took a lot of scrubbing to get the mortise and the airway clean in the shank. The stem was in decent shape so it did not take too much work on it.la12I took some photos of the pipe at this point to get a feel for the look with the new stem in place.la13 la14I wrapped some sandpaper around a dowel and sanded the walls and bottom of the bowl. There was a ring at the bowl bottom that was grooved and needed to be smoothed out. It did not take a lot of sanding before the inside walls were smooth.la15I restained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain mixed 50/50 with isopropyl alcohol to approximate the original colour of the pipe and to highlight the grain on the pipe. I flamed the stain and repeated the process until the coverage was even around the bowl and rim.la16I buffed the bowl with White Diamond on the buffing wheel to even out the new finish and give it a bit of a shine. I took photos of the bowl at this point to give a clear picture of the new look.la17 la18Now all that remained was to finish the fit and polishing of the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper until it fit the shank well. It took some adjusting of the diameter of the stem to match the slightly out of round shank. In the end it fit well. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads to give it a deep shine.la19 la20 la21I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish the minute scratches on the vulcanite and on the briar. I buffed them both until the stem and briar glowed. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the bowl and stem with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is ready to go back to the pipe man who sent it to me for restemming and refurbishing. I think he will enjoy it and it will deliver a life time of good smokes to him. la22 la23 la24 la25 la26 la27 la28 la29 la30

A Christmas Gift in need of a stem splice – L J Peretti Squared Shank Billiard

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Blog by Dal Stanton

After a wonderful time in the US, sharing Christmas and New Year with our family, and catching up on ‘grandpa time’ with our two grandsons, my wife and I returned to Sofia, Bulgaria, to find as much snow as we left in Denver!  Two memorable ‘piping events’ transpired while in Denver.  First, the inaugural smoke of the restored 1907 McLardy Gourd Calabash (See: Link) which was filled with a tasty bowl of Dark Star recommended by Steve for the special occasion.  It was a wonderful, cool smoke.  The McLardy did admirably. per1The second ‘piping event’ was a pipe-picking expedition several of my family members (guess who this trip was for?) did to Denver’s huge Brass Armadillo Antique Mall!  We had a great time in search but unfortunately, I found no treasures to bring home.  Yet secretly, my youngest son stowed away his Christmas gift for me which I discovered under the tree a few days later!  He got a great deal and I can see why!  He knew I would have fun trying to breathe new life into the L J Peretti now before me on my work table in Sofia.  I am anxious to get back to work on a pipe and this Peretti is a great starting block for 2017!per2 per3 per4 per6 per7 per8With the obvious need to solve the issue of the broken and missing stem piece, I can easily see what attracted my son to this stummel.  The briar swirls stunningly into fire grain and very distinct and tight bird’s eye knots.  There are a few lightened fills that will need attention and the bowl has significant cake and will need to be reamed down to the fresh briar.  The rim shows some thick lava flow and has minor dents.  Unfortunately, the center swatch of the L J Peretti – Imported Briar marking on the squared shank is worn off – over achieving buffing or wear?  The Peretti ‘P’ is visible on the surviving legacy of the original saddle stem.  I’ve grown to appreciate the enduring marks of a pipe’s provenance and for this reason, this surviving piece of this pipes history needs to be protected and restored!  I’ve been thinking for some days – actually, starting with the opened gift (!) about how to splice a new piece of stem to the survivor?  I haven’t done this particular maneuver before, but I’m sure it can be done!

When I began my research on L J Peretti, I was surprised to discover that it is not an Italian pipe as one might expect with such a name!  In fact, I discovered the genesis of a significant story of Americana pipe history with the establishment of the L. J. Peretti Company of Boston in 1870 (Pipedia citing: Pipes, Artisans and Trademarks, by José Manuel Lopes), the second oldest tobacco shop in the US, second only to Iwan Ries & Co. of Chicago established in 1857 (See: Link). per9Going directly to L J Peretti’s website, now president, Stephen L. Willett provides this historical summary of this Boston icon (Link: http://www.ljperetti.com):

In 1870, Libero Joseph Peretti arrived in Boston from Lugano, Switzerland. Filled with an entrepreneurial spirit and a love for fine tobacco, L.J. established the “Peretti Cuban Cigar Co.” in Boston’s historic North End. In the first two decades of business, the company provided a number of contributions to the tobacco industry and began to blend “house cigars”.

1892 marks the establishment of the Peretti Cigar Factory in Park Square, Boston. For over forty years, the company employed fifty rollers who produced some of the finest cigars in New England. Not only did Peretti’s manufacture blended cigars, but they also created Clear Havana Vitolas such as the legendary La Mirendella.

L.J.’s son, Joseph, aka “The Major”, followed his father into the family business. His primary love was pipes and pipe tobacco. Among his notable accomplishments was the creation of the first “English” blend, called British, in the United States; as well as securing the exclusive import rights to Peterson pipes and Sullivan & Powell tobaccos.

After World War II the third generation Peretti’s, Robert, entered the firm. The original store had moved from the North End to the centre of Boston on Massachusetts Avenue and there were additional stores throughout the financial district of Boston. Robert became a tobacco legend in United States and throughout the world. Most of the more than eighty house blends of pipe tobacco were created by Robert Peretti. His reputation as a blender led politicians, actors, celebrities and gentlemen of all callings to seek his tobacco advice.

I enjoyed reading several comments after the interview of Stephen Willett on The Pipes Magazine Radio Show (See: Pipes Magazine Radio Interview) extolling the fact that tobaccos are mixed in house and one could take his pipe to their shop on 2 1/2 Park Square today, and be guided by experienced tobacconists and test several selections before making a decision to purchase.  My son and daughter-in-law, formerly of Boston, also had the opportunity to explore this historic tobacco shop!

I was still curious about the name, “Peretti”, and its Swiss (not Italian) origins with the patriarch Libero Joseph Peretti’s arrival in the US in 1870 from Lugano, Switzerland.  It did not take long to figure it out when looking at the location of Lugano on a map of Europe thanks to Google Maps.  The Italian influence would be inescapable as Lugano is situated in a slender finger of Swiss land on the southern edge of the Alps with greater topographical access to the Italian planes falling away to its south than to Switzerland proper to the north – through the Alps.  Curiosity satisfied.per10One other question hounds me – the question for each pipe: Where was this particular L J Peretti pipe made?  In Boston?  Per L J Peretti’s website, today pipes with the Peretti stamping are made exclusively by Briar Works in Nashville, TN.  This Peretti, however, predates this association.  Briar Works began operations in 2012.   One possible clue came at the close of Stephen Willett’s interview on the Pipes Magazine Radio Show in April of 2016 referenced above.  Willet was asked about relating a ‘favorite pipe story’.  Willett commented on being in London smoking pipes with a John Redman, who used to make pipes for L. J. Perretti Co.  So, a possible source.  The John Redman Ltd. and British Empire Pipe Co. is cited in Pipephil.eu listing the names produced (Aristocrat, Buckingham, Buckingham Palace, Canberra, Captain Fortune, Dr John, Golden Square, Redonian, Richmond, Smokewell, Twin Bore) but no reference to a L. J. Peretti association.  I sent an email to the L. J. Peretti Tobacconists shop in Boston regarding the provenance of this particular Peretti names-sake before me.  We’ll see if we can learn more.

I was gratified when an email arrived from the L. J. Perretti Co. Tobacconists shop in Boston a few days later.  Here is what I found:

Hello Dal,

We have been sourcing our proprietary pipes from a number of different manufacturers. That said, it is most likely that Arlington Briars made the pipe you have in your possession. Photos would help us identify the pipe further. I will have to look through some of our old content and see what I can find. Hope this helps,

Tom

LJP

Thankful to Tom for his response, I sent on photos.  Per Pipedia,

Arlington Briar Pipes Corporation was founded in 1919 in Brooklyn, New York, and produced the Arlington, Briarlee, Firethorn, Krona and Olde London brands among dozens of others, primarily acting as a subcontractor making pipes to be sold under other brand names. Among others, in the 1950’s, Arlington turned pipes for the famed Wilke Pipe Shop in New York City. The corporation was dissolved by the State of New York as inactive on December 6, 1978. 

