Tag Archives: GBD Colossus Pipes

Cleaning up a GBD Fantasy 9643 Tomato

Blog by Mike Belarde

Hello, I hope everyone is doing well. I’m grateful to finally have an easy going Sunday to clean up a pipe. This GBD Tomato is not a shape that I have encountered often, and I was excited to win the online auction.

The pipe is an impressive piece of briar with a very wide and squat bowl. When I received it, I was pleased that it was in fairly good condition. The stummel had been cleaned and waxed, but the pipe still looked a little grimy and dull. The chamber and rim had a light build up of carbon. Thankfully, the stem still had a nice crisp button and was only lightly oxidized. Below are photos of the initial condition.As you can see from the photos, it is a great looking pipe. I really like GBD’s Fantasy and Tapestry lines with their whimsical geometric smooth panels over a black or brown sandblast. The stamping on this pipe is still crisp. The markings include the Colossus stamp, and the linear London England stamp. Below these, are the GBD in an oval over the Fantasy stamp with the shape number of 9643.

The Colossus stamp indicates that this was part of GBD’s line of supersized pipes. The linear London England stamp, paired with the brass GBD rondel, dates this pipe prior to 1981 or 1982. My guess is this pipe was made sometime in the 1970s.Eager to clean the pipe up and add it to my collection, I placed the stem in a small Tupperware to soak overnight in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover solution. I then set to cleaning up the stummel. Realizing all my pipe reamers were too small for the width of the chamber, I wrapped a piece of 220 grit sandpaper around a highlighter to remove the built-up carbon.After this was done, I took the stummel to the sink and washed the exterior with Oil soap and an old toothbrush. A light lava build up was present on the rim so I used an old green scouring pad to scrub it away. With the chamber and the exterior clean, the Tomato was looking really nice. The chamber seemed to be in good condition once the light cake had been removed.Thankfully the internals of this pipe were fairly clean and required minimal work on my part. I have to admit that cleaning the draught is my least favorite part of restoring estate pipes! I first used a 3mm wire brush to gently clean out the shank. Once done, I cleaned the internals with a handful of pipe cleaners dipped in 99% Isopropyl alcohol.After the interior of the pipe was cleaned to a satisfactory level, I prepared the pipe for de-ghosting. I put two fluffy pipe cleaners down the shank to act as a wick and then placed two cotton balls in the chamber. I soaked each cotton ball with alcohol, as I placed them one at a time in the chamber. To let the alcohol, work its magic and draw out more of the old tar and grime, I let it sit overnight. The next day I took the stem out of the Briarville solution and scrubbed the surface with a green scouring pad and some Soft Scrub. The stem looked great, but I ran into a problem – for some reason the brass rondel came off. I’m not really sure what went wrong, but it would have to be fixed. I reattached the rondel by applying a small amount of Super Glue and used a soldering iron to apply heat. Hopeful that the heat would soften the vulcanite under the rondel and allow it to reattach as the vulcanite cooled. The process seemed to work, but I’m going to keep an eye on the rondel for possible problems down the road.

With that done, I sanded the stem with some 220 grit sandpaper and polished it with the series of micropads (1500-12000). Between each pad I wiped the stem down with stem oil. In the final step, I applied some Before and After Extra Fine Stem polish. I think the results turned out pretty well and am happy with how the stem looked. I may go back and rework some of the area around the rondel, but I am leery of disturbing the area too much and dislodging it again.Satisfied with the progress on the stem, I turned my attention to the stummel. I polished the rim and smooth panels with the progression of micromesh pads (1500-12000), wiping the areas with a damp paper towel after each pad. I lightly polished the sandblast areas with the 6000-12000 pads to avoid removing any of the original black stain. After I cleaned the stummel, I noticed a few areas that needed to be re-stained. You’ll notice the areas where the brown stain was showing through on the sandblast in the pictures below. I also noticed the transition between the shank and stem was darkened like it had been stained over with black dye. On other Fantasy pipes that I own, this transition is usually stained brown giving the pipes a nice highlight on the shank. I lightly sanded the rim with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove some lingering darkening. I also lightly sanded the smooth panels and shank transition to remove some of the dark stain there. After this was done, I mixed a 1-to-3 ratio of Medium Brown and Black dyes with alcohol to thin them down. I like to apply the stain with a small hobby brush as I find the brush helps me to coat the stummel evenly. Once the stain was applied, I used a candle to fire the briar and set the dye. I let the stummel sit for 10 or 15 minutes and then removed some of the excess stain with a folded paper towel dampened with alcohol.I began to polish the stummel with the micromesh pad series (1500-12000), wiping the briar down with a damp paper towel between each pad. Once finished with the micro pads, I worked some Before and After Restoration Balm into the stummel, let it sit for about 10 minutes, and then buffed it with a cotton cloth. At this point I was very pleased with the results – the pipe looked great! For the last step, I buffed both the stummel and stem with Red Tripoli and Blue Diamond. I gave both several coats of Carnauba wax and buffed them with a cotton cloth.

I’m really happy how this pipe turned out! It is a great shape and the size of the bowl just dominates one’s palm. The overall length of the pipe is 5.25”, with the outside diameter of the bowl coming in at 2.13”. The chamber itself is a generous 1”, while the entire bowl stands at a modest 1.13”. The pipe weighs a noticeable 2.20oz, and its haft and size just feel nice in one’s hand. It should be a nice smoking pipe, and I’m happy that I can add it to my collection. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog!

