Tag Archives: Jeantet Pipes

Blog by Steve Laug

This white Billiard with a Tortoise Shell acrylic stem came to us from an online auction early in 2020 from Columbus, Michigan, US. From the title of the blog you know that I am not a fan of painted pipes. That is probably because I have come to understand that the briar under the paint is quite often horrible and filled with putty and flaws. Paint covers a multitude of “sins” and I am sure this is no exception. Added to that the pipe is also meerschaum lined. What made me pause was the great looking tortoise shell stem and the gold shank band that give the pipe a touch of class. The painted surface was in good condition with no nicks of scrapes. The rim top had a bit of darkening on the meer lining and a little on the paint but even that was not too bad. The bowl did not have a cake which was also a bonus that helped. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Jeantet [over] Brummer and has the shape number 944 stamped on the underside of the shank. The stem has the Jeantet logo on the left side – a J in an oval. On the right side it is stamped Hand Cut and on the underside it is stamped FRANCE. The Tortoise Shell stem is quite pretty but upon examination there is a round bite through on the top side just ahead of the button. Jeff and I had picked up several pipes that the previous owner had customized by filling in the slot with putty and drilling a hole in the top. It was obviously the owner’s attempt at making a “P-lip” style smoker. We are pretty sure this was one of them. In any case it would need to be reworked – opening the slot and filling in the hole on the top side. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he worked on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the meer lining and the condition of the rim and bowl. It has some darkening and light lava on the back side but otherwise looked good. He also took photos of the stem to show the hole in the top side. You cannot see it but there is a plug in the slot on the stem end that will need to be removed. Other than that the stem was in excellent condition.Jeff removed the stem from the shank to show the stepped down Delrin tenon and the gold band on the shank end. It is a pretty looking pipe and the shank is surprisingly clean looking.He took photos of the bowl and heel to show the condition of the painted surface. It is quite remarkable that it is in such great condition and appears to have been very well cared for by the previous pipeman or woman. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the shank and the logo on the stem. They read as noted above and were in excellent condition. I turned to Pipephil’s site to see what I could learn about the Brummer line of Jeantet pipes (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-jeantet.html). There was nothing specific about that line though was a brief summary of the history. I quote from the top bar below:

I turned to Pipedia to get a more detailed history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Jeantet). There as a brief history there that I have reproduced below.

The manufacturing of briar pipes and began in 1858. 51 persons were employed by 1890. Desirous to concentrate the workers at a single site, the corporation began to construct a factory edifying integrated buildings about 1891 at Rue de Bonneville 12 – 14. This took several years. In 1898 Maurice Jeantet restructured the business. He is also presumed to enlarge Jeantet factory purchasing a workshop adjoining southerly. It belonged to the family Genoud, who were specialized in rough shaping of stummels and polishing finished pipes. (In these times it was a most common procedure to carry goods from here to there and back again often for certain steps of the production executed by dependent family based subcontractors. Manpower was cheap.)

Today Jeantet pipes were produced as a sub-brand by Chapuis-Comoy who’s mainstay is Chacom of course.

Jeff carefully cleaned up this Jeantet Brummer Painted Billiard with a Tortoise Shell stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime on the rim top and bowl sides. He cleaned up the inside of the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife, scraping away the light cake on the bowl walls. He scrubbed the internals of the shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until the airways were clean and the pipe smelled fresh. The pipe looked much better once the bowl and stem were clean. The plug in the slot of the stem was removed and the hole in the top was cleaned up as well. It was ready to repair when it arrived in Vancouver. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took close up photos of the meer lined bowl and the rim top to show the condition. I also took photos of both sides of the stem to give a sense of the damage to the top side and the good condition of the underside.I took photos of the stamping on the left side of the shank and stem and the right side of the stem. It reads as noted above and is very clear and readable.I took the stem off the shank and took photos of the pipe to give a sense of its beauty and proportions.The bowl of the pipe was in excellent condition and did not need any work. The only major issue on the pipe was the hole in the top of the stem. I greased a pipe cleaner with Vaseline and slid it into the slot under the hole in the stem top. I filled in the hole with clear super glue. Once the glue cured it was a white spot that needed more work to blend into the stem surface. Once the repair cured I sanded the repair with 220 grit and polished it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished out the tooth chatter on the underside of the stem with the same sandpaper and started polishing it.I used a dark brown and black stain pen to approximate the feathery wisps of the tortoise shell finish of the acrylic. I gave the repair a top coat of clear CA glue and let it cure. I sanded the spot smooth.I polished the stem surface with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Stem Polish both Fine and Extra Fine polish. I gave it a final rub down with Obsidian Oil. I lightly buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and gave it a coat of Conservator’s Wax to seal and protect it. The pipe took on a deep shine in the painted briar and in the tortoise shell acrylic stem. The twin ring gold band also looked very good. It was an interesting looking pipe. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outer Diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Diameter of the chamber: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 60 grams/2.12 oz. The photos below show the finished pipe. It is a surprisingly nice looking pipe. If you would like to add it to your collection I will be adding it to the French Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store. Send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading the blog. It was an interesting restoration.

Recommissioning a Classic French Jeantet Superior Chimney

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Blog by Dal Stanton

A few years ago, I acquired the Jeantet Superior Chimney now on the worktable in the ‘French Lot of 50’ which demanded my attention on the French eBay auction block. It has provided several treasures that are now in the care of new stewards benefiting the Daughters of Bulgaria. Another from this Parisian Lot, is now in the offering. Skeet saw the Jeantet in the online inventory, ‘For “Pipe Dreamers” Only!’ along with a few other pipes and reached out to me with questions about the possibility of commissioning some. Part of why I love restoring pipes is not only their innate beauty and intrigue delving into their pedigrees and stories, but also when I can learn about their former stewards or potentially in this case, their future stewards. Here is a portion of Skeets initial email to me:

Greetings Dal,

I have been looking through your collection of “Help Me!” Baskets and I am overwhelmed! There are so many beautiful pipes in this group! I have received a little extra money in recent days and I am finally going to commission a pipe or two. I am (sadly) clueless on the basic expense of this and the basic value of pipe brands. I found a dozen pipes I would cherish if I had them but have cut the number down significantly. I usually tend to buy full or half bent styles, but as I looked, I was drawn to mostly “slightly bent” or even straight models. I am a newbie still even though I am 66. I don’t automatically know the relative values of each of these pipes so I may be very interested in a pipe I cannot afford. This is the primary reason for my exploratory email.

