Tag Archives: pipe restemming

Replacing a tenon, restemming and restoring another Mixed Finish Soren Hand Carved Freehand

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by Steve Laug

I am taking a break from the last two of the four pipes I am working on for Jack to clean up and match a stem with a nice freehand pipe that I have here in my box. It is another quick cleanup and restore and gives me a break from the heavier restoration work on Jack’s next pipe. This bowl has a mixed smooth and rusticated finish with a plateau rim top and shank end. The finish was a bit dull and lifeless. It showed promise under the grit and grime of the years. On the underside of the shank it was clearly stamped Soren [over] Hand-Carved [over] Made in Denmark. The bowl had a thin cake and some lava overflow on the smooth and plateau areas of the rim top. The bowl also had some dust and debris in rusticated patch on the right side of the bowl as well as in the crevices of the plateau on the shank end. I took some photos of the bowl before I started my work on it. I took a close up photo of the bowl to give an idea of what I had to work with. The bowl was very dirty and had a moderately thick cake. The smooth portions of the rim top have a lava coat the plateau portions are also almost filled in with lava. I also took a photo of the plateau on the shank end to show its condition – dirty but in good shape.I took a photo to try and capture the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is present and is readable in person far more than the photos show. It is stamped as noted above.I went through my cans of stems here and found a nice vulcanite fancy saddle stem that would fit quite well ONCE I REPLACED THE SNAPPED TENON. It was dirty and needed a thorough cleaning but I think it will look good.I have worked on quite a few Soren pipes over the years and turned to one of the blogs that I wrote  on another interesting Soren Freehand Sitter (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/02/26/this-interesting-soren-hand-carved-freehand-turned-out-to-be-more-work-than-expected/). I quote from that blog below.

I looked up the brand on Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s10.html) and found that the brand was carved by Søren Refbjerg Rasmussen. Pipes that he made for the European market were mostly stamped “Refbjerg” while those made for the US market were stamped “Soren”. Thus, I knew that one I was working on was imported into the US market.

It was time to work on the pipe! I decided to start with refitting the new tenon to the stem I had chosen. Hmmm…I thought I was done with that for a while but this stem just worked with the bowl. I flattened the broken tenon remnants on the stem end with a Dremel and sanding drum and then further smoothed it out with a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper. I wanted a smooth surface for my drilling.I learned a helpful trick on the last batch of six tenon replacements. I use a small pen knife to give the airway in the stem end a slight chamfer to guide the drill bit into it and keep it straight. Once I did that I used a series of drill bits to open the airway to receive the threaded portion of the tenon. I choose to use threaded replacement tenons as they provide a rough serrated surface for the glue to bind to the drilled hole in the stem. It has worked well for me a for a long time.Once it fit well in the stem I needed to reduce the diameter of the portion that went in the shank mortise. I use a Dremel and sanding drum to work it until it fits well in the shank of the pipe. I took photos of the look of the tenon when it was finished and put it in the shank and put the stem on it and took photos. I think it will work very well! I checked the fit of the stem to the tenon, the tenon to the shank repeatedly and once it was proper I glued it in place with black CA glue.I set the stem aside to allow the glue to cure. While it dried I took a photo of the stem and the bowl together to give a sense of the look of the pipe and stem. Proportions and look just work together in my opinion. While the glue cured I turned my attention to the bowl. I reamed it with a PipNet Pipe Reamer using the 2nd and 3rd cutting heads to remove the cake. I cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished the bowl by sanding the walls with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The bowl walls looked very good. I scrubbed out the internals with pipe cleaners (normal & bristle), cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils in the shank between the mortise and the entrance of the airway into the bowl. It was quite dirty.I cleaned up the plateau areas on the rim top and shank end with a brass bristle wire brush. I worked on it until the groves were clean. I wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove all the debris. I sanded the smooth portions on the rim top with a folded piece of 200 grit sandpaper. It was looking better each step!I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I worked it into the grain on the sides, the plateau on the rim top and shank end and the rusticated patch on the right side of the bowl with the tooth brush. I rinsed the soap and grime off with warm water and dried it off with a soft towel. I looked much better at this point. The grain really stands out. I sanded the smooth part of the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to start the polishing process. I wiped down the bowl with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I followed that by polishing the smooth portions of the bowl sides with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. With the briar polished 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 and into the plateau rim top, shank end and rustication with a horsehair shoe brush. The product works 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. While the Balm did its work, I worked on the “new stem”. I sanded the tooth chatter and marks on the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It was starting to look better.I sanded the stem surface with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further polish the stem. I wiped it down between sanding pads with a damp cloth. I polished the acrylic stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This beautiful Soren Hand Carved Made In Denmark Freehand with a fancy, turned vulcanite saddle replacement stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Soren Hand Carved Freehand 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: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ x 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 58 grams/2.12 ounces. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section shortly if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for your time.

Restemming and Restoring a Mixed Finish Soren Hand Carved Freehand

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by Steve Laug

I am taking a break from the four pipes I am working on for Jack to clean up and match a stem with a nice freehand pipe that I have here in my box. It is a quick cleanup and restore and gives me a break from the heavier restoration work on Jack’s next pipe. This bowl has a mixed sandblast and smooth finish that was a bit dull and lifeless. It showed promise under the grit and grime of the years. On the underside of the shank it was clearly stamped Soren [over] Hand- Carved [over] Copenhagen [over] Denmark. The bowl had a moderate cake and some lava overflow on the smooth and plateau areas of the rim top. The bow also had some dust and debris in the flaws on the smooth portion of the bowl as well as in the crevices of the sandblast and the plateau on the shank end. I took some photos of the bowl before I started my work on it. I took a close up photo of the bowl to give an idea of what I had to work with. The bowl was very dirty and had a moderately thick cake. The smooth portions of the rim top have a lava coat the plateau portions are also almost filled in with lava. I also took a photo of the plateau on the shank end to show its condition – dirty but in good shape.I took two photos to try and capture the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is present and is readable in person far more than the photos show. It is stamped as noted above.I went through my cans of stems here and found a nice smokey grey and tan variegated acrylic saddle stem that would fit quite well with a few adjustments. It was dirty and needed a thorough cleaning by I think it will look good. I put the stem in the shank and took a few photos to get a sense of the look of this stem. I have worked on quite a few Soren pipes over the years and turned to one of the blogs that I wrote  on another interesting Soren Freehand Sitter (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/02/26/this-interesting-soren-hand-carved-freehand-turned-out-to-be-more-work-than-expected/). I quote from that blog below.

I looked up the brand on Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s10.html) and found that the brand was carved by Søren Refbjerg Rasmussen. Pipes that he made for the European market were mostly stamped “Refbjerg” while those made for the US market were stamped “Soren”. Thus, I knew that one I was working on was imported into the US market.

