Tag Archives: Pipe Hunting

A VIRTUAL PIPE HUNT – A new way to experience the joy of a pipe hunt

Blog by Steve Laug

To me there is nothing quite like the thrill of a pipe hunt to get my blood running. The anticipation of finding something that I had not found or seen before is always a prologue to the actual hunt itself. When I walk through the door of the “hunting ground” there is a new anticipation – what lies in store for me in the aisles and booths of the shop. I have found that some shops/malls are organized and have all of the tobacciana in one spot in the shop but the majority are not that systematized. Something about walking through a large or small shop with a focused objective makes the pleasure even more intense. When I find pipes – be it just a few or a box full – I get a solid rush as I work my way through the box and see if anything special is hidden in the lot. I have found Dunhill’s hidden in cans of junk pipes so I always work through the lot individually. I have to tell you that there are very few times that I come home from a hunt empty handed.

On Friday evening my brother Jeff called me from Montana. He and his wife had driven there to visit her parents. Along the way they had of course stopped at several antique shops and looked for pipes. In one of the shops he struck “gold”, the shop had a motherlode of pipes. He had talked with the owner and she told him she bought a box of pipes. He bought a few of them from her and then went back to the hotel and gave me a call. He showed me the pipes he had picked up and they were old ones. He had some nice pipes. He then told me the story and an idea he had.

His idea was brilliant really and quite simple. We both have iPads and use FaceTime to chat back and forth about pipes that he is looking at. He thought, why not bring the iPad to the antique shop and take me on the pipe hunt with him. That way we could look through the many pipes that were available in the shop and it would be like I was present experiencing the discovery of each one. We made a plan and set the time for the hunt. I was looking forward to checking out the place.

The next day after lunch my iPad showed that Jeff was calling on Facetime. I answered and in a moment I was inside the antique shop with him. We walked over to the corner of the shop where the display case was. The owner opened the case and Jeff brought out a rack of pipes at a time. He brought them to the counter where the iPad was sitting. He took each pipe out of the rack and we looked at the stamping on the shank and the condition of the mouthpiece and bowl. We looked at the stem material and determined what it was made of. We guessed the age as best as we could, given the brand and the style of the bowl and stem. We went through over forty pipes that way and spent the better part of an hour and a half.

He captured two photos of the iniside of the shop that showed what we saw when we were on FaceTime. They show a display case and the area where the pipes were in the store from two different angles. He gathered the pipes together and took them to his hotel room. He spread out the pipes on the bed and took some photos of the lot. There really are some unique pipes in the lot. I can’t wait to get them in Vancouver and work them over. There were many CPF pipes in the bunch that are different from others I have worked. The first is a photo that gives a big picture of the pipes we picked out from the shop.He also took some close up photos of sections of the lot. Here are those photos. They give you an idea of some of the unique pieces we found at the shop.The next two photos is a close up of the pipes on the left toward the top of the first photo.The next two photos show closer looks at the pipes in the middle and on the right side of the first photo. You can see from the photos that there are some interesting pieces that we found. I could not believe that we picked up 30 pipes and one case. There were 11 unique CPF brand pipes, 1 Manhattan, 1 Twisted shank horn stem, 1 Borlum, 1 Superior, 1 Hilson, 2 WDC, 1 Kaywoodie All Briar, 1 Imperial, 2 Italian Briar, 1 Hooker, 1 Stanwell Majestic, 1 London Thorn Drucquer pipe, 2 Meerschaums, 1 carved bulldog, 1 Seville, 1 Frank Bakelite and a RBC empty pipe case. He sent me a list of the brands on the pipes. I have grouped together to give a sense of what was present in the lot.

CPF military mount Oom Paul
CPF The Remington, French Briar, (Miliatary mount)
CPF French Briar with Hallmarked band and horn stem. Filigree carving around bowl
CPF Pullman with Horn Stem
CPF Siamese with twin horizontal stems
CPF Cromwell with twin vertical stems
CPF Briar Bowl Sitting on Petals- Horn Stem
CPF French Briar Bulldog with Horn Stem
CPF French Briar with tarnished metal band and a Horn Stem (looks like mini-Wellington)
CPF French Briar Horn Shaped Pipe with metal band and Horn Stem
CPF Colon French Briar with Black Meer Bowl and Amber stem
Briar pipe with twisted shank going into a twisted horn stem
Borlum Italian Briar (Unbreakable Bit)
Hilson Bolero, Made in Belgium, #8
Superior with filigree metal band around shank and bowl- red bakelite stem
Manhattan with Horn Stem
WDC Monitor
WDC Campaign with Briar unscrewable bowl
Kaywoodie AllBriar 50B (All-imported Briar)- chewed off wood stem
Imperial De Luxe, Made in London England (Mini-churchwarden)
Italian Briar bulldog with red dot on stem
The Hooker- with screw cap next to bowl on top of shank- Patented May 17,1910- Horn Stem
Stanwell Majestic 64, Made in Denmark
London Thorn, Drucquer & Sons, Berkeley
Carved bulldog with yellow Bakelite stem
Seville Filter, Imported Briar Italy
Heavily Rusticated Italian Briar with wrong stem
No-name Meerschaum Bowl and shank without stem- with spikes on bowl and shank, brown to black
Large Meerschaum Capped Pipe with horn stem and cherry wood shank
Frank Bakelite (EP Silver)
RBC Genuine French Briar , Red-lined small Black Case

When Jeff returned home, he removed the stickers and tags from the pipe and laid them out on his kitchen table. The photos below give another look at the pipes – sans price stickers and tags. I would say we had a good day pipe hunting. I have never seen that many CPF pipes in one spot and the number of pipes of that age is unique as well. I think we will have to do some more of these virtual pipe hunts because it transcends borders and space and gives the experience in real time. The only thing missing to me was the actual handling of the pipes in person. The experience was really good and I was able to feel like I was in the shop itself as we looked at each pipe and discussed the pros and cons before buying them. You might consider this kind of pipe hunt if you have a good friend who enjoys the hunt as much as you do and has an iPhone or iPad. If you happen to try it out or have already done so in the past post a comment below. Thanks for looking.