Below I have listed 5 pipes (cut down from many more!) If you could supply me with a general idea of what these might cost to commission and eventually purchase, I would be quite appreciative. I intend to commission at least one and hopefully two if I can afford it.

I appreciate your willingness to support the Daughters of Bulgaria. What a wonderful cause! Thank you for your compassion.

After communicating back and forth, Skeet’s starting point with the consideration 5 pipes was whittled down to commissioning 3. Along with the Jeantet, Skeet commissioned an interesting Kaywoodie Flame grain 09B Pear and a Butz-Choquin Regate St. Claude France 1275 shown here.

With all who commission pipes, the one condition I ask of them is patience as the pipes work through my deliberate but often slow worktable! A few months ago, before the holidays, I reached out to Skeet thanking him for his patience and letting him know that his pipes were close to the worktable. Now, the Jeantet Superior Chimney is on the table. With the 1 7/8-inch-tall bowl, which tightens and tapers toward the rim – sharp looking, I’m calling it a Chimney shape. To complete the dimensions, the length is 5 1/2 inches, the rim is 7/8 inches wide with a chamber width of 5/8 inches and depth of 1 11/16 inches. Here are a few pictures to take a closer look.The stampings on the left side of the shank are JEANTET [over] SUPERIOR. The stem has stamped a ‘J’ with an oval encircled around it.One of the first pipes I restored several years ago was a Jeantet Fleuron which I found in one of my favorite antique – second-hand shops located in downtown, Sofia, Bulgaria, which I affectionately called the, ‘Hole in the Wall’. That restoration was my first dive into the labyrinth of French pipe makers and the historic center of pipe making in Saint Claude, France. I was fascinated by all the relationships and machinations of figuring out the histories of pipe names, datings, and the fluctuations caused by business deals between UK and France…. I enjoyed the research of that first French pipe on my worktable and you can take a look and read it at this link: Another nice find at the ‘Hole in the Wall’ – Jeantet Fleuron 70-7. The history of the Jeantet name in Saint Claude spans back into the 1700s. The first part of Pipedia’s Jeantet article starts by looking at the history up to WW2 – as a refresher I repeat it here:

The firm of the Jeantet family in Saint-Claude is first mentioned as early as 1775. By 1807 the Jeantets operated a turnery producing in particular wooden shanks for porcelain pipes and wild cherry wood pipes. The firm was named Jeantet-David in 1816, and in 1837 the enterprise was transformed into a corporation as collective name for numerous workshops scattered all over the city.

The manufacturing of briar pipes and began in 1858. 51 persons were employed by 1890. Desirous to concentrate the workers at a single site, the corporation began to construct a factory edifying integrated buildings about 1891 at Rue de Bonneville 12 – 14. In 1898 Maurice Jeantet restructured the business. He is also presumed to enlarge Jeantet factory purchasing a workshop adjoining southerly. It belonged to the family Genoud, who were specialized in rough shaping of stummels and polishing finished pipes. (In these times it was a most common procedure to carry goods from here to there and back again often for certain steps of the production executed by dependent family based subcontractors. Manpower was cheap.)

According to the Pipedia article, the Jeantet production continued to expand through the 50s with new equipment and more employees. But in 1969 production reached its zenith with the production of 30 to 35,000 dozen pipes per year with 72 workers shrinking to 1987 with 6 to 7000 dozen pipes per year with 22 workers on the payroll. The final years of the Jeantet name are described in the same Pipedia article:

Yves Grenard, formerly Jeantet’s chief designer and a great cousin of Pierre Comoy, had taken over the management of Chapuis-Comoy in 1971. Now, to preserve the brand, the Jeantet family went into negotiations with him, and resulting from that Jeantet was merged in the Cuty Fort Group (est. 1987 and headed by Chacom) in 1988 along with the pipe brands of John Lacroix and Emile Vuillard. Chacom closed the Jeantet plant, and the City of Saint-Claude purchased it in 1989. After alternative plans failed, the buildings were devoted to wrecking. The southerly workshop was wrecked before 1992.

Today Jeantet pipes were produced as a sub-brand by Chapuis-Comoy who’s mainstay is Chacom of course.

Looking at Pipephil.eu, I hoped to find more information about the Jeantet on my table in the listing. The ‘Superior’ line was not among the listings, but what was added was later information about the fate of the Jeantet name:

With a renewed appreciation for the legacy of the Jeantet pipe on my table, I look more closely at the pipe. The chamber needs cleaning to give the briar a fresh start. The carbon buildup is minor. There is some darkening on the rim from lighting, but hopefully, this should clean easily. The stummel has attractive and expressive random grain and fire grain that wraps the bowl. Looking closely at the bowl several fills are visible which may need attention later. The slightly bent saddle stem shows some thick oxidation and light roughness on the bit.Starting with the stem, the original Jeantet nickel stinger is lodged in the tenon. It is debated whether stingers help or hinder the smoking experience. I personally do not prefer stingers. Yet, as part of the historicity of a pipe, if it has a stinger as a part of its original production, I like to save it and allow the future steward to make his own decisions. To remove the stinger, a cloth is used to wrap the stinger to protect it from ‘teeth marks’ as it’s removed. With the cloth wrapped around the stinger, the needle nose pliers lightly grab the stinger while I gently rotate the stem to dislodge the stinger. This works well. I put the stinger in some alcohol to soak and to later clean with steel wool.Next, the airway is cleaned with a few pipe cleaners wetted with isopropyl 99%.I can see some significant deposits of oxidation in the vulcanite stem. While protecting the circled ‘J’, I go work on the oxidation before putting the stem into a soak of Before & After Deoxidizer.I use Soft Scrub and steel wool to try to break up the oxidation – avoiding the stem stamping.After rinsing the stem, it is then placed in the Before & After Deoxidizer to soak through the night along with the other pipes that Skeet has commissioned.The next day, the stem is fished out of the Deoxidizer and drained. With latex surgical gloves on my hands, I squeegee the liquid off the stem.I then use a pipe cleaner wetted with isopropyl 99% to clear the Deoxidizer from the airway. Cotton pads and alcohol are also used to wipe off the raised oxidation from the stem.To help condition the vulcanite, paraffin oil, a mineral oil, is applied to the stem. Looking more closely at the stem with the oil on it, and with the help of a lightened picture, residual oxidation is visible. Ugh! The greatest concentration is on the bit and on the horn of the saddle stem. I have found that the Before & After Deoxidizer does not work as well with deep oxidation. The question that has been discussed is, does this product remove oxidation or mask it? I’ll need to ask Mark Hoover about this who produces the product (www.Lpen.com)! The Deoxidizer seems to do great with stems with light oxidation, but for this stem, sanding will be needed to continue the oxidation removal. Turning now to the Chimney stummel, a fresh picture shows the chamber and the light cake build up.I am only able to use the smallest diameter blade head in the Pipnet Reaming Kit to ream the chamber. The narrow chamber shaft will not accommodate more!The Savinelli Fitsall Tool follows by scraping the chamber wall and can reach down to the floor of the chamber and navigate the tight angles. The chamber cleaning is completed with a sanding with 240 paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen. After wiping out the chamber with a cotton pad, an inspection reveals healthy briar – no heating or cracking problems. The cleaning continues with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a cotton pad. Using the cotton pad, the outer stummel is scrubbed. The darkened char on the aft of the rim is stubborn. I scrub the rim with my thumbnail and Murphy’s. The brass wired brush also is used and a careful scraping using a pocketknife. I’m extremely careful working on the rim because the rim top of the chimney bowl is very thin, and I do not want it damaged or worn down inadvertently. To continue the cleaning the stummel is transferred to the sink where using anti-oil liquid dishwashing soap and warm water, the mortise is scrubbed using shank brushes. After scrubbing, the stummel is thoroughly rinsed and transferred back to the worktable. The rim cleaned up more but burn damage is there. The aft quadrant shows where most of the lighting activity has transpired – over the rim. The front shows some burns as well, but more localized. I’m an old school match user – over the bacca and draw down not over! This rim damage will be addressed later.During the external surface cleaning process, weakened patches, probably made of water-based fill material, filling the pitting in the briar are revealed. I had noted these fills earlier. The beauty of highly active briar grain often has the downside of small imperfections in the briar that have to be filled with patch material. I count 5 patches in need of repair. While the old patch material is still damp, I use a dental probe to dig the remnant filler material. Before continuing with patching, the cleaning of the internals of the stummel need completion. I prefer working on clean pipes! It only takes a few cotton buds and pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl 99% to finish the cleaning. I will further the cleaning later with a kosher salt and alcohol soak.With the pipe now clean, I will address the 5 pits that emerged through the cleaning process now emptied of old fill material. To repair the briar, I refill the pits using a mixture of briar dust and CA glue. The mixture creates a ‘briar putty’ that is then applied to the pits. I first clean the surface with alcohol AND discover another pit or possibly a chip in the shank, just to the right of the nomenclature. Well, now there’s 6 patches to be made. I clean the area with a dental probe and alcohol. The appearance seems that it’s a chip and not a pit that lost its fill material. To make the briar putty, I use a plastic disk as the mixing palette. To help with clean up and to keep the CA glue pristine, a piece of clear packing tape covers the disk. To mix on a paper or an index card may change the viscosity of the CA glue during mixing and cause it to solidify too soon. A small pile of briar dust is placed on the palette, and then, beside this, a small puddle of extra thick CA glue is placed. The picture shows the set up before the mixing commences.Using the toothpick, briar dust is gradually pulled into the CA and mixed in with the toothpick. Additional briar dust is pulled into the thickening mixture until it reaches the viscosity of molasses.When the putty is thick enough and no longer runny, the toothpick is used to trowel the putty to spot place onto each pit. I use an accelerator to hold the patches in place and to quicken the curing process. The pictures below show the patches in place. While applying the putty, I saw another small pit – and then there were 7. The hour is late and with the patches on the stummel firm, I will do one last project before turning out the lights. A kosher salt and alcohol soak will continue the internal cleaning and refresh the pipe for the new steward. Starting with a cotton ball, it is pulled and twisted until it forms a ‘wick’ to help draw out the tars and oils from the internal briar. The end of the cotton ball wick is guided with the help of a stiff wire down the mortise into the airway as far as the draft hole. The bowl is then filled with kosher salt and the stummel is placed in an egg crate to keep it stable and to maintain the proper angle – the top of the salt and end of the shank are parallel. Kosher salt is used because it leaves no aftertaste. With a large eye dropper, isopropyl 99% is introduced slowly into the bowl until the alcohol surfaces over the salt. After about 10 minutes, the alcohol is absorbed into the salt and cotton wick to some degree. The bowl is then topped off with additional alcohol until it surfaces once more above the salt. I set the crate stummel aside resting in the egg crate and turn out the lights. The next morning, the kosher salt and alcohol soak have been at work. The salt and the wick are soiled indicating a continued drawing out of the oils and tars from the internal briar. To make sure all is cleaned and refreshed, a cotton bud and pipe cleaner wetted with isopropyl 99% confirm all is good.With the stummel clean, next is the process of filing down all the briar putty patches. The basic approach for all the patches is to use a flat needle file with the goal to file exclusively on the patch mound and not to wander off the patch area onto the surrounding briar. The mounds are filed down close to the briar surface. These next few pictures give the idea. After all the mounds are filed down, 240 grade sandpaper is used to sand the patches further. The goal is to remove all the excess dried putty surrounding the patch itself. You can tell when excess glue is remaining as you sand – the glue is a powdery white whereas briar is not. A few more pictures showing sanding on different patches. With the patches filed and sanded down, I switch my focus to the rim. I like the design of the rim as it culminates. It is very compact as it crowns the coned taper of the bowl. The rim itself is a narrow 1/8 inch wide. The front and back of the rim have sustained charring and burn damage from lighting. The entire circumference of the inner rim is darkened. To clean and refresh the rim, I top the stummel – oh, but precious little! To begin, 240 paper is used on the top of a chopping board which serves as my topping board. After inverting the stummel on the paper, I give it a few rotations and check. The last thing I want to do is take off too much with such a tightly fashioned rim. A few rotations are enough it seems to me. Switching on the topping board now to 600 grade paper, several more rotations are given on the less abrasive paper. In the picture below after topping on the 600 paper, the rim looks better. There remains a burn mark on the front side that reaches into the rim. The back side damage to the rim, which appeared to be worse, has pretty much been erased except for the inner lip radius which still is darkened.Using a tightly rolled piece of 240 paper followed by 600 paper, the inside rim lip is gently sanded to remove the black char stain. I call the sanding ‘gentle’ because I don’t want to create a bevel on a rim this narrow. I only desire to clean and freshen it. The rim looks great – nice grain has emerged. The only quandary I have is that there is still a small bit of char darkening remaining (upper arrow), but I don’t want to take more off the rim. Another question is right next to the dark spot – when I run my finger over it, it is not smooth (lower arrow). This appears to be an imperfection in the briar and topping the stummel to remove it will probably require a good bit more briar to be removed. Briar is the most important real estate on a pipe, and one does not give it up unless necessary. To avoid topping more and sacrificing more briar off the rim, I spot drop CA glue to fill the small crevasse on the rim. After the CA is cured, a pointed half moon needle file works well to file down the excess CA on the inner curve of the chamber.Flipping the file over to the flat edge, it works well to remove the excess CA patch on the flat rim surface. I’m careful to keep the file on top of the patch mound so not to impact the surrounding briar.The rim patch is completed with 240 sanding paper followed by 600. The rim is now smooth to the touch and the patch blends well with the surrounding briar.Next, with the several patches required on the stummel surface, to blend these patches and to clean the surface, sanding sponges are used. I use a coarser grade sponge to start. Following this, a medium then a fine grade sponge to complete this phase. Transitioning next to dry sanding with micromesh pads, pads 1500 to 2400 are followed by 3200 to 4000 and then 6000 to 12000. The grain emerges very nicely through the micromesh sanding process. Before putting the stummel aside to focus on the stem, Before & After Restoration Balm (www.Lpen.com) is applied to the stummel. The Balm does a great job bringing out the subtle hues of the natural briar. After placing some of the Balm on my fingers, the Balm is rubbed into the briar surface with a creamy consistency and it gradually thickens. Once the surface is thoroughly covered, the stummel is set aside for about 20 minutes for the Balm to do its work.After 20 minutes, the excess Balm is wiped off with a microfiber cloth and then buffed. It’s looking great!Turning now to the stem, the picture I took earlier after the Deoxidizer soak is a reminder of the deep oxidation the remained. Interestingly, as I look at the stem now, I am not able to see the oxidation as I was earlier…. Hmmm. Even so, I elect to sand the stem so that the oxidation doesn’t show itself later during the fine polishing phase. Using 240 sanding paper, the entire stem is sanded careful to guard against accidentally sanding over the Jeantet Circle ‘J’ stem stamping. Following the 240 grade coarser sanding, I wet sand using 600 grade paper and then finish after applying 0000 grade steel wool.Continuing with the stem using micromesh pads, the stem is wet sanded with pads 1500 to 2400. Following the wet sanding, I dry sand with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000. Between each set of 3 pads, Obsidian Oil is applied to further condition the stem and to guard it from future oxidation. After completing the sanding of the saddle stem, I reunite the stem and stummel to get an overall look at the progress. What I discover is that the fit of the tenon and mortise has tightened through the cleaning process – this happens. I do not risk forcing the stem and stummel together which could result in hearing that dreaded snap of a cracked shank. The remedy is to pinch 240 sanding paper around the tenon and rotate the stem to create the abrasion which gradually reduces the diameter of the tenon to fit the mortise. After several rotation sessions and fittings to test the size, the tenon gradually fits – snugly but not too tight. The Jeantet Superior Chimney is coming along very nicely.The next step is to refresh the Circle ‘J’ stem stamping with white acrylic paint. It appears that there’s enough ‘tread’ left in the stamping to give the paint traction to be held in the imprint.The first step is to place a small drop of white acrylic paint over the stamping. The toothpick then is used to spread the paint over the lettering.I then daub the wet paint with a cotton pad to absorb the excess and to spread the paint evenly over the lettering. This also dries the paint quickly.I use both the flat edge of a toothpick and its point to clean the excess paint away and to sharpen the stamping. I use the side of the toothpick to scrape over the entire stamping removing most of the paint on the stem surface – leaving the paint in the troughs of the stamping. The point of the toothpick allows me to finish the edges of the stamping more closely. I repeat applying paint a couple times with daubing and then the toothpick finishing process until the Jeantet stamping looked good.Now on the home stretch. After remembering to replace the original nickel stinger after it was cleaned and polished with steel wool, and rejoining the stem and stummel, a cotton cloth buffing wheel is mounted onto the rotary tool to apply Blue Diamond compound to the stem and stummel. The speed is set at about 40% full power as I methodically apply the fine abrasive to the surface of the briar and vulcanite. After applying the compound, the pipe is wiped/buffed with a felt cloth to remove left over compound dust particles. I don’t want the abrasive particles to mix with the wax that comes next. Another wheel, dedicated to applying carnauba wax is mounted and with the speed remaining the same, wax is applied to the pipe. When this is completed, the pipe enjoys a rigorous hand buffing with a microfiber cloth to remove any excess wax from the surface and to raise the shine. Skeet commissioned this Jeantet Superior Chimney because he saw its potential. The Chimney shape gives a sharp, clean-cut look. This joined with the slightly bent saddle stem gives the pipe a comfortable symmetry. The briar required several repairs to fill pits, but the results were worth the effort! There is no such thing as a perfect piece of briar! The briar block appears to have been cut near the edge of the bole which manifests the beautiful, active briar seen in this stummel. The fire grain seems to hug and wrap around the bowl tightening into a spider web knot on the back side of the bowl. Without question, a striking landscape for a new steward to enjoy! Skeet will have the first opportunity to claim this Jeantet Superior Chimney from The Pipe Steward Store benefitting the Daughters of Bulgaria – helping women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited. Thanks for joining me!