It was time to work on the pipe! I reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer using the 2nd and 3rd cutting heads to remove the cake. I cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished the bowl by sanding the walls with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The bowl walls looked very good. I scrubbed out the internals with pipe cleaners (normal & bristle), cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils in the shank between the mortise and the entrance of the airway into the bowl. It was quite dirty. I repeated the process with the stem as well.
I cleaned up the plateau areas on the rim top and shank end with a brass bristle wire brush. I worked on it until the groves were clean. I wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove all the debris. I sanded the smooth portions on the rim top with a folded piece of 200 grit sandpaper. It was looking better each step!I touched up the plateau on the rim top and shank wend with a black stain pen. I used a brass bristle wire brush to knock of the black on the high spots.I stained the smooth portions on the rim top with a Maple stain pen to match the rest of the bowl and shank. It looked good with the contrast of the black in the plateau areas.I sanded the smooth part of the front half of the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the flawed spots and the scratched. I forgot to take photos of the work – I apologize. I followed that with polished the smooth portions of the bowl sides with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad (Again no photos).

With the smooth portion of the briar polished 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 and into the plateau rim top, shank end and sandblast with a horsehair shoe brush. The product works 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. While the Balm did its work, I worked on the “new stem”. I sanded the tooth chatter and marks on the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It was starting to look better.I sanded the stem surface with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further polish the stem. I wiped it down between sanding pads with a damp cloth.I polished the acrylic stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This beautiful Soren Hand Carved Copenhagen Denmark Freehand with a fancy, turned grey/tan variegated acrylic replacement stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Soren Hand Carved Freehand 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: 6 inches, Height: 3 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 74 grams/2.61 ounces. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section shortly if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for your time.

Restemming and Restoring a Frasorteret Freehand

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by Steve Laug

This interesting Freehand with both smooth and sandblast finishes came to us from an estate we purchase from Santa Cruz, California USA on 05/28/2024. It is a unique looking pipe that took some work to figure out the stamping. With some digging and comparing we knew that the stamping on the underside of the shank just ahead of the vulcanite shank extension read Frasorteret [over] Hand Made [over] In [over] Denmark. You might well ask why we had to figure it out. That is simple in the half of the name line was cut off by the shank extension. The pipe has a flat bottom so it is a bit of a sitter. The finish is dirty with dust and oils in the sand blast portions on the bowl sides. The smooth portions are also dirty with oils and dirty ground into the finish. The plateau rim top has some darkening toward the back of the bowl as well as thick lava filling it the grooves in the finish. The bowl has a moderate cake. The vulcanite shank extension is oxidized and also dirty. The stem is actually a poor replacement that is a saddle stem for a straight shank. The pipe would have originally had a fancy freehand style military style stick stem that sat in the extension. It will need to be replaced. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his work on it. He took photos of the rim top to show the moderate cake in the bowl and the thick lava coat and debris in the plateau finish on the backside of the rim top. You can see that it basically fills in the grooves of the finish. He took photos of the stem to show the oxidation and calcification on it but at some level it does not matter as it will be replaced. Jeff took one photo of the right side of the bowl to give a sense of the finish on the bowl sides. There are no other photos at this point.He captured the stamping as best as possible on the underside of the shank next to the vulcanite shank extension. It reads as noted above.It seemed to me that Frasorteret pipes came from the creative carving of Preben Holm so I wanted to confirm that memory. When you get a certain age memory can fool you! I turned first to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-f4.html). It tied the line to Preben Holm but there was not too much more information at this point.I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Frasorteret) to gather further information. There the information was scant but none the less made the connection to Preben Holm very clear. Here is the information.

The Frasorteret line of pipes were made by Preben Holm and were nearly identical to his normal line of pipes but for fills and pits and the like. The pipes were stamped Frasorteret Made in Denmark.

Now I had the background I needed. I was ready to start working on this pipe. As usual, Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. I probably don’t say enough about how much I appreciate him doing the hard clean up work before I even get the pipes. He does an amazing job. He had reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer back to bare briar and removed the remnants of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He used a small blade to pick out the thick lava on the rim top. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and shank brushes. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe and the stem that came with it before I started my part of the restoration work. Preben’s Holm’s magic is very visible in the shaping of the pipe. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the clean condition. The bowl walls look very good. The replacement stem looks very clean and will be a good addition to my can of stem options. I tried to capture the stamping on the shank underside. It is a bit blurry but it is still very readable and clear as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the replacement stem removed. It really makes it clear to me that it is a replacement.The pipe was ready for me to work on but I decided first to go through my stems. I went through both vulcanite and acrylic stems which may sound easy but I have several hundred stems to sort through. I was looking for something that flowed with the delicate shape of the bowl and shank and was simply weightless looking. I found what I was looking for and took a photo of it with the stem I found. I like the looks of the new choice. What to do next? I figured I might as well continue working on the stem since I had already started. I sanded out the tooth chatter on the stem end and worked on the oxidation with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper.I sanded the stem with 2×2 sanding pads – 320-3500 to start the polishing process and further remove the oxidation and marks. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. It was beginning to look very good.I love watching the shine develop on the vulcanite as I polish it with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished this part of the polishing by using Marks Hoover’s Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped it off with a soft cloth and gave the stem another coat of Obsidian Oil. I set the stem aside and turned my attention to the bowl. I used some Soft Scrub to work on the oxidation on the vulcanite shank extension. I did a lot of scrubbing on it and the oxidation came off the vulcanite and it looked much better. I polished the smooth portions of the briar and the vulcanite shank extension with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. I wiped the shank extension down with Obsidian Oil. I take photos of the three groups of pads for my own viewing primarily as I am looking for progress in polishing. Once again, by the end of the process it looked quite 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. I worked it into the plateau finish with a shoe brush. It works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The grain came alive. This newly restemmed Frasorteret Hand Made in Denmark Freehand is a great looking pipe with some interesting shaping around the sides of the bowl and vulcanite shank extension. You can easily see the handiwork of Preben Holm in the shaping of the pipe. The beautiful grain around the smooth portions and sandblast on the other portions of the bowl is quite stunning and works well with both the shape and the polished vulcanite shank extension and the military stick mount stem. I put the new stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the wheel and followed by buffing the pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Preben Holm Hand Made Frasortert Freehand 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: 6 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 42 grams/1.52 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipemakers Section shortly. If you wish to add this interesting pipe to your rack it is a great addition. Send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. I appreciate your support and time!

Restoring and Restemming a BBB Own Make Thorneycroft Sand blast Canadian 506

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe I decided to work on is one from a Dan in South Carolina. He contacted me several weeks ago now about a pipe that he had come across in his things that was on that his mom had picked up for him. Now 16 or 17 years later he decided it is time to work on it. He wrote me the email below regarding this pipe and how he came upon. It piqued my interest because to be honest with you I love all things BBB.

Hello,
I recently stumbled on an old billiard pipe that my mom had bought me at an antique store while I packing up for a move. I was 16 or 17 at the time so I couldn’t use it and basically forgot about it until now, at 33, I’m starting to get into pipe tobacco more and more. The pipe has the “BBB” inside a diamond with “OWN MAKE” underneath that on the top of the shank, and “THORNEYCROFT Made In ENGLAND” with “506” just below it on the underside of the shank.

The problem is it has no stem, and the end of the shank where the stem would fit into, has many marks that I can’t tell whether they are chew marks or if they are just a part of the grain etc. To my very untrained eye the pipe seems to be in OK condition otherwise.