Coming home to an amazing surprise

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Blog by Steve Laug

I was in India and Nepal for work through most of the month of January returning to Canada on the first of February. While I was traveling, I got an email from a woman in Ontario, Canada saying that she was the daughter of a fellow pipe smoker and an Anglican minister that I had talked to over the years. I knew him as Fr. Dave (his online name). Her father and I had many conversations over the years about our common work and love of pipes. We emailed, chatted on the forums and shared phone conversations. I had repaired, refurbished and sold quite a few of his pipes over the years for the benefit of an online forum that we both frequented and where we had met. I have several pipes in my collection that were gifts from David and whenever I smoke them, I think of him and our conversation.

I knew that he had struggled for a long time with a degenerative spinal disease and other health issues. I had not talked to him for some time. The last time we spoke, he let me know that he was coming near the end of his life. We had enjoyed a good conversation, laughed and reflected on the brevity of our lives together. We said good-bye but I had no idea that it would be the last of our conversations. The email from his daughter informed me that she was cleaning up his estate and that he had specified that the last box of his pipes should go to me because I would do what was necessary for them to be usable. She wanted to know if I wanted them. She was uncertain as to what they were in terms of brand other than they were probably his personal smokers. She did not know if they were worth anything or if I would even want them.

When I received his daughter’s email, it saddened me that David was gone. I knew that his struggle had been long and painful and now that it was over. I was glad for him regarding that and because of our common hope, I looked forward to the day that we would connect once again. I wrote back to her from Kathmandu, Nepal and thanked her for her email. I passed on my condolences regarding her dad and sent my regards to her mom. I let her know that it was an honor to have the opportunity take her father’s pipes. I would gladly do whatever it took to make sure that they would continue to be used by pipe smokers.

I received another email from her while I was in Hong Kong waiting for a connector flight back to Vancouver that the package had been shipped. She said that surprisingly the box had over 60 pipes in it. From my calculations, I figured that the package and I would arrive in Vancouver at roughly the same time. She asked that I let her know once it arrived and what I thought about the contents. Now my curiosity was peeked. I could not wait until I got home. I had to wait 11 hours for the connecting flight in Hong Kong and then another 11+ hour flight to Vancouver before I would see the box. I was excited to see what she had sent me.

I am sure I am probably strange, but during that time I mulled over what I thought might be in the box she sent. I had worked on enough of David’s pipes over the years that I had some ideas. I knew that in the later years he has smoked small pipes that were lightweight and easy to clench or hold. I knew that these would probably be small. I had no idea with regard to brand or shapes might be in the assortment she had sent. I knew that whatever was there I was in for a treat when I unpacked it and reflected on David and our talks. It made my wait and the trip go by much quicker.

I took a cab from the airport home and my daughter met me at the door. The rest of the family was at work for a few more hours. The first thing she said after our greetings was that I had a package on the dining room table. I put my bags aside and went to look at the box. It was from David’s daughter. It was far bigger than I expected from our emails. It was a computer paper box about 10×12 inches wide and long and 12 inches tall. I carried it into the living room and opened it with a knife. When I took the lid off the box I was really surprised. She had packed the box full with pipes. Each pipe was individually wrapped with paper towels so I had no idea what was hidden inside them. There were also two books and a plastic box in the top of the package. I took these out first. They are shown in the photo below.The books were the Perfect Smoke by Fred Hanna and Pimo’s Guide to Pipe Crafting at home. There were three pipe rests – two made of pieces of leather and one a wrapped iron contraption. I opened the plastic box and inside were a few surprises. There were pipe stems and parts for a Lepeltier ceramic pipe. There were envelopes of powdered alcohol based stains. There were two pipe reamers – a Castleford and a Senior Reamer. There was a needle file and a dowel with sandpaper. The last item was a tube of pipe stem polish from Savinelli. There were also four pipe bowls and some stems. They were apart so I had no idea if they went together. I sorted through the stems and found that all had stems. This must have been David’s workbox because all of them had been reamed and cleaned. All of them were small Peterson’s pipes.

Now I was curious as to what the rest of the box held. I carefully unwrapped each paper towel covered package and made a pile of the pipes. I counted the pipes as I unwrapped them and put them in the pile. I was like a kid opening his Christmas presents. Each new package revealed another beauty and my daughter laughed as she heard my ooohs and ahhhs. The pipes were all quite diminutive. Many were brands I had heard of but even among those were lines I had not heard of and shapes that I had not seen before. Some brands were new to me while others I had heard of but had not seen before. The pile of paper towels and the pile of pipe both grew as I unwrapped each pipe. When I was finished, there were seventy-three pipes in the pile.

I sorted the pipes into piles for each of the brands that were present. The first pile included forty-three Peterson’s pipes and pipe socks. The photo below shows the assortment of shapes – princes, billiards, apples, pots, bulldogs, Canadians, Lovats, Zulus and system pipes. There was a Pete Meerschaum, a barrel and a tankard. All were in decent shape and would be easy cleanups. I was surprised at this lot.

Here is a cursory list of the stampings: Shamrock, Kapruf, Aran, Kilarney, Sterling Silver, Kapet, Kildare, Wicklow, Flame Grain, Galway, System, Donegal Rocky, Emerald, Barrel, Premier, Tankard, Special, Sports, Dublin 2, Dublin 3 and Meerschaum.There were five Brigham pipes of different shapes and bearing different numbers of dots. There was a 2 Dot Lovat, a 1 Dot Prince, a ¼ bent 1 Dot Dublin, a straight 2 Dot Bulldog and a Sportsman 5 Dot bent Dublin. I have worked on a lot of Brigham pipes over the years but I do not know enough about them to be able to identify the era of the pipes but Charles Lemon of Dad’s Pipes is my go to guy for that kind of information. I will be contacting him with the stamping on each one and try to gather more information on them.There was a Trypis semi rusticated bent billiard with original box and pamphlet. That would be a fun historical piece to clean up and restore.There was an old clay pipe that was darkened and worn looking. I can see markings on the shank and the bowl that were cast into the clay. The pipe should clean up nicely and give me a chance to play around with a method of cleaning old clays that I have read about and wanted to try out.The next photo shows the remainder of the pipes. They were a mix of brands and shape – from basket pipes to English Made to hand made Danish. Before I list them for you see how many you can identify from the photo. There are some nice old pipes in the lot that should clean up nicely.How did you do in your identification? I will give you the brand names in no particular order and see if you can match them to the photo and also see how you did. Here is the list: Missouri Meerchaum Spool, London Made Lovat, Royal Prince British Made Billiard, Chateau Bruyere Sandblast Prince, Radiator Apple, Royal Captain Apple, Corvette Bent Dublin, Goldstar Holiday Rustic, Kiko Pigskin Safari 343, Irish Second Bent Dublin, SC Special 18 Filter Billiard, WO Larsen Handmade Super Tan 65 Brandy, Mackenzie LeBaron Bent Dublin, Bent Billiard no name Meerschaum, Premier Deluxe Bent Billiard, Dr. Grabow Omega, Kiko Meerschaum Prince, Elsinor ¼ bent Dublin, No name Sandblast Volcano sitter, Coronation Meerschaum lined Bulldog, Croydon Bent Billiard, Ropp Supreme Cherrywood, Ross Arundel England 37 Lovat.