New Life for a Jeantet Neuilly ¾ Bent Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is a pipe I picked up recently at St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop. I caught the bus to meet my daughter for lunch and while I waited for her to get off work I walked over to the nearby shop. I went through the display cupboards and found an interesting looking pipe. It was a ¾ bent pipe with a rounded edge rectangular shank pipe. It was priced pretty high for a used pipe but I struck a deal with the clerk and got it for a reasonable price. I took the pipe over to the coffee shop where my daughter works and took some photos. I took the pipe home and finally got around to working on it today. I took some photos of the pipe before I started to clean it up. It is stamped on the underside of the shank Jeantet over Neuilly and next to the shank/stem junction it is stamped France. It is also stamped on the right side of the shank with the numbers 81-3 It is a three-quarter bent apple-shaped pipe with a natural finish. The finish was dirty and stained from the grime of long handling without cleaning. The rim top had an overflow of lava from the thick cake in the bowl. It was dirty and hard to tell if the finish was nicked or damaged under the grime. The outer edge of the bowl is rounded over to the sides of the bowl. The stem was black vulcanite and had tooth chatter and some calcification on the top and underside near the button. It was stamped JEANTET on the top of the saddle stem. I took a closeup photo of the rim top to show the lava overflow from the thick cake in the bowl. The rounded outer edge of the rim carried down into the bowl. The inner and outer edges of the bowl look very good underneath the lava overflow. There is a thick cake in the bowl. The stem was in good condition. There was some tooth chatter and scratches on the top and underside near the button. There was some light oxidation on the top and underside of the stem. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe reamer to remove the majority of the cake in the bowl. I cleaned up the remnants of cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. To finish the cleanup of the bowl I wrapped 220 grit sandpaper around a piece of dowel and sanded the walls of the bowl. I used a dental spatula to scrape the buildup of tars on oils on the walls of the mortise. I scrubbed the mortise and the airway in the shank with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I took some photos of the pipe to show the condition at this point in the process.Before I could clean out the airway in the stem I needed to remove the caked and dirty stinger apparatus in the tenon. I used a pair of needle nose pliers to twist the stinger out of the tenon. I took a chance that it was threaded and it was not long before I had it free of the tenon.I cleaned up the aluminum tenon with 000 steel wool. I cleaned out the inside of the stinger and the airway in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol.I scrubbed the top of the rim and the exterior of the bowl with isopropyl alcohol and cotton pads to remove the buildup of lava and grime on the bowl. I rubbed down the briar with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the smooth surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed the bowl with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The following photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. The grain is really starting to stand out. I polished the briar bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the rim off after each sanding pad to remove the dust. The pipe really shone once it was polished. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It read Jeantet over Neuilly. Along the shank/stem junction it was stamped France. On the right side of the shank it read 81-3.I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to sand out the tooth chatter and marks on both sides of the stem just ahead of the button. They were not deep so it did not take too much to remove them.The Jeantet stamp on the top of the stem is quite worn. There is not enough to recolour with white paint but enough that in the right light it is readable. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with Obsidian Oil to remove the sanding dust on the vulcanite. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. When I finished with that I wiped it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I polished stem and bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. 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 natural oil finish works well when polished to really highlight the variety of grains around the bowl and shank. It has birdseye on the sides of the bowl and cross grain on the front (toward the right) and back of the bowl and on the shank both top and bottom. The polished black vulcanite stem works together with the beautiful grain in the briar to give the pipe a rich look. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The pipe is ready for a new home. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 5 1/2 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/4 inches, Chamber diameter: 3/4 inches. I will be listing this one on the rebornpipes store shortly. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this beautiful little Jeantet Neuilly.

