Tag Archives: Imported Briar Pipes

Cleaning up another of the 12 – An Imported Briar Lovat Style Pot

by Steve Laug

This is another of the pipes I received from Robert with a group 12 pipes that needed to be restored in various ways from cleanup to restemming. I have just a few left now so I chose to work on this Kaywoodie like Lovat Style Pot with a short saddle stem. The bowl and shank were very dirty with oils and tars on the surface of the smooth finish. The bowl had been reamed recently so the bowl was free of cake. There was an overflow of thick lava on the rim top. The lava was thick and there as darkening on the inner edge. The pipe was faintly stamped on the left side of the shank and read Imported Briar. There was no other stamping on the shank sides though there may well have been some originally. This one came with the original stem in place on the shank. The shank end had an aluminum fitting that provided a mortise of the threaded metal stinger/tenon on the pipe. The stem did not fit tightly against the shank for some reason that clean up would reveal. It was oxidized and calcified on the button end. There were light tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. The surface of the button is also tooth marked. There were no logos on the stem sides. I took some photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. I took some closer photos of the bowl and rim top to show its condition before I started my work on the pipe. You can see the relatively clean bowl with no cake and the thick lava coat on the rim top. The stem photos also show the general condition of the stem as noted above. I tried to capture the faint stamping on the left side of the shank but it is not clear. I also took a photo of the right side to look for stamping. There was nothing visible in the photos. The left side had a faint stamp that read as noted above. I also unscrewed the stem to give a sense of what the pipe looked like with two parts shown side by side. It definitely is a pot but the long shank and the saddle stem give it the look of a Lovat. Since there was no stamping on the pipe there was really nothing to be learned about its history. It is kind of a mystery pipe. It could be a Kaywoodie I suppose but again there is no proof of that. I decided to begin my work by addressing the fit of the stem to the shank. There was a thick rubberized glue around the stem end of the threaded tenon. It filled in the last thread and also on the top of the stem face. This accounted for the fit to the shank at this point. I used a small pen knife to cut away the rubberized glue and cleaned up the tenon a bit. I turned it into the stem and found the answer to my question of why the rubber! The stem fit against the shank perfectly but was over clocked by about ¼ turn. I would need to deal with that.I used an old trick I learned from one of the old timers on ASP. I heated the metal stinger tenon with the flame of a lighter to soften the glue in the stem. I screwed it into the stem and tried to turn it. I repeated the process until the glue softened. I then was able to align the stem properly on the shank. I set it aside to let the glue reharden before I took the stem off. It looked very good at this point in terms of alignment.Once the stem cooled and the alignment was set I removed it from the shank and cleaned out the airway in the stem and shank, the mortise and the entry of the airway into the bowl. I used alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. It was dirty but cleaned up well.I scraped the lava off the rim top with the edge of the Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. It is better but there is still a lot of work to do on the inner edge and top. I sanded the inner edge of the bowl and rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean it up. I wiped the briar down with some acetone on cotton pads to remove the shiny varnish coat and allow me to work on the rest of the bowl. It is finally beginning to look better. I scrubbed the exterior of the with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked on edges of the rim top along with the rest of the bowl and the shank. I rinsed it off with warm running water and dried it off with a cotton towel. It is definitely looking better. I worked on the bowl, rim top, edges and shank with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further remove the darkening on the briar. I also worked over the aluminum shank/mortis piece at the same time. It is improving with each pad. I wiped the top down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. I polished it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad. The pipe looked very good. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. I “painted’ the surface of the stem with the flame of a lighter to try and lift the bite marks. It worked very well. There were two small marks left on the surface – one on each side. I filled them in with some black rubberized CA glue. Once it cured I sanded out the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the stem surface. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth to remove the sanding debris. It began to take on a shine.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I polished it further with Before & After Stem polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and then wiped it down another time with the oil. I put the Imported Briar Lovat Style Pot and the stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The original brown stains gave depth to the beautiful grain around the bowl and worked amazingly well with the polished vulcanite saddle stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. There are still some nicks for the pipe’s journey that I left as it is part of the story of the pipe. This is truly a beautiful Imported Briar Pot. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.55 ounces/44 grams. This pipe will be put in the box while I work on Rob’s remaining pipes in the 12 pipe lot. Once I finish them I will be mailing the lot back to him. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Breathing Life into a Tiny Imported Briar Bent Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table came to us from an online auction in Canton, Texas, USA. The pipe is an interesting tiny bent pot. It could easily have been a salesman’s sample for some American Briar maker but I have no way of knowing for sure. The orific button and the oddly shaped stem contribute to my belief that this is an older pipe. The pipe is smoothly finished Bent Pot shaped bowl. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Imported Briar. There was a grime, dust and even paint flecks ground into the finish of the briar. The nickel ferrule was oxidized and dull. The bowl was heavily caked while the top and inner edge of the rim had a light coat of lava. The uniquely shaped vulcanite stem was oxidized, calcified and had tooth chatter and marks on the top and underside near the button. This was a tiny pipe and one that I would have thought could easily have been unsmoked. But in this case it must have been someone’s favourite smoker because it was smoked hard and often from the looks of it. The tiny pipe looked like it would be an interesting one to clean up. It showed a lot of promise but it was very dirty. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took photos of the rim top and bowl to give a clear picture of the thickness of the cake and tobacco debris as well as the relatively clean inner edge of the rim. He also took photos of the top and underside of the stem. The photos show the overall condition of the stem. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give a picture of what the briar looked like. It truly has some nice grain – birdseye and cross grain around the bowl and shank. The nickel ferrule should look great once it is polished. The stamping on the left side of the shank is clear and readable and read as noted above.Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness. He reamed the pipe with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife as the bowl was too small for even the smallest PipNet reaming head. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in a Before & After Deoxidizer bath and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration work. The rim top cleaned up really well. The rim top, inner and outer edges of the bowl are in excellent condition. The stem surface looked very good with a few tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. The stamping on the shank sides is clear and readable. It is stamped as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole. The fancy saddle stem is nice and the photo gives a sense of what the pipe looks like. I polished the briar of the bowl and shank as well as the nickel ferrule with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the dust. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for about 10-15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The grain came alive and the fills while visible look better than when I began. I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This Tiny Imported Briar Bent Pot is a great looking little pipe now that it has been restored. The richly brown stain gives the shape an elegant look. The flow of the bowl and stem are well done make for a great hand feel or maybe I should say “finger” feel. The polished nickel ferrule looks very good with the brown briar and polished vulcanite stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Imported Briar Bent Pot fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 inch, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ½ of an inch. The weight of this pipe is 11grams/.39oz. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!

