Tag Archives: Oxidation

Breathing New Life into a Wally Frank Wine Root Bruyere De Luxe Selected Grain Squat Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table was purchased on 05/08/19 from an online auction in Cedar Springs, Michigan, USA. Jeff picked it up because we both like Cumberland stems and this little Bulldog had that and some great grain. The pipe is stamped Wine Root [over] Bruyere on the top left side of the shank and  Wally Frank  [over] Limited on the bottom left side. On the top right side it read De Luxe [over] Selected Grain and on the bottom right side it was stamped ITALY. The bowl was heavily caked with a heavy overflow of lava on the beveled rim top. There was some darkening on the outer edge of the rim down the side of the cap toward the back of the bowl. The finish was dirty and oily from the heavy use it had seen. It had a Cumberland push stem and an interesting/odd stinger apparatus in the tenon. The stem was oxidized to the point that the Cumberland was almost hidden. There were tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. The a photo of the rim top show the thick lava coat that flows out of the bowl and over the edge of the bowl. It is hard to know what the edges of the bowl – inner and outer – look like because of the lava and cake. The photos of the stem show the heavy oxidation and tooth marks and chatter on both sides. Jeff took a photo of the stinger apparatus that shows how packed full of debris and tars that the fins around the stinger really are.The next three photos show the grain around the sides of the bowl and heel as well as the placement of the fills on the sides of the bowl. It is a pretty neat looking pipe. The next photo shows the stamping on the top left side of the shank. It was clear and readable. Jeff did not take photos of the other sides of the shank.I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Frank) to refresh my sense of the history of the brand. I quote below the history that is noted there.

Wally Frank, Ltd. was one of America’s oldest and most respected names in pipes and tobaccos, beginning in the early 1930’s. Wally Frank operated a chain of tobacco stores in New York City (the flagship store was in Lexington Avenue) and had a vast catalog business for pipes and pipe tobaccos. Their numerous private-label pipes were made by many makers, including Charatan, Sasieni, Weber, and many others. Wally Frank, Ltd. also owned the Pioneer brand of meerschaum pipes, made from both Turkish and African meerschaum. In addition to importing pipes, he had many pipes made in his own name and also employed pipemakers like Peter Stokkebye, Svend Bang, and Ed Burak (who later became the owner of Connoisseur). As a result, each Wally Frank pipe must be individually evaluated on its own merit.

Members of Wally Frank’s “The Pipe of the Month Club” received a new pipe in the mail once a month.

In 1952, Wally Frank was on a buying trip in Italy and “discovered” pipe maker Carlo Scotti. Frank liked Scotti’s pipes, but there was the small problem of Scotti’s pipes bearing the same trademark or logo as one of Wally Frank’s pipe lines, the White Bar. The two men decided on creating a new logo for pipes sold in the U.S.: a hole drilled in the stem and with a piece of silver foil inserted in the hole and covered with clear Lucite.

There was no specific information on the line I was working on but the history of the brand was good to be reminded of. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

It may seem that I praise Jeff’s work in cleaning up the pipes I work on a lot! I know I do but he is an indispensable part of the restoration work for me. He has developed a system of cleaning that is quite remarkable and leaves the pipes very clean. It saves me a lot of time so I have no issues saying that! Jeff did a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better when it arrived.    I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up but also to show the damage. The rim top photo looks good but there are some nicks and damage on the top and the beveled inner rim edge. The outer edge is also nicked. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the light tooth marks and chatter on the surface near the button on both sides. The next series of photos show the stamping on the shank sides. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above.I took the pipe apart and took a photo of the pipe. It is a good looking pipe and has some great grain on the side of the bowl. The stinger is very unique and is stained red from the stain on the bowl that has permeated the aluminum.I decided to address the rim top damage first. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to the beveled inner edge to minimize the damage to the rim. I think that it is definitely better once I finished. I would polish the flat top of the rim with micromesh and try to minimize the scratching there. The angle of the stem makes topping the bowl seem impractical.   I polished the briar rim top and edges along with the rest of the briar with micromesh sanding pads –dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and using a damp cloth after each pad. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter with 220 grit sandpaper and was able to remove them from the surface. I started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil.I decided to try and clean up the stinger next. I used a brass bristle brush to try to clean off the stain on the aluminum. It did very little so I put it in a small alcohol bath for about an hour to see if it works. I worked on it with a cotton pads and alcohol to remove more of the stain. It did not do too much. I then scrubbed the stinger with acetone and removed some more. It did not remove any more so there is a pink tinge that remove. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Afterwards I rubbed it down with another coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. I am excited to finish restoration of this Wally Frank Wine Root Bruyere De Luxe Selected Grain Squat Bulldog. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished Cumberland saddle stem. This squat Wally Frank Wine Root Bruyere Bulldog feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 31 grams/ 1.09 oz. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the American Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Breathing New Life into a Patented KBB Yello-Bole 2198L President

