Tag Archives: refinishing a briar bowl

A Kennett No.1 Billiard Another Brilliant Attempt at a Cool Dry Smoke

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By Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is a pipe that we picked up from a seller in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, USA on 02/02/2022. This one was a unique fluted, pinched shank take on classic Billiard. It is stamped on the topside of the shank and reads Kennett [arched over] No 1. On the underside of the shank it is stamped London Made [over] Made in England [over] Reg’d 731096. The smooth, fluted finish around the bowl shows some nice grain patterns. There was grime and oil ground into the finish around the bowl. The fluted carving on the bowl sides and the holes around the rim go down the ridges to the bottom of the bowl. There was a moderate cake in the bowl and tobacco debris on the walls and heel. The rim top had lava overflowing from the bowl. It was thicker on left back of the rim top. The edges looked good but a clean up would tell the story. There was some thinning around the inner edge of the bowl affecting the holes in the rim top. The vulcanite taper stem was oxidized and had some tooth chatter and tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. The interesting pipe showed a lot of promise but it was a mess. I took pictures of the pipe before I started my clean up work. I took photos of the rim top and bowl as well as the stem surfaces to show the condition of the well smoked pipe. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the inner edge and rim top. There is also some roughening on the inner edge but the out edge looked good. There was a small nick in the outer edge on the left backside. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had scratches and light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank and stem. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. Before I started working on the pipe I wanted to do a bit of research and see what I could learn about it. First, I looked on Pipephil for The Kennett London Made No 1 and was unable to find any information there. There was no logo on the shank or the stem to help identify the brand.

I turned then to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Kennett) and found a very short entry there. I quote it below. There were photos of several pipes, a Kennett Box and a pamphlet that gave some information. I quote it below:

J.A. Kennett, LTD. in London were the makers of the Kennett pipe (photos thank to Doug Valitchka). I also Googled and was able to find a link to a Kennett for sale on smokingpipes.com (https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/estate/england/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=372529). There was also a photo that are worth look in at. I have included the description that was written about the pipe below.

This 1930s Billiard from Kennett is really unique, with its vertical, fluted channels opening up into tiny, hollow holes on the rim, resulting in an intriguing aesthetic. But wait: There’s more. Paired to the pert, tall bowl is a tapered, pinched, paneled shank that is unusual and is complemented by the bowl’s ridges. The jet-black vulcanite stem is also tapered. This smooth piece is dressed in a warm, chestnut stain that accentuates all of the above, and the fluting certainly provides entertainment for nimble fingers. -Angela Robertson

I also found a link on Google for an auction on Worthpoint for an unsmoked Kennett that was for sale there (https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/kennett-briar-unsmoked-air-cooled-469502789 . I have included the description that seller included with the item.Here’s an auction for sale. A The Kennett Briar “Air Cooled” Briar Pipe made in London England in the 1950’s or earlier. The bowl has 10 holes drilled down thru the bowl wall on the ribs on the bowl. The pipe will be very cool to touch and to smoke because of the air cooled circulation in the holes and around the rib cuts. The Kennett Briar pipe is Air-Cooled, Cool as a Cucumber, Light as a Feather, Sweet as a Nut says J. A. Kennett, Ltd.9/11 Tottenham Street London, W. The Kennett Guarantee says every care has been used in selecting well seasoned Briar Root for making of this Pipe, and it is guaranteed with fair usage not to crack or burn. The stem is English Vulcanite.

Now I knew that the pipe was made between the 30s and 50s. The Reg’d number on it makes me think that is an older one – possibly from the 30s. I would not be able to further pin the date down on the pipe. Now it was time to work on it.

I started my work on the pipe by cleaning up the lava on the rim top. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean it up. I carefully cleaned the darkening on the inner edge at the same time. I scraped the cake around the bowl sides with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife and then sanded the walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The walls were smooth and showed no burn damage. I cleaned out the interior of the shank, mortise and airway in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. It was a dirty pipe.I scrubbed the externals of the pipe with Mark Hoover’s Briar Cleaner (extra strength). I cleaned the surface of the briar with my fingertips working product into the surface of the briar. I scrubbed it with a tooth brush working it over. I rinsed off the Mark’s Briar cleaner with warm water to remove the debris and grit that it had collected. I dried it off with a soft cotton cloth and took some photos of the pipe at this time. There was burn damage on the rim top that was going to remain. The holes down the sides of the bowl from the rim top were thin so I did not want to remove any of the briar. I chose to leave the burn marks as they are. I used a Maple stain pen to touch up the rim top. It matched the colour of the stain on the rest of the bowl. Once it was polished it would blend in very well. I polished the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cotton pad after each sanding pad. The briar really took on a patina that began to look better with the polishing. I rubbed the bowl down with 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. 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 in the restoration. You see the shine that the briar has taken on and the way grain pops with the light buffing. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I worked on the oxidation on the stem with Soft Scrub and was able to remove it. Lots of elbow grease and working over the surface but it started to look much better.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 was looking 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. I am glad to be on the homestretch on what was a mystery pipe when I started. I really am looking 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 pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and shank. This The Kennett No1 Reg’d 731096 Billiard was interesting 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 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.45 ounces/41 grams. This Kennett pipe is a great piece of history of the ongoing search for the cooler and drier smoke. I will be adding it to the British Pipe Making Companies Section on the rebornpipes store shortly. 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.