Whew, finally a simple restore of an older Imported Briar Rhodesian

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Blog by Steve Laug

After all the tough restoration jobs I have been doing lately I wanted to take a breather and do an easy restore. In the box of pipes, that my brother sent there was one that fit the need perfectly. It was one of my favorite shapes, had some interesting grain and needed minimal work. Thanks to my brother Jeff, it was astonishingly clean, and smelled the same! I have missed his help on the last batch I have been working on. When he does the cleanup, it cuts my work by 2/3’s and I have the pleasure of working on a clean pipe. This Rhodesian was very clean. The first set of photos is what the pipe looked like before he did his magic. When the pipe arrived in Vancouver I was really happy with what I found. The bowl was hardly darkened inside. The finish was gone, and though there were fills, they were not the ugly pink ones that I usually find in pipes of this era. There was some slight rim darkening on the rear left side of the rim. The stem was lightly oxidized and there were light tooth marks and chatter on both the top and underside of the stem near the button. The next photos show what the pipe looked like before I started my restoration. I took close up photos of the bowl and the rim top to show how clean it was. You can also see the fills on the front of the bowl. I actually started working on it this morning before I left for work. There was no dread attached to working on this one. There were no surprises under the grime or finish. There were no cracks of major issues with the bowl. It is a sweet pipe.The close up photos of the stem show the light oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter. They are not deep so they will not be hard to work on.I sanded the oxidation, tooth marks and chatter with 220 grit sandpaper until they were removed. It did not take too much sanding to smooth out the surface of the stem. There was a small nick on the top inner edge of the button that may need to be repaired. I will look at that after I have polished the stem more.The nick in the button disappeared as I cleaned and reshaped the button. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. After each set of three pads I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. After the 12000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I polished the briar with micromesh pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. The briar responded really well to the polishing and the fills began to disappear into the grain of the briar. They are still visible but they no longer stand out as they did when I started. At this point I think I will leave the finish natural and waxed instead of staining it. Just because it is a habit for me I did a cursory cleaning of the inside of the pipe and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners and it was as clean as I expected. There was nothing left to clean out. It was spotless.

Because the grain looked so good and I did not find the fills to be too distracting I decided to leave the pipe unstained. I liked the look of the briar and new it would colour with time and smoking. To give the bowl a little life I wiped it down with a light coat of olive oil and put the stem back on the shank. I buffed the entire pipe with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel to remove the last remnants of scratching. I gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I finished by hand buffing it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe is shown in the photos below. I really like the way it looks. For a factory made pipe the way the shape follows the grain is pretty amazing. Thanks for looking.