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 Blog by Steve Laug

This pipe was purchased from an antique mall on 04/28/19 in Ogden, Utah, USA. Jeff picked it up because it was such a unique shape. It seems to somehow combine parts of the Skater shape and the Bullmoose’s protruding chin. The grain was nice and it had some fills on the sides of the bowl but not too obvious or obnoxious. The pipe is stamped President on the left side of the shank and KBB in a cloverleaf followed by Yello-Bole [over] Patent – 90232 on the right side of the shank. On the underside at the heel it is stamped with the shape number 2198L and mid shank reads Algerian Bruyere. The bowl had a moderate cake but you could see the yellow Honey Coating that Yello-Bole draw their name from. The finish was dirty and had a lot of nicks and scratches on the rim top and around the bowl sides. The base of the bowl and shank had been flattened to make the pipe a sitter. It had a vulcanite push stem and no stinger apparatus in the tenon or shank and there was no evidence that their ever had been one. The stem was lightly oxidized. There are a burn mark on the top side near the yellow O logo. There were tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. The photos of the rim top show the nicks and scratch on the top and the darkening on the inner edge of the bowl. You can also see the yellow bowl coating on the back side near the top of the bowl above and surrounded by the cake. The photos of the stem show the oxidation and tooth marks and chatter on both sides. They do not show the damage on the top of the stem near the O stamp. The next three photos show the grain around the sides of the bowl and heel as well as the placement of the fills on the sides of the bowl. It is a pretty neat looking pipe. The next series of photos show the stamping on the shank sides and the O logo stamp on the stem top. You can also see the burn mark on the stem top in the photo of the logo. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. Before I started my work on the pipe I decided to do a bit of work on the Patent Number and the shape number on the heel of the bowl. I remembered that Troy Wilburn, one of our blog writers and good friend of rebornpipes sent me a shape number list for old Kaywoodie and Yello-Bole pipes that is on the blog. I found it very useful and typed it into a chart format. Troy said that he got the data for this from the Kaywoodie Forums. If you have not visited the forums here is the link: http://kaywoodie.myfreeforum.org/ . I decided to post the chart on the blog for easy access. Thank you to the KW forum for the information. Here is the link to the full shape chart information that I have on the site (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/05/07/kaywoodie-yello-bole-shape-numbers/).

I also have included the pertinent sections of the chart on this particular 2193 shape. I remembered that the last two numbers and letter on heel of the bowl were the shape of the pipe. In this case the 93L referred to a shape that KBB called a Large President. I have drawn a box around that stamp number. The 93 is thus the President shape and the L identifies it as a large version of the pipe. Note also that the pipe was only made between 1936-1937 so it is an old timer.Troy also included the following information on the first two digits of the shape number. I quote in full regarding that below.

2-digit prefixes for 4-digit pipes – you might find an odd ball or a rare one that is not on the list.
From the time of the first Kaywoodie until 1938 for Kaywoodie and for Yello-Bole, Kaufmann Brothers & Bondy used a 4-digit number system (plus a letter sometimes) to identify the line and shape number. The 4-digits were not used after 1938. The first two, which we’ll call the prefix, referred to the finish and the second two, the suffix numbers referred to the shape number.

I have identified the section on the chart where this pipe stands. Note that the 21 prefix is missing but the description of the 20 and 22 is identical to the information on this pipe. From that I know that the pipe I am working on should have a push tenon, vulcanite stem. The good news is that I have the original stem.Now it was time to see if I could find anything out about the Patent number. I am assuming it is a US Patent as the pipe is an American brand. The number on the right side of the bowl reads as follows:  Patent – 90232. I turned to the US Patent search site to see what I could find out there. Here is the link to the site: https://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/patimg.htm . Unfortunately that patent number takes me to a series of drawings of a new plowshare. At this point the Patent information is a dead end.

It may seem that I praise Jeff’s work in cleaning up the pipes I work on a lot! I know I do but he is an indispensable part of the restoration work for me. He has developed a system of cleaning that is quite remarkable and leaves the pipes very clean. It saves me a lot of time so I have no issues saying that! Jeff did a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better when it arrived.  I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top photo looks good but there are some nicks and scratches on the top and the beveled inner rim edge. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the light tooth marks and chatter on the surface near the button and the burn mark on the top near the O logo. I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is clear and readable.I took the pipe apart and took a photo of the pipe. It is a good looking pipe and has some great grain on the side of the bowl.I decided to address the rim top damage first. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to the beveled inner edge to minimize the damage to the rim. I think that it is definitely better once I finished. I would polish the flat top of the rim with micromesh and try to minimize the scratching there. The angle of the stem makes topping the bowl seem impractical.I polished the briar rim top and edges along with the rest of the briar with micromesh sanding pads –dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and using a damp cloth after each pad. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the burn mark on the top and the tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem with clear super glue. I let the repairs cure. Once they had cured I sanded the repairs on the underside and the chatter on the topside with 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil.   I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Afterwards I rubbed it down with another coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. I am excited to finish restoration of this older KBB Yello-Bole President 2193L pipe. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished black vulcanite stem. This unique looking KBB Yello-Bole President actually feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 32 grams/ 1.16 oz. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the American Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Another Unsmoked Hand Made Mystery Pipe – A Rusticated Panel Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table was one of a pair of unsmoked Mystery Pipes. The first was an unsmoked Poker or Cherrywood with a stamped MV, VM or NN logo on the bowl bottom that I cannot interpret. No one seems to be able to identify the maker. When Jeff and I picked this one up it was one of two pipes in a batch of pipes we bought from am online auction in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, USA in March of 2019. It has taken a while for me to work on these. The one pictured below is for sale in the American Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store if you want to see a few more photos of it.This second pipe from the pair is a rusticated Panel Pot that is quite nice. It too is unsmoked and it is stamped with the same logo but this time on a smooth panel on the left side of the shank. It is as well made as the previous one. The pipe has a very tight almost cut glass-like rustication that has been stained in dark brown that complements and contrasts with the light brown on the smooth left shank and the band around the other three sides of the shank. The finish was dusty and dirty but other than that it was a clean unsmoked pipe. The bowl and rim looked good and the stem was flawless polished vulcanite that is deceptively shiny. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the new condition of the pipe. He also took photos of the stem showing what it looked like on both sides from the shank to the button. It was very clean. The top side had some light oxidation but no marks.The finish on the sides of the bowl and shank is deeply rusticated with a very tight pattern that makes it like cut glass (but not sharp). It is quite pretty.The next photo shows the mysterious seemingly unidentifiable makers mark. Is it an “NN”, an “NV”,  “MV”, “AW”? I am not sure and it seems I have found no one else who knows the mark. Do you? Leave a comment in the box at the bottom of the blog and fill us all in on your thoughts. Thanks.Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe, scrubbing the interior of the shank and stem to remove the dust and debris of time using pipe cleaners and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the dust from the rusticated finish. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked good when it arrived. I took some photos of it before I did my part of the restoration. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top photo looks good and the bowl clean and ready to be smoked. I also took close up photos of the stem to show how clean it looked. There was still a light oxidation on the top side but otherwise it was in good condition.I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. Any ideas?I removed the stem from the shank and took a photos of the parts. It is a nice looking pipe.The pipe was virtually new so I started my restoration with a simple first step. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I wanted to give some idea of how the shank, though it appeared to be square, was not. It was wider on the left and the top than the bottom. The tenon had some different looking turning marks on it that I would need to smooth out. It is definitely a hand made pipe not machine made.I set the bowl aside and polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. This Hand Made Rusticated Panel Pot  turned out to be a great looking pipe. The rusticated dark brown finish on the briar is beautiful and the nooks and crannies have taken on depth that is quite stunning around the bowl and shank. I put the pipe back together and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished black vulcanite stem. This classic looking No Name Panel Pot feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ x 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 35 grams/1.23 oz. It is a beautiful pipe and one that I will be putting in the rebornpipes store in the American Pipe Makers section with the Cherrywood Mate. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

