Tag Archives: Jobey pipes

Restoring the second of three Jobey Gourd Calabashes with a Briar Shank Extension

Blog by Steve Laug

Once again Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he did his cleanup work on it. The photos below show it in the condition he found it in on one of his hunts. The gourd was dull looking and generally dirty. It had spots of sticky label material on the sides of the bowl. The briar shank extension was also dull and lifeless looking and there was a gummy substance in the brass logo on the shank extension. The meerschaum bowl on this pipe was also unique. It is light weight and appeared to be block meerschaum but it is rusticated and has flecks of colour shot throughout the entirety of the bowl. There was a thick cake in the bowl and the rim had a coat of lava that went almost all the way around the inner edge of the chamber onto the rim top. The chair leg style stem was oxidized and dirty. There were tooth marks and tooth chatter on both sides of the stem at the button. The next two photos show the condition of the meerschaum cup. The rim top of the meer was rusticated and there was some lava overflow on the rim top. There is also darkening around the inner edge of the bowl and cake in the bowl.The next two pictures show the condition of the underside of the bowl and the tars and oils on the walls of the gourd. The underside of the meerschaum cup was dirty but in good condition. There were tars and oils spotted on the underside of the bowl. The cork gasket on the inside edges of the gourd was in good condition but dried out. It needed some grease to liven it up. The briar shank extension was dirty and there was debris around the outside of the oval and in the letters stamped in the brass.The stem had light oxidation and tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. It also had the same price tag glue on the top and underside of the stem.Jeff did a thorough cleanup on the meerschaum bowl, the inside of the gourd and the stem. He carefully scraped the cake in the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He cleaned the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs – scrubbing out the mortise as it was dirty. He scrubbed the exterior of the meerschaum cup and the gourd with Murphy’s Oil soap and a tooth brush and was able to remove all of the oils and dust ground into the gourd. He was able to remove all of the lava and overflow from the top of the meerschaum bowl and left it looking very clean. Once he had removed the lava on the rim top and inner edge they were cleaner than I expected. The scratches in the meerschaum were quite shallow and would be easy to polish out. He cleaned internals of the stem with alcohol. When it arrived I took some photos of it to show how it looked before I did the restoration. He did a great job of cleaning up the rim top including the tars and lava. The bowl is clean and smooth with all cake removed. The photo below shows the condition of the bowl and rim at this point.The stem had cleaned up nicely with relatively little oxidation. The tooth marks on the top and underside along with the chatter were still present.I took the stem and put in a bath of Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. I let it soak while I worked on the rest of the pipe.I took the bowl off the gourd to have a look at the inside of the pipe. The gourd was very clean. The cork gasket was dry but that could be remedied easily enough. The mottled appearance carried through to the inside of the meerschaum bowl and can be seen in the photos.I used my fingers to rub the gourd and briar extension down with Before & After Restoration Balm to bring life to both and to remove any residual dust or dirt in the surface of the calabash. I wiped it off with a cotton cloth and buffed it with a shoe brush. The next few photos show the gourd at this point in the process. I used some Vaseline petroleum jelly to lubricate the cork gasket and soften it. I have done this for years and I really like the effect of the jelly on the cork. I used 1500 grit micromesh sanded off the spots along the surface of the meerschaum cup where it sat against the cork and the top of the gourd to ensure a smooth fit.I checked the pliability of the cork gasket, rubbed a little more Vaseline into it and put the bowl back on the gourd. The fit of the cup against the gasket was snug but not hard to insert. It was perfect. The pipe was beginning to look finished. The shine on the gourd and the rim looked good. The briar extension had its own shine as well. I took the stem out of the bath, rinsed it off with warm water and dried it off with a coarse cotton towel to dry it and remove the remaining oxidation. The tooth chatter on both sides of the stem at the button is visible. The oxidation is gone other than some small amounts in the grooves of the stem.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth chatter on the top and underside near the button. I sanded the rest of the stem to remove the remaining oxidation. I rolled the sandpaper to fit into the chair leg grooves on the stem and worked over the oxidation there until it was gone. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil at this point and let it sit for a little while.I cleaned out the airway in the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol to remove any residual bath and also the sanding dust from the work on the stem surface and tooth chatter.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each sanding pad. After using the 12000 grit pad I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond to give a deep and rich shine. I polished the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish using both the fine and the extra fine product. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. Normally at this point I put the stem back on the bowl and take the pipe to the buffing wheel to work it over. This time I took the parts to the buffing wheel. I gently buffed the meerschaum cup and rim with Blue Diamond to lightly polish the meer. I carefully buffed the gourd base and briar shank extension with Blue Diamond being cautious about the pressure I put on the gourd. I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond to raise the gloss on the vulcanite. I took the pipe back to the work table and gave the gourd multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax. I gave the stem several coats carnauba wax. I buffed the parts of the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Mark is adding this one to his uncle’s pipes when I send it back to him. It is a beautiful pipe. I think that he is going to really enjoy the unique look of his new pipe. Thanks for looking.

Restoring a Jobey Gourd Calabash with a Briar Shank Extension

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Blog by Steve Laug

My brother Jeff has really gotten good at finding Gourd Calabash pipes on his recent “treasure” hunts. He picked up this batch recently. I posted about the large calabash in the middle of the right hand column recently and it is available on the rebornpipes store. It is by far the largest of the five calabash pipes that he found. The one I have chosen to work on it the one on the left side at the bottom circled in red. It is a unique looking Calabash to me in that it is a well bent and shaped gourd with a briar shank extension on the end of the gourd. It bears the Jobey brass oval logo on the side of the briar extension. When I first looked at it I wondered if it had the Jobey system tenon that I have come to expect on the Jobeys that I have in my own collection and the ones that I have worked on. However, this was not the case on this or the other two Jobey Gourd Calabashes in the bunch. All of them have the mortise drilled in the briar extension and is made for a push stem. I have never seen Jobey Gourd Calabashes before and frankly had no idea that the company even made them.Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he did his cleanup work on it. The photos below show it in the condition he found it in on one of his hunts. The gourd was dull looking and generally dirty. It had spots of sticky label material on the sides of the bowl. The briar shank extension was also dull and lifeless looking and there was a gummy substance in the brass logo on the shank extension. The meerschaum bowl was quite unique it is light weight and appeared to be block meerschaum but I am not certain as it had flecks of colour shot throughout the entirety of the bowl. There was a thick cake in the bowl and the rim had a coat of lava that went almost all the way around the inner edge of the chamber onto the rim top. The stem was oxidized and dirty. There were tooth marks and tooth chatter on both sides of the stem at the button. The next two photos give a clear picture of the sticky label glue on the gourd and the dirty condition of the gourd. It also shows the flecks of colour throughout the meerschaum cup. The colour in the meerschaum matches the colour of the gourd. The next photo shows the condition of the meerschaum cup. The rim top of the meer had scratches in the surface and a heavy overflow of tars on the top of the rim. There is also darkening around the inner edge of the bowl and a thick cake in the bowl itself. It was hard to know if there was damage to the rim but once it was clean that would be clear. The two pictures following that show the condition of the inside of the bowl and the tars and oils on the walls of the gourd. The underside of the meerschaum cup is in good condition. There is some darkening on the underside of the bowl. There were some tars and oils spotted on the underside of the bowl. The cork gasket on the inside edges of the gourd was in good condition but dried out. It needed some grease to liven it up. The briar shank extension is dried out and has water spots. The next photo shows the brass Jobey oval insert inset in the left side of the briar shank extension. There is grime and a gummy substance in the lettering and around the edges of the insert. The briar was dirty and in need of a deep cleaning.The stem had light oxidation and tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. It also had the same price tag glue on the top and underside of the stem.I did some digging to see if I could find out about the connection between the calabash maker and Jobey. I found a bit of history of the brand on the Pipedia website at the following link. https://pipedia.org/wiki/Jobey . The section I am quoting is entitled Possible Jobey Origin. I quote it in its entirety.