Being very new to this hobby and not knowing many resources yet or really what to do, and seeing your restorative work, I’d like to ask if you restore pipes for people or if you might be able to point me in the right direction on how I should go about making this pipe smokeable once again, or if it might not be worth it except for sentimentality sake. I’m able to provide pictures of the pipe if needed as well.

Thank you,
Dan

I wrote Dan back and asked him to send me some photos of the pipe so that I could see what I was dealing with in this pipe. He sent some amazing photos of various angles of the pipe and I was hooked. I asked him to send it up and I would restore and restem it for him. Here are the photos that he included for me. The first four photos are overall views of the pipe as a whole. The craggy sandblast, the typical rustication on the shank end that I have seen on most of these Thorneycroft pipes, and the delicate but classic look of a Canadian are all well captured. Dan sent photos of the bowl and rim top as well as photos of the sides of the bowl. I appreciate the detail in these photos. The bowl shot shows the tar and cake on the sides and heel of the bowl and the lava build up in the sandblast of the rim top. It should clean up fairly easy. He also notes with a red circle what appears to be a chip on the left side of the bowl on the outer edge of the rim. The more I examine it the more I think it is probably a part of the blast. But I will know more once I have it in hand. His close up photos of the shank show the rustication and the washed out stain on the shank end. I think it is the typical BBB rustication that I have seen on the shank end of the Canadians and long shank pipes in the Thorneycroft line. Dan did a great job capturing the stamping on the shank top and underside. It reads as he noted in his opening email.He took close up photos of the rustication as well. It is rugged and I have to say that I like it. Once it is restained it will look quite nice. The photo of the shank end shows that there are no crack in the shank. There is a nick on the lower right side that is probably a flaw in the briar.I did a search on Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-bbb.html) and looked for the specific Thorneycroft line. The second pipe in the list is stamped the same way as the one that I am working on and the stamping on the stem is the same. The Made in England stamp is identical to the second one. I looked on Pipedia and found several references to the BBB Own Make Thorneycroft pipe but nothing specific (https://pipedia.org/wiki/BBB). I also found an advertisement courtesy of Doug Valitchka from 1957 that had a great description of the Thorneycroft that I include below. It reads as follows:

Beautifully balanced, superbly lightweight and mellow smoking… these qualities have made the BBB Own Make Thorneycroft famous. First tough, age-old Algerian briar is carefully selected and cured then the bowls are carefully hand-turned. Now comes the special process of sand- erosion. The soft parts of the briar are literally blasted away leaving a hard bowl of unusual beauty, durability and sweetness. A mouthpiece of finest English Ebionite, inlaid with the famed metal emblem, and a specia dry smoking condenser tube complete the picture. Available in all 24 BBB shapes…I took some photos of the bowl as it was when I unpacked it. It was stamped as Dan noted above and was clear and readable. The rough shank end of the pipe was not damaged but had lost the stain that had originally coloured it. The little nick in the shank end does not damage the airway in the shank. The nicks that were noted on the edge of left side of the bowl appeared to me to be part of the blast and should be left as is. The bowl had a light cake on the walls and there was a light lava coat on the rim top where it had filled in some of the blast. The inner edge of the rim was in excellent condition with no damage. The outer edge had no damage either but there was some roughness to it due to the sand blast finish on the edge. It looked very good however. I took photos of the bowl to show the condition when I received it from Dan. I have included them below. I was hoping I had a BBB stem for the Canadian but I did not have one with the brass insert. I did have one that was a pretty decent fit. It would need to be adjusted in terms of the top, bottom and sides of the stem to fit the shank dimensions but it was the right length and shape for the pipe. It had a great shape on the slot that would give a good spread to the smoke.Now it was time to clean up the bowl. Since the cake was thin I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to scrape out the cake that was in the bowl. I took it back to bare briar and then sanded the walls with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. The bowl walls were in very good condition with no checking or burn damage.I wiped off the bowl with a damp cloth and was amazed at how little dust came off the finish. Dan had obviously wiped it down before he sent it. I also wiped down the rim top and it was quite clean as well. I used a black and a walnut stain pen to stain the shank end rustication to match the rest of the briar. It looked very good. Once it was buffed and polished it would be a perfect match. I used a brass bristle wire brush to knock off the remaining debris in the sandblast on the rim top. It looks very good with some deep blast sections on the top right and left. Beautiful blast in all ways.I cleaned out the internals of the shank, mortise and the airway in both the shank and the new stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The pipe smells fresh and ready to smoke again.Now that it was clean it was time to do a few minor surface repairs. The first of these was a small repair to a flaw on the shank end on the inner edge of the mortise on the lower left side. I used a tooth pick to put a drop of CA glue in the flaw and smooth it out on the surface. I did the same to the pit on the outer edge of the rim on the right side toward the back. Both were cosmetic rather than structural but it improved the look of the bowl in those spots. I smoothed out the repair on the shank end with a folded piece of sandpaper and touched the paper to the repair on the rim edge as well. I stained both with a Walnut stain pen and blended them into the surface. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a shoe brush to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The depths of the blast in the briar really comes alive with the balm. I worked on the fit of the stem to the shank with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I needed to reduce the diameter of the stem from top to bottom and from right to left. I worked on it for quite a bit of time sanding, sanding and more sanding until the fit to the shank was good and the transition between the shank and stem was smooth.I polished the stem once it fit with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. By the end the stem took on a good shine and the fit was very good.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 the stem. The photos below show the polished stem. I am pretty happy with the restoration and restemming of this BBB Own Make Thorneycroft Sandblast Canadian. There is a sandblast finish to the bowl that is rugged and rich looking. The newly fit stem is clean and smooth and looks good on the shank. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax 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 BBB Own Make Thorneycroft Canadian 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 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe was 30grams/1.02ounces. I will be sending it back to Dan shortly. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of it. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It is a privilege to be a part of the restoration and preservation of these old timers with a back story!

Restemming an UNSMOKED NOS WDC Military Bit Billiard

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by Steve Laug

About a year ago I visited an older pipe repair man (when I say older I mean older than me). He gave me a lot of pipe parts – stems, bases, bowl, tenons and bands On Monday, August 25 after a visit with my brother Kenneth and I went to visit my contact again. This time he had more stuff that he wanted to get rid of from his parts. Once again, we received more stems and tenons. But he also put in a box of pipes that were in various states of repair or disrepair. There were quite a few that needed to be restemmed. One of those pipes was an interesting Billiard with a nickel ferrule stamped WDC in the triangle on the left side of the shank and the same on the left side of the nickel ferrule. It was in great shape for having been knocked around for a long time in a box of bowls and pipes. The finish was dirty but the bowl was unsmoked and very clean. There was a very shiny coat of varnish on the outside of the bowl and at least one fill on the back side of the bowl. The nickel was also clean and unoxidized. I would need to come up with a stem for it. I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. It is clear and reads as noted above. The stamp is also gold and very readable. I also tried to capture the stamping on the nickel ferrule. The shine tends to blur that stamp.I started my work on the pipe by wiping it down with acetone to remove the shiny varnish coat. It worked very well. The acetone loosened the glue on the ferrule and it came off when I was wiping it down. I cleaned up the glue on the shank end with the acetone cloth so that the briar was free of it. I used a dental spatula to spread some all purpose glue on the shank end. I pressed the nickel ferrule in place on the shank end and wiped off the excess glue with a damp cloth. I set it aside to allow the glue to cure. I sanded the briar with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I dry sanded it and then wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The varnish finish was gone and the fills in the bowl sides were very visible. I polished the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping down the bowl after each pad with a damp cloth. The briar took on a more natural shine than what was present when the bowl was varnished. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The following photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I am very happy with the results. I set the bowl aside and went through my stems. I found an unused vulcanite stem that had an orific button and a gentle that fits the style of the age of the pipe. It is also unsmoked and still bears a price tag on the underside. There is some oxidation around the tag and on both sides. I removed the sticky label with acetone on a cotton pad. I sanded the stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the nicks in the surface and the oxidation. It began to look much better as the work went on.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads and wiped the stem down after each pad to remove the sanding debris. It began to take on a deep shine.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I wiped it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside. The smooth WDC Billiard with a nickel ferrule and military vulcanite bit is a real beauty and the finish and shape are well done and have a classic English Billiard look even though this is an American Made pipe. The vulcanite military bit polished up on the buffing wheel with Blue Diamond and had a rich glue. I polished the nickel ferrule with a jeweller’s cloth. 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 WDC Billiard 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 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.20 ounces/33 grams. I will soon be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the American Pipe Maker 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!