A Very Oddly Modified Chelsea Selected Briar Natural Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

To be honest I think the only reason we picked up this pipe is because the way it was when saw it on Ebay back in 2017. It came from a seller who was in La Mesa, California, USA. It came in a nice blue box with a linen coloured satiny lining. The box was in okay condition and read Chelsea Selected Briar on the cover. The pipe itself was the oddity. The previous owner had wrapped the stem end with string and built his/her own bit protector. The wrapping was quite thick so it looked utterly uncomfortable. It made me wonder if he/she did not have teeth and this was the way the made the pipe a dental bit. LOL! I suppose that we will never know for sure but it is certainly one of the strangest looking ones that we have picked up.Jeff took quite a few pictures of the pipe in the box to give an idea of what the box looked like inside and out. Each of the photos showed the odd string wrapping around the stem. It really made us wonder what was hidden under the string.He took the pipe out of the box to take photos of it to show the condition of the bowl and stem. The briar has natural finish and was stained and very dirty. There were dark spots on the sides of the bowl. The pipe was stamped on the left side of shank and read CHELSEA in an italic script. On right side it read Genuine Briar. It had a great shape to it. The stem did not fit against the shank very well probably because it was dirty inside as well. The bowl was thickly caked and there was a thick lava coat on the rim top. It looked like there was some burn damage on the inner back edge of the bowl but it would become clear once it was cleaned. The stem is dirty and you can see the thickness of the string wrap on the end. I am amazed at how thick it is and to me how uncomfortable! Jeff took some close up photos of the bowl and rim to give a clear picture of the thickness of the cake and the lava overflow on the rim top. You can also see the nicks in the outer edge of the bowl in the photos below. He also took photos of the string wrap to show how rough and thick it really is. I really want to know what is underneath it! The time for the unwrapping was at hand. Jeff cut the string and untwisted it. To our surprise the stem was in perfect condition. There were no tooth marks and no chatter. The only thing on it was debris and a bit of calcification . It would clean up well. It was also obvious that the stem was on the shank upside down. He took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl. While dirty and nicked the pipe has some great grain. The stamping on the sides of the shank were clear and readable as noted above.The stamping on the pipe pointed me to either an American Made pipe of one Made for Import into the American market. I did a Google search and found other pipes with the same Chelsea stamp and several were made in Italy. Several others said Imported Briar and had what appeared to be Comoy’s shape numbers. I remembered that late in Comoy’s history there had been a link between Lorenzo pipes and them so it could be true that the pipes were made for or by Comoy’s.

I turned to Pipedia and came up empty handed. There was nothing on the brand nor was there anything linking them to Comoy’s. I turned then to Pipephil (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c4.html) and the site made a link to Comoy’s on a pipe made for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. While it is not definitive, there is a tie it seems. However, there is still a part of me after working on this pipe that will always think that it is American made. The look and feel of it reminds of Bertrams pipes from Washington DC.

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. When I finally took it out of the box four years later I was surprised at how good the pipe looked. It was a nice looking pipe now.  I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top photo looks good but there is some burn damage on the inner edge at the back of the bowl and all around the inner edge there is darkening. There are some rough areas on the outer edge of the rim all the way around the bowl. I also took close up photos of the stem to show how almost pristine it was thanks to the string wrap it had worn. There were some scratches but they would clean up quite easily.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is clear and readable.    I took the pipe apart and took a photo of the parts. It is a good looking pipe and has some great mixed grain on the sides of the bowl. I decided to address the rim top damage first. I lightly topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to minimize the damage to the top and inner edge of the bowl. I then used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to give the edge a slight bevel to further minimize the damage to the rim. I think that it is definitely better once I finished. I polished the briar rim top and edges along with the rest of the briar with micromesh sanding pads –dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and using a damp cloth after each pad. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. It was in such great condition that I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. This Chelsea Selected Briar Natural Billiard turned out to be a more beautiful pipe than I had expected. The natural finish on the briar is beautiful and the grain pops. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished black vulcanite stem. This classic looking Chelsea Billiard feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 33 grams/1.16 oz. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the American Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

This one is strangely beautiful – a Smooth Bowled Brial System Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