Possible Jobey Origin

…the origins of this company seem to be shrouded in mystery, and most people claim that the origins were in England, followed by American production, and then a later move to St. Claude. There is another possible origin for the company, however, and it would suggest that Jobey was in Brooklyn, New York long before the 1969 patent of the Jobey “link”.

There’s not a lot of chatter about it, but if you can lay your hands on a copy of “The Tobacco World”, Volume 61, from 1941, there is a brief mention that reads “Norwalk Pipe Expands” and in the body states that Norwalk Pipe Corporation, “manufacturers of Jobey and Shellmoor pipes”, is moving to larger offices at 218 East Twenty-Sixth Street, NYC, as announced by Louis Jobey, president of that company. Norwalk is listed as one of the alternate distributors for Jobey on this page but apparently Louis Jobey was also actually working there at the time.

Before that, the first mention of Jobey seems to be back in 1915, when two brothers named Ulysses and Louis Jobey of Brooklyn, New York obtained a patent for an odd sort of cavalierish pipe in 1915, here’s the link: http://www.google.com/patents/USD46998

But less than four years later, in 1918, there’s a notice in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on November 6th to the effect that Louis Jobey declared bankruptcy in the District Court, with final hearing scheduled for December 1918. And in an even sadder turn, that same month sees a funeral notice for Lorraine Jobey, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Jobey, formerly of Brooklyn but now living in Moline Illinois at the home of Mr. and Mrs. George E. Hutchinson. The little girl evidently died in a fall.

There’s little else on Ulysses Jobey except that he evidently had a “junior” after his name or a son by the same name. Because Ulysses Jobey, Jr. was listed as the vice president in New Jersey of Lakewood Pipe Company Inc., a maker of smoker’s articles, in the 1922 New York Co-partnership and Corporation Directory for Brooklyn. Given the timing it’s likely this was the brother.

So while it is speculative, one possible origin story for Jobey is that the company was started by two brothers in Brooklyn in the teens with a new idea for a pipe, and failed amidst terrible tragedy. One brother went to one company and another to the other, but it was Louis who continued making Jobey pipes through the 40s under that name, despite evidently no longer owning the company. It would appear to be the Norwalk Company that was bought out by Wally Frank in the pre-link days. This would suggest that Jobey was always American.

From this I surmise that the Gourd calabash pipes were probably made by the Wally Frank Company or at least for them. I don’t know the dates of the manufacture of the pipes but my guess is that it is in the 60s.

Jeff did a thorough cleanup on the meerschaum bowl, the inside of the gourd and the stem. He carefully scraped the cake in the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He cleaned the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs – scrubbing out the mortise as it was dirty. He scrubbed the exterior of the meerschaum cup and the gourd with Murphy’s Oil soap and a tooth brush and was able to remove all of the oils and dust ground into the gourd. He was able to remove all of the lava and overflow from the top of the meerschaum bowl and left it looking very clean. Once he had removed the lava on the rim top and inner edge they were cleaner than I expected. The scratches in the meerschaum were quite shallow and would be easy to polish out. He cleaned internals of the stem with alcohol. When it arrived I took some photos of it to show how it looked before I did the restoration. I took the bowl off the gourd to have a look at the inside of the pipe. The gourd was very clean. The cork gasket was dry but that could be remedied easily enough. The mottle appearance of the meerschaum bowl can also be seen in the photos.The stem had cleaned up nicely with relatively little oxidation. The tooth marks on the top and underside along with the chatter were still present.The wooden shank extension (which looks like briar to me) is very clean and ready for polishing. I used some Vaseline petroleum jelly to lubricate the cork gasket and soften it. I have done this for years and I really like the effect of the jelly on the cork. I used 1500 grit micromesh sanded off the spots along the surface of the meerschaum cup where it sat against the cork and the top of the gourd to ensure a smooth fit.I used my fingers to rub the gourd and briar extension down with Before & After Restoration Balm to bring life to both and to remove any residual dust or dirt in the surface of the calabash. I wiped it off with a cotton cloth and buffed it with a shoe brush. The next few photos show the gourd at this point in the process. I polished the rim top, inner edge and underside of the meerschaum bowl with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the surface of the cup down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. When I finished sanding with the last pad I wiped it down again and set it aside. I checked the pliability of the cork gasket, rubbed a little more Vaseline into it and put the bowl back on the gourd. The fit of the cup against the gasket was snug but not hard to insert. It was perfect. The pipe was beginning to look finished. The shine on the gourd and the rim looked good. The briar extension had its own shine as well. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth chatter on the top and underside near the button. I also found as I examined the underside that there was a strange rippling to the vulcanite almost like it had some heat damage. I sanded that area to clean up the ripples and smooth them out.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each sanding pad. After using the 12000 grit pad I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond to give a deep and rich shine. Normally at this point I put the stem back on the bowl and take the pipe to the buffing wheel to work it over. This time I took the parts to the buffing wheel. I gently buffed the meerschaum cup and rim with Blue Diamond to polish the meer. I carefully buffed the gourd base and briar shank extension with Blue Diamond being cautious about the pressure I put on the gourd. I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond to raise the gloss on the vulcanite. I took the pipe back to the work table and gave the gourd multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax. I gave the stem several coats carnauba wax. I buffed the parts of the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This one is already spoken for and I think that the pipeman that it is going out to will really enjoy the unique look of his new pipe. Thanks for looking.