This is a pipe like none I have ever seen – a Jeantet Hawaii Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

My brother Jeff was intrigued by this pipe when he saw it. I don’t remember if it was on an auction on Facebook or another site or if he picked it up in his travels. The thing is when he showed it to me I said, “Why?”. I had never seen a pipe like this one either in terms of the colour of the bowl or the stem. It was definitely unlike anything we had ever worked on and it was New Old Stock (NOS) and unsmoked. To be honest with you all it is not a pipe that I would ever choose for myself though I cannot tell you why, exactly. I just do not like it. It is very different. As is often the case with me these days, I actually forgot about it and worked on the pipes in my restoration box and the repairs I have on the go instead. They were more of what I was used to in terms of look, finish and feel both of the bowl and the stem.

Two of my daughters were in the US for my father’s birthday at the end of June and they stayed with Jeff and his wife. Jeff talked them into bringing a few pipes back with them for me. This pipe was one of them. When they got home from their trip they brought me the pipes and the rack that Jeff had sent home. This particular pipe was still in its original box – kind of a zebra striped pattern on the lid and a sticker on the top that I interpret as a date code – August 10, 1989. The end of the box bore the name of the line – Jeantet Artisan U. 410, Made in France. Normally I don’t do a blog on a NOS pipe, I just post it on the rebornpipes store. But this one was just too different to pass up the opportunity of doing a write up on it and showing it to you all. I am curious to hear if any of you have seen one of these or smoked one. They got home about 11pm on Monday night but when I saw the box and the Jeantet name on it I had to open it and see if it was the pipe Jeff had shown me earlier. Here is what I saw in the box.The pipe was still in its plastic bag in the bottom of the box. Underneath it was a soft cloth pipe sock with a rounded bottom on the sock that read Jeantet over St. Claude, France. I took the pipe out of the bag, the pipe sock out of the box and took photos of the pipe on the sock. The next photo not only shows the stamping on the left side of the shank but give a good sense of the finish on the pipe. Underneath the blue and green there are swirls that give the pipe a look of texture even though it is smooth to touch. The stamping on the shank reads Jeantet over Hawaii. The J in an oval stamped on the left side of the stem is also clear.I took a series of photos with the stem removed from the shank to give an idea of the look of the pipe. The stem is an unblemished robin egg blue acrylic. It is actually quite a beautiful colour and sets off the rich ocean like colours of the finish on the bowl. You will notice the variations in colour of the bowl. The left side is a swirl of algae like green on the surface of the ocean blue beneath. The greens curve around to the front of the bowl and on the left side of the shank. They disappear into the rich blues of the underside of the bowl and shank. The right side is the rich ocean blue with patches of the green scattered throughout. As you turn the bowl it is like the blues and greens move like undulating waves. It is aptly stamped Hawaii. The complete pipe is actually quite a beautiful piece. Though it is not my style it is still quite stunning. The way the finish was applied gives it a sense of depth and movement that is hard to capture fully with photos. The Delrin tenon in the acrylic stem is a snug fit in the shank. The polished briar shank end it quite nice in adding a contrast. The bowl is unsmoked and clean. The pipe is ready for the pipeman who wants to add it to his or her collection to break in with their favourite tobacco. It is about a Dunhill group 4 sized pipe. The dimensions of the pipe are – Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ inch. If you are interested in adding it to your collection it will soon be placed on the rebornpipes store. You can contact me by email at slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for looking.