This particular style of system pipe always reminds me of the tadpoles we used to catch when I was younger. We would get a jarful and watch them become frogs. The pipe has that same look to me. Or you might compare it to an inflated puffer fish. Either way it is an odd pipe and yet there is something strangely beautiful about it. We purchased this smooth bowled one from an antique mall on 10/28/17 in Bozeman, Montana, USA. I have worked on one other of these Brial pipes and have found them hilariously interesting. The base tube that receives the stem is made to be stuffed with wads of toilet paper or tissue to filter out the moisture in the smoke. The one I had before still had that in it. Fortunately, this did not as it is quite smelly and messy. This one had a fairly thick cake in the bowl  and some dings in the rim top and light lava on the inner edge of the bowl. The briar bowl was dirty with ground in oils and the tubular shank was dusty and dirty as well. The brass coloured ends of the tube were also lightly scratched and dirty. The tube has two small bumps on the bottom that act as feet making the pipe a sitter. The stem had tooth chatter and marks on both sides. I think the stem is a plastic product rather than vulcanite. It is quite different feeling and the marks in it are much like what I have seen on Medico pipe stems. The brass end plate on the stem end of the tube read Brial [over] Pats Pend. When removed there was a nickel nut on the inside holding the stem in place and a wire to wrap the tissue paper filter around. Jeff took these photos before he started his clean up of the pipe. Jeff took some photos of the rim and bowl to give a sense of the cake and lava situation. You can also see the nicks and scratches in the briar. It is still a nice looking piece of briar. The stem is also shown. You can see the tooth marks and chatter on the surface. Even the marks look different than the ones that are in vulcanite or acrylic. Jeff took a photo of the side of the bowl to give a glimpse of the grain on the briar. It is quite nice. He also captured the etching on the brass stem end of the tube. It reads as noted above.I mentioned above about the earlier Brial pipe that I had worked on. I turned to that blog now and reread the information that I had gathered on the brand. Here is the link to the blog if you would like to have a look at it (https://rebornpipes.com/2017/07/17/a-messy-cleanup-on-a-brial-system-pipe/). I quote the section from the blog on the brand itself. It is quite interesting.

I remember when I first started looking at getting a Brial pipe I Googled and found a write up on the brand on the Smoking Metal Website. It was that brief description, the photos and printed advertisement that hooked me and set me on the hunt to acquire one of them. I have included that write up for you. If you wish to read it on the website here is the link – http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/pipe.php?page=70.

The BRIAL pipe is basically an alloy cylinder to which the briar bowl is screwed through the base of the bowl. The front end is permanently sealed with an alloy endpiece. The cylinder is filled with a tissue to act as an absorption media. This can be tamped in or extracted by means of the probe attached to the mouthpiece plate.

To enable the pipe to stay upright on a table, two dimples have been made in the underside of the cylinder to act as ‘feet’ as shown in my photos.

Brials were available in natural aluminium, brass anodized finish or black… The pipe was patented and manufactured by Salimar Oden in Jefferson Historic District, Muskegon, Michigan. It is believed he continued to market them until his move to Florida in 2000.

Smoking Metal also had a copy of this advertisement sheet on their site. Personally, I love the wording and descriptions on these older advertising flyers. The way they speak of the pipes and what they deliver always gives me cause to laugh. This one is no exception. I include it below. Make sure to give it a read.I posted a note on the Facebook Metal Pipe Smokers Group asking about information on the pipe and potential patent information. One of the members, Cody Easom posted some pictures of a new old stock, unsmoked Brial with the various inserts that came with the pipe. The first photo shows the new pipe with the box and the insert. The second photo shows the insert itself. The third and fourth photos show the inside of the new pipe. Now, the goal is in front of me – to get the old pipe on my table to look like this one. My brother did an amazing job cleaning out the inside of the pipe. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. He cleaned out the inside of the tube/cooling chamber and the airway in the screw in the bottom of the bowl and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. He scoured out the inside of the chamber with steel wool, cotton swabs and alcohol until the inside shone. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He rinsed it with warm water to remove the excess Deoxidizer. When I finally brought it to my work table I took photos of the pipe. The black matter chamber is very nice with a few small nicks on the sides. The briar bowl is very nice.    I took some close up photos of the bowl, rim and stem surfaces to show how well it had cleaned up and what would need to be addressed. The bowl looked very good. There was some darkening around the inner edge of the bowl and some burn damage on the back side. The stem had a lot of tooth marks and chatter on both sides and looks very different from its vulcanite counterparts with tooth chatter.I took a photo of the stamping on the brass end of the barrel. It is clear and readable as noted above. The brass is in great condition. I took the pipe apart and took photos of the parts. The first one shows the stem removed from the shank and the wire that holds the tissue filter paper. The others show all the parts. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening and burn damage on the inner edge of the rim. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and give it a light bevel. I decided to polish out the nicks and scratches with the micromesh sanding pads and to leave behind what remained as a part of this pipe’s journey. I polished the briar bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The bowl and rim began to take on a rich shine by the end of the cycle. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I touched up the nicks in the matte black finish of the sides of the barrel with a black Sharpie pen. It worked surprisingly well.I rubbed the finish down with some Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the finish and let it sit for 10 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. It looked really good.With that finished I turned my attention to the plastic/nylon/strange material stem! I sanded out the tooth chatter with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I spent more time than usual with the wet dry sandpaper as the stem material was very porous looking and I wanted to smooth it out.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine.This is one that I am excited to finish the restoration on. Metal pipes can be a bear and painted ones even more so. But, this Brial Pat Pend System Pipe was actually an exception. I put the pipe back together and gently buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished  matte black shank tube and the black stem. This is truly beautiful in a very odd way. It actually feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 50 grams/1.76 oz. It is an interesting pipe and one that will be added to the American Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Rebirthing a Lovely Republic Era Peterson’s Kapet 25 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is a smooth Peterson’s pipe, a straight Billiard. It was also incredibly dirty. This Billiard is a real beauty under the grime with some great grain around the bowl. The grime was ground into the finish on the bowl sides. The contrast of the brown stains gave the grain a sense of depth. It was stamped on the left side of the shank and read Peterson’s [over] Kapet. The right side had the shape number 25 stamped near the bowl. Centered on the right side of the shank is stamped Made in the Republic of Ireland (in three lines). There was a moderate cake in the bowl and a light overflow of lava on the inner edge of the rim at the back. There was also burn damage on the inner edge of the rim at the back of the bowl. The stem was lightly oxidized, calcified and had light tooth marks, chatter on the top and underside near the button. There is a P stamped on the left side of the taper. It was in great condition. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the promise that we see in this pipe. Jeff took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is moderately caked and the rim top has some lava and you can see the burn damage on the back inner edge. The photos of the stem show that it was oxidized and has light tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. Jeff took a photo of the bowl sides and heel to show the grain that was around this bowl. It is a nice looking pipe.      He took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable and reads as noted above.   I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Kapet line. On page 305 it had the following information.