This is one of those occasions where I was able to remember a lot of my conversations and correspondence with David. It brought a mixture of gratitude for his kindness in thinking of me with these pipes and of sadness that our conversations would be no more. In the months ahead as I clean up the pipes and post them on the blog I will try to include some of those memories in the write ups.

Rest in Peace David, I suppose I can say that I will see you one day in the not too distant future as the years roll by for me. I lift a bowl of nice Virginia tobacco in your memory in a pipe you gave me and pause to think of you and give thanks. Thank you also to your daughter for following up on your wishes.

Sometimes you just get lucky – an amazing pipe hunt

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Blog by Steve Laug

Saturday evening, I had a call from my brother Jeff. He had driven to Boise the night before to go to an estate sale and visit a few antique shops afterwards. Now you need to understand that my brother has been bitten by the bug. He loves looking for old pipes even more than I do and that is saying something. He is not able to drive by an antique shop without checking it out. Each holiday he takes always has time for a few pipe hunts as a part of the journey. But this time even for him this pipe hunt was extraordinary. The crazy part of the trip was a find in a thrift shop.

The first photo below shows the bounty of the trip in one photo. The later pictures show various views of the lot. Across the back of the three columns of pipes were two pipe racks and humidor jars that he found – the first on the left is a nine pipe rack and jar and the other a six pipe rack. Both are in excellent condition. A great ship model forms the backdrop to these amazing finds.What about the pipes? Why do I call it a really good day hunting? Well, have a look at the list of pipes that he came home with – and for me a few of these were quite a surprise. Using the photo above as a template for the pipes found, I will list the pipes starting with the left column from top to bottom and working my way across and down each column. I think you will agree about the calibre of the hunting day he had. The only thing that bugs me is that I was not present when he found these beauties. Here is the list:

Column 1:

A new unsmoked WDC Wellington bent that is just gorgeous
A 1985 Dunhill 5113 Bent Apple Shell
A Sasieni Canadian London Made – a long rusticated pipe that is in excellent condition
A shallow sandblast that is stamped Wellpipe.

Column 2:

A beautiful Castello 54P Sea Rock Bulldog
A Peterson’s Emerald 80S Bulldog
A rusticated Italian pipe
A rusticated Calabresi
An older pipe with Black & Silver band, Yellow Curved Stem.
In between the second and third column there is a small pipe with a gold band – just 3 inches long.

Column 3:

An SMS Handcarved Block Meerschaum Church Warden
A Perkins LTD Rhodesian looking a lot like a GBD 9438
A KBB Yello-Bole Premier with a black propeller style logo on a yellow stem
A red Calabresi apple
A Savinelli Made Roma.

Not shown in the photos:

A Bryson Metal Pipe
An Ansell’s WASH. D.C.
A Garden pipe Italian Made
An L.L. Bean billiard
A red Italian Made Rusticated pipe.

The next photo is basically the same as the one above just a bit closer look at the lot. The list is the same as the photo above. You can see the pipes a little more clearly. Each photo that follows gives you a closer and closer look at the pipes.The first photo below focuses on the first and second column in the above pictures. You can see the condition of the pipes in those columns. There are some classic finishes that are dead giveaways for the brand of the pipe in my opinion. The first one is obviously a Wellington no doubt about it the Dunhill is a classic Shell Briar and the third pipe has a typical Sasieni finish on it. In the second column you can see the classic Castello Shape of the bulldog and the Peterson’s directly below it.

The next photo shows the second and third columns of pipes. The SMS Meerschaum at the top of the third column is a classic looking Churchwarden. The pipe just below that has the appearance of GBD 9438 but is stamped Perkins. I am pretty sure that GBD made the pipe for the pipe shop. The third one, a Yello-Bole is classic looking and has the propeller logo on the stem making it an old one. The others have the look of Italian Basket pipes.The next photos highlight some of the premium finds of the day. The first one shows the SMS cased block meerschaum church warden and the Perkins LTD Rhodesian – a GBD look alike.The next shows photo shows the unsmoked WDC Wellington, the Dunhill 5113, the Sasieni Canadian London Made and the Wellpipe. The Castello and the Peterson Dogs are peeking out on the right side of the photo.The next photo shows the beautiful Castello 54P Bulldog sitting on its pipe sock and the Peterson’s Emerald 80S Bulldog.The final photo gives a classic view of the of the Castello bulldog with it “diamond” stem logo.Trips like this always leave me excited but wanting to go again and find some more pipes. They keep me looking for that illusive pipe that is sitting there, dusty and unnoticed on some thrift shop shelf or in a display case behind odds and ends or in a thrift shop with some unbelievably low sale price. Or even at some estate sale where the treasures of someone’s life are being sold off to curious seekers. Wherever they may show up I want to be there and find them and feel the thrill of the hunt and capture of the prize.