An easy restore on a smooth Jobey Extra Underslung Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

I think that the shape of this one is what caught my brother’s eye when he saw this Jobey. He has introduced me to some neat looking Jobey’s that have great grain, shape and stem work. The Jobey Link tenon system is a breeze to replace and repair as it screws into the shank and is pressure fit into the stem. This one has some great grain on it all the way around – birdseye on the sides and cross grain on the front, back and the top and bottom of the shank. It was in decent shape with just a few dings in the left side of the bowl. The rim was lightly tarred and the cake in the bowl was not very thick. The finish was faded in spots. The stem was in great shape other than the usual tooth chatter on the top and underside near the button. There were no deep tooth marks. The link system was undamaged. The next two close up photos show the stamping and the condition of the rim. The stamping is simply Jobey in script over Extra. The E on Extra is faint. The Jobey medallion on the stem is in great shape. The inner edge of the rim shows some buildup of tars and oils.As usual my brother cleaned up the pipe before sending it to me. I am getting spoiled as he is doing a lot of the hard clean up. He reamed the bowl with the PipNet reamer and scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a soft tooth brush. He rinsed of the soap with running water. He cleaned out the airway in the stem and the shank and the mortise with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol. When it arrived in Vancouver I took the following photos. The next photo shows the bowl and the rim after he had cleaned it up. It was in excellent shape.The next two photos show the tooth chatter on the stem and a light oxidation that was over the surface of the stem.I tried to steam the dents out of the side of the bowl with a damp cloth and a hot knife and was able to lift quite a few. There were three of them with rough edges that I lifted some but was not able to smooth them out with steam. I used some drops of clear super glue to fill in the spots on the bowl side. Once the glue dried I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper and then with 1500-4000 grit micromesh sanding pads.I restained the areas on the bowl that had lightened from sanding with a combination of light, medium and dark stain pens and a little bit of black Sharpie pen. I gave the entire bowl several coats of dark brown aniline stain mixed 50/50 with isopropyl alcohol. I flamed it and repeated the process until I had an even coverage. I set the bowl aside to dry. I was sure that I would need to do some more touch ups to blend the stain well but I wanted the stain to set. I sanded the tooth chatter off the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and was able to smooth out all of the tooth marks.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. After the final rub down I let the stem dry. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond after the stain had cured and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and then by hand with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe is really a beauty and the stain and shine make the grain stand out. This one will also be going on the store so if you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know via email, message or a comment on the blog. Thanks for looking.

A Beautifully Grained Jobey Designer Cauldron Lay Under Thick Varnish

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Blog by Steve Laug

When I was visiting in Idaho my brother Jeff pulled out this Jobey box and handed it to me to look at. I had no idea what to expect once I opened the box. I have cleaned up a lot of Jobey pipes over the years and have really liked the rusticated Jobey Stromboli pipes with their colourful stems and deep rough surfaces. I have seen others that were pretty but nothing spectacular. I turned the box over in my hands to see if there were any hints on the outside what was hidden under the lid but there was nothing – just the classic red box with the Jobey Pipe logo on the lid.I opened the box to have a look and was surprised. What was inside was actually a really nice looking pipe at first glance. It was stamped on the left side of the shank Jobey over DESIGNER and on the right side of the shank D80 over HANDMADE. The stem was Lucite with a variety of brown tones that ran at an angle across the stem. The finish looked funny to me in that for a handmade pipe it was rough textured. I expected it to be silky smooth but it was rough to the touch and there were brush marks all over the surface. It looked to me like someone had brushed on a thick coat of varnish to give the pipe a perma-shine. The box also had the red pipe sleeve and a Jobey Polishing Cloth in the lid.Inside the polishing cloth package there was also a cloth for treating the stem. Both were Jobey specialty products. The Jobey sock is slightly worn.I took the leaflet out of the top of the box to have a look and it was a fun read. It reads: “The Jobey Pipe Guarantee, Limited Warranty. Should any Jobey pipe burn out within 90 days of normal usage, a new bowl will be furnished by us without charge. Shanks and mouthpieces are not guaranteed, but may be repaired for a moderate charge. This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may also have other rights which may vary from state to state. Return the burned out bowl with a request for bowl replacement to: – Hollco International Repair Department, 37 Warren St., New York, NY 10007.”

The other side reads: “This Pipe has the “Jobey Link” U.S. Pat.No. 3537462. The unique “Jobey Link” is the first big breakthrough in high quality pipe mounting. There is no metal. Easy to repair – just ask your dealer for an economical replacement “Jobey Link” it keeps your pipe permanently mounted without loosening up. The “Jobey Link” is precision threaded into the briar, but is still adjustable within the stem so that it always lines up straight. If the “Jobey Link” becomes difficult to unscrew use a coin in the convenient unscrewing slot (X). The “Jobey Link” comes in 4 sizes, small, medium short, medium long and large.”I took some photos of the pipe to show how the varnish coat had muddied the finish and hid the grain as well as hopefully captured some of the brush strokes. Under the varnish on the rim on the back inner edge of the bowl there was also some tar that had been painted over. I took some close-up photos of the rim and the stamping on the shank. In those photos you can clearly see the tar on the rim, the clear stamping on the shank and the brush strokes of the varnish on the pipe. I was hopeful that the shiny coat on the bowl was not urethane but merely varnish. The muddiness of the finish and the way it felt in the hand made me hopeful. I scrubbed the bowl with acetone on cotton pads and was amazed at how easily it came off. I was really happy that I was not dealing with a plastic coat. I scrubbed it repeatedly until the grain clearly showed. The bowl was still rough under the varnish so I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I scrubbed the internals of the mortise and airway in the shank to clean out any build up in the threads and airway. I used cotton swabs and alcohol and found that it was really quite clean. I remove the Jobey Link from the end of the stem and cleaned out the airway in the link and the stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol.I threaded the Jobey Link into the end of the shank and set it then pushed the stem in place on the other end of the link.I reamed the bowl back to bare briar with the Savinelli Pipe Knife.I wet sanded the Lucite stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and wiped it down with a cotton pad. I sanded 3200-4000 and wiped it down again. I finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads to finish polishing it. I gave the bowl a light coat of olive oil and then buffed it and the stem with Blue Diamond. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Personally I have never seen a Jobey quite like this one. The carver who did the work captured the lay of the grain extremely well with it flowing up the shank. The new oil and wax finish really went well with the brown striated Lucite stem. Thanks for looking.