Another nice find at the ‘Hole in the Wall’ – Jeantet Fleuron 70-7

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Blog by Dal Stanton

The Jeantet Fleuron before me was mentioned when I posted the restoration of a beautiful BBB Banker Bent Volcano. I found both pipes last April, during a visit to ‘The Hole in the Wall’ antique store near the Zhenski Pazar (Women’s Market) in downtown Sofia, Bulgaria. In order to achieve a better bargain for the BBB Banker I grabbed the Jeantet out of the basket as a good candidate for a bundled deal, which helped me negotiate 30 Bulgarian Leva for the pair – not a bad deal! When I arrived home from the Hole in the Wall I took these pictures: The bent egg shape is in pretty good condition with an attractive elongated bowl that fits well in the hand. The left side of the shank is marked with Jeantet (pronounced, ‘Zhawn-Te’) over Fleuron and on the right what I assume is the shape number 70-7. The stem has the nice Jeantet J stamp. Looking at Pipedia to do a little research on this name led me to Sainte Claude, France, considered to be the birthplace of the serious production of briar pipes and scores of French made pipe names claim Saint Claude as home. My curiosity piqued, I wanted to know why St. Claude, France? Was the briar in good supply there? I looked to the history of the city itself to see what I could find. I unearthed an archived New York Times article written March 20, 1983, in the ‘Shoppers World’ travel section entitled, THE PIPE CAPITAL OF FRANCE – very interesting and worth reading. I found the answer to the question, ‘Why Saint Claude and pipes?’ with this article I found posted on Fumerchic.com with these informative excerpts:

In the 15th Century, Saint-Claude was canonised by Pope Louis XI, the city took on the name Saint-Claude alone and remained a favoured site for pilgrims.

Since Saint-Claude was one of the stops on the Way of Saint James, the monks, who had been turning wood since the 7th century, began crafting wooden religious objects like crucifixes and rosaries. These monks slowly began training craftsmen, which lead to the establishment of the first wood turning workshop in Saint-Claude.

The craftsmen developed the manufacture of wooden items and widened the scope of their operation by making toys (spinning tops, whistles and rattles), so children and pilgrims could play during their pilgrimages. The number of turning workshops then grew. The main materials they used were wood, bone and ivory.

But with the introduction of tobacco to France, of smoking tobacco in particular, the wood turning workshops adapted by making snuff boxes and pipes made from local boxwood. The pipe craftsmen of Saint-Claude gradually forged themselves a reputation for an unparalleled level of manual skill and expertise.

So, it wasn’t the plentiful supply of briar that put Sainte Claude on the pipe-makers’ map but industrious wood-turning monks who passed their wood working skills on to local craftsman. The story went on with the discovery of a non-burning pipe made from our beloved briar:

During the 19th Century, pipes from Saint-Claude underwent a profound change. Boxwood had been the wood used to make the pipes until then, but it produced a bitter taste when smoked. Around 1855, a businessman passing through Saint-Claude presented a Saint-Claude wood turner with a pipe, the bowl of which did not burn, carved from a heavy wood in dark shades. It was the first pipe made from briar. The arborescent briar pipe is highly resistant to heat and fire, giving the smoker the greatest possible pleasure from the plumes of tobacco smoke. The craftsmen of Saint-Claude therefore began using briar instead of boxwood, ensuring the Saint-Claude pipe caused excitement in the pipe smoking community. The number of workshops grew, with names like Chacom and Butz-Choquin appearing for the first time, while the craftsmen began producing more and more high-quality pipes thanks to their expertise that became globally renowned among pipe smokers.

Considered to be the capital of briar wood pipes, Eole, Chacom, Bayard,Butz-Choquin, Denicotea, Jeantet and Ropp are well-known names all originally claimed by Saint Claude, France. The works of Saint Claude’s craftsmen are also present, for example, in the unique handmade pipes created by Pierre Morel (link).

One more factoid about Saint Claude’s history caught my attention. In 1966, Saint Claude established the Confrérie des Maîtres-Pipiers de Saint-Claude (The Brotherhood of Master Pipe-Makers in Saint-Claude) to promote the expertise of the many masters that have historically resided and worked in Saint Claude. Famous personalities are inducted as the “Premier Pipe-Smoker of the Year’ to serve as ambassadors for the pipe industry in Saint Claude. For every personality chosen, Paul Lanier (awarded the prestigious meilleur ouvrier de France title in 1991), crafts a pipe that includes a portrait of the inductee, thus perpetuating the tradition of the sculpted briar pipe. I think this is a very cool tradition and found it very interesting that the first likeness below strongly resembles the master pipe restorer who oversees Rebornpipes.com!According to Pipedia, the Jeantet name came on to the scene in 1775. The 1800s saw great expansion of production of Jeantet pipes primarily through the development of local cottage industry – farming out different aspects of the pipe production to small shops in Saint Claude. Consolidated production grew in the 1900s but in the 1960s sales dwindled in spite of attempts to modernize. This final part of my research comes from Pipehill:

1988
The company was taken over by S.A. Cuty Fort Entreprises⁽¹⁾ while keeping its label. It established in the group beside Chapuis-Comoy (Chacom), Jean Lacroix and Emile Vuillard. Today (2010) the brand isn’t part of the group any more. The label owned by Dominique Jeantet still exists but pipe production is discontinued.When I take this product of Sainte Claude, France, the Jeantet Fleuron, out of the ‘Rescue Me’ basket, I take a closer and more appreciative look at the pipe. First impressions mark the nice shape of the stummel – I like the tapered egg shape that culminates in a tightly circled rim beveled on the inner chamber side. The bowl shows minor cake and appears to have been cleaned before but I will bring it down to the briar and clean it well. The stummel surface has minor dents and ‘blemishes’ on the finish. A significant ‘scab’ is evident where the shank and bowl converge on the topside. It doesn’t appear to be a burn through but this will need attention after cleaning the exterior surface. The rim has minor dent marks on the blade edge of the beveled rim. When I take off the stem, I notice that in the mortise is a metal cylinder – some sort of a metal airway or a stinger that got loose? With a few thumps on my palm, the rogue stinger shakes loose (pictured below). After attempting to insert it into the end of the tenon, I have questions as to whether this stinger is original – the fit is very loose which explains why it slipped down into the stummel airway. I decide the stinger is history and it goes in the spare parts bucket. Minor teeth dents are on the underside of the bit. I take some close up shots for a better look at problem areas. I begin by putting the stem in an OxiClean bath to soak in order to raise the oxidation out of the vulcanite. Then I take my Pipnet Reaming Kit and work on the light cake build up in the bowl. I use the two smaller blades of the four blades available to me to ream the bowl. After this I use 240 grit sanding paper to further clean and smooth the chamber wall. I like working on a clean pipe so I take pipe cleaners and Q-tips dipped in isopropyl 95% and work the mortise and stummel airway. The internals were surprisingly clean so it didn’t take long.