Restoring a Piece of Danish Pipe History – a Suhr Kobenhavn Bruyere Extra Dublin

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By Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is an interesting short stemmed, sandblast Dublin that I found in a display cabinet. We purchased it from an Antique Mall in Lincoln City, Oregon, USA on 08/24/2024. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank Suhr [over] Kobenhavn. That is followed by Bruyere [over] EXTRA. The band covers some of the next portion of the stamp but it looks like it reads By Hand [over] a shape number beginning with 9. The band is stamped Birmingham Sterling Silver and has a T date stamp. The shank is cracked and I assume that someone put an English band on it that in no way reflects the country of origin. The bowl had a thick cake and lava overflowing on the rim top and inner edge. The sandblast finish was dirty with grime in the sandblast. The stem is worn and has been cut off and a button shaped at the end. There was no bother taken on the slot and it is uneven and rough. It leaves a short snorter of a pipe that does not quite look right.  I took photos of the pipe before I started my clean up work. I have included them below. I took a photo of the rim top, bowl and the surfaces of the stem to give a sense of the condition of the pipe. The bowl is out of round toward the front of the bowl. There was a thick lava coat on the rim edges or top filling in the sandblast. The stem is heavily oxidized, calcified and dirty. It has also been cut off a bit crooked and the button is not clean. The Sterling Silver shank band is dented, scratched and oxidized. It has also been cut at an angle.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable and read as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed. It is definitely dirty and very oxidized on the shank extension and the stem.While I was looking at the pipe in the Antique Mall I looked up the Suhr brand on Pipephil’s helpful site where he has some great resources on stamping (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s13.html). I had a fleeting memory of the name but I could not give it any data. I read about the brand and looked at the shape of the pipe shown on the site which was very similar to the pipe I was looking at. I was pretty convinced that the pipe at the shop was made by the same Suhr as shown on Pipephil’s site. The photos included also gave a clear picture of what the original stem may have looked like on the pipe when it left the maker. I bought it based on that information and added it to the purchase.

I have added the information, photos and a screen capture of the section below for the purpose of putting the information together with the restoration. Suhr’s Pibemageri (pipe workshop) was owned by Teophil Suhr. Poul Rasmussen († 1967), Svend Axel Celius or Sven Knudsen used to produce the pipes proposed in the shop.

It is not established the red-white dot is Suhr’s original logo. it may be the symbol used by Poul Rasmussen himself. See also: Anne Julie (widow of Poul Rasmussen)

When I got home and before I began working on the pipe I reread PipePhil’s info included above and turned to Pipedia for more (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Suhr%27s_Pibemageri). I quote from that site below.

Suhr’s Pibemageri was a pipemaking workshop started by Teofil Suhr in Copenhagen central to the birth of the modern Danish pipe. When Sixten Ivarsson, then a debt collector newly moved to Copenhagen, broke his pipe, it was to Suhr’s he went for a repair, only to find a broken lathe and no pipemaker. Soon after, he was working as the foreman at Suhr’s, where, among others, Peter Micklson got his start and Sven Axel Celius learned pipemaking from Poul Rasmussen and his then foreman Sven Knudsen. Pipes from Suhr’s were stamped with the workshop name Suhr, and on occasion carried the same red and white dot used by Anne Julie to this day.

While it is said to be a disagreement with Suhr’s that led Ivarsson to leave for Stanwell, and all of these names went on to greater fame in later years, it would be impossible to overstate the importance of Suhr’s to the evolution of the modern smoking pipe.

I googled Suhr to find more information. I found some on the Smokingpipes.com web site (https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/suhr/). I quote the information on the brand there.

Suhr is a venerable name, tracing back to the 1940s in Copenhagen, where it was primarily a pipe repair shop before picking up pipe manufacturing. Sixten Ivarsson served as foreman there in the 1940s before moving on to Stanwell. When he left, Poul Rasmussen became foreman and made Suhr pipes until his death in 1967. His widow, Anne Julie, started making pipes at that time, and eventually trained other carvers, including Tom Eltang.

The grandson of famous pipe makers Poul Rasmussen and Anne Julie, Johannes Rasmussen trained with Tom Eltang for years before carrying on the Suhr name.

When Johannes decided to pursue pipe making, he went full circle in his family history and contacted Tom Eltang for an apprenticeship. While at the Eltang workshop, he learned the basics and began exploring his own creative voice, expanding his artistic reach until confident about breaking out on his own.

It was natural to resurrect the Suhr name for his pipes. Johannes credits his grandparents and Tom Eltang for his inspiration, and they were all part of Suhr history. He maintains a keen understanding of his place in the historical legacy of pipe making, in which he stands on the shoulders of giants.

I also turned to another site listed by google called Worthpoint. The site also showed a Suhr pipe and the description is very similar to mine (https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/bruyere-extra-suhr-kobenhavn-hand-1864270360). I quote the site’s description below.

No cracks or rim chips. Reads “2085 BRUYERE EXTRA SUHR KOBENHAVN BY HAND ” on the shank.

The shape number 2085 is the only difference in the stamp. The order of the stamp is slightly different but the data is the same. From that it helped me interpret what is partially hidden under the silver band. I now knew that it read By Hand and the shape number starting 9.