With a greater appreciation for the pipe before me and the rich heritage of the L. J. Peretti name and company, I take another long, hard look at the surviving stem piece.  My goal is to splice the stem by cannibalizing another saddle stem.  My original idea was to see if I could find a piece of stainless steel tubing small enough to insert into the airways of both the survivor stem piece and the new cannibalized piece and connect them – providing a firm connection point and reinforcement for the splice.  Before returning to Bulgaria, I went to a specialized store in Denver with hope of finding such a tube.  They were not able to help me and indicated that I could probably find tubing like I wanted in a medical equipment context….  So, with this idea put aside, my goal is a clean bond using only superglue.  I take another picture of the surviving stem piece and the stem candidate. I want to remove the stinger and after it refuses to budge I heat it with a lighter loosening the vulcanite grip.  It joins the other retired stingers in the bottle. Using a straight edge, block and sharpie pen, I draw a line across the original stem.  It will act as a guide as I cut the vulcanite using the Dremel with a cutting blade.  Well, after starting with a cutting blade, I discovered that it was difficult to maintain control over the blade movement.  I switched to the sanding drum and that worked much better. I’ll fine tune the cut after cutting the second stem. The pictures show the progress.per11 per12 per13 per14 per15I want to cut the donor stem very close to the saddle expansion where the stem is thickest.  This hopefully will give me more wiggle room as I fashion the two stems together.  I use the Dremel blade to do a rough cut to remove the shank side of the stem.  I’ll save this piece to fabricate a breather insert later – waste not want not!  Key to this stem splice working is a proper aligning of the airways while working on shaping the external stem appearance.  Hopefully to accomplish this, to keep the airway stationary, I form a temporary insert stabilizer by cutting off the ends of a Q-tip and wrap the center plastic Q-tip tubing with scotch tape.  I do this to enlarge the circumference of the left-over Q-tip to form a tight fit as each end is inserted into the airways of the adjacent stem pieces.  It took me a few test Q-tips to get the size right.  Now I can gradually shape the external stem and keep things lined up.  In the final picture of the set below, you can see the aligning tube. The pictures show my plan materializing.  I have hope that it will work!per16 per17 per18 per19 per20Now to fine-tune the trueness of the cut stem ends.  I start with the survivor by standing it and eye-balling it next to a straight edge – not perfect!  The first picture shows the leaning tower of Pisa!  Working out of our 10th floor flat, I don’t have all the tools available to me to automate procedures so I must improvise.  I have a miter box that might do the trick.  I take a strip of 240 grit sanding paper and use the miter’s perpendicular position to create a sanding mechanism that should produce a flat, true end.  Moving the sanding paper back and forth while I manually pinch it against the triangle seems to do the job.  After patient, easy back-and-forth motion, the end of the survivor stem piece looks good!  A comparison shot to the leaning Tower of Pisa shot shows the progress.per21 per22 per23 per24The new extension also needed some fine-tuning.  Since there is a taper in the stem and therefore it’s uneven, I cannot use the miter box like before.  I use the topping board with 240 grit paper to bring the angle into proper alignment – I discover that it is not an easy slam dunk to get things right.  It takes several spins on the board following each spin by refitting the extension with the original stem and looking for the gaps between the two pieces.  I need the junction to be as true, tight, and flat as possible for a good bond and a straight stem. After several cycles, I have it about as good as its going to get.  The pictures show the process.per25 per28 per27 per26I replace the temporary Q-tip stabilizing insert with a pipe cleaner inserted through both pieces and linking them up.  The pipe cleaner will serve to keep the airway lined up during gluing as well as guard against glue possibly clogging the airway. I use a narrower, less fuzzy bristled pipe cleaner.  After testing I found that a non-bristled pipe cleaner had too much fuzz and inhibited a tight junction between the pieces.  I apply a little petroleum jelly to the section of the pipe cleaner that may meet the superglue.  This will (hopefully!) keep the pipe cleaner from sticking to the glue.  I wipe off excess jelly because I don’t want it interfering with the glue bonding.  I then apply Starbond Black Medium KE-150 glue to the original stem piece, not too thick and spread it over the junction surface with a toothpick.  My main concern is to allow the bond to settle ‘naturally’ around the airway alignment and have the stem straight.  If gaps appear I can add additional glue later as a fill.  Pulling the pipe cleaner from the shank side I draw the pieces together, align and compress for a few minutes.  I set the spliced stem aside allowing the KE-150 glue to cure.  The pictures show the progress.per29 per30 per31Turning now to the stummel, I take another close-up of the rim and chamber before starting.  I use the Pipnet reaming kit and clean out the moderately thick carbon cake formed in the chamber.  I use 3 of the 4 blades available to me to remove the harder than usual cake.  After the Pipnet blades, I fine tune the chamber surface with the Savinelli pipe knife and then, using my finger and a dowel rod, I sand the internal chamber wall with 240 grit paper.  Finally, I wipe the bowl out with a cotton pad dampened with isopropyl 95%.  The chamber wall looks good – no problems there.per32 per33 per34per35Before cleaning the rim and stummel externals, I take Q-tips and pipe cleaners with isopropyl 95% to clean the internals of the stummel.  Following this, I use Murphy’s Oil Soap undiluted with cotton pads and scrub the rim and surface.  The lava build up on the rim proved to be resistant so I added use of the brass brush to the cleaning job.  The inner rim appears to have burn marks on the front and back of the bowl.  I’ll remove this damage by cutting an inner rim bevel later.  The pictures show the cleaning progress.per36 per37After rejoining the curing spliced stem to the stummel to avoid creating shank shoulders, I take a medium grade sanding sponge and sand the entire stummel surface and rim, avoiding the shank panel containing the L J Peretti stamping.  I follow this with the same regimen using a light grade sanding sponge.  With the sanding sponges, I’m removing small pitting and imperfections from the briar surface.  To clean up the rim further, I cut an initial bevel on the inner rim first using a tightly rolled piece of 120 grade paper.  I follow this using 240 grit then 600.  I closely examine the surface and the sponge sanding did the job so that I did not need to use any super glue for fills. I did use the stain marker and darken fills that had lightened.  The pictures show the initial stummel prep.per38 per40 per39 per41I’m anxious to return to the stem repair to begin the ‘sculpting’ process.  I’m sure that the donor stem that I’m using isn’t the best candidate for a match, but it is the only other saddle stem I have that isn’t already claimed by a stummel here in Bulgaria.  Oh my – it reminds me that I just saw lots of 100 stems being auctioned on eBay!  If only….  I take a few pictures of the spliced stem before I begin. To do the sculpting I use my Dremel high-speed rotary tool and mount the drum sanding tool.  With the Dremel speed set on 2 of 5 (1 being the slowest RPMs) I gently and patiently begin removing vulcanite and shape the stem to give it a uniform look.  The pictures show the progress until…per42 per43…You’ve heard me say before, “As they say, it was going so well until it wasn’t.”  The new superglue bond between the two stem parts simply gave way.  I sat back in my chair looking at the divide and contemplated a visit to my favorite adult beverage.  Before starting this project, I researched through the blogs looking for different approaches and techniques to this specific genre of stem repair – splicing.  Steve has a very helpful Reborn essay, What are the options for repairing a damaged stem?  I could not find anything with the specifics I was facing.  Now with the two pieces before me, I decide to shoot an ‘SOS’ to Steve, even though I know he’s somewhere in the world traveling with his work.  I press the send button, turn off the light,  and head to bed!per44Gratefully, Steve’s reply arrived the next morning referencing another Reborn Pipes contributor, Jacek A. Rochacki, from Poland.  Steve’s email described Jacek’s technique of creating a simple interlocking step between the two stem pieces by filing 90 degree angles out of the upper half of one piece and a corresponding 90 degree angle out of the lower half of the other piece.  Essentially creating a juxtaposed and flipped ‘L’ on each stem piece.  The step will provide more area for the glue to bond as well as distribute the stummel’s weight across the stem rather than at one tension point.  The science behind the technique sounds good, now I need to bring the theory into physical reality!  I decide to use the width of a flat needle file to determine the steps’ widths.  Starting with surviving stem, I score a line to provide a guide for the edge of the step (first picture).  After this, I wedge the stem piece in the miter box and invert the flat needle file and use it as a saw to cut a straight vertical incision half-way into the stem.  Pictures 2 and 3 show this in progress.  I use the Dremel to gradually remove the vulcanite and finish the fine-tuning with the needle file.  The pictures show the progress.per45 per46 per47 per48The other stem piece follows the same protocol.  The whole process took quite a bit of time filing, eye-balling, test fitting and filing again.  The junction I have is not a perfect fit.  Dealing with the odd matching stem pieces presents its own challenges.  The key as before, is to align the airway holes to have as much as possible a seamless airflow.  The final picture in the set below shows the pipe cleaner inserted through the pieces and mimics the natural alignment before bonding with superglue.  In this position, to test the freedom of the pipe cleaner to move, I compressed the pieces at the ‘step junction’ and then pulled the pipe cleaner back and forth to assure as much as possible a good alignment.  The pictures tell the story.per49 per50 per51 per52As before, I use a bristled pipe cleaner with less fuzz, apply petroleum jelly to the pipe cleaner to avoid sticking to the glue, and apply Black KE-150 Glue to the step surfaces. I pull the pipe cleaner from the shank-side to draw the stem pieces together to allow a natural placement favoring a clear airway.  Once the steps fully engage, I compress the steps together to form the bond.  While I apply this pressure, I also give a little pull on the pipe cleaner to assure that it is still moving freely and not crimped at the splice junction.  After curing for 24 hours, I inspect the junction lines and apply additional KE-150 glue where needed to seal the joint.per53-copy per54With the stem splice curing, I turn my attention to the stummel.  Staying clear of the L J Peretti nomenclature on the left shank panel, using micromesh pads 1500 to 2400 I wet sand the stummel.  Following this, I dry sand the stummel using micromesh pads 3200 to 4000 then again with pads 6000 to 12000.  The depth of the briar grain looks good.  The pictures show the progress.per55per56per57I like very much the lighter brown, butterscotch tones of the briar.  I decide to apply a very light stain made up of one part Fiebing’s Light Brown Leather Dye to 4 parts isopropyl 95%.  My desire is to blend the fills on the bowl even though I had already applied stain sticks to these areas.  Using a pipe cleaner folded I apply a generous coat of the dye mixture, making sure to cover the entire stummel.  After applying the dye, while still wet I fire the dye with a lit candle.  This sets the hue of the dye well in the grain.  After a few minutes, I repeat the process concluding with firing the wet dye.  The alcohol in the dye burns off quickly and normally this does not burn the wood.  I did scorch the wood of the rim of a restoration not long ago.  I concluded that the problem was the cork that I had inserted in the bowl to manipulate the stummel while staining – the cork itself was saturated with the alcohol and kept ‘firing’ and scorched the thin wood of the rim…. Ever learning!  Now, I hold the stummel by inserting a couple twisted pipe cleaners in the shank acting as a handle.  The picture shows the final state after the second application of stain.per58I set the stummel aside to allow it to ‘rest’ through the night.  The next day, I’m looking at the stummel and the spliced stem.  I decide to jump into the stem work.  Honestly, as I look at the stem, the word that comes to mind is ‘Frankenstem’.  The stem that I cannibalized was not the best match to begin with.  Changing the positioning of the stem pieces to give the ‘step splice technique’ a chance of working, left a spliced stem with a definite limp.  Yet, I’m not finished and I’ve discovered along the way, there is a lot of forgiveness and flexibility in working with vulcanite.  As the old Timex commercial assured, “Takes a lick’n and keeps on tick’n!”  That will be my mindset as I approach the Frankenstem!  I take some pictures to show the challenges.  The first picture, perspective from the top looking down, shows the greatest challenges.  The stem addition is offset revealing the original stem’s protrusion underneath.  There is also more taper in the stem addition than in the original stem.  My approach as I look at the stem will be to try to create a higher (toward the shank) taper on the original stem (on the lower side in the picture).  This hopefully will blend the mismatch.per59I decide to chronicle the approach I take.  I first work on the ‘straight’ side of the stem (lower) by using a rounded needle file to create a ‘dimple’ that would represent the deepest part of the tapered curve.  It was adjacent to the protrusion on the right side (above in the picture below).  After creating the dimple, I then gradually fan out the dimple with 240 grit sanding paper until I achieve a smooth taper joining the saddle with the button.  I’m pleased with the results of phase 1.per60Phase 2 is creating another dimple on the other side – right at the point of the protrusion sticking out from underneath from the original stem step (pictured better above).  Again, after the dimple is formed with the rounded needle file I use 240 grit sanding paper to fan the taper evenly throughout the stem.  While the stem still is off center a bit, the tapering gives the allusion of a straighter stem.  It seems to me the stem is resembling a fishtail style reminiscent of Stanwell pipes.per61Next, I sanded the upper and lower stem with 240 grit paper to smooth and blend the splice repair.  This is helpful because it enables me to see that there are gaps in the seams of the patch.  In the pictures below you can see the vulcanite dust from sanding lodged in the gaps.  I decide to apply a bit of the Black Medium KE-150 glue to fill the gaps.  Before I do, I wash the stem with water and a bit of dish soap.  I apply the KE-150 then spray the joint with an accelerator that I just brought back to Bulgaria from my time in the US for Christmas. per62per63Putting the stem on the sidelines to cure a bit, I’m anxious to ‘unwrap’ the stummel and look at the briar underneath the fired dye crust.  I take the Dremel and mount a felt wheel and using Tripoli compound, I apply the compound using the slowest speed available on the Dremel.  For detailed ‘how tos’ in using a Dremel for this process, see my essay on Dremel Polishing Technique.  After I finish the cycle with the Tripoli compound, I wipe the bowl lightly with a cotton pad and isopropyl 95% to blend the stain.  After the Tripoli, I change to the Blue Diamond compound felt wheel at the same RPMs and apply Blue Diamond.  Then I take a clean cotton cloth and give the stummel a rubdown removing the excess compound residues which is like powder.  The stummel is looking great even before the carnauba wax application, but I decide to delay the wax application and again turn back to the stem.