I thought this one would be easy – boy was I wrong

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Blog by Steve Laug

I wanted a bit of a breather so I went through my box of pipes for repair and picked this multi-finish Jobey Asti Classic Bent Billiard to clean up. The stamping on the left side reads Jobey Asti Classic and on the right side France and the shape number 470. At first glance it looked like it would be a simple restore and clean. The bowl looked decent in the box and the stem was okay as well. When I got back to the table and did a closer examination I was surprised by what I saw. The bowl rim was in bad shape with the outer edge knocked and damaged. There were dent and score marks in the top of the rim. The lava had flown over the top and it looked as if someone had thrown a coat of Urethane on top of the bowl, grime and all. I looked at the exterior and found that even the grooves in the rusticated bottom of the bowl were thickly coated with the plastic stuff. The stem looked good at first but as I examined it I found that it had been cut off and the button recut and a slot fashioned that was not clean or even. The surface of the stem on the top and bottom next to the button was heavily built up with what appeared to be black epoxy and it was bubbled and full of pin prick like holes. It also was not bent correctly to the shape of the bowl. Truly it would need a lot more work than originally thought. (As an aside don’t use Urethane on bowls it is a bear to clean off and if you have to at least clean them before you dip them in that awful plastic stuff.) I took the pipe apart and unscrewed the Jobey Link from the bowl and took a picture of the parts. I wanted to see how dirty the internals were and if the Link would come out easily. For those of you who don’t know the Link system one of the nice perks is that the end of the tenon that sits in the stem are slotted so you can insert a slot or blade screwdriver to loosen and remove the Link. It is a great piece of forethought on the part of the designer.Because of the coat of Urethane over the lava I needed to top the bowl to remove the grime and also to clean up the outer edges of the bowl. I topped it with 220 grit sandpaper on my topping board.I sanded the finish on the smooth portion of the bowl with a medium grit sanding block and then wiped the bowl down with acetone to try to break the plastic finish. I was partially successful in removing it but more work would need to be done.I reamed the bowl with the PipNet reamer and also with the Savinelli Pipe Knife to remove the remnants of cake that still were deep in the bowl. I reamed it back to bare briar so that the new owner could build a cake of their own choosing. You can also see the top and outer edge of the rim in these photos that show it after the topping of the bowl.In the next photo you can see the film of the plastic stuff still on the bowl with the scratches from the sanding block visible. I decided to let it soak in the alcohol bath for a day and a half to see if the finish would break down some more now that it had been broken through with the sanding blocks.When I took it out of the bath the finish was pretty smooth. The plastic stuff was gone. I sanded the bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads to remove some of the scratching and was careful around the stamping on the sides of the shank. I washed the bowl down with some acetone on cotton pads and then stained it with a dark brown aniline stain. I flamed it and repeated the process to make sure I got and even coverage.While the bowl dried I turned to work on the stem. I heated it with the heat gun to soften the Lucite enough that I could bend it to the proper angle. It did not take too much to get the angle correct but the heat caused the epoxy patch to bubble. The perk of that was that the airhole pin prick marks disappeared.I wiped the bowl down with alcohol on cotton pads to remove some of the dark stain and bring the grain to the forefront.I cleaned out the interior of the stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol. I cleaned out the area where the Jobey Link sat in the stem and the airway to ensure good fit and draw.Now it was time to work on repairing the stem repairs! The next photos show what the patches looked like when I started. They stood out clearly and the heat of the gun made them raise and bubble. To me they looked like overkill in terms of a repair. It was almost if the person who did the patch was trying to build up the thickness of the stem at the button to give it strength. It would take some work to make it blend in. I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth things out and try to match the stem surface. Of course I forgot to take photos of the process but the ones shown below with the micromesh sanding pads will show the change. The third photo below shows the slot in the button. I worked on it with needle files to clean it up and shape it and again forgot to take photos of the process.I rubbed the bowl down with some Conservator’s Wax so that when I cleaned out the shank and Jobey Link System with would not damage the finish that I had done. (I know I should have done this before staining but this one irritated me and I forgot to do so.) I cleaned the link and then put a little Vaseline on the threads and turned it into the mortise. I adjusted it with the screwdriver to set it into the shank. I buffed the bowl lightly with Blue Diamond on the wheel and gave it a light coat of olive oil. I took the following photos to show what the pipe looked like at this point in the process. You can also see the state of the stem in these photos. Overall the pipe is looking pretty good at this point. It is far better than I expected when I started. The contrast of the dark stain on the rustication and the lighter stain on the smooth briar makes this pipe look quite “classic” matching its name. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads. I finished sanding with 6000-12000 grit pads. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond. I avoided the rusticated portion so as not to get polishing compound in the crevices and pits of bottom half of the bowl. I waxed the bowl and the stem with multiple coats of carnauba. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The grain is quite beautiful and the contrast between the smooth and the rusticated portions gives a unique look to the pipe. Thanks for looking.

Rough Texture of a Jobey Shellmoor combined with Yellow Lucite

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

As I said before I never paid much attention to Jobey pipes. My brother has given me a new appreciation for them. The pipe he sent me that I chose to work on next is stamped Jobey Shellmoor on the underside of the shank. There is no shape number or other stamping on the pipe. There is a Jobey logo stamped on the yellow acrylic/Lucite stem. When I first saw the pipe I was pretty certain that the stem was a replacement. Now that I have it in hand I have to admit I was wrong it is the original. When I first picked it up I thought it would be a pretty straightforward repair. I could not have been more wrong but that would come out in the process of the restoration. The rustication was very dirty on the sides of the bowl but it had that rough rustication that I have come to expect on Shellmoor pipes. The rim was in rough shape with lava in all of the grooves. That would have been easily remedied but there was also a burned area on the top of the rim at the front that had left a deep groove. The bowl was thickly caked (I removed much of it in Idaho when I was there). When I brought it to the work table and tried to finish reaming the bowl I was reminded of the rock hard cake. It took two different reamers to take out the cake. The stem had some tooth marks and the airway was black with tars. When I removed the stem the Jobey Link was stuck in the stem. Not a big deal but it would make getting the black out of the airway. When I examined the rim more closely I saw that it was actually quite damaged. I took two close-up photos of it to show the thick lava and the burned area on the front of the bowl. It is a little hard to see in the second photo (forgive the slightly out of focus photo) but it extends down the front of the bowl about ¼ inch. I worked on the Jobey Link and was able to dribble alcohol down the stem to soften the tars that held it in the stem. I wiggled it free. The photo below shows the pipe taken apart.I started working on the bowl by reaming it completely. The cake was exceptionally. I hard I used the PipNet reamer with the first three cutting heads to take the cake back to bare briar. I used a Savinelli Pipe Knife to complete the job at the bottom of the bowl. When I had finished reaming the bowl I noticed that the airway into the bowl was absolutely invisible. I could not see it on the back wall of the bowl. I used the drill bit from the KleenReem pipe reamer to hand drill out the airway from the shank into the bowl. The tars in the shank were almost as hard as the cake in the bowl. It took a lot of elbow grease and pressing the bit into the airway. I was finally rewarded with it popping through into the bowl. With the rough cleaning done on the bowl and shank I decided to work on the rim surface. I topped it with 220 grit sandpaper on the topping board. (If you look closely at the shank end in the photo it appears that there is a crack in the shank. It is merely a scratch in the top surface of the briar at that point.)After topping it for a while I took a photo to show the extent of the damage to the rim. This photo clarifies what I saw in the original scan of the bowl.I continued topping the bowl until I got to solid wood under the burned area. The rim surface was darkened but the briar was hard. I picked the burned area on the front of the bowl clean of soft burned wood with a dental pick.I was not too worried about the rim darkening as I intended to rusticate it again to match the rough finish of the bowl. I filled in the burned area with clear super glue to build it up. I also intended to rusticate the burned area on the front of the bowl at the same time. The next series of photos show the process of rustication and the different burrs I used on the Dremel to get the pattern on the rim I wanted. I also worked on the front of the bowl to remove the damage of the burned area with the same burrs. I tried to match the pattern on the rest of the bowl. The success of that will be seen in later photos. Once I had the work down with the Dremel and burrs I took it back to the worktable and used a brass bristle brush to knock of the sharp edges and the loose pieces of briar from the rim and the bowl front. The second and third photos show the bowl front and the work that I did to match the pattern in that area. I scrubbed the briar with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime so that I could restain the bowl. I rinsed it with warm running water to remove the soap from the grooves and crevices along with the loosened grime.I used a black Sharpie to colour in the depths of the rustication on the rim and the repaired area at the front of the bowl. I wanted to approximate the contrast in the rest of the finish.I restained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain and flamed it to set it in the grain. I repeated the process until the coverage was what I wanted.I wiped down the bowl with alcohol on cotton pads to remove some of the dark brown stain from the high spots on the bowl and add some contrast and depth to the finish. I took another close-up photo of the rustication on the rim to show what it looked like with the stain coat.I cleaned out the mortise threads and the airway with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol.Once it was clean I greased the threads on the Jobey Link with Vaseline and turned it in place in the shank with a small screwdriver.The stem turned out to be another issue that I had not taken into real consideration. The dark stain of tars and oils in the airway turned out to be a real pain. I used cotton swabs and alcohol to clean out the portion of the stem that slid over the Link. That was the easy part. I then scrubbed out the airway with alcohol and pipe cleaners. I used a dental pick to clean out the slot in the button. The tars in the airway were stubborn. I mixed a batch of Oxyclean, inserted pipe cleaners in the airway to wick the mixture up the stem and then dropped the pipe in the mixture to soak overnight. I took it out in the morning and scrubbed it with several different brushes and pipe cleaners. I removed about 50% of the black in the stem but not all of it. I put it back in the Oxy soak for another night.I buffed the bowl by hand with a shoe brush to see what the finish would look like. The following photos give a good picture of where things stand with the bowl at this point. I took the stem out of the Oxy bath and cleaned out a bit more of the darkened area. I used pipe cleaners dipped in Bar Keepers Friend scouring powder and was able to get out more of the tars and darkening. I stopped for a little while and worked on the externals. There were several deep tooth marks in the stem near the button on the top and bottom sides. I sanded and cleaned the stem then filled the tooth marks with clear super glue. When the glue set I sanded the repairs smooth to match the surface of the stem. I went back to scrubbing the airway. I remembered reading about someone using soft scrub successfully so I ran upstairs and asked my wife if she had any I could use. I push it through the airway in the stem with thick, fluffy pipe cleaners and rotated them to scrub. It took out some more of the darkening but still not enough to my liking. Finally I set up a retort on the stem alone. I boiled alcohol through the stem to remove more. Finally I used an ear syringe to shoot boiling water through the stem. I gave up after using all of those methods. I think I had removed as much of the darkening as I was going to get out of the stem. The stem definitely looks better than it did when I started. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and wiped it down. I dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit pads and wiped it down. I lightly buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and then gave the stem several coats of carnauba. I polished the stem and bowl with a clean buffing pad and then by hand with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown below. The first photos show the areas of the rim and the front of the bowl that I cleaned up and re-rusticated with the burrs and Dremel. The remaining photos are of the pipe in its entirety. I have never seen a Jobey Shellmoor pipe with a Lucite stem but this golden stem goes really well with the dark brown stain. The finished pipe is 6 ½ inches long and looks rather dapper and stylish. It has come a long way from when I started on it. I picked this pipe to work on while I was restoring the La Strata because I thought it would be easy. I could not have been more wrong. But I am glad it is finished. Thanks for looking.