Now it was time to work on the pipe. I started my work by reaming the cake and debris in the bowl. I reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer using the 1st and 2nd cutting heads to remove the cake. I took it back to bare briar. I followed that by scraping out what remained on the bowl walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls smooth with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The bowl walls looked very good with no burn damage or checking on the walls. I scraped the rim to with the Fitsall knife to remove the thick lava coat. I went over it with a brass bristle brush to clean out the grooves in the sandblast rim and it was starting to look better.I cleaned out he internals of the shank, mortise and airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I hard started shaping the new stem (an older worn Stanwell saddle stem seemed a fitting one to use). I paused to clean it at this point.I scrubbed the dirty bowl with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water and dried it with a cotton cloth. It did a great job removing the oils and tars and overall the bowl looked much better. I touched up the outer edge where it was worn and the top of the rim with a Maple Stain Pen. The colour was a perfect match. The only frustration was the burn damage on the front of the inner edge now really is visible. I think I will need to go back and work on that area. I worked over the inner edge again with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to give it a bevel and try to minimize the damage. Once finished I restained it with the Maple Stain Pen.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the sandblast finish with my fingertips and a shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. The blog is slightly out chronological order as I worked on the stem fit before I worked on the bowl but I decided to write it this way. Using your imagination walk with me through the stem fitting process. I had to search for a stem in my collection of stems that would work with this pipe. I wanted a saddle stem that had some more length on it and would require a minimum of shaping and contouring. I had a tired older Stanwell saddle stem that I think looked very similar to the Suhr in the photos on PipePhil. I think it is quite appropriate to use a Stanwell stem on this Danish piece of history. I would need to reshape the saddle portion and clean up the tenon but the stem would do the trick. Before I cleaned up the pipe I ft the stem to the shank to get a sense of what it looked like. It would take a lot of shaping and sanding to get the fit right but I liked the look. Whoever had banded the pipe in the past had put the band on crooked so the shank end was no longer straight It was off to the left side and the stem would not face against the shank well. Since I was going to make a mess with the stem I decided to do the fitting work before I cleaned up the pipe. I used a Dremel and a Sanding drum to shape the saddle portion to fit the follow of the shank. It took a bit of work but I was able to get a rough fit. I heated the band with my heat gun to loosen the band. It was tightly in place. I used some acetone to try and it to failed. It seemed that the band had been glued in place on the shank with epoxy during the repair. It refused to move! So, the Danish Pipe would be permanently joined with a British Sterling band from Birmingham made in either 1943 or 1968. The stamping on the band was not altogether clear though it was a T. The only I am sure of is that it was added after market as a repair using a band that was handy. Left with that unmovable nature I had to work with what I had. I used a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper and hand sanding to flatten the shank end and square it up for a better stem fit. The stem fit better against the shank. Now I needed to sand the sides to shape them to match the shank curves. I worked over the stem with 220 grit sandpaper while I sat on my front porch. I shaped it in place on the shank just to make sure the fit was right. The shape of the shank appears to be oval but it is flat on the bottom and domed on the top. It took a lot of sanding and shaping to get the fit right but the photos show where it is after much sanding. Chronologically it was at this point in the process that I removed the stem and went back and scrubbed the bowl to clean up the mess. I cleaned it and used the Balm on it. While it sat doing its magic I started the polishing process on the stem. I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It really began to take on a finished look.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 Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. This beautiful Suhr Kobenhvn Bruyere Extra Zulu with a newly fit saddle looks amazing. The briar is clean and the finish really came alive. The rich brown stains gave the finish a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. 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. The finished Suhr Kobenhvn Zule really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 28 grams/.95 ounces. This beautiful pipe will reside in my collection at least for a while as I enjoy this piece of Danish Pipe History. If the condition of the pipe when it was found is any indicator, the pipe should be a great smoker. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on.

Restoring and Restemming a John Crouch Heavyweigh Rhodesian

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By Steve Laug

A while back I received an email reaching out about a pipe that the writer, Anthony had acquired long ago and wanted to know if I had heard of it. He wrote the following email:

Hello, I am just wondering if in all your refurbishings you’ve come across any pipes stamped with the name John Crouch? I would love to send you photos but don’t see a way possible to do that. I’ve had this for 20 years and don’t really remember where I picked it up. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

I wrote him back and asked for photos of the pipe and the stamping so I had something to work with. For me this always helps in the hunt for the identity as generally it gives me a lot of information. Anthony wrote back and sent some photos for me.

Hi Steve, thank you for the quick response!! Here are a few shots I have of this beauty. It’s one of the only bulldogs I’ve seen without the double lines engraved into it. Like I said in my first message. I’ve had it for 20+ years. If I had to guess I picked it up in Colorado when I lived out there. I would love to hear what you think. Thanks again!!! ps. if you need more photos let me know. The third photo he included gave a clear look at the stamping on the left side of the shank. It read John Crouch [over] HEAVYWEIGH [over] Italy. My initial thinking before doing any digging on the brand is that it was a pipe made for a pipe shop by someone like Savinelli (Italy). It is stamped with what I think is the shop name. I think that the “T” is missing on the end of HEAVYWEIGH as the shank is to short for the stamp. But some digging will clear that up.I wrote Anthony back with what I found. I was surprised that Pipedia included the brand but not surprised that it confirmed my suspicions about it being a pipe shop pipe. Here is my email:

The pipe is a beauty Anthony. I did a bit of digging and found this information on https://pipedia.org/wiki/John_Crouch

“John Crouch Tobacconist embodies the essence of Virginia. After all, tobacco is Virginia’s oldest industry. Years ago, tobacco was believed to have medical properties and a tobacconist was consulted in much of the same way that a pharmacist is today. In those days, a tobacconist would create a blend of tobacco products to ease an ailment. John Crouch Tobacconist has been home to the Washington areas’ nicest and largest humidor for over 30 years.” Apparently they also have pipes made for them under their name. I have also included photos from that listing. Hope that helps – Steve

I am including the following photos from Pipedia and the advertising page that Anthony sent as well as they give a clear picture of the manufacturer of the pipe and the shop it was made for. Now I really want to visit this shop! Anthony wrote back and I include that below. I think his idea of calling or emailing them is perfect. He also asked if I would consider working on it if he chose to send it to me.

Hey Steve, Thanks for the info. I, too, found this but didn’t think it was associated with the shop in Virginia!!! I guess I need to give them a call or email them to try to get to the bottom of this. Thanks for the help. Actually, two other things. 1.Is there a reason so few bulldogs lack the double engraved lines around the bowl? 2. If down the line what would a refurbishing run me? Rough estimate, nothing set in stone find of thing. Again. Thanks for your quick responses and your time.

I answered him that I would gladly take on the project for him for the chance to see the pipe up close and personal. I answered his other questions about the lack of rings around the bowl cap. Some time went by and he wrote again.

I also wanted to thank you for helping me figure out my John Crouch Heavyweigh pipe!! I contacted and talked with one of the guys down there in Alexandria, VA. He said, yes, back in the 70’s they in fact imported these Italian pipes then stamped and sold them. I would love to send you this pipe for a restoration. If you could send me your address I’ll send it off in the next few days. I should have ask first if you have time or backed up on restorations? Or when would be a good time to send it to you?

I look forward to seeing what you can do to this amazing pipe. I love how detailed your blog posts and restoration process are!!

Thank you again and hope to hear from you soon.

I answered and Anthony wrote that he had sent the pipe to me. He also included another piece of information that would be important in the restoration and repair.

Hey Steve… I should tell you I did break a chunk of the stem off. I slipped off a step as I was walking down then and unfortunately one of my reactions was to bite down and it broke the mouth piece of the stem. I think I have them still. If I can find the pieces should I send them?

