Tag Archives: Historical document

What is the unique material that forms a Gutta Percha Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

A friend on Facebook contacted me about an older Cavalier pipe I worked on recently with a suggestion that it might be made out of Gutta Percha rather than Bakelite as I suggested in the restoration blog. It was a pipe with a stem and base unit made out of a dark hard material and a pressure fit wooden bowl. The stem and end cap were all a single unit. Nothing, other than the bowl was removable. When I first picked it up to work on it, I assumed it was vulcanite and soaked it in a deoxidizer bath. The colour was constant. I took it out, dried it off and tried sanding what I thought was oxidation from the base. Nothing happened other than adding many scratches to the material. The more I worked with the material the more I realized that it was not vulcanite but was something else. From my experience cleaning up many older pipes, I assumed that it was Bakelite. But even then I was not sure about my assessment. When I received the message about it potentially being Gutta Percha I had to go and look at what that was. I had no memory of that material (or so I thought). After reading as much about the material as I could find, I think he is correct – Gutta Percha it is. Here is a link to the blog on the restoration of the pipe. https://rebornpipes.com/2017/11/13/restoring-an-interesting-old-bakelite-cavalier/. I am including some of the material I read for your reference. Certainly, I am not the only person who knows next to nothing about Gutta Percha. My friends suggestion left me flummoxed as to what that was. I went through the old memory bank to see if I could recall anything about the material. Surprisingly one memory came back. The only Gutta Percha I recall was the hard core in older golf balls. As a kid, I remember taking balls apart getting to the hard core but I cannot recall what the material looked like. I do remember it being hard and that it bounced. I remember my Dad (or someone) saying that it was Gutta Percha. That was the extent of my memory. But I don’t recall ever hearing about the material being used on pipes and I still really had no idea what it was.

That led me to do some research on the web to see what I could find out about the material. (Honestly, I don’t know what I would do without Google. I don’t know how I survived college and graduate school without it.) The first link I found and turned to was on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutta-percha). I quote large portions of that article below to set the base for understanding the material’s composition and origin.

Scientifically classified in 1843, it was found to be a useful natural thermoplastic. In 1851, 30,000 long cwt (1,500,000 kg) of gutta-percha was imported into Britain.

During the second half of the 19th century, gutta-percha was used for myriad domestic and industrial purposes, and it became a household word (emphasis mine). In particular, it was needed as insulation for underwater telegraph cables, which, according to author John Tully, led to unsustainable harvesting and a collapse of the supply.

According to Harvey Wickes Felter and John Uri Lloyd’s Endodontology: “Even long before Gutta-percha was introduced into the western world, it was used in a less processed form by the natives of the Malaysian archipelago for making knife handles, walking sticks and other purposes. The first European to discover this material was John Tradescant, who collected it in the Far East in 1656. He named this material “Mazer wood”. Dr. William Montgomerie, a medical officer in Indian service, introduced gutta-percha into practical use in the West. He was the first to appreciate the potential of this material in medicine, and he was awarded the gold medal by the Royal Society of Arts, London in 1843.”

…In the mid-19th century, gutta-percha was also used to make furniture, notably by the Gutta-Percha Company (established in 1847). Several of these ornate, revival-style pieces were shown at the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, London. When hot it could be moulded into furniture, decorations or utensils (emphasis mine).

It was also used to make “mourning” jewelry, because it was dark in color and could be easily molded into beads or other shapes (emphasis mine). Pistol hand grips and rifle shoulder pads were also made from gutta-percha, since it was hard and durable, though it fell into disuse when plastics such as Bakelite became available (emphasis mine). Gutta-percha found use in canes and walking sticks, as well.

The material was adopted for other applications. The “guttie” golf ball (which had a solid gutta-percha core) revolutionized the game. Gutta-percha remained an industrial staple well into the 20th Century, when it was gradually replaced with superior (generally synthetic) materials, though a similar and cheaper natural material called balatá is often used in gutta-percha’s place. The two materials are almost identical, and balatá is often called gutta-balatá.