Now to the external surface. I use undiluted Murphy Oil Soap on the stummel with cotton pads to remove the grime and hopefully to eradicate some of the blemishes I detect on the surface. After cleaning with Murphy Soap I rinse the stummel with cool tap water avoiding water entering the fire chamber or mortise. The ‘scab’ at the upper junction of the shank and bowl is starting to look like a botched superglue repair job. I’ll need to give some thought as to how to address this eyesore on an otherwise attractive piece of briar – I’m starting to see the briar’s potential. The pictures show the progress. I put the stummel aside and turn to the clean-up of the stem. I fish the stem out of the Oxyclean bath. It did the job of ‘surfacing’ the dull greenish oxidation and I initially attack it with 000 steel wool. I then clean the internal airway with bristled and smooth pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl 95%. The stem put up more resistance than the stummel. After several pipe cleaners I’m satisfied that the airway is ready for service. Next, the ‘scab’ on the bowl surface. I take 240 grit sanding paper rolled as close to a blade as I could make it and sanded the gummed up super glue patch – at least I believe that is what it is – at the junction between the upper shank and bowl. I sand the super glue or epoxy down to the surface. When I remove the buildup bump it appears to be a patch – I don’t believe it’s a burn through, but it’s definitely a fill. It appears to be solid so I leave it as is and hope to blend it when I finish the stummel. Next I prepare a batch of briar dust super glue putty to fill in two holes just below the rim at about 1 o’clock (picture below). I use a toothpick as a trowel to pack the holes well and to leave an overflow so that it will sand out smoothly with the surface. The final repair is to apply black super glue to two small tooth dents on the underside of the bit. When cured, it will sand smooth and polish well. The pictures show the progress of the patch work. After the KE-150 Black super glue patch on the underside of the bit cures, I take 240 grit sanding paper to smooth out the patch bumps bringing them down to the stem surface level. I do the same to remove light tooth chatter on the upper side. To redefine the button, I use the needle file to shape the contours of the button lip top and bottom. I again use 240 grit to remove the file marks and remove light tooth chatter. With micromesh pads grit from 1500 to 2400 I wet sand the stem and apply Obsidian Oil. Unfortunately, after admiring the shine beginning to move to the surface, I also saw some small ‘patches’ of oxidation remained visible – a bit near the button and on both upper and lower parts of the saddle stem that tapers from shank level down to button level. If this part of the saddle stem has a special name, I’m not sure what it is! I was frustrated and therefore forgot to picture this! I put the stem back in the Oxyclean bath for another baptism. The pictures below represent the micromesh process after the second bath, which raised the residue oxidation to the surface and I remove it beginning with the 1500 grit micromesh pad. Following the 1500 to 2400 micromesh wet sand cycle (again!) I apply Obsidian Oil. With pads from 3200 to 4000 grit I dry sand and follow again with applying Obsidian Oil to the stem. I complete the micromesh polishing with pads 6000 to 12000, apply Obsidian Oil and put the stem aside to dry. I’m pleased with the results even though I had a detour. The pictures show the progress on the stem repairs and polishing. With the stem ready for a stummel, I start working on completing the Jeantet’s re-commissioning by using 240 grit sanding paper to remove the cured briar dust super glue putty patch on the holes just below the rim. I’m careful to sand strategically by folding the paper and using it like a blade directly on the patch so I don’t unintentionally sand into the rim’s sharp beveled top edge – that would not be good to deface the rim! I take a before and after picture to show the progress. The rim already has a very nice bevel, but to remove the dents and pitting on the rim I use 240 grit paper folded and work on the rim. I pinch the paper with my thumb on the beveled contour as I rotate the stummel. I find that this method allows for an even movement and a consistent bevel angle to develop. With the bevel already in place, I simply go with the contour that is already present but remove the damage producing a fresh beveled surface. Well, all work on the Jeantet came to a halt for about 3 weeks as my wife and I enjoyed our annual R&R on the Black Sea coast near the fishing town of Sozopol. Reading books and enjoying the beach is one of our favorite things to do to relax and decompress from the work we do in Bulgaria. A special joy to us during these weeks was the visit of our daughter and her husband from Denver, Colorado. They joined us at the Black Sea for our last few days on the beach and from there we took them to see different sights in Bulgaria as well as spending the last week of their visit on the beautiful Greek island of Santorini! Another great part about their visit was that they brought supplies and pipes I had ordered and purchased from eBay. They also brought another prize – the Savinelli pipe knife to add to my tool box that I won in a fierce bid on eBay! During this time of R&R I also visited several antique shops in different Bulgarian towns and secured some future restorations – it was a good time but now, back to life and the Jeantet Fleuron!

With stem reattached to the stummel I use a medium grade sanding sponge on the bowl. Following this, I utilized all 9 micro-mesh sanding pads, 1500 to 12000 to sand/polish the bowl preparing it for staining. I’m liking the briar grains beginning to make an appearance on the Jeantet. The pictures show the progress on the stummel surface. I’m anxious to try out one of the supply items that my daughter and son in law brought from the US – Fiebing’s Leather Dye. They brought dark brown and oxblood colors and I decide to try the dark brown on the Jeantet. One of the challenges that I have finding supplies in Bulgaria is not having good selection of aniline (alcohol based) dyes or stains that would readily ‘flame’ helping to set the stain in the wood. I remove the stem and give the bowl a cleaning with alcohol with a cotton pad to make sure it is clean from the residue left over from sanding. I set the bowl up on the cork and candle stand, inverted to apply the dark brown dye that I have chosen. Using a cotton dauber, also a new arrival from the US, I apply the dye liberally over the inverted bottom of the bowl allowing the dye to saturate the briar surface. I’m able to rotate the bowl with the cork in hand to make sure dye reaches the rim beveled surface on the bottom. When the surface is covered I flame it with a butane lighter which evaporates the alcohol from the dye and sets the color more deeply in the grain. After it cools to the touch, I repeat the process above a second time, applying dye and flaming. The pictures below show the progress but also the fact that I need to figure out a better way of pouring the dye into the lid so I’m not wasting so much on my work board missing the briar! After cooled, I use cotton pads with isopropyl 95% and wipe down the newly stained bowl to lighten it and even out the dye application. This allows the grain to jump out more it seems to me. I let the bowl sit overnight to thoroughly dry and set the newly stained surface. I turn to my Dremel using a felt wheel with Tripoli compound on the bowl surface and stem to begin the polishing process. I utilize the slowest RPM speed and keep the wheel moving over the briar surface – not pressing too much allowing the wheel and compound to do the work. I follow the Tripoli with Blue Diamond – also with its own dedicated felt wheel (each compound has dedicated wheels) and again, allow the RPMs, wheel and compound to do the work, keeping the movement of the wheel moving on the stummel surface. For the carnauba wax application, I switch from a felt wheel to a cotton cloth wheel and also increase the RPM speed on the Dremel by one number. I have discovered that the carnauba needs a bit more ‘heat’ to spread evenly over the surface. I apply several coats of carnauba wax over the bowl surface and stem. I love to watch how the briar grain increasingly pops with each step of the polishing process. The beauty of the grain on the Jeantet Fleuron is living up to its name – Fleuron. Since I didn’t study French in school, Google translate provided the English meaning of Fleuron – ‘finial’, which is, according to Dictionary.com, “a relatively small, ornamental, terminal feature at the top of a gable, pinnacle, etc.” Or, simply, a nice finishing touch! I complete the Jeantet Fleuron with a clean cotton cloth wheel buff with the Dremel and then a rigorous buffing by hand with a microfiber cloth to bring out the grain even more and deepen the shine.