Kapet (1925-87) Line first described in 1925 brochure and featured in occasional catalogs through ’87. Early specimens will be stamped IRISH over FREE STATE. Described in 1937 catalog as available in dark plum or natural finish. Featured an aluminum “inner tube” or stinger until ’45. Mid-century specimens may be stamped MADE IN over IRELAND. Specimens from 1970 on may have mounts with hallmarks.

I knew that I was dealing with a Republic Era Kapet. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better when it arrived.  I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top photo looks good but there is some burn damage on the inner edge at the back of the bowl and all around the inner edge there is darkening. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the light tooth marks and chatter on the surface near the button. I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is clear and readable.     I took the pipe apart and took a photo of the pipe. It is a good looking pipe and has some great cross grain on the sides of the bowl.I decided to address the rim top damage first. I lightly topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to minimize the damage to the top and inner edge of the bowl. I then used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to give the edge a slight bevel to further minimize the damage to the rim. I think that it is definitely better once I finished. I polished the briar rim top and edges along with the rest of the briar with micromesh sanding pads –dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and using a damp cloth after each pad.       I combined a Mahogany and a Cherry stain pen to restain the rim top to match the rest of the bowl. It would match even better once it was buffed and polished.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the tooth marks on the underside of the stem with clear super glue. I let the repairs cure. Once they had cured I sanded the repairs on the underside and the chatter on the topside with 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil.I touched up the “P” stamp on the stem with an acrylic white fingernail polish. I worked it into the stamp with a toothpick. I let it sit for a few minutes then scraped off the excess. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I am always excited to finish a restoration and this Peterson’s Kapet 25 Billiard is no exception. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished black vulcanite stem. This Classic looking Peterson’s Kapet Billiard feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 26 grams/.92 oz. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the Irish Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Rebirthing a Republic Era Peterson’s Kapruf  5S Saddle Stem Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

Today is rainy, chilly day in Vancouver. I know in comparison to where many of you live it is not cold but to us it is. It is also one of those kinds of day that my old friend Spencer would have been next to my work table begging for a treat and keeping company. I can’t believe that he died just over a year ago now. I miss him a lot on days like today. The next pipe I have chosen is another Peterson’s Billiard. It is a sandblast pipe that came to us from the estate of an old friend in Ontario, Canada. There was grime ground into the sandblast finish on the bowl sides. I love the way the contrast of the brown and black stains gave the blast a sense of depth. The stain is almost tiger striped. It was stamped on the flat underside in the center of the shank and read Made in the Republic of Ireland (three lines). To the right of that it is stamped Peterson’s [over] Kapruf. To the left of the Republic stamp, on the heel was the shape number 5S. This pipe must have been another favourite of my old friend as it had been well smoked. There was a well maintained cake in the bowl and some darkening on the rim top. The inner edge of the bowl looked good. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had light tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside on and near the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work. Jeff took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is lightly caked and the rim top and edges look to be in good condition despite a little darkening. The photos of the stem show that it was oxidized, calcified and has light tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. Jeff took a photo of the bowl sides and heel to show the blast that was around this bowl. It is a great sandblast and the choice of stain adds depth to the appearance of the bowl. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable and reads as noted above. I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Kapruf line. On page 306 it had the following information.

Kapruf and “Kapruf” (c.1922-87) Sandblast (hence the name, Kapp-rough) P-lip or fishtail mouthpiece, in catalogs from 1940-87. Early documented specimens stamped IRISH over FREE STATE, no Eire specimens documented. Mid-century specimens may be stamped LONDON MADE [over] ENGLAND or MADE IN ENGLAND forming a circle or MADE IN [over] IRELAND, all dating no later than 1970. Those of recent vintage stamped MADE IN THE[over] REPUBLIC [over]OF IRELAND.

I knew that I was working on a KAPRUF that was made between 1970-1987 as it is stamped MADE IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND as noted above. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better when it arrived.       I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top looks very good. There is a little darkening on the top at the back of the bowl but is not too bad. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the light chatter and marks on the surface near the button. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is faint but readable. I took the pipe apart and took a photo of the pipe. It is a good looking pipe and has an interesting shallow sandblast on the bowl.The exterior of the bowl was in great shape. I used a brass bristle wire brush to knock of some of the darkening on the rim top.  I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process.  I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I touched up the P stamp on the left side of the saddle stem with some acrylic fingernail polish. I worked it into the stamp with a toothpick and then scraped off the excess once it had dried.    I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine.      I always am excited to finish working on a pipe. This Peterson’s Kapruf 5S Billiard, Made in the Republic of Ireland is no exception. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished smooth rim top and the sandblast bowl looks like with the black vulcanite taper stem. This Classic looking Peterson’s Kapruf Sandblast Billiard feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼  inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 34 grams/1.20 oz. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the Irish Pipe Makers section if you are interested in it. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

It has a shiny black finish so it must be an Ebony Finish – A Peterson’s System 301

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I chose to work on came to us from a pipe hunt back in 2017. Jeff found it in at an antique mall in Sandy, Utah, USA. It is a Peterson’s System 301 pipe with a black painted bowl. The ferrule is nickel and the combination looked amazing when it was new. It is a finish that Peterson called Ebony. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Peterson’s [over] System. On the nickel band it reads K&P [over] Peterson. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in the Republic of Ireland (three lines) [over] the shape number 301. It was filthy when Jeff brought it to the table. There was a thick cake in the bowl and an overflow of lava on the rim top and the inner edge of the bowl. It was hard to know what the condition of the rim top and bowl were under that thick lava coat. The nickel ferrule is heavily tarnished. The saddle stem does not have any stamping and was oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside on and near the button. It also had a Softee bit that was rotting and a lot of debris was built up around the edges. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work. (When I saw the photos I realized that somewhere between when these were taken in 2017 and today in 2021 the pipe acquired a different stem. You will see that in the restoration.) Jeff took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is heavily caked and the rim top and edges have a thick lava overflow. The stem is lightly oxidized and a rotting Softee Bit on the end. There is a lot of debris collected against the edges of the rotten rubber. He took photos of the sides of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is readable in the photos below and is as noted above. He also captured the stamping on the nickel ferrule. I am including the link to the Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Peterson’s System Line. On page 314 it had the following information.