It seems that I have unwittingly worked on several pipes made of this material over the years and had no clue what they were made of. I figured that they were all made of some form of Bakelite, which is actually a far newer product than Gutta Percha. One of those pipes that stands out to me was a tiny salesman’s pipe that was a carved figural pipe. Even though it was very small, the features and hair on the head were well defined. The close up photos below show the stamping on the pipe. The first photo shows the stamp on the left side of the shank reading Bob’er. The second photo shows the stamping on the left side of the neck and chin of the figure reading Reg. US.Pat.Off. The final photo shows the stamping on the right side neck and chin reading Des.Pat. 71062. When I researched the number online, I was unable to find any pertinent information on the patent. Following the close up photos, I have included photos of the pipe from a variety of angles. Perhaps some of you who are reading this can give me some information.I decided to search for other examples of pipes made of Gutta Percha. I found a surprising number of shapes and sizes that were available during that time. I have included some of them below to give a general idea of what they were like and the wide variety of shapes manufactured. I am sure that many of you can add other examples to this blog.

The first of these is a photo of revolver pipes – a Gutta Percha base and stem unit with a wooden/briar bowl. The examples in this photo show the variety of even this pipe shape.The second photo shows another figural. It is far more detailed and refined than the Bob’er that I included above. The bowl is wooden/briar cup insert. It is taken from an auction site.The third is a decorative Eagle claw with a wooden/briar bowl. The hatch marks on it are very similar to that on the Bob’er.The fourth is a risqué, decorative woman’s leg pipe. The bowl is briar/wood that fits into the Gutta Percha leg. The top of the base is a garter that holds the stocking on the leg that is below. The base ends with a shoe that forms the mouthpiece for the pipe.The final two examples are also from an auction house. I am including them here because of their uniqueness and the details of each pipe. The first is a detailed rifle stamped Defender with a wooden/briar bowl. The second is a footballer (American style) grabbing onto a ball as he slides on the ground.The fact that Gutta Percha could be molded and cast easily, made many variations possible for pipe makers. You can see from the photos I picked from the net, that the detail and shaping can be very meticulous. The only limitations seem to be the talent of the mold or pattern maker. I am amazed at the variations that artisans came up with for the pipe bases in the mid-19th century. The variety of the pipes also extends to the size of the pipe. I have held miniature cast face pipes and I have seen larger pipes similar to the Cavalier pictured at the beginning of this blog. I raise my pipe to the pipemen and makers who put these pipes on the market. I enjoy both the process of smoking them and looking at them again and again. Thanks for humoring this pipeman in reading this blog. Cheers.

I raise my pipe to the humble pipe cleaner

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BJLongBulkBox It seems that every time I make a trip to a pipe shop I inevitably pick up some bags or bundles of pipe cleaners. It seems that I can never have enough of them around. Thin, fluffy, regular or bristle I buy them every single time. I use them for my own pipes and go through many of them as I work on estate pipes. They are an indispensable tool of my hobby and craft. There was a time in the past when I ran out of pipe cleaners and had to go hunting for them. The nearby shops did not have them. The craft shops wanted way too much for inferior ones and I did not have a vehicle available to run down to the local pipe shop to pick up a bunch. When that happened I decided I would never let it happen again. So to this day I have a case of pipe cleaners like the one in the picture on the left that I am constantly refilling.

The other day I was checking my supply of pipe cleaners and adding the new bunches I had purchased to the case. It has become a habit to check it regularly. But this time I paused for a moment and wondered about the invention of this amazingly simple device. Where did the idea come from? When was the pipe cleaner invented? Who came up with the idea for the design? Why? This wondering always leads me to “Google” the information and research for the answers to my questions. For me this is as much a part of the hobby as the pipes themselves. The questions lead me to interesting discoveries and information in the process.

I have heard for many years that in times past pipe smokers used chicken feathers (and I suppose other feathers as well) to clean out their pipe stems and shanks. This makes perfect sense when you think about the stiff feather shank and the soft “bristles” of the feather. They function well as a brush when turned inside of the pipe. I am sure many a pipeman used them and threw them away until they needed another. I can almost envision them going out to the henhouse in the yard and either plucking a feather or picking one up, wiping it off and thrusting it into the stem to clean up before or after a smoke.