To see the big picture, I unite the spliced stem with the stummel.  I like the proportions.  I was concerned that the stem might end up being too short and the L J Perretti becoming a nose warmer.  This is not the case as the picture shows!per64Accelerator is God’s gift to the impatient!  My first time to use it and it is nice – though I understand the downside of using an accelerator is the potential of a weaker bond, at least as I have read. The Black K-150 glue looks good.  I return to sanding the stem to blend the patch and finish the shaping.  With 240 grit paper, I smooth out the superglue fill and even though I can still see the lines, the touch test is the goal.  I can feel no ridge at the junction seams.  Success!  With all this rigorous sanding, the verdict is in – the step splice technique is holding!  I continue sanding moving down the stem removing the sand marks left by the Dremel drum sanding wheel.  I finally arrive at the button and to lower lip is out of line.  I straighten this with a flat needle file and I freshen the button lines while I’m at it.  I use 240 grit paper again to remove the effects of the needle file use in the button area.  Finished with the 240 grit paper, I use 600 grit paper to smooth the stem more and to reveal nicks or gouges that may have been missed.  The last two pictures below show the finished shaping project.  I’m very pleased with the results – the splice is holding well and the newly shaped stem is passable.  Even though the splice seams are visible, they are smooth to the touch and I’m hopeful that as the stem polishing and waxing is completed, the seams will blend more.  I think Frankenstem has been transformed well.  Before bringing out the micromesh pads on the stem, I drop the newly spliced stem into the Oxi-Clean bath to raise the heavy oxidation left in the original stem piece.  Another day is finished. per65 per66 per67The next morning I fish the soaking stem out of the Oxi-Clean bath.  The oxidation has surfaced, and as expected, especially on the original stem piece.  Initially I use 600 grit paper and wet sand the stem removing the top layer of oxidation.  I use a topping board with 600 grit paper to make quick work of 3 of the 4 panels of the saddle stem block (not sure if there is a special name for this part of the stem).  I am careful to protect the Perretti ‘P’ on the other panel by putting my thumb over it as I sanded around it.  I repeated the process using 0000 steel wool.  As always, the most difficult part to rid of oxidation were the vertical ‘rise panels’ above and below the stem.  I’m satisfied with the progress the pictures show.per68 per69 per71 per72With the new day, I’m in the home-stretch!  With so much focus on the stem repair, I only now recall that I have not cleaned the internals of the now spliced stem.  Using pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl 95% I work on cleaning the internals. After running 2 pipe cleaners through the airway, for a nice change, I discover that all is clean!per73I turn now to the micromesh cycles with the stem.  Beginning with pads 1500 to 2400 I wet sand the stem and follow the set with an application of Obsidian Oil over the stem.  Next, I dry sand using pads 3200 to 4000 followed by 6000 to 12000, following each set with a fresh application of Obsidian Oil. I’m generally pleased with the technique of this splice, but the fine polishing of the two pieces of vulcanite have revealed that not all vulcanite is the same.  I assume the original survivor piece was of better quality than the donor piece.  The polishing reveals that the original is a darker hue of black and it wasn’t evident only until now.  So, we do the best we can with what we have!  The pictures reveal this with a close look.  The stem still looks good and what I’ve been through with it make it even look better!  The pictures show the progress. per74per75per76Before rejoining stummel and stem to apply carnauba wax, I want to re-establish the Perretti ‘P’ stamping on the stem.  Checking with the L. J. Perretti Co. stampings on Pipephil.eu, most stem marks are set with white lettering.  I want to do the same to emulate how this Perretti most likely was commissioned.  Taking white acrylic paint, I dab a bit over the ‘P’ on the stem.  After an hour or so, after dried, I gently scrape the top layer of paint off with a pointed Q-tip which I picked up in the US at Hobby Lobby.  Pictures show the result.per77 per78 per79Rejoining stem and stummel, I apply several coats of carnauba wax to both.  I use a cotton cloth wheel mounted on the Dremel, increase the speed to a setting of 2 and apply the wax moving the wheel in a circular motion over the surface.  After completing the carnauba wax application, I mount a clean cotton cloth wheel on the Dremel and clean buff the stummel and stem.  Following this, I give the entire pipe a hand buffing with microfiber cloth to bring out the luster and depth of the grain even more.