In this case I was not present – only vicariously through my brother’s tale. I could see each pipe as he described finding it and then showed me the pipe. He parceled them out to keep me guessing what he had in hand. That was good, but to me one of the more amazing parts of the trip came about through a series of fortuitous events and being in the right place at the right time. In the last antique shop he stopped in on the way home in Pocatello, Idaho he asked the shop person if there were any pipes in the shop. The shop had a few and he bought the LL Bean, the Garden Italy, and an Italian billiard. A fellow who had a booth in the shop overheard the conversation and said that he had some pipes at home that might interest my brother. He went and got a box with some pipes in it and Jeff bought the Peterson Emerald 80S Bulldog from him. After that interchange a young guy said he could not help overhearing the conversation and said that he had seen some pipes at a St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop not far away. He gave my brother directions and Jeff went to check it out. At the thrift shop he found that great model sailing ship and four pipes – the Dunhill, the Sasieni, the Perkins LTD, and the Bryson.

Let me summarize his finds once again and tell you where he found them. From the estate sale he picked up the two pipe racks and 7 pipes at the estate sale – the SMS Meerschaum churchwarden, the Castello 54P, the Garden made in Italy, the Savinelli Roma, 2 Calabresi pipes from Italy and a reddish pipe marked Italy with a worm trail rustication.

From antique shops in Boise he picked up 5 pipes – an older KBB Yello-Bole Premier, a Wellpipe, a small pipe with gold band ~3 inches long, an older bent pipe with black & silver band and a yellow stem and an unsmoked WDC Wellington.

And from the stop in Pocatello he picked up 8 pipes – the LL Bean, the Garden Italian, a no name Italian billiard, a Peterson’s Emerald 80S bulldog, the Dunhill, the Sasieni, the Perkins LTD, and the Bryson.

Not a bad day hunting in my opinion – 20 pipes, two pipe racks and humidors in good condition and a model sailing ship. It is days like this one that keep me looking where ever I travel. Cheers and good hunting to all who read this.

A Great Day Pipe Hunting in Southern Alberta

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Blog by Steve Laug

Whenever I am traveling I try to fit in some time, no matter how short to do a bit of hunting for pipes and pipe accessories. My last trip to Alberta earlier this week was no exception. My friend John and I went on the prowl on Monday to see what we could find. In the past I have had good hunting in Nanton and in Airdrie, Alberta. So we planned our hunt for those two cities. The photo below shows the success of the haul. In the paragraphs that follow I will talk about each pipe that I found.We headed to Nanton first, a small Southern Alberta town south of Calgary. The community has developed into a place known for antiques with quite a few antique shops along its two main streets. We parked the car and began the hunt. I always get a bit of an adrenaline rush when I am looking for pipes. There is always that niggling sense that I may find something really amazing that will top the scores I have found over the years – an older Dunhill or Sasieni pipe or the like. So I am gnawing at the bit to see what I can find. I tend to move quickly through a shop looking at the various displays or I ask the shop keep if there are any pipes in the store… kind of depends on my mood as you will see in the descriptions of our hunt.

We went into the first shop, a combination Ice Cream, Candy Shop and Antique store. It always has a lot of tobacco tins and pipe racks that are worth a look. John found a nice two pipe rack for his garage smoking area. It was in great shape and since all the antiques in the store were being sold at half of the price tag the little rack cost him only $5 and change. You can see that it was an easy decision to make to buy it. He settled up and took his pipe rack with him.

We walked down the street and crossed to the other side where the second shop was located. In the past I have picked up some nice pipes from that shop. This time was going to be the same. I found the bent pipe in the case shown in the photo above. It is stamped Celtic over Made in France on the left side of the shank. On the right it is stamped 268 which I am pretty sure is a Comoy’s shape number. It is a well made pipe with a sterling silver band. The tag on it read $35 but since the case did not really match the pipe I made the shop keeper an offer – the pipe, case and the random stem that was on the shelf for the $35 original price he had on just pipe and case. He nodded his approval and after a few shared stories we left his shop. Now both of us had our first finds of the day.

We moved down the street a few doors and opened the door to the crowded third shop. We made our way to the counter to see what kind of pipes might dwell in the midst of the all the collectibles that filled the narrow aisles of the small shop. I asked the clerk at the checkout counter, who ended up being the owner, if she had any pipes. She handed me a mug with some pipes in it. I laid it on the counter and had a look – there was a Grabow pipe that was in rough shape, a Missouri Meerschaum Cob and a worn Falcon that were all overpriced. I mentioned that to her but she was not interested as they were on consignment. I handed the mug back to her and was getting ready to leave when she reached to the side of the counter and lifted a cased pipe from a shelf. It was in a nice black leather case with a dark blue lining. On the inside of the case top there was a GBD in an oval logo over Speciale in stamped in gold. The bowl in the case also bore the same stamping. It sported an oxidized silver band. The stem was missing and the clerk told us the sad story of how someone had stolen the amber stem and left the pipe behind. It was marked at $35 but since the stem was missing I asked her what her best price was for the pipe. She let it go for $25 and said to have fun fitting a new stem on the bowl. I added my second pipe to my hunt kit.

We walked to the corner of the main street and turned left. On the left side of the street was the fourth antique shop. We opened the door and went inside. Immediately inside the door on our right was a display case that held quite a few pipes. There were clay pipes, corncobs, Falcons and Dr. Grabows. In the midst of them were the two that I chose from the lot to add to the hunting kit. The first is shown in the first column of the photo above. It is the second pipe on the left side. It was a Kirsten K pipe. It was in decent shape though the end cap on the barrel is stuck in place. The stem has a gasket/O-ring so it is a newer one. The second one is the amber stemmed bulldog with the over clocked stem. It too has a silver band that is stamped with hallmarks and AF in a lozenge. On the left side of the shank it is stamped with the letters CNO stacked together so that the C encircles the other letters. Above that it is stamped with a crown. She let the two pipes go for $50. I added these two finds to my hunt kit. Nanton was turning out to be a great place for finding pipes this trip. I had added four pipes to my lot for an average of $25 a pipe and had a random stem and two pipe cases. Not bad for a morning’s hunting.

We left Nanton after visiting one other shop along the street with no additional purchases. We drove north toward Airdrie, Alberta and a large antique mall on the west side of the highway north of Calgary. When we got there we parked and pushed the door open to enter a typical antique mall with lots of stalls, sellers and locked cabinets. This was the type of place that really required almost two walk throughs – the first to scope out the place for pipes and the second with the clerk and his keys to have a look at the pipes that we had scoped out.