Breathing New Life into a Jobey Stromboli 500 Bent Sitter

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Blog by Steve Laug

It’s funny how some brands escape my attention. I cannot explain it or give some rationale for not being interested in Jobey pipes. But I know that until my brother, Jeff started picking them up because he liked the looks of them they did not appear much on my radar. I know that a few years back I picked up a Stromboli ¼ bent author because I liked the look of the rustication but that was the long and short of my interest. Now since my brother has been buying pipes more of them are crossing my work table and I am gaining a new appreciation for them.

In the case of this pipe, I know that the blue stem on this Stromboli is what caught my brother’s eye. It is a gorgeous shade of blue that stands in stark contrast to the dark deep rustication of the bowl and shank of the pipe. He sent me the link to the eBay sale and I too took an interest in the stem and the shape. From the photos I could see that the finish on this pipe was in decent shape overall. There was some wear on the rim. It appeared that some of the finish had chipped off and there were some worn spots on the front and the back outer edges of the bowl. The cake was uneven (varying thicknesses from the photos) in the bowl and an overflow of lava on the rim top and edges. The stem had some stains or dark substance on the grooves of the turned portions. The pipe is stamped on the smooth bottom of the sitter bowl with the words Jobey over Stromboli and the number 500. The stem also has some wear and tooth marks on and in front of the button on the top and bottom sides. All in all, I was looking forward to receiving this pipe and seeing what I could make of it. I have included the seller’s pictures below to show some of the issues that I mentioned above. When the pipe arrived it looked precisely as the pictures had shown it. The dirty finish was a little worse than the photos showed. There was more grime in the grooves of the rustication. The stamping on the bottom of the bowl had a wax buildup in it that made it appeared blurred and double stamped. The stem was also a bit more of a mess than I had originally thought. The brown areas around the grooves and lines on the stem were actually thick and hard and did not come off by scraping. I am not sure what the substance was but it seemed to be stubbornly permanent. There were also tooth marks on stem on both the top and the underside of the stem near the button. The top of the button was also worn down on the inner sharp edge. The slot was almost closed off with grime and debris. The stem was loose and easily fell of the Jobey Link in the mortise. I took some photos of the pipe before I started working on it. I took a close-up photo of the rim and also the bottom of the bowl to show the stamping. The rim was dirty with tars and oil and some lava in the grooves. The bowl had a light cake remaining even after I had field reamed it when I was visiting in Idaho. The stamping on the bottom of the bowl is visible in the second photo. It had wax and grime in the grooves so it looked almost blurred and out of focus. I removed the stem from the Jobey Link and then used a flat blade screw driver to turn the link out of the shank of the pipe. I took a photo of the parts of the pipe to show the size and shape of the link. (You can also see the brown buildup on the grooves and ridges of the stem).I scrubbed the rustication with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the deep grooves. I also used a brass bristle brush to scrub the rim and the grooves there. The bristles of the brass brush easily removed the tars and lava from the rim surfaces. Once the bowl was scrubbed I rinsed it under warm running water to remove the soap and grime and then dried it on a soft towel. I used a dark brown stain pen to touch up the worn areas on the outside edge of the rim and the top surface as well. The dark brown perfectly matched the stain on the rest of the bowl. With the link removed from the shank I was able to clean out the mortise with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I worked on the threads as well to remove the buildup on them. I clean out the airway on the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol and picked the slot clean with a dental pick. I used a pipe cleaner to also clean out the airway in the link. With the inside of the stem clean the link fit snugly in place and the stem was no longer loose. With the inside of the stem clean it was time to work on the rock hard substance on the grooves of the turned stem. The substance was impermeable to alcohol and was also on the flat diamond sides of the saddle portion of the stem. I wrapped a metal tube that was approximately the same diameter as the grooves with 220 grit sandpaper and worked on cleaning out the grooves and an emery board to sand the flat surfaces. I used a needle file to redefine the edges of the button on both sides of the stem and to also smooth out the tooth chatter and marks. I sanded the stem at the button and grooves with 150, 280, 320, 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper to smooth out the scratches left behind by the 220 grit sandpaper. I took photos of all sides of the stem to show how well the sanding removed the hard substance on the stem in the affected areas. I cleaned out the stamping with a dental pick and then used a black Sharpie Pen to colour in the text of the stamping. I buffed the bowl bottom lightly on the buffer to blend the black pen into the rest of the bowl bottom. I turned the link back into the shank and gave the bowl a light coat of Conservator’s Wax. I buffed it with a shoe brush to raise the shine. I did a final scrape of the interior of the bowl with a Savinelli Pipe Knife to remove the remaining cake on the bowl walls.I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then wiped down the stem with a clean cloth to remove the dust. I dry sanded the stem with 3200-12000 grit pads to continue to polish and shine the stem.