Thank you in advance. I can’t wait to see the transformation and the documentation on the blog. All the best!! Anthony

The pipe arrived yesterday just as I finished the repair on the table that was ahead of it. Great timing! I opened the box and took photos of the pipe as I examined it to get a clear assessment of the work that lay ahead of me. Before I took the photos I removed the Softee Bit from the stem so I could see the damage on the stem top that Anthony had mentioned. I love the shape of the pipe – to me a Rhodesian without the rim cap rings but still the right shape. The pipe is well used and must be a great smoker. There was a moderate cake in the bowl and lava on the rim top. The inner edge of the bowl is rough and shows some reaming damage leaving it out of round a bit. The finish is dirty and there are some spots of varnish or shellac remaining around the bowl and shank. There are a few fills but they are solid. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads as noted above. The stamp is clear and readable. I wonder if the HEAVYWEIGH stamp is missing the “T” but suppose we won’t know for sure. The stem is well fit but the damage on the topside was more extensive than I thought once I remove the Softee Bit. I have mad patches this big before but really never have been happy with the suspected lack of durability of them. I think this one would be better off with a new stem. I took some closeup photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition. You can see the damage on the inner edge and the generally roughness of the top and edge. The photos of the stem surface show the size of the damage. I hope you can see my rationale for restemming this one rather than making a patch that large.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. It is clear as noted. You can also see why I wondered if the HEAVYWEIGH portion is missing the T. You can also see the shellac or varnish on the shank in this photo. To give a sense of the proportion of the of the pipe I removed the stem and took a photo of it. This will help me when I choose a new stem for it.Now to work on the pipe itself. I started by reaming it with a PipNet Pipe Reamer. The bowl was large enough that I used the second and third cutting heads. I took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I also scraped off the lava build up on the rim top with the knife. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. I took it back to smooth walls. The walls looked very good with no sign of checking or burning. I cleaned out the shank, mortise and the airway in the bowl with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It took a lot of cleaners but I got the grime and oils out of the shank and though the pipe smelled of tobacco it was much cleaner smelling than previous to that. I chose not to clean the stem since I was going to replace it.With the internals cleaned I turned my attention to the rim top. I worked over the inner edge of the bowl and the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I then gently topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper. I cleaned up the inner edge a bit more. The pipe looked amazingly good. I wiped down the bowl with acetone soaked cotton pads to remove the varnish/shellac coat. It was particularly heavy around the stamping on the shank – both sides. It took much work to remove the shiny coat. I sanded the bowl with sanding pads – 320-3500 grit pads. I dry sanded it and wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad. I was able to remove all of the shiny coat and the bowl began to take on a natural shine. I stained the rim top with a Cherry stain pen to match the rest of the briar. I also stained the lighter areas around the shank end. The rim top looked much better.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris on the surface. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I used a shoe brush to work it into the twin rings around the bowl cap. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth and shoe brush to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to a new stem. I found a blank in my can of stems that was close to the right diameter and just slightly longer. With a few adjustments to the tenon and the diameter at the shank the fit will be good. You can also see the large broken chunk missing on the original stem in the photo below. In the second photo below, I knocked off the casting debris with a Dremel and sanding drum in preparation for using my tenon turning tool.I used the PIMO tenon turner to bring the tenon down close to the size that I wanted. I do this in stages as the tool can chip the tenon if you take too big a bite at one time. The second photo shows it getting closer. I paused mid turn to show how it cuts away material. Once I cleaned it up the fit was very close. Some sanding would make the fit perfect. I used a small flat file to remove the casting marks on the sides of the stem and fine tune the tenon fit in the bowl and took some photos of where it stands at this point.I started sanding the diameter of the stem to match the shank and then decided to give it a quick bend. I heated it with the flame of a lighter until the vulcanite was soft then bent the end to get the angle correct. I checked it against the original stem and the bend matched. Good to go! Now I had a lot of hand sanding to do to trim back the diameter to fit the shank. I do this next part all by hand with the stem removed and constantly putting it on the shank and checking progress. It is tedious so I can think of other things while sanding. It makes the process a bit of a respite. I can’t tell you how many hours of sanding this took but it is finally there. The fit is right and now it is time to polish it. Once the fit was correct, I started polishing out the scratch marks and smoothing the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It removes the dust and also gives the sanding pads some bite. By the final pad it was looking quite good.Following my usual process in restoration 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 further with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to absorb the oil. The John Crouch Heavyweigh(t) Rhodesian has been restemmed and is finished other than the final waxing and buffing. I polished the new stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and gave it several coats of carnauba. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad on the buffer to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 45 grams/1.59 ounces. It does not feel heavy and the weight certainly does not put it in a heavy category for me. I will be sending it back to Anthony shortly. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of it once he has it in hand. If the condition was any indicator it is a good smoker. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this John Crouch Heavyweigh(t) Rhodesian.

The Fifth of Six Pipes from Salmon Arm for Restoration –A Vauen Dr. Perl 3288 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a friend, Sonny in Salmon Arm, BC. We have worked together on pipes over the past few years either ones that I have sold to him or those he has picked up on auctions or sales that I have restored. He wrote that he had some pipes that needed restoration.

I also have some of those old estates I still need to send to you for restoration. Hopefully I will be able to pack them up and get them off to you this week. Thank you again, Steve! – Sonny

He followed that up with another email regarding what he wanted done on the various pipes. I have included it below.

I would like the Vauen bent ball shape to have no band on it. It looks like it may have had a band there at one time and I’m not sure why. And if any of them needs to be stained again, I would like them to be black, especially the Peterson 309 and that ball Vauen. Let me know what you think.

I took a photo of the box of six pipes once I unwrapped them. There were 6 interesting pipes – a Vauen Luxus Bent Ball, a Vauen Dr. Perl Billiard, a Sand Blast Vauen Dr. Perl Pot, a Parade News Briar Shop Oom Paul, a Bari Pearl Bamboo shank Ball and Peterson’s System Premier 309 Bent Billiard. All were in need of various degrees of restoration.The fifth pipe I chose to work on was another Vauen Dr. Perl but this time a saddle stem Billiard. It is stamped on the left side and reads Vauen [over] Dr. Perl. On the underside it is stamped with the shape number 3288 followed by a pair of crossed bent pipes. The finish was dull with grime on the surface of the sides of the bowl. The was a moderate cake in the bowl – heavier in the bottom half. There was some light lava on the rim top and some darkening. The filter stem was lightly oxidized and there was tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. I took these photos before I started my work on the pipe. I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. There is a moderate cake in the bowl and some lava and rim darkening on the top and inner edge. The photos of the stem show the oxidation and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping was very clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe. I am including the background on the Vauen brand that I have used before. I always read over it before I start my work on a pipe. It is an important part of the restoration to me as it adds colour to the pipe I am working on. I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-v1.html). I did a screen capture of the information on the site. There was a great sidebar that gave some history of the brand. I include both of them below. In 1848, Karl Ellenberger and his partner Carl August Ziener establish a pipe factory in Nuremberg. In 1901 they merge with Gebhard Ott an other factory in town and they create a firm named Vereinigten Pfeifenfabriken Nürnberg (abbreviated : VPFN*). Shortly after Ernst Eckert, a member of the Ott family became manager of the society. During the 20th century Adolf, Ernst (jr) and Alexander Eckert (CEO in 2012) followed one another at Vauen’s head.* VPFN : “V” is said VAU in German (pronounce faou) and “N” becomes EN. Hence VAUEN.