The last time I was there I had picked up some nice Peterson pipes and GBDs. So John and I went to the first cabinet where I had previously found the Petes and found an assortment of pipes. The only one that caught my eye was the first one in the right hand column of the photo above. It is stamped with the words Twin Bore over Bite Proof on the left side of the shank. On the right side it is stamped with the typical Comoy’s COM stamp – Made in England in a circle with the “in” central. The stem is a twin bore. I am pretty sure that it is a Comoy’s Made pipe. It was priced at $20.

We wandered through the aisles of the shop and looked at some nice pipes that were seriously overpriced and left no margin for reselling them after they were refurbished. So I left them behind. One of the cases had a nice older 3 dot Canadian Brigham that was marked Display not for Sale. It would have been a nice addition but the seller of that booth was out of the country. Wandering through the rest of the mall we saw a lot of standard antique mall pipes – Dr. Grabows, Tourist pipes, corncob and Chinese made pipes with metal bowls masquerading as old pipes. I had almost given up and called it a day. I began to make my way to the counter to pay for the Twin Bore when in the last case we looked at before the counter I found a nice little Wally Frank Lovat. It is the last pipe on the right hand column in the above photo. It has an interesting combination finish of rustication and smooth areas around the circumference of the bowl. It was marked at $12 so it was a deal. I left the shop with two more pipes at a cost of $32.

With the new additions to the hunt kit I had found six pipes for a price of $137 or $23 per pipe. Not too bad a haul or price for the finds of the day. It was a great day with John. We headed back to Calgary and his home. We relaxed over a great meal of chicken fajitas with guacamole, cheese, salsa, peppers and sour cream on flour tortillas. This was a perfect end to a great day hunting.

A Good Day Hunting Orchestrated Between British Columbia and Idaho

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Blog by Steve Laug

About a week ago I received a call from Gene, a gentleman that my brother Jeff and I visited when I was down in Idaho. We had purchased a large lot of pipes from him that I have begun to clean up and restore. He had purchased a batch of 37 pipes as an estate from an old customer of his when he had his Pipe and Tobacco Shop. He was trying to get a hold of my brother to arrange a time when they could meet and Jeff could look over the pipes. I asked him to send me a picture of the pipes he was talking about. He said that he wanted to pick through them himself so not all of them would be for sale. The photo below shows the 37 pipes that he had purchased. I sent the photo and the fellow’s contact information to my brother. They arranged to meet to go through the pipes the next Friday.My brother drove to his home and spent a couple of hours with him over a cup of coffee talking pipes. He had a great time with Gene and ended up buying 16 pipes that day. On his way home he also stopped by an antique shop and picked up four more pipes they are shown from various angles in the photos below. He also picked up an interesting older porcelain tobacco jar at one of the antique shops on his journey. The jar is visible in the photos below.

The pipes he found are shown in the photos below. In the first column on the left are three pipes: the top one is a Charatan’s Make Canadian Sandblast 0121, the second is a four dot Sasieni Pembroke with a patent number, Pat.No. 150221/20, the third at the bottom with the rusticated bent bowl and the Lucite shank extension is an Estella by Savinelli that is stamped Nonpareil 9606. The second column from the left contains: first a Savinelli Dry System 2101 military bit billiard, second a GBD Midnight 788, and a Stanwell Antique Bulldog 156 with the wrong stem. The third column from the left has another Savinelli Dry System bent billiard 26, followed by a GBD New Standard 9438 Rhodesian, followed by an old CPF Best Make Bulldog with an amber stem. The fourth column has just two pipes a bent Gefapip Giant bent billiard 2SM and a Winslow Viking with the wrong stem. The fifth column shows a stemless Rungsted Mariner bowl made by Preben Holm, a Savinelli Roma 111KS and a Stanwell made Danish Star 64. In the next photo the last two columns toward the right are shown. From the top of the colulmn next to the Rungsted Mariner there is a Savinelli Punto Oro Mr. G.606KS, Comoys MG 184, a Stanwell Antique 56 Canadian and a GBD Prodigee Hand Hewn bent billiard 1526. The last column includes a Dunhill Bruyere Canadian EC 4R and a Jost’s Supreme Diamond Shank bent billiard.The four pipes that came from the antique shops were by far the most prestigious of the finds. These included the Charatan’s Make Canadian Sandblast 0121, the four dot Sasieni Pembroke with a patent number, Pat.No. 150221/20, the Dunhill Bruyere Canadian EC 4R and a Jost’s Supreme Diamond Shank bent billiard. The rest of the pipes are also nice additions that came from the meeting with Gene. I had to laugh last evening when I talked with him; he was just talking about hoping that he would one day find a Dunhill. Now, when he was cleaning up the pipes he found he was looking at the stamping and about fell over – the elusive Dunhill was in his hands and he had paid only $8 for it. This is the kind of find that pipe hunters live for! I can only say that my brother had an amazing day pipe hunting. The only thing that would have made the day better would have been to be able to accompany him on the hunt. The caliber of the pipes he found is excellent. The ones he walked away from included more standard finds – Grabows and Medicos and pipes with cracked bowls. And to cap the day he had found three stellar collectibles – a Charatan’s Make sandblast Canadian, a Sasieni Four Dot Pembroke and a Dunhill Bruyere EC Canadian. Not bad finds for a day of pipe hunting!

One of those unforgettable days Pipe Hunting

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Blog by Steve Laug

Last week I was in Idaho to spend time with my 87-year-old father who needed to have the aorta valve on his heart replaced. His surgery was on Tuesday and went exceptionally well. On Thursday morning my brother Jeff and I visited him in the hospital and then drove to a neighbouring city to do some pipe hunting. There is something about the thrill of a pipe hunt that is hard to beat in terms of the adventure of the hunt and the thrill of the finds. It is something that we both enjoy doing and it is great to be able to do it together. In preparation for our hunt that day we had done a bit of research on our destination city. We had visited a few shops in the town where my brother lived and picked up a magazine of antique shops. He had hunted pipes in the neighbouring community so we knew there were a few shops.