System (1891-) The Peterson System pipe is the backbone of the company’s body of work, offered continuously since 1891. Defined by its reservoir, graduated bore, and unique Peterson Lip mouthpiece, the design originated with an 1890 patent and was further refined by modifications patented in 1894 and ’98. Offered in numerous shapes and sizes, in bent and straight stemmed styles, marketed in smooth, sandblasted, rusticated or ebony finish, and rendered in briar, clay and meerschaum with mouthpieces of vulcanite, amber, horn, Bakelite, and acrylic. From 1891-1915, Systems were labeled PETERSON’S over PATENT, then from 1906-11 occasionally, PETERSON’S over PATENT over DUBLIN, followed thereafter by PETERSON’S over DUBLIN.

This pipe is stamped PETERSON’S over SYSTEM and there was a subcategory shown on the same page with that information.

Peterson’s over System. Pipes stamped Peterson’s System have been documented since 1920. A ’20 brochure is the earliest printed reference to the Peterson’s System. The pipe came in three quality grades (no mark, 2 or 3) until 1959. Thereafter as De Luxe (no mark), Premier (the old 2) and Standard (the old 3).

Judging from the description above, the pipe I am working on has an ebony finish and could have been made before 1959 as it has no grade mark as noted in red above. It reads MADE IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND in three lines which narrows the date to between approximately 1938 and the present. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

UPDATE: I just heard from a fellow on Facebook Tobacco Pipe Restorers Group. He wrote the following:  The shape 301 was not introduced until 1975. Considering the republic stamp, this one would likely date between 1975 and 2000. Also, if that is the stem the pipe originally came with, I would say this pipe is likely 1975 to mid 80s.

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up this 1979 Peterson’s De Luxe pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. Somehow between the time Jeff worked on it in 2017 and today the stem in the photos above has disappeared and been replaced with a P-lip stem that appears to be the correct one for this pipe. I took photos of  the pipe when I brought it to the work table.   I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up (even though it is dull at this point). The rim top and inner edges around the bowl looked good. I also took close up photos of the newly inherited stem to show the tooth marks on the surface near the button. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It reads as noted above.  I also took a photo of the ferrule on the end of the shank.  I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to have a look at the parts and overall look.I polished the rim top with 3200-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the inner edges and to try and minimize the scratching in the rim top. It is not flawless but it looks better. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I polished the nickel ferrule with a jeweler’s cloth to remove the oxidation and to protect it. The bowl and ferrule looked good. I set them aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks on the vulcanite with the flame of a lighter and was able to lift all of them on the topside. There was one against the edge of the button on the both sides that did not lift all the way. I filled them in with a drop of clear CA glue and set it aside to cure.    I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repairs and then started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine.     I am excited to finish this Republic Era Peterson’s System Ebony 301 Bent Pot. I put the pipe back together and carefully buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to develop the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like the Ebony finish. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem was beautiful. This Ebony System 301 Pot is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. Even though there are a few scratches in the briar none go through the finish so I left them as a part of the pipe’s journey. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 64 grams/2.26 oz. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will soon be on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers Section of the store. If you want to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Restoring a Republic Era Peterson’s De Luxe XL9S Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is a Peterson’s De Luxe XL9S sandblast bent Billiard. It came to us from an antique store in Pocatello, Idaho, USA back in 10/20/17. The finish is deeply sandblasted and dirty but there is some great grain around the bowl sides and shank. The finish is otherwise in great shape. It was stamped on the underside of the shank and read Peterson’s [over] De Luxe [over] the shape number XL9S. That is followed by a three line stamp MADE IN THE [over] REPUBLIC [over] OF IRELAND. It was filthy when Jeff brought it to the table. There was a thick cake in the bowl and a thick overflow of lava on the rim top and the inner edge of the bowl. It was hard to know what the condition of the rim top and bowl were under that thick lava coat. The Sterling Silver band is heavily tarnished. It is stamped as well and reads Peterson’s [over] Dublin on the top left. Further down the left side of the band it is stamped Sterling Silver. On the underside and starting up the right side it has three hallmarks – Hibernia, a Harp and the lower case letter “n”. The stem had a “P” stamped on the left side of the saddle and was oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside on and near the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work. Jeff took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is heavily caked and the rim top and edges have a thick lava overflow. The stem is lightly oxidized and has tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. Jeff took photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the grain that was around this bowl. It is a nice looking pipe. The blast is quite deep and attractive. He took photos of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is readable in the photos below and is as noted above. He also captured the stamping on the silver band.    I am including the link to the Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Peterson’s Deluxe Line. On page 297 it had the following information.

De Luxe (1915-) Introduced in newspaper advertising in 1916, production of this high-grade smooth finish model may have been stalled by the Great War and domestic disturbance. It will not appear in Peterson catalogs until ’37. Specimens documented from 1915 to the thirties are extremely rare and confined to extra-large house pipes and occasionally medium sized pipe with unconventional shapes. Specimens from 1930-1950 appear in a wide selection of Classic Range shapes, often as Canadians. Catalogs from 1937-50 list it as the ‘the finest possible quality obtainable.’ After ’50 the Supreme would supplant the De Luxe as the top of the line model, and to this day the De Luxe is a high quality pipe but not the highest. Early models often have no COM. Models from the twenties until the sixties will be stamped IRISH over FREE STATE, EIRE, LONDON MADE over ENGLAND, MADE IN over IRELAND (forming a circle) or MADE IN THE over REPUBLIC over OF IRELAND. The last three COM stamps, used from ‘38 through ’68 when no hallmarks were stamped on Peterson mountings, can never be precisely dated. If a De Luxe was made in ’69 or later it will be hallmarked with a date designator and always have a Republic COM. See also Special De Luxe.