The briar of this L J Perretti is unbelievable – a beautiful display of fire grain and very clear and distinct bird’s eye.  The stem isn’t a perfect rendition mainly because of the unmatched vulcanite creating the splice.  Yet, the ‘step’ technique Jacek provided (via Steve!) is working very well.  The squared shank transitioning into the tapered fishtail-like stem I think is very nice. It works.  I’m thankful to my son for gifting me with this L J Perretti!  I would have enjoyed my inaugural smoke to have been a bowl of a special hand blended mixture from the L. J. Perretti Co. Tobacconists in Boston!  Yet, after taking the presentation pictures following, I settled for a bowl of my favorite Cavendish blend – Lane BCA. Report?  The L J Perretti smoked very well, indeed.  Thanks for joining me!per80 per81 per82 per83 per84 per85 per86 per87 per88

Sprucing up a Home Doctored WDC Wellington House Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

Have you ever been pipe hunting in an antique shop and in your conversation with the clerk at the checkout have them tell you that they have a pipe at home that they would love to have you see? If not I assure you that you will. It seems to happen to me and certainly to my brother. Sometimes going back to see the pipe is a good thing and sometimes it is not worth the trip. My brother recently went through this very thing in a shop on the Oregon Coast. The clerk said that he had an old pipe – thought it was a churchwarden – at home and he would love to see it go to someone who would restore it. He said it was interesting but it was in rough shape. He told my brother that he would bring it to the shop the next day. He lived a fair ways away from the shop so he could not go and get it at the moment. My brother left the shop knowing that he would need to go back and have a look at the pipe. Two days later he made the drive back to the shop. The seller had left it behind the counter for him. The person at the counter took the pipe out and handed it to him. The clerk had been right – it was in rough shape but it was not a churchwarden but old WDC Wellington House Pipe. (I have included the photos that my brother took of the pipe before he cleaned it and sent it to me in Vancouver.)mess1Even at first glance it was rough but he did not expect what he found as he went over it. As he turned it in his hands he saw that the bowl had a large crack on the back side of the bowl that went from the rim to the shank bowl junction. It went all the way through and ran down the inside back of the bowl to a spot just above the airway. This was not good.mess2The bowl was caked and dirty and the cake had flowed over the top of the rim leaving a hard rough surface. Even through the grit he could see that there were a lot of nicks, scratches and dents in the rim top. On top of that the left side of the bowl was rough and seemed like it had road rash. It appeared that someone had tried to smooth it over but it was till rough to touch.mess3 mess4The Wellington ferrule was gone and had been replaced with a piece of what appeared to be a cut off piece of pipe glued and pressed onto the shank end. Looking at the pipe from the shank end you could see why the band had been as a lot of small cracks could be seen that extended down into the mortise. The cut off piece of pipe literally bound the shank together tightly with no give. The stem was the only part of the pipe that was in excellent condition. It bore the Solid Rubber stamp on the underside but the topside was missing the WDC Wellington stamp. It was obvious to me that someone had loved this old pipe and that they had done whatever was necessary to keep it functioning. The repair work was solid but it really was a mess. After the fellow had gone to the effort to bring the pipe to the shop my brother felt obligated to buy it. The deal was struck and the pipe came home with him.mess5The next two photos show the stamping on the shank. It reads Wellington under the WDC triangle on the left side of the shank. There are a lot of nicks and scratches around the shank that look like damage done when the band was glued in place. The Solid Rubber stamping on the can be seen in the second photo below.mess6The stem was actually in the best condition of the entire pipe. There was very little tooth chatter and marks near the button. There were some marks on the ridge on the underside and there was a spot of metal shining through the rubber there as well. The entire stem was lightly oxidized and pitted.mess7My brother did his usual thorough clean before sending it to Vancouver. He reamed the bowl and removed the cake that was built up on the walls and had overflowed onto the rim of the bowl. He cleaned out the mortise, the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and was able to remove the grime and dirt and the chipped and damaged finish. The next four photos show what the pipe looked like when it arrived.mess8 mess9I took some close up photos of the shank band. It is obvious to me that the repair on the shank was home done and involved cutting a piece of pipe and gluing and pressing it onto the shank. The third photo shows the shank end and there are at least 4-6 cracks showing that previous owner had glued and repaired with the cut off piece of pipe as a band. The band repair had been finished off with a bevel of glue banked against the band and shank. The piece of pipe that functioned as the band was striated and copper colour peeked out from under the surface oxidation. The crack on the back of the bowl is visible in the second photo below.mess10 mess11I took a close up photo of the left side of the bowl to show the rash on the side of the bowl. It was very rough and scored. It would need to be sanded smooth to repair the amount of damage.mess12I took photos of the crack in the bowl. It is on the back side as noted above. It extends down the back of the bowl to the shank/bowl junction (photo 2). What was interesting to me was that there were two small holes drilled at the twin ends of the crack in the bend of the junction. They had been filled in with glue and sanded smooth. I have circled them in red in the photo below (photo 1). I don’t why the previous repair had not continued with filling in the crack on at least the outside of the bowl but it did not. Possibly it was because the crack went through the bowl and extended down to a spot just above the entrance of the airway in the bowl (photos 3-4). There appeared to be burn damage on the back wall of the bowl on both sides of the crack. The rest of the interior walls of the pipe were solid with no damage.mess13 mess14As I mentioned before the best part of this pipe was the stem. In fact at one point I considered throwing the bowl away and saving the stem for a future repair.mess16With so much work to do on the bowl it was hard to decide where to begin. I turned it over in my hands for a few moments and decided to start by sanding out the rough side of the bowl. I would try to remove all of the damage that had been done in that area. The next two photos show the damaged area after the first sanding with 180 grit sandpaper. You can see how extensive this rash was on the bowl side.mess17I decided to top the bowl to deal with the damaged portion of the rim. I used the topping board and 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damaged rim surface and clean it in preparation for the crack repair. You can see that I needed to do some more reaming in the bowl to clean it up.mess18With the rim finished I went back to sanding the bowl side with 220 grit sandpaper. I worked to remove the damage on the side and worked over the curve of the bowl shank junction. When I finished with the 220 grit sandpaper the bowl side was smooth. The roughness and damage had been removed. The briar needed to be sanded with higher grit sandpapers and sanding sponges to remove the scratches.mess19I topped the shank end with 220 grit sandpaper on the topping board to smooth out the sharp edge of the metal band and prepare the shank end for some repairs.mess20I filled in the chipped areas on the shank end with briar dust and super glue. When the glue dried I topped it further and added a little glue on the long chipped area on the left of the second photo below.mess21I scraped away the excess glue along the edge of the band on the shank with a sharp knife. Once I finished the transition was smoother. I would sand the area along the band to clean up the scratches but the thick glue was removed.mess22There were some deep nicks on the lower front side of the bowl that needed to be filled. I filled them with super glue and briar dust and sanded them smooth to match the surface of the surrounding briar. I sanded around the shank band at the same time to smooth out the scratches and nicks.mess23I moved to the back of the bowl and filled in the exterior part of the crack with super glue and briar dust. The twin drilling at the bottom of the crack by the previous owner had done a good job stopping the crack from going further so I did not need to deal with that issue. There was no movement in the crack when I squeezed it together. It was stable so I moved on to do the surface repair. I put super glue in the crack and then pressed briar dust into the glue to seal the surface of the crack. mess24It was time to address the internal crack at this point. I needed to join the two sides of the crack together inside and also address the burned areas around both sides of the crack. I scraped out the inside of the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to remove the remaining excess cake. I made sure to remove all of the cake. I worked on the area around the crack to remove all of the carbon and picked the area with a dental pick to see how badly the area was burned. I sanded the inside of the bowl with a rolled piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the walls.mess25I sanded the repair on the exterior of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the excess patch material on the exterior of the crack. I smoothed it out to match the surrounding briar. The repair is looking really good on the exterior and the sanded interior of the bowl (also visible in the photo) was in better shape than I expected.mess26I wiped down the inside of the bowl with damp cotton swabs to remove the dust and debris from the bowl sides. With all of the preparations finished the inside crack was ready for repair using JB Weld. I have used it before following the directions from Charles Lemon on Dadspipes blog and had good results. I mixed the two parts of the “goop” together and applied the mixture to the inside of the bowl with a dental spatula. I pressed the mix into the crack and then spread it over the surface of the back wall on both sides of the crack. Once I had good coverage on the wall and in the crack I set the bowl aside to let the glue set.mess27 mess28While the repair in the bowl interior cured I turned to deal with the minimal damage to the stem. I sanded the light tooth chatter and small bite marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button using 220 grit sandpaper. I reshaped the button edge and the straight edge on the underside of the stem at the same time.mess29When the internal repair had dried to touch I could turn my attentions to the sanded exterior once again. I wiped the bowl down with a light coat of olive oil to make the scratched areas stand out and show me where I needed to do more sanding.mess30 mess31I polished the briar and the metal band with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads to smooth out all of the scratches and areas that showed up with the olive oil rubdown. The more I sanded it the more the grain began to stand out. There was some great birds-eye and cross grain in the briar. The third photo shows the JB Weld repair on the inside of the bowl very clearly. Once it turns black it will have cured enough to sand.mess32 mess33I continued to polish the briar and band with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads until the bowl shone.mess34I stained the pipe with a dark brown aniline stain thinned 50/50 with isopropyl alcohol. I applied the stain, flamed the stain to set it and repeated the process until the coverage was even around the bowl and rim.mess35I gave the bowl several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. I took the following photos to show what the bowl looked like now that it was stained and waxed. It is a pretty piece of briar and a far cry from the mess I started with.mess36 mess37I set the bowl aside and polished the stem. I buffed it with red Tripoli to remove as much of the light oxidation as possible. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads. (For some reason the last photo of the stem has a yellow tint and makes it look oxidized. It actually shone at this point in the process with no oxidation left. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. After the final rubdown I set the stem aside to dry.mess38 mess39 mess40By this point in the process the JB Weld had hardened. It had been about 4-5 hours. It was time to smooth out the inside of the bowl and remove the excess JB Weld. I used the Dremel with a sanding drum to smooth out the back side of the bowl. You can see the spots on the bowl wall where I left the material to fill in the damaged areas on the wall. I went on to sand the interior wall with 180 and 220 grit sandpaper to further smooth out the repair and minimize the JB Weld. The repairs had stabilized the cracked bowl and it was usable once again.mess41I have one final step to take to before I can close the book on this repair. I need to mix a bowl coating to paint the inside of the bowl with. It is a mixture of sour cream and activated charcoal powder. I had to order some more as I ran out of the charcoal capsules and my local pharmacy was also out of stock. It may take a while to get some so for now the bowl is finished. Once the bowl coating is applied and has cured the pipe will be ready to smoke and carry on a long life.