But in our digging we found that there were 13 antique shops in that city and that many of them may well have pipes. So we drove the fifty miles to get there with expectation but we had no idea what we would run into when we arrived. The first shop we went to had several pipes that I picked through. I purchased a bent billiard Peterson K-Pipe with a fish tail stem that was in decent shape for $10 and the shop keeper gave me a GBD Lovat with a severely cracked bowl. He sent it along to see if I could do anything with it and only wanted photos of the process.

The second shop we went to had no pipes but did have a wealth of information for us on the antique shop scene in the city. She recommended two shops owned by a husband and wife team that was only a couple of blocks away. We walked to the shops and enjoyed a great visit with the wife and the staff of the two shops. They went through their stock in the back room and were able to find four pipes that I picked up – a Dr. Grabow bent bulldog for $8, an Ehrlich Canadian with a monogram on the shank $8, a Ben Wade Freehand $6 without a stem and a Peterson System pipe bowl without the stem for $3. I had happened to put a stem in my bag when I flew to Idaho for another pipe my brother had and it fit perfectly. So far I had spent a whopping $35 and had six pipes to show for it. I was pretty pumped and we had only covered four shops at this point.

We put our bounty in the back seat of the car and drove to the next shop. The owner had sold out everything in her pipe section but a couple of beat up corn cobs. I asked if she had any other pipes in the back. She thought for a moment and then opened a bag under the counter and took out a nice flat bottom rusticated Jobey Stromboli Bent sitter. I don’t remember the shape number as it is still packed away. That one was $10. She recommended another shop to us so we drove to the next shop. It was a small hole in the wall shop – an old single story house that had been converted into and antique shop.

When we got there the owner was outside painting the building. She said that her 84-year-old mom was running the shop and she would show us the pipes that they had. We looked around for a while and she pointed out their stock. I picked up a Peterson Dublin Castle that was barely smoked for $42 and a Scandia Bent acorn with a twin bore stem for $6. I also picked up a nice leather pipe pouch for $10. My brother picked up a beautiful Servi Basket Weave carved block meerschaum for $49. It was barely smoked. By far this was the shop where we spent the most – a total of $107. We had 10 pipes and a new pipe pouch for a total of $152 at this point in the process.

In the course of our conversation with the mother of the shop owner it turned out that her husband had owned a pipe shop and that these pipes were some of his stock. I asked if he had more and if he would be willing to have a couple of visitors. She called him and let me talk with him about what I was looking for. It turned out he was willing to meet us at his house if we were serious about buying estate pipes. He had many that he was motivated to sell. We left the shop and drove to his house. He met us at the door smoking some Lanes 1Q in a Stanwell. He took us into the kitchen to show us what he had for sale. He had a rack of 36 pipes and a small rack of about 6 and at least 6 unsmoked and four smoked Gourd Calabash pipes. There was also an assortment of other loose pipes on the counter to look at. On the floor was a large ice chest filled with bulk tobacco that he was also selling.

As I looked over the pipes I felt like we had hit the jackpot with this lot. I spent a lot of time talking with him as I went through the pipes he had displayed for sale. I mentally catalogued the ones on the rack. There were 7 Savinellis, 6 Petersons (2 shape 999 one of my favourites), 2 Bjarne pipes, 2 Nordings, 1 Dunhill Shell, 4 Italian Corsena pipes, a Castleford, two older horn stemmed pipes, a Tracy Mincer author, a Jobey Asti,a Dutch made ceramic double walled Dublin, a Stanwell 63 and a Lane billiard. I looked through the others and as I picked them up he would get a sentimental look on his face and remove those from sale. There were a lot of pipes for sale in that lot. He kept repeating that he was a motivated seller. While I was fiddling at choosing a bunch to take with me, Jeff asked him what he wanted for the lot. He stalled a bit but finely gave us a price for the rack and the pipes that were on it. We dickered a bit and he threw in a Gourd Calabash for my brother. We made a deal and added 35 more pipes to the days finds along with a solid oak three tiered 36 pipe rack. I also picked up a tin of GLP’s Blackpoint and a sealed package of Esoterics’ Peacehaven (a pleasant mix of 6 Virginia tobaccos).

We loaded our bounty in the car and bid the old pipeman farewell. He hinted at the fact that he had many more pipes that he would be selling in the near future so I am sure we will one day go back for another visit. We had a bit of lunch and made our way back to the hospital. All in all it was one of those amazing days. We came home with 35 pipes (several that were unsmoked), a pipe pouch and an oak pipe rack. My brother has been hunting pipes for a while now and we both knew that this was a rare find that we had stumbled upon – we got to cherry pick a pipeman’s estate and bring home some of his old pipes. It was a mixed lot but there were more than enough really nice pipes in it to make it a worthwhile purchase. Besides that we got to meet a nice older pipeman who was thrilled that his pipes were going to someone who obviously loved pipes as much as he did.

Oh, I almost forgot. When he had his shop I used to stop by there on the way to visit my mom and dad. I stopped and bought pipe tobacco and cleaning supplies from him over the years. When we walked in his front door he remembered me and I remembered him. That was the icing on the cake for me. He had closed his shop several years before and I had lost touch with him. It was a very good day pipe hunting.

When we got back to my brother’s house I set up the pipes and took the following photos of the haul. You can see the amazing pipes that we found. The first photo shows the rack and the finds in their entirety.The next photos I tried to get some closer pictures. The first one below shows rows 1 and 2 of the rack. The second one shows rows 2 and 3. The third photo shows the pipes on the table in front of the rack. I put the Peterson stem I had brought along in the Peterson bowl I found. See if you can identify the pipes in the rack and on the table. What do you think of the results of our hunt? I am still pretty pumped by the find and had to share it with folks who understand what it feels like to make this kind of find. Thanks for looking.