 Judging from the description above, the pipe I am working on is stamped with the stamp noted in red above. It reads MADE IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND in three lines which narrows the date to between approximately 1938 and the present. It also has a silver Hallmark that make it a pipe made after 1969. Now it was time to narrow down the date further.

I turned to a blog I wrote on rebornpipes that had a Peterson’s catalogue and a hallmarking chart (https://rebornpipes.com/tag/peterson-hallmark-chart/). I have included it below. On the chart I looked for a lower case “n” in a hexagonal cartouche. I also included a enlargement of the chart and drawn a box around the “n” in red. It dates the  pipe to 1979. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up this 1979 Peterson’s De Luxe pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the work table. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top and inner edges around the bowl looked very good. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the tooth marks on the surface near the button. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It reads as noted above.  I also took a photo of the band and the stamp on the left side of the saddle stem.   I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to have a look at the parts and overall look.I decided to address the tarnish on the silver band of the pipe first. I scrubbed it with some tarnish remover and finished with a jeweler’s cloth. The silver looked very good.  I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process.    I scrubbed the surface of the stem with Soft Scrub Cleanser to remove the oxidation on the surface of the vulcanite. I “painted” the tooth marks on the vulcanite with the flame of a lighter and was able to lift all of them on the topside. There was one against the edge of the button on the underside that did not lift all the way. I filled it in with a drop of clear CA glue and set it aside to cure.     I used a folded piece of  220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repair and then started polishing it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I painted the “P” stamp on the left side of the saddle stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick. I scratched off the excess acrylic with the tooth pick and a fingernail. It looked better though the curve of the right side of the “P” was faint. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine.     I am excited to finish this Republic Era Peterson’s Deluxe XL9S Bent Billiard. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with deep sandblast all around it. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem was beautiful. This sandblast De Luxe XL9S is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 61grams/2.15oz. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will soon be on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers Section of the store. If you want to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Reuniting a Yello-Bole stem with its original Pipe and Restoring the Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a Carburetor KBB Yello-Bole Zulu. Jeff picked it up on an online auction from New Braunfels, Texas, USA in April of 2016. It has been sitting here since then. You may wonder why once you see the photos below as it is a nice looking pipe. It is stamped on the left side of the shank with KBB in a cloverleaf followed by Carburetor [over]Yello-Bole [over] US. Pat. 2,082,106 [over] Cured with Real Honey. The stamping starts in the middle of the top of the shank and rolls down the side. On the right side it is stamped with the shape number 4501. On the underside it is stamped Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. [over] 343,331. I will have to look up both of the patents and see what I am working with. The finish on the pipe was peeling and flaking off in spots. There was a metal contraption that forms the carburetor on these pipe in the bottom of the bowl and on the heel. The bowl still had the yellow bowl coating. It appeared to have been smoked just a few time so the coating was pretty in tact. There was a light lava coat on the rim top, heavier at the back of the bowl. The inner bevel and outer edge looked very good. The stem was lightly oxidized and had tooth marks on both sides. There was a large chunk out of the underside of the stem at the button. Jeff took these photos of the pipe before he did his work.He took photos of the rim top and the stem surfaces to give a clear idea of what needed to be done with this pipe. The description above is clearly shown in the photos. He took photos of the heel of the bowl to give a clear idea of the carburetor system but also of the beautiful grain on this pipe. It really is a nice piece of briar. Jeff was able to capture the stamping on the shank very well. They are clear and readable. The only photo missing is that of the shape number on the right side of the shank. You can also see the Yellow O on the stem top.Now comes the moment of truth! Somehow (neither Jeff nor I have any memory of this) the tenon had snapped off in the shank and the stem and bowl were separated. Generally when this happens on Jeff’s end he bags the bowl and stem in a sandwich bag to keep them together. But in this case that was not done. It could have broken in transit between Idaho and Canada or I could easily have snapped it when I tried to remove the stem. I too would have bagged the parts together but somehow the two were separated. The bowl went into my box of bowls for restemming and the broken stem went into the can of stems. Seemingly never to meet again.

I took the bowl out of the box about a month ago to restem. It had a broken tenon in the shank. So I popped it in the freezer for a little while then pulled the tenon out with a screw. I was surprised to see that it had the stinger apparatus that was in these Yello-Bole pipes still in the broken tenon and it was undamaged. Jeff had done a thorough cleanup on this one so it was in great shape. I took some photos of the bowl before I started looking for a stem for the pipe. I went through my can of stems and found oval shaped stem with a snapped tenon. It was even a Yello-Bole stem so that was a bonus. Or so I thought. I still did not put it together that this was the original stem. I took the broken tenon and stinger and lined it up with the stem. It was a perfect match! Now I knew that it was the original stem and I would be able to unite the parts again. Remember at this point I had not seen Jeff’s before photos that are above showing what the pipe looked like when he bought it. All of this was a bit of a fluke! Once I saw those photos all doubt was removed but I still had no idea how they got separated. I decided to look up the patents on the US Patent site and see what I could find about about them and the date they were filed (https://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm). I searched first for the US. Pat. 2,082,106 that was stamped on the top and left side of the shank. I assumed it referred to the Patent for the Carburetor but I was not certain. I found a drawing and description of the carburetor system of a patent filed by R. Hirsch on April 21, 1936 and granted on June 1, 1937. I have included those pages below. Now I had an idea of a starting date for the age of this old pipe. On the underside of the shank it was stamped with a different Patent No. It read as follows: Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. 343,331 and I had no idea what this patent referred to so I ran it through the same site’s search and found a Paten filed by A. Muller-Jacobs of New York for a coloured varnish finish. The pipe I was working on had a peeling varnish finish so that also fit well with the pipe. The patent itself was granted on June 8, 1886. I have included that document below for your purview.From there I wanted to see if I could set the date with more accuracy. I looked up a blog I had written on a Yello-Bole with a Double Carburetor to see what I had found when I had researched for that pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/08/09/restoring-a-kbb-yello-bole-double-carburetor-bulldog/). I quote that blog in part below.