I lightly buffed the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. It is important with Lucite to keep a light touch as you move the stem against the wheel as you can easily melt the stem and make more work for yourself. I hand gave the stem several coats of carnauba and buffed it with a clean buff. I brought the pipe back to the work table and buffed the bowl with the shoe brush and also with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a beauty. I love the contrast between the dark brown/black of the craggy rustication and the smooth deep, royal blue of the stem. Thanks for looking.

Rejuvenating an English Made Sandblast Jobey Nut Bruyere Push Stem Billiard 050

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

This is another pipe find from the Idaho Falls antique mall. I am pretty certain it comes from the era that Jobey made pipes in Britain. It is a very proper British looking sandblast saddle stem billiard. The blast is quite nice revealing some great swirls and crags. It is not a deep blast but it is a medium one that stands out well. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the flat shank with Jobey over Nut Bruyere toward the front of the pipe. Moving back toward the stem it is stamped Imported Bruyere over 050. The stem has the Jobey insert on the top of the saddle and it is stamped on the right side – English Para. The pipe is solid but dirty. The stem is not badly oxidized at all bearing testimony to the quality of the vulcanite. The stem also has an inner tube insert in the tenon. This pipe was in the same lot as the White Flame billiard that I just finished and posted early. The stem is dirty but not oxidized. The sandblast finish is also dirty with dust and grime in the valleys of the blast. The rim is almost flat with the build-up of tars. The bowl is still round with no damage to the inner or out edge of the rim. There is slight cake build-up in the bowl. Internally the shank and mortise area are very clean – pristine is the proper word. The inner tube inserts into the airway in the shank so the mortise is fresh briar. The fit of the stem in the shank is tight and inserts with a click. This pipe is in pretty decent shape other than the cosmetics I have noted above.

I took a close-up photo of the bowl rim and the cake to show the state of both when I started the cleanup. The shank and mortise appeared to be pristine and clean as I mentioned above. I took a photo of the mortise and the inner tube on the stem. I started the cleanup with a gentle reaming of the bowl. I took the cake back to bare briar. I like to start with a clean bowl on the pipes I refurbish. I know others leave a thin cake but I have chosen the “cakeless” route.

I scrubbed the blast and rim with Murphy’s Oil Soap. I used a short bristle tooth brush and a brass bristle tooth brush to scrub the briar. When I had finished and rinsed the bowl I used the long bristle tooth brush to polish it a bit.

The next series of pictures show the bowl after the scrub and rinse with running water. The briar looks really good. The blast is clean and the rim looks like new – just a wee bit of darkening.

With the outside clean it was time to swab out the shank airway, mortise and bowl. I used alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. The seemingly pristine mortise actually was quite clean. Just a few cotton swabs and a pipe cleaner took care of the little bit of tars that were there. I used a dental pick to clean out the slot in the button. I scrubbed the internals of the inner tube and the externals with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The stem was not too dirty and it did not take too much to clean it out. I sanded the stem with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge and then moved on to working over it with the micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and then rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I continued by dry sanding, before the oil dried, with 3200-4000 grit pads. I lightly buffed the stem with red Tripoli and White Diamond and then finished dry sanding with 6000-12000 grit micromesh pads. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.

I tried a new wax on the sandblast. I have used it before on other pipes but never on a blast. It is called Conservator’s Wax which is a microcrystalline cleaner and wax product. I applied it to the blast by hand rubbing it in lightly, making sure it did not clump up in the grooves. Once it dried I buffed the bowl with a shoe brush. The picture below shows the buffed briar. I lightly buffed the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffer and gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the bowl and stem with a clean flannel buff and then hand buffed the pipe with a microfibre cloth to give the polish depth and a deeper sheen. The finished pipe is shown below. It is clean and ready to fire up!

NEPAL PROJECT PIPE SALE 4 – Jobey 300 Bent Diamond Shank Brandy 9mm Meerschaum Filter Pipe

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

This is the fourth pipe from the box of pipes that I was gifted by a good friend of mine with the instructed purpose of cleaning them up and selling them with all of the proceeds going to the aid of earthquake victims in Nepal. Once again all funds raised will all go to the SA Foundation, and organization that has worked in Nepal for over 15 years helping provide recovery, housing and job training for women who are victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking. The ongoing earthquakes (over 300) that continue to shake Nepal have left much in ruins. The SA Foundation Project there was able to find new housing for the women and help with staff as well. Every dollar raised from the sale of these pipes will go to the work in Nepal.

This one is a little Jobey pipe has the typical Jobey fitment system with the tenon in the shank and the stem sliding over that. However that is where the typical ends. It is open for a 9mm filter and in this case a 9mm meerschaum filter. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank on the left side with the words Jobey over Meerschaum over Filter and on the right side it is stamped 300.

The finish on the bowl was in great shape, just dirty. The bowl itself needed a light reaming. The stem was dirty, oxidized and had straightened over time. There was a small nick on the top of the stem about mid-point. The inside of the bowl, shank and stem were dirty with tars and oils. There was no filter moldering away inside the shank which I was glad to see.

I did some searching to find out about the filters that were used. I found some pictures of the meerschaum filters that were used. I checked and the shank easily holds a regular 9mm filter from Vauen should the new owner wish to use one.

I set up the heat gun and heated the stem to deal with the bend first. I wanted to bend enough to give it a proper look. Once it was flexible I bent it over a wooden rolling pin that I use for this purpose.

With that corrected I took it back to the work table to address the cleaning issues. I used a PipNet reamer to ream the cake from the bowl and clean up the inside of the bowl.

I cleaned the shank and the airway in the bowl and stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol until it was clean. It did not take much to clean it out. A few pipe cleaners and cotton swabs and it was clean. I used a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to knock off the grime on the stem and work over the small nick on the top of the stem. Once I had it cleaned up I moved on to polishing the stem with the micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and then dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads. As is my practice, I rubbed the stem down between each set of three pads with my Obsidian Oil Sock to give me continued traction in polishing the stem.

When I finished with the micromesh sanding pads I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond Plastic polish on the wheel and then gave it several coats of carnauba wax to preserve and protect. I finished by giving it a final buff with a clean, soft flannel buffing pad to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown below. It should make whoever picks it up a decent smoking pipe.