At this point in the process when all is basically finished I can honestly say that I am glad I did not scrap bowl to the junk box. It has some beautiful grain and I think it looks good with the scar on the back side of the bowl where the crack used to be. The metal pipe band polished up nicely with hints of copper and silver mingled together giving it a bit of a sparkle. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It has been buffed with Blue Diamond a final time and given multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then by hand with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The write up is longer and the photos are many this time around. It was a lot of work to give this old timer another chance but I think it was worth the effort. Thanks for bearing with me. mess42 mess43 mess44 mess45 mess46 mess47 mess48 mess49 mess50 mess51

Restoring Another Unique Windy Perpetual Drysmoker

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Blog by Steve Laug

Today I have been working on the second Windy Perpetual Dry Smoker that has come across my work table. The first was a gift from Troy who writes here on rebornpipes. I have written the description of the restoration on a previous blog. You can read about the cleanup and restoration on that blog: https://rebornpipes.com/tag/windy-perpetual-drysmoker-pipe/ . In that blog I did some research on the brand, as prior to the first pipe I was gifted I had never heard of or seen one of these pipes. I decided to repeat a portion of that first blog here to give some background on the brand.

Here is the link to one of my favourite informational sites on metal and unique system style wooden pipes. The link will take you to the article as a whole and some photos that show the pipe quite well: http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/pipe.php?page=508

“WINDY PERPETUAL DRYSMOKER by Stan Wolcott”

“In my travels I recently came across this intriguing pipe on which very little information appears online by Google search. The left side (?) is stamped “Windy Perpetual Drysmoker” and on the right side (?) “Imported Briar/Italy”. The stem has a small round gold medallion on the left side bearing an “R”. Although several similar pipes are pictured online here in the USA and UK, no explanatory information is included with those images. Floyd Norwood of Tennessee, who restored the pipe for me, also had no idea how the pipe was to be smoked. Tony Pringle of the UK, who has one pictured on his website, believes there may be other pieces which are missing from the four present in the images—flat cap, rounded cap with five vent holes (presumably the wind cap) and the pipe bowl and stem. As can be seen from the images, the flat cap has female threads and screws into the bottom (?) onto male threads on the bowl. The wind cap has male threads and screws into the top (?) of the bowl. I have placed the question marks in parentheses following the terms top, bottom, right and left, since I’m not even sure whether the flat cap is intended to be the bottom. Can someone out there enlighten me and the NASPC readership about this “mystery pipe”, its manufacturer and the proper way of smoking it?”

“The “Perpetual” part of the name seems to come from the ability to actually load more tobacco from the bottom of the pipe whilst still alight and of course the dottle etc. gets burnt as the smoking progresses. Rather ingenious. There are at least two possible for makers from the logo, REGIS and EMPIRE STATE and nothing seems to be known of these either.

Tony Pringle of smokingmetal then includes the following photos of the pipe. There is no doubt that it is the same pipe that I have. There are a few variations between the two but the overall design is the same. He shows photos of the pipe as a whole, taken apart and of the stamping.dry1I have only included the first photos as the pipe I have is virtually identical to this one. Mine also has the gold circle R on the logo on the side of the stem. The only difference is that mine is has a brass spacer on the stem that forms a thin band between the shank and stem. Mine is also in better condition than the one in the photos with no cracks or breaks in the bowl, caps or threads. I believe along with Tony from smokingmetal that the pipe was crafted in the late 1940s. Many things about the briar quality, the rubber that is used in the stem etc. point to manufacture of the pipe occurring during or after the conclusion of World War II.

The stamping on the one above and the one I have is simply WINDY over PERPETUAL over DRYSMOKER in caps on what is the left side of the shank. On the right side of shank it is stamped Imported Briar over Italy. The pipe is meant to be smoked with the perforated, rounded cape pointing downward. That is why the stamping is the way it is. If the pipe is held otherwise the stamping is upside down. If the pipe is inverted it can be set upright on a desk or table on the flat top cap and act as a sitter pipe. The pipe is 5 ¼ inches from the front of the bowl to end of bit. The diameter of the outer bowl is 1 3/8 inches. The chamber diameter is just over 5/8 inch and depth is over 1 ¼ inches with both the top and bottom cap removed. The pipe is lit from the bottom and the wind cap cover is screwed in place. I think that more tobacco can be fed in from the top of the bowl with the flat cap removed thus making the pipe a PERPETUAL DRYSMOKER.

The pipe my brother Jeff picked up is shown in the next photos that he took of it before cleaning it and sending it to me in Vancouver. You can see some darkening in the finish around the flat cap on the bowl and some general wear and tear to the finish as a whole. The bowl has quite a few fills in the shank, the left and right front sides and the crowned perforated bottom cap. The stem was oxidized quite heavily and the diameter of the shank and the diameter of the stem did not match.dry2Jeff took some great photos of the bowl taken apart. Contrary to what Tony and Stan mention in the quote article from the website all the parts are present with the pipe. There are no additional pieces needed to make the pipe functional. The first two photos show the rounded bottom cap and the flat top cap removed from the bowl. You can see the wooden threads on the inside of the bowl in the first photo where the bottom cap screwed into it. The second photo shows the threads on the outside of the bowl where the flat top cap screwed onto it. The completed pipe resembled a salt or pepper shaker to my mind – a unique and interesting smoking device. Both caps were darkened by smoking but appeared to be clean. There was a small crack in the rounded bottom cap but it did no effect the fit in the bowl.dry3He also took some photos with the parts laid out together to give an overall idea of what the pipe looked like.dry4My brother also included some close up photos of the sides of the bowl to show the condition of the finish and what would need to be done to clean it up. He included a photo of the flat top cap to show the remarkable grain underneath the staining and grime.dry5 dry6The next two photos show the stamping on both sides of the shank. The third photo shows the brass circle R logo on the stem and also the brass spacer in between the stem and the shank.dry7 dry8The final two photos Jeff included showed me the condition of the stem. It looked really good other than the oxidation. There was no tooth chatter or tooth marks in the surface. The only issue I would need to address was the mismatched diameter of the shank and the stem.dry9My brother did a really thorough job cleaning up this old pipe. When it arrived in Canada the inside of the bowl and both caps was really clean. He had scraped out the light cake in the bowl and cleaned out the mortise and airway in the stem and shank with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He cleaned off the exterior of the bowl and was able to remove much of the grime on the surface. The brass space was oxidized but would clean up easily when I worked on the diameter of the stem. I took the next four photos to show the condition I found the pipe in when I unpacked it here in Vancouver.dry10 dry11I took the pipe apart and took photos of the parts of the bowl – the centre core, the rounded bottom cap and the flat top cap. In the photos the core is flat side up in the first one and rounded side up in the second one. The bowl and caps were very clean and you could see raw briar inside all of the parts which led me to think that the pipe had not been smoked often.dry12I took some close up photos of the stem to record its condition as well.dry13The fit of the crowned bottom cap to the edge of the core part of the pipe had some damage to it that did not allow the cap to seat tightly against the edge of the core. I topped it with 220 grit sandpaper on the topping board until the cap fit snugly.dry14I put the cap back in place and wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish. The fills on the bowl were dimpled so they would need to be repaired with briar dust and super glue.dry15 dry16With the finish removed I could better assess the darkened areas around the sides and bottom of the flat cap. I could also see areas that needed to be sanded around the edges of the rounded bottom cap also. I sanded the entire pipe with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damaged areas and smooth out the transitions between the core and the caps. I also smoothed out the edges of the fills to prepare them for repair later in the process.dry17 dry18With that part finished I needed to rework the shank/stem diameter. The right side of the shank was narrower than the right side of the stem. With the stem removed it was easy to see why. That side of the briar shank was thinner in terms of the thickness of the walls of the shank than the left side. The red circle shows the side that needed to be taken down.dry19I used the Dremel with a sanding drum to take down the excess vulcanite and brass of the spacer.dry20I cleaned out the areas around the fills and removed any of the loose debris around them. I rebuilt the areas around the fills with a mixture of clear super glue and briar dust. I overfilled the repairs to allow for shrinkage. I sanded the repairs smooth to match the surface of the bowl.dry21I sanded the repairs smooth and then polished the areas with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the repaired areas with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and dry sanded them with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth. I stained the bowl and the caps with dark brown aniline stain and flamed it to set it. I repeated the process until the coverage was even.dry22 dry23I buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing pen. I gave it several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it to a shine.dry24 dry25I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the scratch marks on the vulcanite. I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. After the final coat of oil I set it aside to dry.dry26 dry27 dry28I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond once more and then gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to polish it and then by hand with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Some of the character marks of the pipe that came to me still show and I am sure could tell a story if they were able to speak. I like the finished look – the marks and all give the pipe a sense of history and time. It is not a bad looking old pipe considering that it has traveled from the 1940s into 2016 and who knows how much longer. Thanks for looking.dry29 dry30 dry31 dry32 dry33 dry34 dry35 dry36