Dal Stanton (Pipesteward.com) wrote a great piece on the history of the brand on a Vauen pipe that he worked on. I reread that and quote a section from the blog below that gives a great sense of the history of the German brand and some photos from the website (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/04/27/breathing-new-life-into-a-german-vauen-6294-p-lip-saddle-billiard-for-a-special-young-lady/).

… I turn to the question of the history of the VAUEN name? I look to the History section of the VAUEN website and again, I am impressed with the presentation. Whenever I work on a pipe, and especially when a pipe name is new to me, I enjoy looking at its history to appreciate the pipe more fully now on my worktable. From VAUEN’s website:Quality and a wealth of ideas have a long tradition at VAUEN. 160 years of VAUEN: that means 160 years of skilled workmanship and modern technology and 160 years of experience in fulfilling the individual wishes of today’s pipe lovers, and those of tomorrow.

In Nuremberg in 1848, Karl Ellenberger and his partner Carl August Ziener turned an idea into reality: Germany’s first pipe manufacturer produced tobacco pipes for connoisseurs around the world using a selection of the best wood. In an amalgamation with the Gebhard Ott pipe factory, which was founded in 1866 in Nuremberg, the Vereinigten Pfeifenfabriken Nuremberg (United Pipe Factories Nuremberg, or VPFN) was born in 1901.  Under the management of Ernst Eckert, a descendent of the founding Ott family, a company was born whose products and services would shape the tobacco and smoking culture in Europe and overseas for the next 160 years and counting.

The question about the name, VAUEN, not being a name of a person and why it is capitalized throughout is explained:

In his search for a name that would be easily remembered by all pipe lovers, Ernst Eckert’s son, Adolf Eckert, coined a new name for the company in 1909: VAUEN – a composition of the first letters V (pronounced vow) of Vereinigte Pfeifenfabriken and N (pronounced en) of Nuremberg. A brand for the future was born.

Armed with that information I turned my attention to the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the second and third cutting head to remove the cake. I cleaned up what remained of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl to remove any remnants with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. Once finished the inside of the bowl was smooth and the briar was bare. I cleaned up the rim top to remove the darkening and the lava. I used a Savinelli Fitsall knife to scrape off the lava. I sanded the top with a 320 grit sanding pad. It looked much better. I cleaned up the rim top to remove the darkening and the lava. I used a Savinelli Fitsall knife to scrape off the lava. I sanded the top with a 320 grit sanding pad. It looked much better.I touched up the rim top and edge with a Cherry Stain pen to match the rest of the surrounding briar.Once the pipe was reamed and the rim top cleaned I worked on the internals – the mortise and airway in the shank and airway in the stem. I scraped the shank with a pen knife to scrape off the tars and thick carbon. It appeared that the pipe has been heavily smoked without the filter and the inside of the shank was a mess. The stem was more of the same. I cleaned them all with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. It used a lot of them but the results are very good. I scrubbed the externals of the bowl with Before & After Briar Cleaner and a tooth brush. I rinsed off the grime and grit from the cleaning with warm water and dried it with a soft cloth. I polished the briar by dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. By the last three pads the briar really took on a rich shine. When I get the bowl to this point in the process I use Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I work it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covers every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. Once the time has passed I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. You see the shine that the briar has taken on and the way sandblast has depth. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface. I was able to lift all of the marks significantly and then sanded them out with 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look good.I took out my box of Vauen 9mm filters and put a new filter in the tenon of the stem. It fit perfectly and sat in the stem and shank as expected. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. As usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when I put a pipe back together, polished and waxed. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain really pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the  browns of the bowl and shank. This Vauen Dr. Perl 3288 Saddle Stem Billiard was another fun pipe to work on. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.45 ounces/41 grams. Just one more of Sonny’s pipes to work on before I send them all back to him. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I working on it. As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

The Fourth of Six Pipes from Salmon Arm for Restoration –A Vauen Dr. Perl 103 Sandblast Pot

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by Steve Laug

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a friend, Sonny in Salmon Arm, BC. We have worked together on pipes over the past few years either ones that I have sold to him or those he has picked up on auctions or sales that I have restored. He wrote that he had some pipes that needed restoration.

I also have some of those old estates I still need to send to you for restoration. Hopefully I will be able to pack them up and get them off to you this week. Thank you again, Steve! – Sonny

He followed that up with another email regarding what he wanted done on the various pipes. I have included it below.

 I would like the Vauen bent ball shape to have no band on it. It looks like it may have had a band there at one time and I’m not sure why. And if any of them needs to be stained again, I would like them to be black, especially the Peterson 309 and that ball Vauen. Let me know what you think.

I took a photo of the box of six pipes once I unwrapped them. There were 6 interesting pipes – a Vauen Luxus Bent Ball, a Vauen Dr. Perl Billiard, a Sand Blast Vauen Dr. Perl Pot, a Parade News Briar Shop Oom Paul, a Bari Pearl Bamboo shank Ball and Peterson’s System Premier 309 Bent Billiard. All were in need of various degrees of restoration.The fourth pipe I chose to work on was the Vauen Dr. Perl Pot. It is stamped on the underside and reads Vauen [over] Dr. Perl. To the right of that it is stamped with the shape number 103 followed by a pair of crossed bent pipes. The finish was quite clean with light dust in the sandblast grooves. This bowl was an odd one. It was quite clean but when I took it out of the box there were a couple chunks that fell out in my hand. I examined the bowl with a lens and found that the bowl had been given a thick bowl coating that was cracked and chipping. As I examined it I hit a few spots with my fingernail and the coating chipped off. There was no cake in the bowl as it appeared to have been cleaned before the bowl coating had been applied. The coating was very thick and very brittle and I figured it would all come out quite simply. The stem was lightly oxidized but otherwise clean. There was a paper filter in the filter mortise. That filter was in decent condition with some yellowing on the paper. There did not appear to be anything other than tooth chatter ahead of the button. I took these photos before I started my work on the pipe. I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. There is something on the walls of the bowl but the cake is gone. It appears to be a bowl coating of some sort but it is in rough condition. Otherwise the bowl is clean and in good condition. The photos of the stem show the heavy oxidation and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above. It is much clearer in person but is hard to capture on the curve of the shank. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe. I removed the filter from the shank. It is a bit of a unique filter made by Vauen that I have not seen before. I am including the background on the Vauen brand that I have used before. I always read over it before I start my work on a pipe. It is an important part of the restoration to me as it adds colour to the pipe I am working on. I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-v1.html). I did a screen capture of the information on the site. There was a great sidebar that gave some history of the brand. I include both of them below.In 1848, Karl Ellenberger and his partner Carl August Ziener establish a pipe factory in Nuremberg. In 1901 they merge with Gebhard Ott an other factory in town and they create a firm named Vereinigten Pfeifenfabriken Nürnberg (abbreviated : VPFN*). Shortly after Ernst Eckert, a member of the Ott family became manager of the society. During the 20th century Adolf, Ernst (jr) and Alexander Eckert (CEO in 2012) followed one another at Vauen’s head.* VPFN : “V” is said VAU in German (pronounce faou) and “N” becomes EN. Hence VAUEN.