This Jobey 300 bent brandy should make someone a great addition. If you are interested in this pipe email me with an offer at slaug@uniserve.com and we can discuss it. The entirety of the sale price will go to the Nepal project. I will pay the postage so that does not get taken off the proceeds. If you are interested in reading about the SA Foundation you can look at their website at http://www.safoundation.com.

Thanks for looking.

Restoring a Jobey Stromboli 160

2 Replies

I have been looking for a Jobey Stromboli for quite a while now but never found the shape I wanted. I love the rustic almost Sea Rock look of the Stromboli finish and the Jobey link system has intrigued me. So when I saw this one on EBay it only took a minute to make a bid and lock in the end price I was willing to pay for the pipe. The shape, the wavy rim surface and the flow of the stem attracted me. The Lucite stems on many of these pipes was quite thick and cumbersome looking but this one is nice and streamlined looking and reminds me of the GBD chairleg stems on some of their pipes. The seller says that it was in good shape and that the stem was a green colour. The bowl exterior looks odd to me and definitely the finish has taken a bit of a beating. The rusticated finish is quite forgiving however so I am hopeful that a good scrub and restain will do the trick. The stem appears to be in good shape with minimal tooth chatter on the top and bottom sides near the button. The six photos below were included by the seller in the EBay listing. Since I know next to nothing about Jobeys in general and more specifically about their claim to fame Link System I decided to do a bit of digging on the web. I have included a picture of the link taken from the web to give an idea of what the actual part looks like. Chris beat me to it and posted this patent applied for and issued for the bowl and shank connection I have included the entire patent document in the text of this article because it is fascinating to me to read how the designer worded his application and how the cutaway pictures show the connector both in terms of side views and end views.

Smoking pipe bowl shank and stem connection
US 3537462 A
Images(1) Description (OCR text may contain errors)
United States Patent Peter V. Genna Inventor Brooklyn, New York Appl. No. 802,170 Filed Feb. 25, 1969 Patented Nov. 3, 1970 Assignee Wally Frank, Ltd. New York, New York a corporation of New York SMOKING PIPE BOWL SHANK AND STEM CONNECTION 1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figs. US. Cl 131/225 Int. Cl A24f 1/00, A24f 7/02 Field of Search 131/225 [56] References Cited V UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,168,481 l/1916 Combs 131/225 2,461,905 2/1949 Lavietes 131/225 3,044,472 7/1962 Keyser 131/225 FOREIGN PATENTS 274,743 7/1927 Great Britain 131/225 Primary ExaminerJoseph S. Reich Attorney-Harry B. Rook ABSTRACT: A coupler to separately connect the bowl shank and the stem of a smoking pipe, has one end threaded to screw into the shank bore. The other end portion is cylindrically smooth and the stem is frictionally longitudinally and rotatablyslidable thereon. Between said end portions the coupler has a circumferential flange that is disposed wholly in a counterbore of said shank and firmly seats on the bottom wall of the counterbore.

SMOKING PIPE BOWL SHANK AND STEM CONNECTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In one type of shank and stem connection, the stem has a cylindrical tenon at one end which is longitudinally slidable and rotatable in a bore in the shank.

Another type of shank and stem connection comprises a screw threaded tenon on the stem and a complementary screw-threaded bore in the shank.

The first-mentioned type of connection has the objection that it is difficult to obtain a tight nonseeping joint between this shank and the stern, and it is practically impossible to maintain a snug connection between the parts because of the wear incident to frequent removal and replacement of the stem.

The second-mentioned connection has the objection that due to wear of the screw threads looseness in the connection of the parts occurs and results in seepage of moisture through the connection. Also attempts to tighten the connection by screwing the stern more firmly into the shank results in a displacement of the bit or mouthpiece of the stem with respect to the bowl and sometimes causes a stripping or damaging of the threads in either or both of the shank and tenon.

SUMMARY
One object of the present invention is to provide a connection between a bowl shank and a stem which shall overcome the above-mentioned objections to the prior art.

More particularly the invention contemplates a construction and a combination of a bowl shank, stem and coupler wherein the coupler has one end screw threaded into the bore, and the stem is frictionally longitudinally and rotatably slidable on the other end portion of the coupling; and said coupler has a circumferential flange between said end portion that is disposed wholly in a counterbore of the shank and firmly seats on the bottom wall of the counterbore, whereby the stem can slide longitudinally and rotate on the coupler and the coupler can be tightly screwed into the shank bore without danger of stripping the threads and with practical insurance of a seepage-proof joint between the coupler and the shank.

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
For a complete understanding of the invention, reference should be had to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a central vertical longitudinal sectional view through portions of the bowl shank and stem and showing the coupler in side elevation;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged central, vertical longitudinal sectional view with portions of the bowl and the stem omitted;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the coupler; and

FIG. 4 is a similar view on the plane of the line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
The reference character A designates the smoking pipe bowl which has a shank B provided with a smoke duct 1 and a bore 2 to receive the coupler C which serves to separately connect the shank B to the stem D.

The shank bore 2 is entirely screw threaded at 3-to receive the threads 4 on one end portion of the coupler C the other end portion of which is smoothly cylindrical as indicated at 5 and on which is longitudinally slidable and rotatable the stem D. Preferably the coupler is formed of a moldable plastic material, for example hard rubber or Bakelite, and the stem is preferably formed of the same material. Between its said end portions, the coupler has a circumferential flange 6 which is adapted to be wholly disposed within a counterbore 7 at the end of the bore in the shank. The depth of the counterbore is greater than the thickness of the flan e. When the screwthreaded end of the coupler IS screwed into the bore of the shank, the flange 6 firmly or tightly abuts the bottom wall 8 of the counterbore. For convenience in screwing the coupler into the shank and unscrewing it from the shank, the coupler is provided with a diametrical kerf 9 in the stem-receiving end thereof.

However, in accordance with the invention the stem has a sufficiently tight frictional fit on the coupler so that the coupler can be screwed into and out of the shank bore by simple rotation of the stem. The stem has at one end a cylindrical smooth-walled socket 12 which receives the cylindrical end 5 of the coupler and the stem and is frictionally rotatable on the coupler so that the stem can be easily adjusted into the proper relation to the bowl, and the stem is also longitudinally slidable on the coupler so that the inner end 10 of the stem can be kept in neat and tight abutment with the end surface 11 of the shank. FIG. 2 shows the stem slid away from the end of the shank while FIG. 1 shows the stern and shank in their normal relation to each other.

It will be seen readily that the flange-limits the screwing of the coupler into the shank and thus protects against stripping of the threads. At the same time, the flange abutting the bottom wall of the counterbore provides a seepage-proof joint between the coupler and the shank. To compensate for wear of the threads or of the abutting surfaces of the flange and the counterbore, the coupler can be screwed farther into the bore, and the stem can be slid on the coupler to maintain the neat and tight joint between the end 10 of the stem and the end 11 of the shank.