Reclamation Project: The Tobacconist Inc. Rhodesian

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Blog by Steve Laug

In the last box of pipe that my brother sent there was a pipe that is of course one of my favourite shapes – a 9438/9242 GBD style Rhodesian though the taper stem makes me think of a 9242 shape. It is not stamped with a shape number or a make but the Made in England stamping on the underside of the shank matches that found on GBD pipes. From first glance at the pictures of the pipe that my brother sent me it looked to be in decent shape. This was to be proved wrong once my brother started to clean it and I received it in Vancouver. But from the photos the contrast finish of blacks and browns looked really good. The rustication on the bowl is a combination of worm trails and “squiggles” that is reminiscent of Custombilt pipes. From the front there is a worm trail that divides the bowl into two hemispheres like a brain (photo 5). Strange humour of the original pipe maker, I think.tob1 tob2The close up photos of the rim and bowl give a bit of a foretaste of the hidden issues in the bowl and on the rim. It is hard to see the inside of the bowl from this photo but there was a light cake in the bowl and it had run over the top edge of the bowl filling in some of the grooves and crevices in the rustication. The second photo below shows the worm trail on the front and underside of the bowl that divides the bowl into two hemispheres.tob3The stamping on the underside of the shank on a smooth portion of briar was faint but could still be read. It said The Tobacconist Inc. over Made in England.tob4The stem was lightly oxidized around the shank end and the button end, though the middle was strangely clean. There were tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. The top edge of the button on both sides had tooth marks as well.tob5I have restored a Liverpool shaped pipe with The Tobacconist Inc. stamping and written a blog on it – (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/07/16/a-liverpool-stamped-tobacconist-inc/). I remember hunting to no avail on information on the brand and finding nothing. I checked once again with my usual sources – the book Who Made that Pipe and the online sites Pipedia and Pipephil. None of the sources had any new information. For that blog, I searched for the name of the shop – The Tobacconist Inc. to see if I could find any information on it and possibly see if they had shop pipes made for them. The name Tobacconist Inc. came up shop a tobacco shop in Chicago. It is called The Tobacconist Inc. and is located at 3524 W. Irving Park Rd. Chicago, Illinois. The phone number is 773-463-8468. I have included two photos from that blog – one of the sign and the other of the shop. The sign says the shop has “Everything for the Smoker” and has been in existence since 1946. Sounds like a place I need to visit one day. Now that I have worked on a second pipe with the name stamped on it I really need to call them and see if they have any information about the pipe. tob7My brother wrote that cleaning out the inside of the pipe was a pain. It took a lot of work to get the buildup of tars and grime out of the bowl and the shank. The rim top also had some damage under the thick tars. When it arrived in Vancouver I could see that the pipe was in pretty rough shape with a poorly fitting stem. The diameter of the stem and the shank don’t match. Not sure if it was because the stem was poorly fitting to start with or if it is a replacement stem. It looks to be original so I am opting for a poor fit. I took some photos of the pipe before I started working on it (well almost – I had done a little sanding at the shank stem union before I remembered to take the photos). tob8 tob9I took a close up photo of the rim and bowl. The rim inner edge had some chips and nicks that would need to blended in to make the rim more balances looking. It is hard to see from the photos but the walls of the bowl are in damaged condition.tob10The tooth dents in the top and underside of the stem near the button were quite deep. I heated the dents with a Bic lighter to raise them as much as possible. I painted them with the flame of the lighter and when I was finished they were not as deep as before. It would not take too much now to sand them out to match the surface of the rest of the stem.tob11I cleaned out the inside of the shank with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to remove the last of the debris on the walls. The bevel on the edge of the mortise was rough and needed to be cleaned up and smoothed out but the wood was solid with no cracks.tob12I used a Dremel and sanding drum to remove the excess briar and vulcanite and get the shank and the bowl to match in diameter. It took some work but it certainly was a better fit once I was finished. I sanded the bevel in the shank end until it was smooth but the stem still did not fit tightly against the shank. I heated the tenon to soften the vulcanite and make it flexible. I pushed the stem carefully into the shank and held it against the shank end to align it until the tenon cooled.tob13I sanded the stem/shank union with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and make the transition clean. I took the following photos to show the restoration at this point.tob14 tob15I used a brass bristle tire brush to work over the rim top. It took some work but I was able to get the grime and grit out of the grooves of the rim.tob16I scrubbed off the finish on the bowl and rim to remove the stain and the remaining varnish coat on the briar. When I finished cleaning the surface the pipe was ready for the stain coat.tob17 tob18I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain and flamed it to set it in the grain. I repeated the process until the stain coverage was even across the bowl.tob19 tob20I used the Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to scrape out the walls of the bowl. I examined the interior and saw a lot of spidering cracks on the walls of the bowl. While the briar around them was still solid and the briar was not too badly damaged. This would need to be addressed to assure that the briar would be protected until a new cake had formed.tob21I decided to mix up a batch of pipe mud with some tap water and a dental spatula. I applied the mud mixture to the inside of the bowl pressing it into the cracks in the bowl walls. I coated the inside of the bowl with the mud until there was a solid bowl coating.tob23 tob24I set the bowl aside to dry overnight. I took the following photos to show what the inside looked like after the mud had cured.tob25I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the last remnants of the tooth dents and reshape the button on both sides. It also removed the surface oxidation.tob27I used a black Sharpie Pen to touch up the grooves in briar on the sides and the rim top. I gave briar a touch up coat of dark brown stain. I waxed the rusticated briar with multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and once it had dried buffed it with a shoe brush to raise the shine.tob28 tob29I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. I gave it the final coat of oil and set it aside to dry.tob30 tob31 tob32I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond polish on the wheel. I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and put another coat of Conservator’s Wax on the briar. I buffed the bowl and stem with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The fit of the stem against the shank is far better than it was when I started the cleanup. I like the way the flow is now between the stem and the shank. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It had a great feel in hand and I think the rustication will heat up nicely with the next first smoke. I think that the pipe mud will protect the bowl until a new cake is built. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me.tob33 tob34 tob35 tob36 tob37 tob38 tob39 tob40

An Estate Sale Find – A Castello Sea Rock SC 54P Bulldog

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

My brother Jeff is truly the king of estate sale, junque store and antique store pipe finds. He seems to have not only developed an eye for a good pipe but seems to have an uncanny ability to find them. A few months back now he messaged me from an estate sale he had gone to near Boise, Idaho. He had driven to the town the evening before so he was first in line for the sale. He found some great pipes in that sale and on that trip. I wrote about the finds he came home with on that trip in a previous blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/10/31/sometimes-you-just-get-lucky-an-amazing-pipe-hunt/). This little Castello Sea Rock 54P Bulldog came home with him on that trip. From his description and the photos that he sent along the pipe showed lots of promise. The Sea Rock Finish was dirty and the crevices had dust in them. The rim was tarred with overflow of cake from the heavily smoked bowl. The pipe seemed to sport an after factory band as there were no Castello marks on the silver. The stem was in good shape though it had tooth marks on the top and bottom sides next to the button. It had the diamond logo on the side of the saddle stem which I knew meant it was made for the United States market.castello1My brother took some close up photos of the rim top and the cake in the bowl to show what it looked like when he found it. You can see how thick the cake is and how much of the rim rustication has filled in with the overflow.castello2Other than being dirty, the finish was in very good shape. There were no chips of dings in the surface of the rim or on the bowl or the shank.castello3The silver band was tarnished and seemed to have some flaking on the surface. I am not sure if the silver plate is peeling or if it is just left over remnants of the sticky tag that had been there with the price. The stamping was very clear on a smooth patch on the left underside of the diamond shank and read Castello over SC Sea Rock Briar. Underneath that and to the left it read 54P (which is the shape number) and Made in Cantu over Italy. The underside of the left side of the Lucite stem also had stamping that read Hand Made over Castello and the number 5. The stamping of Hand is faint though it can be seen with a magnifying glass.castello4The fit of the stem against the shank was off – it looked as if the mortise was filled with oils and had pushed the stem out. It did not fit snugly against the shank. The faux diamond circle on the saddle portion of the stem is also visible in the photo below. The second photo below shows the debris on the silver band and the grime in the rustication of the shank.castello5The last two photos that my brother sent show the condition of the stem. It is hard to see the tooth marks near the button on both sides of the stem but you can see the chatter on the underside and the “gunk” (technical term) that had built up in the corners of the slot in the button.castello6Before I worked on the pipe I wanted to do a bit of research to see if I could shed some more light on the pipe I had in hand. I learned from the pipephil website that the rhinestone logo was originally on pipes for the US market. There was no hint as to why that was done only that it was and that it is occasionally still used http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-castello.html

I have an older article called PCCA’s Castello Grade & Style Guide. It was written by Robert C. Hamlin (c) 1988, 1992, 1994. Robert gathered some remarkable information on the Castello lines and I have often used his guide in the past to give me pertinent data. There I found more information regarding the shiny logo on the side of the stem.

“American logo’d Castello pipes use a small round “Diamond” (referred to and looking like, but it is NOT actually a diamond) inlaid into the mouthpiece. This was originally done so that the standard Castello white bar logo did not conflict with another brand and logo that was sold by Wally Frank called the “White Bar Pipe” (in the 1950’s).”