Since my wife has lovingly started to put her foot down regarding my growing collection of pipes (I’m sure some of you have faced this as well!) this Jeantet Fleuron 70-7 will make a debut on eBay Europe and US to find a good home! I am considering how to sell more restored pipes and giving the profits to help further the work we do here, with the Daughters of Bulgaria – Bulgarian women who are sexually exploited and trafficked. If you’re interested in adding the Jeantet to your collection, leave a comment below. Thanks for joining me!

Cleaning up a Long Shanked Jeantet Lumberman

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Blog by Steve Laug

This lightly sandblasted long shank Canadian is stamped Jeantet over Lumberman on the underside of the shank. The tortoise-shell Lucite stem is stamped with a J in a circle on top of the freehand style stem and on the underside it is stamped Hand Cut and France. The shank extension is made of acrylic made to look like faux bone. The mortise is lined with a brass insert to stabilise the shank extension. The tenon is Delrin. The fit in the shank is snug and clean. The slot in the stem was dirty with a black buildup in the edges and the Y-shaped opening. The shank smelled dirty and strongly of aromatic tobacco. The finish was dirty but looked to be in good condition under the grime. There was a large nick in the right side of the bowl half way down the side. It was rough to the touch. The rim was tarry and dirty but underneath it was smooth. The inner and outer edge of the rim looked in good condition. There was a light cake in the bowl. It is a big pipe – 8 inches long, 2 inches tall, bowl is 1 ¾ inch deep, the bowl diameter is ¾ inch.I have had a few older Jeantet pipes over the years but never one that was quite like this one. It is truly a beautiful piece of workmanship. I looked up information on two of my go to websites for information. The first was pipehphil’s Logos and stamping site. There I found that the Jeantet Company joined the Cuty-Fort Enterprises group (Chacom, Ropp, Vuillard, Jean Lacroix…) in 1992. In 2010 it dropped out and the brand isn’t part of the group any more. The label once again is owned by the Jeantet family (Dominique Jeantet). The production of pipes is currently discontinued. Dominique Jeantet retired in 2000. http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-jeantet.html

The second site I looked on was Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Jeantet_SA). There I found information from a book by José Manuel Lopes’ entitled Pipes, Artisans and Trademarks. Since I have the book here I went and read it first hand in the book. Here is what I found there.

Paul Jeantet SA (formerly Ebonite Co. is a French factory in Saint-Claude, and the name and business of the business man who in 1912 began making vulcanite stems for the pipe industry. Coming from a family of pipe makers (see Jeantet), Paul started using ebonite for the stems.

Paul Jeantet SA factory (1905 Saint-Claude), from the Jeantet Website: At one point the company was producing 35 million stems a year, and is still one of the few to produce ebonite stems in Europe.

From the Jeantet website: Founded in 1905 by Paul JEANTET, our company is being progressing in the field of rubber compound. Since the 70´s, JEANTET élastomères has been controlling the both processes of over molding and adhesion rubber / metal. Our manufacture is set in a 7000 m2 block, based in Saint-Claude, France. We are at one hour far from Geneva and one hour and a half far from Lyon. From prototype to mass production, JEANTET élastomères, certified ISO 9001, guarantee you availability and speed answers to all your asks of quotation.

Today, our group includes three companies specializing in vulcanized and thermoplastic elastomers : JEANTET élastomères, IXEMER ans PERROT. We are at your disposal for the creation and the development of innovating solutions. In 2014, the Group JEANTET took back the clientele of the Swiss company DUFOUR industries, what consolidates an important presence on the Swiss market of parts in Elastomers. (The Lopes’ book included the following contact information for the brand.

Contact Information:
JEANTET élastomères
Website: http://www.jeantet.com
6 Faubourg des Moulins
39200 SAINT-CLAUDE
Phone: +33 (0)3 84 45 79 00
E-mail: jeantet@jeantet.com

When the pipe arrived in Vancouver in a lot of pipes that Jeff sent me it caught my eye. It is a beautiful pipe. I took the next four photos to show the condition of the pipe when I started working on it. I took a close up photo of the bowl and the rim. You can see the light cake in the bowl and the overflow on the back and the right side of the rim top. Underneath it looks like there is some good-looking grain.I sanded the rim clean and took off the burned areas on the rim top with 220 grit sandpaper. I followed that by sanding the rim with 1500-4000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped it down with alcohol and then used a light and a medium brown stain pen to touch up the rim to match the rest of the bowl.I rolled a piece of sandpaper and sanded the inside of the bowl and the inner edge of the rim to clean up the damage left behind by the burns.I waxed the bowl and shank with Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a shoe brush to give it a shine.I cleaned out the inside of the mortise, the airway in the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until it was clean.I polished the tortoise coloured Lucite stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth to remove the grit and grime. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish the stem and the rim. I buffed the bowl and stem with carnauba wax and buffed it 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 a beautiful pipe and one I have not seen before. There is something about it that draws the eye. For a pipe this large it is well-balanced and proportionally works well. Thanks for looking.