Home from Lethbridge, Alberta with a few Pipe Finds and Gifts

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Blog by Steve Laug

I was away for a little over a week and just returned from a week of rest and work in Lethbridge, Alberta with a good friend, Rohan. It was a great time. I am unable to visit somewhere without checking out antique shops or malls to see if I can find any pipes or tobacciana that interest me. So for sure I had to do a bit of that on this trip. On Saturday there was an Antique/Flea Market happening at the race track under the grand stands and we went to check it out. Over the years I have generally found something to take home with me on these expeditions. My friend’s wife found a nice wooden pipe rack with a humidor jar for him. I found a few items scattered around the market. The first of these was a rough old sandblast billiard that was stamped Diplomat and Italy on the bottom of the shank. The stem was not the original as it did not fit. Whoever owned it before had wrapped the tenon with thread and tin foil to hold it in place in the shank. They had also hacked up the stem with files to cut a new button and grooves on the underside to make it a dental bit. It was very rough. I paid $10 Cndn for it which for the American’s reading this is about $6. Not a bad deal. I also found an unused Kleen Reem pipe tool in a hard shell case. All parts were there and the lining of the box was a little worn for wear. The tool itself was spotless and the band of pipe cleaner pieces was still present. I paid $20 for the tool which is a great deal for a vintage pipe tool that was still unused. The third item shown in the photos is a pipe lighter. It did not have flints in the chamber so the wheel free spun. It is stamped Fisher Elite over Made in Canada. This little lighter was $10. It will take a bit of work to get it working well again but it is a nice piece of tobacciana and Canadian made to boot. Rohan had made several trips recently and picked up some gifts for me. I thank him for his thoughtfulness. The first of these was a little hand carved pipe from Columbia. It is similar to the ones that friends have brought back for me from Nepal. I know it is not a tobacco pipe but it is interesting nonetheless and now sits on my book case with a pipe from Viet Nam, two from Nepal, two older Ropp Cherrywood pipe. The other gift was from a recent trip to Australia. He picked up this leather covered Butane torch lighter for me that will make a great addition to my lighters.

It was a great trip in a lot of ways. My friend and I enjoyed many a bowl together on his front porch and on Monday afternoon visited a pipe man from England that lived down the street from Rohan. He invited the two of us to join him on his patio. We looked over his collection of pipes and tobacco. Then we sat outside and chatted while enjoying a few bowls together. His wife brought us each a cup of tea and some butter tarts to enjoy while we visited.

Sitting at home now and cleaning up the Diplomat pipe I want to say, “Thanks Rohan for the great time and the memories that I added both in terms of pipes and lighters and shared bowls. I look forward to the next time we meet.”

A Good Day Pipe Hunting – A Craigslist Vancouver Find

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Blog by Steve Laug

For years now I have checked craigslist Vancouver in hope of finding pipes. I have found a few but they never worked out in terms of picking them up. They always were sold to someone just before I arrived to pay for them. So when I saw this lot on craigslist I was not too hopeful. I fired off an email to the seller and got no response regarding the lot. It had seven pipes, a humidor rack, a two pipe rest and two large unopened 200 gram tins of Borkum Riff tobacco. Yesterday I went online and found the seller’s phone number. I could not believe it when he said that he still had them. I made arrangements to pick them up on Friday. Here are three photos from the advert on craiglist.

I talked my youngest daughter and number two daughter into going with me to pick them up. I drove to the seller’s apartment with low expectations. He was selling the lot for $99 or best offer. When I arrived I phoned and he let me into the apartment. It was a bit of déjà vu for me. He was a stroke survivor – same age as I am. I too am a stroke survivor. He had stroked on the left side of his brain leaving his right side damaged – same as me. He had the curled hand and a dragging foot with a bit of slurred speech the same as I had. I stood quite speechless for a few moments and remembered my own struggle with my stroke. I then breathed a prayer of thanks to God for the gracious recovery he gave me through the prayers of his people and hard work. I have very little remaining of the stroke damage. God is good.

We talked for a little while and he showed me the goods. I decided to pay him what he asked – or at least close to it. I had $97 with me so I gave him that and he gave me a bag for the loot. At this point in the game I had not looked too closely at the pipes. When I got to the car and put them in the trunk I went through them quickly. There were some great pipes in the lot along with some I had never heard of. When I got home I unpacked the loot and took the next series of photos. I was very pleased with what I had purchased. The next two photos show the pipes. Starting with the column on the left of the photo below the names of the pipes were as follows.

Column 1: (left side)
1. Paradis Brothers 1989 shape 93 bent with a broken tenon. Paradis is a Canadian made pipe. It had a dent on the left side of the bowl. The tenon is threaded and I will be able to remove it and put a new tenon on the stem. This one may have had one bowl smoked through it but it was not even darkened from mid bowl to the bottom.
2. Italian made MAT Pot sitter with a stuck stem. The rim was covered in a coat of tars and oil. The stem has tooth marks in it on the top and on the underside near the button.
3. Dutch Ceramic double wall billiard with Delft coloured painting on the front of the bowl of a man in the stocks. It reads Holland on the left side of the shank. The stem is acrylic and is clean. The cork gasket that holds it in the shank is perfect. This is an unsmoked pipe.
4. Royal Danish 33 straight bulldog made by Stanwell. The bowl has a thick cake in it and the top is damage and sloped toward the front of the bowl. The stem is oxidized and has some deep tooth marks in it on the top and bottom near the button. There appears to be a small bite through on the underside.

Column 2: (right side)
5. Squashed Tomato stamped JPL Bruyere, St. Claude, France. Large chunk of nice briar with lots of birdseye on the bottom of the bowl. The bowl has a light cake and the rim is covered with tars and oils. The stem is oxidized and has tooth marks and tooth chatter. JPL stands for Jean Pierre Lacroix. http://pipedia.org/wiki/Lacroix
6. K&P Dublin (Peterson’s) Canadian with a sterling silver band and a p-lip. The rim has some build up and the bowl is lightly caked. The stem is in excellent shape with no bite marks or tooth marks. It is oxidized.
7. Castello Sea Rock 15 AF – made for the North American market with the “diamond” stem insert. Military bit with tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. Slight build up of white calcification like the stem had originally been smoked with a softee bit. This one has a full bowl of unsmoked tobacco. There is some rim damage from knocking out the pipe on the front outer edge and some tars and oils on the back surface of the bowl.

I am quite happy with the find. It was a purchase well worth the price. I was more than glad to have paid the bill. The meeting with the seller was also memorable and gave me a lot to be thankful for this Good Friday.