The above quote and the remainder of those following come from the same article by Robert Hamlin. You can read the full article at the following link: http://www.pipes.org/BURST/FORMATTED/196.016.html

I read further in the article to help me understand the stamping on the underside of the shank. My knowledge of Castello pipes is pretty limited so when I get one to restore I resort to this article and others to try to make heads or tails of the stamping. First of all I had no idea what the SC stamped ahead of the Sea Rock Briar stamping meant. I had seen Castello’s with the signature of Carlo Scotti on them but not this stamping. Robert gave me the information I needed.

“Older Castello pipes will usually include the “REG No.” and have the letters “SC” stamped as a part of the nomenclature. The SC stamp was for Scotti, Carlo (in Italy all names are listed last, first). Today the full name of Carlo Scotti, contained in a small oval, has replaced the SC stamp.”

I learned that the Sea Rock Briar stamp also signified something and told me more about the pipe. Robert pointed out:

“SEA ROCK [Carved Black or dark brown]: This is the lowest grade of the Castello line and is the most common in the USA. Sea Rocks are produced by taking a smooth bowl that has not been “final finished” and surface carving the finish with tools. This “carved” finish is then evened out using a steel wire brush, stained and then waxed. The Natural Vergin carved finish is left unstained and unwaxed as a rule, although we have seen waxed and partially waxed “Vergins”.” 

The remaining mystery for me was the meaning of the stamping on the stem. I of course understood the Hand Made and the Castello stamping but the number 5 was a mystery to me. I was not sure what it referred to. So once again Robert’s article gave me the information I needed to understand that last piece of the mystery.

“#2: All Castello standard shaped pipes have a number (3, 4, 5 or 6) stamped on the mouthpiece or sometimes on the lucite ferrule. What does this number mean? Not much really, it is the number of the size for the proper straw tube or reed that fits the shank and stem of the pipe. These straw tubes are rarely used in the United States. The Castello reed is considered superfluous and useless to most, but with this number you will always know which one fits (the different numbers have to do with length, not diameter).”

When the pipe arrived in Vancouver it was inside of a Castello suede bag missing only the drawstrings at the top. It bore the classic Castello Castle logo and reading Pipa Castello di Carl Scotti Cantu (Italy) stamped on the front in brown paint/ink. castello7I tipped the pipe out of the bag to see what my brother had done with it. He had written and warned me that he had done a minimal clean up on the pipe as he did not want to damage it. I was not sure what I would see when I removed it from the bag. The four photos below show the state of the pipe when it arrived.castello8 castello9Examining the pipe closely I could see that he had reamed the bowl and cleaned up the rim to remove the tars and oils that had overflowed onto the top of the rim. He had also cleaned the finish on the pipe quite nicely. The internals were cleaner but would need some more work but the pipe looked pretty good.castello10I took some photos of the stem to show the tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. In the first photo of the top, you can see the tooth mark neat the button and the one on the top edge of the button. In the second photo you can see the damage to the underside of the stem near the button and on the top of the button there as well.castello11I used a brass bristle tire brush to clean up the small particles that still remained in the grooves on the rim of the bowl. It did not take too much to remove what was left and leave the rim clean.castello12I wiped off the sticky spots on the silver band with a little alcohol on a cotton pad. I could see that the band had been stamping diagonally in several places with letters from the word silver but that none of them spelled it out completely. I was pretty certain from Robert’s article above that the silver band was after market and may be part of a repair to a cracked shank. Cleaning the pipe further would either confirm or deny that assumption on my part. I polished the band with micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12000 grit pads. The polished band is shown in the photo below.castello13I sanded the tooth marks out on both sides of the stem at the button using 220 grit sandpaper and also sanded the damage to the button surface itself. There was also slight damage to the slot itself on the end of the button. I sanded the slot and cleaned up the damaged areas there. castello14I used micromesh sanding pads to polish the newly sanded areas on the Lucite stem surface. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and wiped the stem down with a damp cotton pad. I dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with the damp pad several times throughout the process. In doing so I was able to remove all signs of the damage to stem in those spots along the edge and top of the button.castello15 castello16 castello17With stem exterior finished other than buffing I ran a pipe cleaner with alcohol through to remove any sanding debris from my clean up and sanding of the surface and the slot. It was remarkably clean.castello18I cleaned out the shank with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to remove the tars and oils that kept the stem from properly seating against the end of the tenon. It was pretty thickly tarred and took some scrubbing to remove the grime. While I was cleaning the interior of the grime I found what I had surmised was under the band. The end and inside of the mortise revealed a small crack underneath the grime. It looked like it had been repaired somewhere along its life. The end of the crack on the shank end was the worst part of the damage. The hairline crack on the exterior of the shank – almost an underline of the word Cantu showed signs of having been glued and clamped until it sealed. That settled my question regarding the purpose of the aftermarket silver band on the shank.castello19 castello20With the internals cleaned and the crack examined with a lens and deemed solid I polished the silver band with a jeweler’s cloth to further remove any remnants of tarnish and give it a deeper shine and protection. I hand waxed the bowl with some Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a shoe brush to raise the initial shine on the briar. The photos below show the bowl after the waxing and polishing.castello21 castello22I put the stem in place in the shank. The fit was perfect and it sat snuggly against the end of the mortise as it did when it left Cantu. I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel avoiding the silver band and the briar. I waxed the stem with carnauba wax on the wheel and buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is truly a beautiful little bulldog. The shape and the rustication make it a pleasure to hold in the hand. It fits snuggly with my thumb curled around the back of the bowl and the rest of the fingers holding the bowl. The finish is extremely tactile and should be interesting in hand as the bowl heats up during smoking. For me there is absolutely nothing lacking in the design and form of this old Sea Rock Briar and I think it will be one I hang onto. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration process.castello23 castello24 castello25 castello26 castello27 castello28 castello29 castello30 castello31

Finishing Touches on an Interesting Bambu Egg

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Blog by Steve Laug

This pipe came up for sale on the Gentleman’s Pipe Smoking Society on Facebook. It was being sold by a friend of Dal’s and I liked the shape and the look of it. I honestly was thinking it was a smaller Stanwell like egg even though I knew it was not a Stanwell pipe. The pipe is stamped Bambu on the left side of the shank and on the underside it is stamped Israel which leads me to believe that it was crafted by the Shalom Pipe Factory. There is nothing online that I can find regarding the stamping or the brand but it is similar in stamping to my early Alpha Israel pipes. That is all the information that I can surmise from the pipe itself. I paid for the pipe and had it shipped to my brother instead of to Canada over a month ago and he received it really quickly. I told him to hold onto it and ship it up when he sent another box of pipes to me.

This week it arrived and I expectantly took it out of the box of other pipes. I unwrapped it from the bubble wrap to have a look at it. My brother had sent along a few photos of the pipe to show me what I was in for once it arrived so I was kind of excited to see it up close. In the next two photos he shows the overall look of the pipe. It was really quite nice.bamboo2 bamboo3Whenever I buy an estate pipe, no matter who has done the restoration, I always add my own touches to the restoration to make it mine and to remove the things that will bug me as I use the pipe. I don’t know if you all do that but it is part of my own pathology that I have to go over every estate I get with a fine tooth comb before I even load a bowl and fire it up. This was no exception to my habit. I took the bowl and turned it over in my hands to examine it closely. As usual I noted a few issues that I knew would bug me unless I addressed them. (No criticism of the seller as I am sure many folks would have been absolutely fine with the as it was when I got it.)

  1. The finish on the bowl was spotty. The left side of the bowl appeared to have been stripped of its varnish or shellac coat and there were shiny spots left on the bowl side toward the top edge of the rim. The front, back and right side of the bowl still had the shiny finish coat. I knew I would need to remove the finish and smooth things out. Call me anal but that kind of thing bugs me.
  2. The rim still had some residual lava spots from the bowl that would need to be cleaned off and the darkening of the rim appeared to be on top of the shiny top coat. I was pretty sure that I could remove much of the issue by removing the shiny coat.
  3. The underside and sides of the bowl had some dents and nicks in the finish that needed to be steamed out.
  4. The transition between the briar, the black insert and the bamboo was rough to the touch and there was debris collected in the rough edges of the transition.
  5. There was a red mark in the groove of the bamboo on the top side of the shank. It stood out and it bugged me – kind of like lipstick on the collar of a good shirt.
  6. The bamboo also had a thick seal coat that seemed to have brush marks in the finish and I could feel them with my thumb as I ran it over the bamboo.
  7. The stem had a lot of pits and small tooth chatter that had been polished but was still present on both the top and the bottom sides.
  8. The stamped B logo on the stem was in great shape but I wanted to paint it and make it stand out a bit more on the saddle portion.
  9. The stem also did not sit correctly in the shank leaving a gap on the underside of the joint when it was properly aligned.