Life for a Long Shank GBD Premier Colossus 264 T Lumberman

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Blog by Steve Laug

A fellow Vancouver Pipeman named Alex has been keeping me busy with working on the pipes he is picking up. He has picked up some interesting American and English made pipes. The next of those pipes is a long shank pipe that is a part of the Canadian family of pipes. The shank is oval and the stem is a saddle shaped one which makes it a Lumberman rather than a Canadian. I did a screen capture of the shapes from Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Canadian). It is the second pipe in the picture below.This long shank GBD Lumberman is quite a stunning pipe. The pipe is one large piece of briar with no joints on the shank. From what I can see there is one flaw on the top of the shank near the end. There are some small fills around the bowl that are blended in quite well. The pipe is stamped on the top and the underside of the shank. On the topside it reads GBD in an oval [over] Premier [over] Colossus. On the underside it has a circular COM stamp that reads Made in London in a circle [over] England. That is followed by the shape number 264 with some space and then the upper case letter “T”. There was a thick cake in the bowl and lava overflowing onto the rim top. The rim top has some scratching and dents that will be more visible once the lava coat is gone. It is hard to know what the beveled inner edge looks like because of the lava. The finish was very dirty with grime and oils ground into the smooth finish. The vulcanite saddle GBD Oval logo stamped on the topside of the saddle stem. The stem was calcified, oxidized, dirty and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. Here are some photos of the pipe when I first received it. I took a close-up photo of the rim to show the condition of the rim top, bowl and the inner edge of the bowl. It was hard to know what was going on with the rim and edges because of the cake and lava overflow. The stem was a mess with tooth damage and chatter on the button edges and the stem ahead of the button. The stamping on the topside and the underside of the shank are shown in the photos below. It reads as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the flow of the pipe. The pipe was really going to look great once it was cleaned and polished. The long, oval shank Lumberman is a beauty.The history of GBD pipes is very well spelled out in multiple articles on Pipedia. I would encourage you to give them a read as they are well written and very readable. It is truly a grand old brand spanning France and England. I turned instead to Pipedias article on GBD’s various models (https://pipedia.org/wiki/GBD_Model_Information). I did a screen capture of the write up on the Premier Line.The pipe is a Premier which is noted above as a flagship to their pipes. It says that it is stained with a unique fiery Autumn colour combination that has a hand finished mouthpiece.

The second stamping on the top of the shank was Colossus. I knew that this stamp was used on larger or what GBD called “plus sized pipes”. I read through the above link and found the information below.

Plus Sized Pipes

In addition to the pipe line and shape information stamped on the pipe GBD also had codes for plus sized pipes. These codes in ascending order of size were…

Conquest
Collector
Colossus

Perspex refers to the lucite/acrylic bit material GBD used, the clear bits used on various models are Perspex. Metal rondelles were discontinued after the merger with Comoy.

From this I know that the pipe is a larger, plus sized pipe that was at the top of the plus sizes – a Colossus. The Premier was the high in the hierarchy as well. I also knew that because of the circular COM stamp and the lack of a metal rondelle that the pipe was made after the merger with Comoy.

Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the thick cake back to the walls with a PipNet pipe reamer using the first two cutting heads. I followed up – cleaning the remnants of cake on the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. The final step for me to assess the condition of the walls of the bowl is to sand it with 220 grit sandpaper on a piece of dowel. I sanded the walls smooth. I was happy with the condition of the inside walls of the chamber. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to get the grime and debris out of the briar. I rinsed it with running water and dried it off with a towel. With that the outside was clean… progress! I cleaned out the mortise, shank in the briar and airway in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and 99% isopropyl alcohol. The pipe was dirty with lots of tars and oils. I worked on the damage to the rim top to remove the darkening, charring and dents and nicks. I topped it on with 220 grit sandpaper to remove as much of the damage as possible. There was still some damage to the front edge of the rim. I filled in the damaged bevel with briar dust and super glue. I took a photo of the rim top after the cleanup and then worked on the beveled rim with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. The grain is really beginning to stand out and the rim top is blending in quite well. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The following photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I am very happy with the results. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I repaired the tooth marks in the vulcanite and rebuilt the edge of the button with Black Loctite 380 Adhesive. Once the repairs had cured I used a needle file to recut the edges of the button and flatten out the repairs. I sanded the stem surface and button with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repairs and blend them into the surface. I also worked to remove the remaining oxidation on the stem surface. I started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiping it down after each pad with a damp cloth. This GBD Long Shank Premier Colossus Lumberman with a vulcanite saddle stem turned out to be a real beauty. The long shank and bowl is a single unit that speaks of nice, large piece of briar. GBD really maximized the grain with the shape of the pipe. Everything about the pipe – the finish, the crowned rim top and the cut of the briar work well to highlight the grain around the bowl. I polished stem and the bowl with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel and the finish just popped and came alive. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The pipe took on life with the buffing. The rich brown finish works well with the polished vulcanite stem. The finished pipe has a rich look that is quite catching. Have a look at it with the photos below. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 7 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The Premier Colossus GBD Lumberman will back in the box of pipes that I am working on for Alex. I am looking forward to what he will think of this one. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another estate pipe.