I Googled the brand and line to see what I could find out. Here is what I found.

The first link to me to the Kaywoodie Group and a thread on dating this particular pipe. There was a helpful exchange between lifeon2 and Bosun about a pipe that is stamped in a similar manner to the one that I have. Here is a link to the full conversation: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/kaywoodie/dating-yello-bole-pipes-t86.html

lifeon2 writes: OK so there isn’t a lot of dating information for Yello-Bole pipes but here is what I have learned so far.

  1. If it has the KBB stamped in the clover leaf it was made 1955 or earlier as they stopped the stamping after being acquired by S.M. Frank.
  2. From 1933-1936 they were stamped Honey Cured Briar.
  3. Post 1936 pipes were stamped “Cured with Real Honey”
  4. Pipes stems stamped with the propeller logo they were made in the 30s or 40s no propellers were used after the 40s.
  5. Yello Bole also used a 4 digit code stamped on the pipe in the 30s.
  6. If the pipe had the Yello Bole circle stamped on the shank it was made in the 30s this stopped after 1939.
  7. If the pipe was stamped BRUYERE rather than briar it was made in the 30s.

(Information gathered from Pipedia – https://pipedia.org/wiki/Yello-Bole)

Bosun replies: the one I have is stamped on the left side of shank:

  1. Double Carburetor
  2. yello-bole
  3. u.s.pat.off
  4. with KBB to the left of the above

underside of shank has Cured with Real Honey

right side of shank has 4907

on top of stem is the white circle

lifeon2 replies: According to the list  I have it looks like you have a late 30s model, sweet

I also turned to a blog by Andrew Selkirk on rebornpipes that also added a degree of certainty to the date of manufacture of this pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/2015/05/03/1934-35-yello-bole-carburetor/).

I can say with a fair degree of certainty that this pipe is from 1934 or 35. The carburetor patent was granted in 1935, this pipe is stamped “Pat Applied For.” Interestingly enough, it also has a patent number on the bottom of the shank. Additionally, the four digit number was used by Kaywoodie until 1936. The first two numbers indicate the finish and the second two numbers indicate the shape.

With that information in hand I knew what I was dealing with in terms of age of this pipe. I knew from the information from Pipedia that the KBB in a clover leaf stamp meant that the pipe was made before 1955. The Cured with Real Honey stamp placed the pipe as 1936 or after. The four digit shape code was used until 1936. The shape code on this one was 4982 thus it is another argument for 1936. The patent was given to KBB in 1935 so the stamped “Reg. US Pat. Off also places the pipe after 1935.

The information that I have gathered helps me to know with a high degree of certainty that this Carburetor pipe was made in 1936. The four digit shape number and the patent information that I have included helped identify that with certainty. I also learned that the first two numbers indicate the finish and the second two numbers indicate the shape.

Now it was time to work on the pipe. I removed the peeling varnish with some fingernail polish remover (acetone). It came of nicely and left behind a nice looking piece of briar. With that finished I set the bowl aside and turned to deal with the hardest part of this work. I needed to replace the broken tenon in the stem and I needed to repair the chip out of the underside at the button. Both would require time for the repair to cure. I decided to do the tenon replacement first. I unscrewed the stinger from the broken tenon and chose a new tenon for the replacement. I used a threaded tenon. I used a Dremel and sanding drum to remove the shoulder on the new tenon and reduce the diameter to match the broken tenon. I screwed the tenon in the new tenon and the fit was perfect. Now it was time to drill out the stem.I smoothed out the broken edge with a Dremel and sanding drum. I drilled out the airway using increasingly larger drill bits to open up the airway the depth of the threaded portion of the tenon.I reduced the diameter of the threaded portion of the tenon with the Dremel and sanding drum until the fit in the drilled out stem was snug. I coated the tenon with black super glue and put the parts together to check on the fit and look of the new tenon. I set it aside to cure while I took a break and enjoy a coffee.After coffee it was cured and I put the stem on the shank to have a look at the fit! The fit was really good and the parts looked like they belonged together. Now it was time to work on the next part of the stem repair. I took the stem off the bowl and unscrewed the tenon. I scrubbed the oxidation on the stem with Soft Scrub to get a clean surface to do the repair.I greased a folded pipe cleaner with Vaseline Petroleum Jelly so that it the repair would not stick to it. I inserted it in the slot and spread it out under the chipped area.I mixed a batch of Black super glue and activated charcoal powder to make a paste. I filled in the deep tooth mark on the top side of the stem and the button edge. I turned the stem over and layered in the fill on the chipped area. I sprayed the repairs with an accelerator to harden the super glue and give it a hard shell so that I could remove the pipe cleaner. I purposely overfill this kind of repair so that I have room to work on the shaping of the button and the stem surface. Once it was hardened to touch I pulled the folded pipe cleaner free and set the stem aside for the repair to cure. Tomorrow I will work on shaping the repaired area into a proper button.I set the stem aside to cure further and turned my attention to polishing the bowl – I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to check the progress and remove the sanding debris. It was looking very good. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for about 10-15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The grain came alive. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to reshaping the stem. I used files to do the initial shaping and remove the excess repair material. I sanded out the file marks and shaped the button with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the vulcanite. I started polishing it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This nicely grained Yello-Bole 4501 Zulu turned out to be a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. (The yellow in the bowl is a bowl coating not a Meerschaum lining).The grain around the bowl and shank is quite beautiful and works well with both the shape and the polished and repaired vulcanite taper stem. With the tenon replaced and the stem rebuilt on the button end it looked very good. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Yello-Bole Zulu is another pipe that fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 25g/.88oz.  I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly. You can find it in the American (US) Pipe Makers Section. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!