Claim:
l. A smoking pipe comprising a bowl having a shank which has an internally screw-threaded bore at the outer end of which is a counterbore, a stem having at one end a cylindrical smooth walled socket providing a bottom wall therein, and a coupler having a cylindrical smooth end portion frictionally received in said socket for relative longitudinal movement and rotation, said coupler having its other end portion screwthreaded to mate with said screw-threaded bore and having a flange between said end portions wholly disposed in said counterbore and in firm abutting contact with the bottom wall of said counterbore, the depth of the counterbore being greater than the thickness of the flange.

Classifications
U.S. Classification 131/225
International Classification A24F7/00, A24F7/02
Cooperative Classification A24F7/02
European Classification A24F7/02

Further digging led me to learn that Jobey has had three homes throughout its existence. The pipes were originally made in England circa 1920 and then the company moved to the US. The Jobey Dansk version of the pipes was made in Denmark. Now the pipes are produced in Saint-Claude, France by Butz-Choquin since 1987. Under these broad time lines I was able to find a listing of the owner/distributor and manufacture of the brand during the time period that the brand was in the US.The list below was what I was able to find in several spots on the web. Each time I read the list it was cited that the dates are/were approximate.(The majority of the information below comes from Pipedia.)

Owners/Distributors/Manufacturers of Jobey Pipes from 1942-the late 80s
George Yale Pipes & Tobacco, New York (1942)
Norwalk Pipe Co., New York (1949)
Arlington Briar Pipes Corporation, Brooklyn (when?)
Hollco International, New York (1969).
Weber Pipe Co., Jersey City, NJ (1970’s)
The Tinderbox (1970’s – 80’s).

“Throughout decades Jobey pipes were mainly sold in the USA, Canada and England but remained almost unknown in continental Europe. The bulk of Jobeys was predominantly made according to classical patterns and mainly in the lower to middle price range. The predominant judgment of the pipe smokers reads: “A well made pipe for the price.” So there is hardly anything very special or exciting about Jobey pipes although a flyer from ca. 1970 assures: “The briar root Jobey insists upon for its peer of pipes is left untouched to grow, harden and sweeten for 100 years. […] Jobey uses only the heart of this century old briar and only one out of 500 bowls turned measures up to the rigid Jobey specifications.”99.80% of cull… that makes the layman marveling!”

“Yet then there are partially really exciting Freehands mainly in the seventies, that Jobey – Weber owned back then – bought from Danish pipe genius Karl Erik (Ottendahl). These pipes were offered as Jobey Dansk – ’70’s pure! (BTW waning sales caused Ottendahl to discontinue exports to the United States in 1987.)”

In the very same year – obviously only as a ghost brand – Jobey was transferred to Saint-Claude, France to be manufactured by Butz-Choquin.

There must have been an abandonment of the fabrication, because in 2002 the message was spread, the current proprietor of the brand F&K Cigar Co. from St. Louis, MO had recently re-introduced the Jobey very successfully again…”

I thought that the information might give me some idea as to when the pipe I had was made. However there was no information on the stamping distinctives of the various makers. Judging from the style of the stem and the thick, coloured Lucite it is made from my assessment would be that the pipe came from the period of the late 60s or 70s. It is not a Danish style Dansk so it is not from the period that Ottendahl carved the pipes so that would preclude it being Danish made. I am thinking it was American made. That is about as certain as I can be on the dating of this pipe.

When it arrived I was pleased with the overall look of the pipe. The deep rustication reminded me of Castello Sea Rocks. The finish was worn and the stain was missing on some of the high spots on the rustication. The rustication on the rim was filled in with a buildup of tars and oils. The bowl had been reamed and was clean. The photos from the seller had an almost green tint in some portions of the bowl. I was glad to see that the finish did not have any mold problems. The interior of the shank was quite dirty. The threaded mortise was filled with black tars and oils. The stem had tooth chatter on the top and bottom near the button but there were no tooth marks or dents that were deep in the surface. The fit of the stem to the shank was clean and tight. I am not sure whether the threaded tenon actually is to remain in the shank or the stem. I was unable to remove it from the stem so it acts like a threaded tenon fixed to the stem. The tenon had the same black buildup around the base of the piece and the threads had the same. The pipe was in fair shape and needed a thorough cleanup. The pipe smelled strongly of aromatic tobaccos.

I began the cleanup by scrubbing the exterior of the pipe with a tooth-brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap. I used it undiluted and scrubbed until the soap was dark. I picked the buildup on the rim with a dental pick and cleaned out the grooves there. I rinsed it with lukewarm running water to remove it from the nooks and crannies of the finish. Once it was rinsed off I dried it with a cotton towel. The state of the finish is shown in the next three photos. There are spots where the stain is gone but the finish is very clean and ready to be stained. I cleaned out the internals of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed out the threaded mortise with the cotton swabs and alcohol until they came out clean. The airway ahead of the threaded mortise was scrubbed with pipe cleaners. I also gave the stem an initial cleaning. Once the grime was off the stem the tooth chatter was very evident on the top and bottom sides of the stem. I would need to sand the stem to remove the tooth chatter and restore the shine to the stem. The airway would also need to be cleaned out thoroughly as when I held it to the light it was still black on the inside. I wiped the bowl down with alcohol to prepare it for staining. I used a Dark Brown Aniline stain and applied it with the provided wool dauber. I flamed the stain and repeated the process until the coverage was even across the bowl. While the bowl was drying I sanded the tooth chatter on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the marks from the surface of the Lucite. Once the tooth chatter marks were removed I sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratching left behind by the sandpaper. The third photo below shows the stem after the sanding sponge has been used. The next step in the sanding process for me has always been to sand with the micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with the 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads. Each successive grit of micromesh brought a deeper shine to the auburn/hazel coloured Lucite. Once the stain was dry on the exterior of the pipe I wiped it down with a cotton pad wetted with alcohol to lighten the finish slightly. I then gave the pipe a light buff with White Diamond and a shoe brush to raise the shine. I rubbed on some Halcyon II wax to protect the finish from my next step in the process. No matter how much I cleaned the pipe it still smelled of heavy “caramel like” aromatic tobacco. I decided to give it the cotton ball and alcohol treatment. I pressed two cotton balls into the bowl making sure they were not touching the rim and used an ear syringe to fill the bowl with isopropyl alcohol. I wanted to leach out the tars and oils that were in the briar and eradicate the smell. I filled the bowl and set it in an old ice-cube tray overnight. Within the first 30 minutes the cotton was already turning brown along the edges. This told me that the process was working. In the morning when I got up the cotton was a medium to dark brown as shown in the photo below. I picked it out carefully with a dental pick. The alcohol had evaporated so the cotton was not soggy, just damp. I wiped out the bowl with cotton swabs and cleaned out the shank once again with pipe cleaners to remove any of the remaining oils and tars from the surface. I lightly buffed it once more with a soft flannel buffing pad to polish the briar and stem. The finished pipe is shown in the final four photos. It has been waxed with Halcyon II Wax and buffed with a shoe brush and lightly with a soft flannel buffing pad. The stem has multiple coats of carnauba wax and also was buffed with a soft flannel buffing pad. I generally let a bowl that I have given the cotton ball and alcohol or salt and alcohol treatment dry for several days before loading it up and giving it an inaugural smoke.