Dal Stanton (Pipesteward.com) wrote a great piece on the history of the brand on a Vauen pipe that he worked on. I reread that and quote a section from the blog below that gives a great sense of the history of the German brand and some photos from the website (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/04/27/breathing-new-life-into-a-german-vauen-6294-p-lip-saddle-billiard-for-a-special-young-lady/).

… I turn to the question of the history of the VAUEN name? I look to the History section of the VAUEN website and again, I am impressed with the presentation. Whenever I work on a pipe, and especially when a pipe name is new to me, I enjoy looking at its history to appreciate the pipe more fully now on my worktable. From VAUEN’s website:Quality and a wealth of ideas have a long tradition at VAUEN. 160 years of VAUEN: that means 160 years of skilled workmanship and modern technology and 160 years of experience in fulfilling the individual wishes of today’s pipe lovers, and those of tomorrow.

In Nuremberg in 1848, Karl Ellenberger and his partner Carl August Ziener turned an idea into reality: Germany’s first pipe manufacturer produced tobacco pipes for connoisseurs around the world using a selection of the best wood. In an amalgamation with the Gebhard Ott pipe factory, which was founded in 1866 in Nuremberg, the Vereinigten Pfeifenfabriken Nuremberg (United Pipe Factories Nuremberg, or VPFN) was born in 1901.  Under the management of Ernst Eckert, a descendent of the founding Ott family, a company was born whose products and services would shape the tobacco and smoking culture in Europe and overseas for the next 160 years and counting.

The question about the name, VAUEN, not being a name of a person and why it is capitalized throughout is explained:

In his search for a name that would be easily remembered by all pipe lovers, Ernst Eckert’s son, Adolf Eckert, coined a new name for the company in 1909: VAUEN – a composition of the first letters V (pronounced vow) of Vereinigte Pfeifenfabriken and N (pronounced en) of Nuremberg. A brand for the future was born.

Armed with that information I turned my attention to the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to remove the brittle and crumbling bowl coating. It was very strange stuff and little fell apart as I touched it. I cleaned up what remained of the coating with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl to remove any remnants with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. Once finished the inside of the bowl was smooth and the briar was bare of the coating. Once the pipe was reamed, cleaned I worked on the internals – the mortise and airway in the shank and airway in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. The shank was quite clean other than the dust from my work on the bowl. The stem was also very clean.When I get the bowl to this point in the process I use Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I work it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covers every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. Once the time has passed I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. You see the shine that the briar has taken on and the way sandblast has depth. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I worked over the stem with Soft Scrub cleanser and cotton pads to further remove the oxidation in the surface of the vulcanite.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look good.Since I did not have any filters for the Vauen like the one that was in place I used it again. It was discoloured from time but had not been used so it was clean.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. As usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when I put a pipe back together, polished and waxed. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. 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 it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The sandblast finish really pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the dark browns of the bowl and shank. This Vauen Dr. Perl 103 Pot was another fun pipe to work on. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.20 ounces/33 grams. Just two more of Sonny’s pipes to work on before I send them all back to him. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I working on it. As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Cleaning up a Pineapple Style Rusticated Peterson’s of Dublin System Standard 312

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by Steve Laug

I finally finished the heavy group of pipes that I was working on for the wife of an old pipe man in Ontario. There were some amazing pipes there and with the restoration they came out looking very good. I will be mailing them out to him early in the week ahead. Now it was time to work on other pipes awaiting restoration. The first of those on the table is a Peterson’s of Dublin System Standard 312 with a pineapple style rustication and an acrylic fishtail stem. I received an email before my trip to Idaho to visit my father. In it a friend Matthew wrote about a pipe he had picked up that needed my attention. I have included the email below.

Steve, The Peterson is heading your way.  I probably would not have even purchased the Pete, except it is an example of the “pineapple” rustication that Peterson used to employ.  They’re getting hard to find and I do not know if it from rarity (not many made) or that Peterson did not sell many because the rustication did not appeal to pipe smokers. Please examine the Pete and give me your diagnosis. Thank you. Matthew

This afternoon I opened the box Matthew shipped the pipe in and found a nice looking green Peterson’s box inside. I opened the box and found a Peterson’s 312 inside and the original green pipe sock it came in. It was a great looking pipe. The smell in the box was a heavy English/Latakia smell that filled the room when I opened the box. The finish on the pipe was quite clean with just some dust in the rustication grooves. The polished nickel ferrule was in excellent condition with no dents or tarnish. The bowl had a thick cake on the walls of the bowl and the shank had a lot of tar and oil sludge filling the sump, the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem. The stem was acrylic and was a fishtail style stem. I believe it is a Peterson’s made fishtail stem that came with the pipe but I am not sure. The fir in the shank is perfect which seems to point this direction. There is no P stamp on the saddle portion of the stem but that is not abnormal as many of their stems did not have the stamp. Overall it is a beautiful pipe with a unique finish. I am looking forward to working on it. I took photos of the pipe before I started. I took a close-up photo of the bowl and rim top to show its condition. The inside of the bowl was heavily caked with debris in the bottom of the bowl. The rim top looked very good with just some grime in the rustication. There was a polished nickel ferrule on the shank end that was in decent condition with no nicks. The acrylic stem was dirty and had some light tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button.I took photos of the stamping on the smooth panel on the underside of the shank. It is faint but readable as noted above. I also took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the nickel ferrule and it is also very clear. I also removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to remove the cake. I cleaned up what remained with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl to remove any remnants of cake with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. Once finished the inside of the bowl was smooth. Once the pipe was reamed and clean I took the opportunity to work on the internals – the sump, mortise and airway in the shank and stem. I cleaned out the airway to the bowl, the mortise and the airway in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. The stink in the pipe was still strong so I decided to exorcise the stink. I stuffed the bowl with cotton bolls and twisted a cotton boll and stuffed it in the sump and mortise. I used an ear syringe to fill the bowl with 99% isopropyl alcohol and set the bowl aside to let the oils wick out of the briar. I let the pipe sit overnight. In the morning the second and third photos show what I found. The shank plug cotton had wicked out tars, oils and some stain! It smells far better than when I started the process. I will let it dry out and check it again to see if I need to repeat the process. I cleaned up the rim top a bit with some Before & After Briar Cleaner. I worked it into the rim top surface with a tooth brush and then buffed it off with a cotton pad. It looked much better at this point in the process. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for ten minutes then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. Mark Hoover’s Balm is a product that I have come to appreciate and one I use on every pipe I have been working on. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a soft cloth. It began to look good. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. Matthew’s beautifully shaped K&P Peterson’s of Dublin System Standard 312 was a fun one to work on. It has unique Pineapple Rustication beauty that the Peterson’s System Pipes have ceased to use. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to blend in the stain and to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. 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 it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The rusticated finish is well done and the polished smooth finish on the shank end and rim top look really good with the black vulcanite stem. This Peterson’s of Dublin System Standard 312 was a fun pipe to clean up. It is a comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 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 51 grams/1.80 ounces. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This interesting Peterson will be going back to Matthew to fire up and enjoy! Thanks for reading this blog and walking through the restoration with me.