My brother included some close up photos of the bowl, the underside, the shank and the stem that highlight some of the issues I raised above.bamboo4 bamboo5 bamboo6The next photos show the stamping on the left side of the shank and on the underside. It reads Bambu as noted above and Israel on the underside.bamboo7In the next two close up photos of the stem you can see the tooth chatter and scratches on the vulcanite stem.bamboo8The final photo shows the B stamp on the side of the saddle portion of the stem. It is in decent shape and would be easily filled in. The fit of the stem against the bamboo was a bit off as well. I would need to adjust this fit.bamboo9In adding my own touches to the restoration of the pipe I decided to work through remedying each of the issues noted above individually. You can be the judge if the finished pipe is better than when I started. The first four photos show the pipe as it appeared when I unwrapped it. You can see the shiny spots on the left side of the bowl near the top and toward the bottom of the bowl. You can also see the dents in the bowl sides.bamboo10 bamboo11The issue raised above in number 1 involved the spotty finish on the bowl. The above photos highlight that issue clearly. The left side of the bowl appeared to have been stripped of its varnish or shellac coat and there were shiny spots left on the bowl side toward the top edge of the rim. The front, back and right side of the bowl still had the shiny finish coat. I scrubbed the finish on the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the shiny topcoat. I was pretty sure it was a varnish or shellac coat and that it had been partially removed somewhere along the way. It did not take too much effort to remove it from the surface of the bowl.

I also addressed issues number 2 and 3 noted above. To take care of the second issue of the rim surface I scrubbed the rim of the bowl with the acetone on the cotton pad and the bits of lava came off along with the shiny coat. The rim was smooth to the touch and some of the darkening also was removed in the process. To take care of the dents and nicks in the finish I steamed them out with a hot knife and wet cloth to raise them. I was able to remove all of the dents and nicks leaving the bowl smooth.bamboo12 bamboo13The next photo is a close up of the rim after the scrubbing with acetone.bamboo14Next I decided to address issue number 9 noted above – the improper alignment of the stem in the shank. When it was correctly aligned in the shank it left a gap on the underside of the joint. It is visible at the bottom of the stem in the photo below.bamboo15I removed the stem from the shank and faced the end of the shank on the topping board using 220 grit sandpaper. You can see from the second photo below where the topping at removed high spots on the end of the shank leaving the center unsanded. This was only the first step in the process of this repair.bamboo16When I put the stem back in the shank it was clear that the angle of the tenon was incorrect in terms of the drilling in the bamboo. I heated the tenon with a Bic lighter to soften the vulcanite of the tenon and then pushed it back into the mortise in the bamboo. Because the tenon was pliable I was able to align the stem edge with the edge of the bamboo to remove the gap in the fit. I held the stem in place while the tenon cooled. Once finished the alignment remained and the gap was gone.bamboo17Once I got the stem alignment corrected I decided to touch up the B stamp on the side of the stem to address issue number 8 noted above. I use some white acrylic paint and applied it with a fine bristle paint brush to fill in the stamping on the stem. Once the paint dried I scraped it off with a soft cloth and sanded it with a 2400 grit micromesh sanding pad.bamboo18To address the issues noted in numbers 4-6 above – all dealing with the bamboo shank extension I worked specifically to deal with the varnish coat on the bamboo. I wiped it down with a cotton pad and acetone to remove the buildup and brush marks on the surface of the bamboo. I cleaned out the “lipstick” that was in the groove in the bamboo using a cotton swab and acetone. There is just one small spot left next to the spacer between the bamboo and the briar. I sanded the transition between the briar, the insert and the bamboo to smooth it out and to also clean up some of the debris that seemed to have collected at that point on the shank. With the removal of the thick varnish the bamboo began to take on its natural patina and the stress marks stood out giving an aged look.bamboo19 bamboo20The final issue, number 7 above, to be addressed was the stem. It had some tooth chatter and marks on the top and underside that needed some attention. They were not too bad but they stood out and bugged me. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth chatter and smooth out the tooth marks. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. After the final set I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry.bamboo21 bamboo22 bamboo23I polished the bowl and the bamboo with micromesh sanding pads as well – all grits 1500-12000 to remove any remaining scratches or small nicks in the finish.bamboo24 bamboo25I buffed bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to further polish the pipe and then gave the entire pipe several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to polish the wax and then hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The rich finish now highlights the beautiful grain on the pipe and the smooth feel in the hand satisfies my desire for that in a pipe. It is now ready to fire up a bowl of some Christmas tobacco and the distractions that irritated me when I received the pipe are taken care off and all the distractions removed. So goes the life of a pipe refurbisher – never finished and rarely satisfied with the end product – I always see more imperfections that need to be addressed. Thanks for humouring me as I took you through this journey I appreciate it!bamboo26 bamboo27 bamboo28 bamboo29 bamboo30 bamboo31 bamboo32 bamboo33

Replacing a Stem on a Stanwell Antique 156 Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I brought to my work table is another Stanwell Antique. This one is stamped on the underside of the shank with the words Stanwell over the script Antique and over the top of them both is the number 156 which is the shape number. This one came in the same lot as the two victims of Jaws that I have already written about on the blog – the Estella and the GBD Midnight (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/12/06/jaws-and-an-estella-non-pareil-%c2%bc-bent-9606-stack-by-savinelli/ and https://rebornpipes.com/2016/12/09/another-jaws-victim-a-gbd-midnight-788-oval-shank-apple/). This Stanwell Antique Bulldog had a poorly fit replacement stem – a diamond shaped stem from a classic bulldog shape. The stem had many deep tooth marks on both the top and the underside of the stem. anti1The finish on the bowl was in decent shape though the rim had some tarry buildup and there was a thick cake in the bowl. The first photo shows the mixture of sandblast and smooth on this pipe was a nice contrast. The front of the pipe was smooth and joined the smooth rim. The second photo shows that the front outer edge had nicks and dents in it as did the surface of the rim. The close up photo of the rim shows the condition of the pipe when my brother received it.anti2The Lucite shank extension is amber coloured. The thickness of the extension makes it hard for the light to shine through it. The mortise had been damaged – it is my thought that whoever put the new stem in place redrilled the mortise and damaged the inner edge and the bottom of the mortise. anti3The stamping on the underside of the shank is better than the stamping on the previous Antique I just finished. The shape number is very clear and sharp. The Stanwell logo is lighter on the left side and the Antique stamping is also very clear and sharp.anti4The next photo shows the transition from the smooth front of the bowl to the sandblast on the rest of the bowl. You can see some of the grit in the grooves and crevices of the blast and the grime on the smooth portion.anti5The last photo that my brother sent me shows the bite marks on the diamond stem. They are identical in pattern to the ones on the previous two “Jaws” pipes.anti6My brother cleaned up the pipe with his usual thoroughness. When the pipe arrived in Vancouver the finish was clean and the grooves and crevices clean. The rim was better though it show the damage to the front edge and the dents to the top of the rim. He had reamed and cleaned the mortise and the airway in the replacement stem so the pipe was very clean and ready for me to work on.

I cleaned up the shank extension end and used clear super glue to rebuild the damage portion of the Lucite. I sanded it with 180 grit sandpaper and also with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repairs. I cleaned out the shank with a cotton swab and warm water to remove the debris in the shank. I took photos of the bowl after I cleaned it up and scrubbed it with Murphy’s Oil Soap.anti7 anti8The rim shows some damage to the top and the back edge in the photo below.anti9The stem was an obvious replacement so I put it in my can of stems and looked for a stem that would be a good candidate for a replacement. I had one in a lot of stems that my brother sent me. It was a Danish looking freehand stem that had a long tenon and a step up toward the ring in the middle. I forgot to take a photo of the stem before I worked on it but I had another example of one that was similarly shaped that is shown in the next photo.anti10I sanded the stem with a Dremel and sanding drum to shorten and remove the step down area. I wanted to have a smooth transition from the tenon end to the mid ring. I also wanted to make the slope to the ring more abrupt that it was in the one above. The stem was in pretty rough shape. There was deep tooth mark on the topside of the stem from the damaged button forward. There was also some tooth damage on the underside of the stem in the middle and on one side. The button was also damaged on the underside. There was a missing chunk of vulcanite on the button edge. I filled in the damaged areas with black superglue to build them up. I let the glue dry and once it was dry I sanded it smooth to match the surface of the rest of the stem. I filled in the damaged button and built up the edge on the top and bottom sides. I sanded the button as well once it had cured and reshaped it.anti11I sanded the diameter of the tenon area on the new stem until the fit in the mortise was correct. The stem still looked a little long but I would take care of that shortly. I put it in the mortise and took photos of the pipe with the new stem.anti12 anti13I sanded the stem with 180 grit and 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repairs and reshape the stem to match the rest of the stem.anti14I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit sanding pads and rubbing it down with the oil after each set of three pads. After the final set I gave it a final coat of the oil and set the stem aside to dry.anti15 anti16 anti17To remove the damage to the front edge and the top of the rim I topped the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper on the topping board. I sanded it with 1500-6000 grit micromesh sanding pads to sand out the scratches in the rim surface. I restained the rim to match the front of the bowl using a dark brown stain pen. I buffed it lightly with a microfibre cloth.anti18I sanded the smooth portions of the bowl face and the rim with 1500-6000 grit micromesh sanding pads to polish them.anti19 anti20I buffed the rim and smooth part of the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond polish on the wheel. I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The repairs on the stem show under the bright lights of the flash but in person they are pretty well blended into the surface of the stem. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me.anti21 anti22 anti23 anti24 anti25 anti26 anti27 anti28