I discovered through my research several things that were fascinating to me. There is no end to the different tools that inventive pipe smokers have come up with to clean out their pipes. Some of them seem way too complicated to my mind to be a tool that I would use. Others are quite simple but in my life I have never seen them. Pipemen seem to continually come up with ideas for a better pipe cleaner. The have bent and twisted wire, made creative twists and turns of metal, and designed tools that looked like cutting saws for the purpose of cleaning a pipe bowl. I came across many patents for unique designs. A quick Google search for tobacco pipe cleaners will give you ample opportunity to have a look at the wild creativity of designs for a simple tool. I have included two of the more recent patent diagrams from the 1980s that show that the search for the perfect cleaner continues to go on. I am convinced that pipemen will always be looking for a better tool and thus there will always be new inventions that flood the patent office.

pipe cleaner 1

Pipe cleaner 2

There are many more unique and quirky versions of pipe cleaners that have been on the scene for a long time. I have several in my collection that are quite unique but nonetheless no longer made as they did not gain a following. For example, people have put spring cutting blades inside Bakelite cups to collect the scrapings of the blades. But there are also ones that have a growing following. These include such items as small shank brushes that can be washed and reused and also small barrel brushes like those used in cleaning firearms that can be run through the shank and the stem to clean out the debris left behind by the combustion of tobacco. Each of these two tools work quite well and have their place in the refurbishing kit.

IMG_1348 But even with all this creativity and inventiveness churning out new and “better” pipe cleaners none of them have displaced the fuzzy cotton pipe cleaner. For its band of supporters it will never be replaced by any manner of new-fangled notions. It is to the pipe cleaner alone that title of “old pal” has can be given. If you come across a pipe smoker in your travels you will inevitably find pipe cleaners near at hand.

But what triggered the design. I cannot prove this assumption on my part but it seems to me that the idea of the pipe cleaner came as a spinoff of the chicken feather. Its design is kind of a modern art version of the feather. It works in the same way as the feather – a central shaft with brushes attached that can fit in the stem and shank doing exactly what the feather did for those who used it in their pipes. Can’t you imagine it as a “modern” manmade feather?

But who invented it? After a bit of research on the web I found that they were invented by John Harry Stedman (b. 1843, d. 1922) & Charles Angel in Rochester, New York in the early 1900’s. Stedman was a creative inventor who throughout his life invented not only the fuzzy pipe cleaner but also the streetcar transfer ticket in 1892. He sold the pipe cleaner rights to BJ Long Company who has continued to make them for over 60 years and still makes them today. A quick look at their website shows the expansion of the pipe cleaner’s uses to include medical and craft areas. Their product has wide uses and diverse purchasers. To me this brand epitomizes the pipe cleaner. I am sure many of us are familiar with it as most pipe shops in North America sell BJ Long pipe cleaners in bundles and they are sold across the World Wide Web in online shops and on EBay as well.

bjlong

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Pipe cleaners are normally made from some absorbent material, usually cotton. Bristles of stiffer material like nylon\plastic are added to the bristle version of the cleaner to enable the pipeman to scrub out the shank and stem of their pipes. Typically the cleaner is used by pipemen after a smoke of their pipe or when cleaning their pipes. It is used either dry or it is dipped in alcohol or is wetted with the tongue before it is inserted into the airway. The cleaner absorbs the moistures and oils from the stem and shank. It can also be folded and used in the bowl to knock out debris left behind once the dottle has been dumped. Some pipe cleaners are tapered so that one end is thick and one end thin. The theory behind the design is simple – the thin end is for cleaning the smaller airway of the stem and the thick end for the shank. Some are thin and some are fluffy. The designs are made for different sized airways and stem designs. Pipe cleaners are designed to be thrown away after use though there are many tales of them being washed and reused.

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The construction of pipe cleaners is simple and involves two lengths of wire, called the core, twisted together trapping short lengths of fibre between them, called the pile. Pipe cleaners are usually made two at a time, as the inner wires of each pipe cleaner have the yarn wrapped around them, making a coil; the outer wires trap the wraps of yarn, which are then cut, making the tufts. Chenille yarn is made in much the same way, which is why craft pipe cleaners are often called “chenille stems”. Some pipe cleaner machines have actually been converted into chenille machines. The pipe cleaners produced vary from machine to machine type. Some machines produce very long pipe cleaners which are wound onto spools. The spools may be sold as-is or cut to length depending on the intended use. Other cut the pipe cleaners to length as they come off the machines. The pipe cleaners used by pipe smokers and refurbishers are usually 15 – 17 cm (6 – 7 inches) long while the ones used for crafts are often 30 cm (12 inches) and can be up to 50 cm (20 inches). I have found that these longer pipe cleaners work well in cleaning church warden pipe stems so I have a few always on hand.

I have no idea what you might think about the pipe cleaner or if you even do. It may well be a silent partner in your smoking/cleaning regimen but to me the history and manufacture of them is an interesting piece of our hobby. So to the humble pipe cleaner I raise my pipe!