A Perfect Pipe Hunting Day

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On Friday John, a friend of mine from Calgary, Alberta came for the weekend for a visit. We planned to go to the US for a day so that I could take him to a couple of pipe shops in Bellingham, Washington – the Senate Smoke Shop and the Fairhaven Smoke Shop (I have written reviews of both shops here on rebornpipes). When John arrived and we were planning our day he said that he also wanted to visit some of the places where I went hunting for estate pipes when I am down there. It was going to be a great day and I was hoping that we would find some good pipes to make his first hunt a success. We decided to leave early on Saturday morning and spend the whole day hunting. We crossed the border, headed to a local restaurant for breakfast while we waited for the shops to open. We each downed an order of biscuits and gravy, bacon and eggs and orange juice. We took our time to enjoy our breakfast and once had finished we headed to the first hunting spot – an antique mall.

We cruised slowly through the store looking at all the cupboards and tins, ferreting out old pipes. I found quite a few old timers that did not grab my interest. John found a pigskin covered opera pipe stamped Longchamp and bearing a horse on the stem. It was in good shape and lightly smoked. The rim was tarred and the leather dirty. It had a ¼ bent stem that was very clean, though oxidized. He found an old 10 pipe rack made of oak and a brown glass humidor in the middle that had a worn finish but beautifully grained wood. It came with four old pipes – a Falcon, a nylon Falcon style pipe, a Yello-Bole Bulldog and a no name Imported Briar Apple full of fills. We paid for our finds and headed to the next stop to see what we would find. I had a bit more luck and found an old Canadian stamped Paul’s and Italy. It was a large Canadian made from a nice piece of briar but was filthy and the rim was beat up. I purchased my Canadian and then we moved on to the next shop. We visited with the shop keeper who had just returned from a trip to California and he showed us a dozen or more pipes that he had purchased from an estate. None of them caught our attention but we had a great visit with him before heading to our next stop. At that shop we enjoyed looking through the pipes that were for sale. John picked out two of them that caught his eye. The first pipe was a Danish Sovereign Peewit shaped sandblast. It was a dark brown/black stained blast with a typical Stanwell style stem. The shank bore the stamping Danish Sovereign, shape #30. The stem was dirty but easily fixable. The tenon had an interesting Delrin sleeve over the end that made the diameter large enough to fit the shank as it had been drilled out to make it larger. I am not sure why they had enlarged the shank but it had been well done. The second pipe was a Peterson Dumore shape 72 that had some beautiful grain – birdseye on the sides and cross grain on the front and back of the bowl. The stem was in great shape though badly oxidized. All totalled John had added seven “new” pipes to his “new” round 10 pipe rack. I picked out four that caught my eye. The first one was a Savinelli Punto Oro 804 Canadian black sandblast that was in decent shape. The finish was very good while the stem was oxidized but had no tooth marks. The bowl was smoked but clean. It would be an easy one to clean up. The second was a Peterson Tankard with a rounded rim and a military bit. The finish was very worn, the stamping was weak in spots but it said Peterson Tankard over Made in the Republic of Ireland. The stem was oxidized and had a few tooth dents on the top and bottom sides near the P-lip button but should clean up nicely. The third one was a Dunhill Shell Billiard with a saddle stem. It was stamped Dunhill Shell over Made in England. Next to the Shell stamping it had a 23 stamped. On the other side of the Dunhill stamping it read 42121. After the D in England it was stamped 20 which if I read it correctly makes it a 1980 pipe. It had a nice blast and the finish was not terribly worn. The rim was dirty and the bowl was thickly caked. The stem had the inner tube insert in the tenon and it extended to the airway in the bowl. The stem was badly oxidized and had tooth dents in both the top and bottom sides near the button. The fourth pipe was an Astley ¼ bent cherry wood. It had a black rusticated finish and the stamping on the smooth bowl bottom read Astleys over 109 Jermyn St over London. The shape number 48 was under that. The bowl had a thick cake and heavy buildup on the rim. The finish though was in very good shape. The stem had a thick calcification on the top and bottom, tooth marks and chatter as well. It was oxidized but bore a very clean capital A stamp on the top of the saddle. The stem was over bent. We stopped by the Senate Smoke Shop and spent the better part of an hour visiting with the owner/proprietor, Mike. John bought two pouches of tobacco from him before we left the shop to drive south to Fairhaven to visit his other shop. I had visited the Fairhaven Smoke Shop many times over the years and it has the air of an old time pipe and tobacco shop. I always enjoy going there and wanted to introduce John to the charms of the place. We visited with Jesse, the sales clerk and I picked up a pouch of McClellands Oriental and a few flakes of 2035 that had some age on it. We each bought some bundles of pipe cleaners so that we could clean up the pipes we had added to our collections.

We finished the hunt having had a successful day each of had found some good pipes, some tobaccos to try and John had picked up a nice oak pipe rack for his pipes. We decided to celebrate a great day and headed to a favourite Mexican restaurant of mine for lunch while we looked over our finds. We laughed and ooohed and ahhhed at the various pipes we picked up. We had a great visit over lunch and after lunch found a spot outside to enjoy a bowl of our new tobacco and visit before we headed back to Canada. We relaxed and smoked our pipes and commented on what a great day it had been. We were pleased with our finds and looked forward to working on them later. When our pipes had gone out we tipped out the dottle and headed home.

The plan was to spend the evening cleaning up John’s purchases – both pipes and the pipe rack so that he could take home some clean pipes and a refinished rack. He wanted to learn about the craft of refurbishing so these pipes would be a great place for him to begin. Over the evening we refinished the pipe rack – stripped it and restained it with a light Cherry stain. We washed the humidor and reattached the clay disk to the lid. We also refurbished the Peterson Dunmore, the Danish Sovereign Peewit, the Falcon (the bowl was shot, so I gave him an extra bowl that I had here), the Yello-Bole Bulldog and the Longchamp Opera pipe. John loaded his car and left this morning with his cleaned and restored finds for a short road trip back to Calgary. It was great to spend time with him chatting, hunting, refurbishing and enjoying our pipes. I always enjoy my visits with John and on top of our normal good visits this time we had added great day pipe hunting. Now the time has come to begin cleaning up my pipe hunt finds. I am looking forward to seeing these five pipes cleaned and refurbished and then filled with tobacco to smoke for many years ahead.

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