Restoring an Old NEBPC Bent Billiard with an old-style vulcanite stem

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on is one that we picked up 04/16/2024 from a seller on Facebook Marketplace in Tacoma, Washington, USA. The pipe is an older style bent billiard with narrow vulcanite stem. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank with NEBPC in a pie shaped circle with a letter in each section. That is followed by Flagship in script [over] Algerian Bruyere. On the right side it is stamped with the shape number 14 at the bowl shank junction. The brand and stamping are the mystery to me. It is one I had not heard of before and had no idea of what the initials stand for. The smooth finish had some very nice grain but there was a lot of grime and oils ground into the finish around the bowl and the shank. The pipe was dirty but the rich stain highlighted the grain. There was a thick cake in the bowl overflowing in thick lava on the rim top. The inner edge looked quite good though the lava covered it. The outer edge was in good condition other than a nick on the left backside of the bowl. The stem is vulcanite and the shape and cut of the button leads me to think it is an older pipe. It has a stamp on the topside of the taper that is very hard to decipher with the oxidation and grime on the surface. It was oxidized and had tooth chatter and tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. The marks on the stem next to the button lead me to wonder if the stem had been cut off and a new button cut. I am uncertain but probably will never know. The pipe showed a lot of promise but it was a mess. I took pictures of the pipe before I did my clean up work. I took photos of the rim top and bowl as well as the stem surfaces to show the condition of the well smoked pipe. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the inner edge and rim top. There is also some roughening on the inner edge but the out edge looked good. There was a small nick in the outer edge on the left backside. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had scratches, tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank and stem. On the left side it reads as noted above. On the right side it is stamped with the shape number 14. There is also some mark on the top of the tapered stem that I cannot decipher. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe to show its flow. I looked on Pipephil for both the circular pie shaped logo and the NEBPC Flagship stamping and found nothing. I also looked on Pipedia and again came up emptyhanded. I just felt like I was missing something in the search. I tried various interpretations of the NEBPC letters – Nebraska Pipe Club, New England Briar Pipe Club for two attempts and came up empty. I wrote to John Young who also does restoration and asked if knew of a Nebraska Pipe Club and he knew of nothing like that in his state. That left me still mystified.

I decided to do a search for the NEBPC on Google to see if I could interpret the meaning of the letters. I wondered what they stood for so I searched and came up with a thread on the brand on the pipesmagazine forums (https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/i-love-this-pipe-but-who-made-it.48662/). There was quite a long discussion that gave some good information. Like the quote below by samcoffeeman on Apr 6, 2015

I got a hit! Was thinking it was NEBPC because of the order and PC meant pipe club perhaps. It actually means New England Briar Pipe Company. Another example here with some great info: LINK (link is disconnected)  Kaywoodie also has a Canadian pipe shape #71 so there you go!

buroak replied the following:

The NEBPC made the Yello Bole line for KBB. That “Algerian Bruyere” stamp looks like the same one used on Yello Boles, too. What is strange is the two-digit code. Nice find!

misterlowercase added some more information regarding the brand. He included links to the old factory where that pipe was made in Penacook New Hampshire, is still in use today,

http://pipedia.org/wiki/Yello-Bole

I turned to the second link first to have a look at the large photo first. It showed the large older building. Here is the link (https://debralavalley.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/dsc_0024sm.jpg).

I then turned to the pipedia article (http://pipedia.org/wiki/Yello-Bole) and found a great article on the history of the KBB/Yello-Bole pipe company.

History

In 1932 Kaufmann Bros. & Bondy (KB&B), est. 1851, expanded their program consisting of KB&B pipes, Reiss-Premier and Kaywoodie as the mainstay brand by introducing the Yello-Bole line. Yello-Bole was designed as an outlet for lower grade briar not used in Kaywoodie production.

At that time KB&B produced their brands in Union City and in West New York, both New Jersey. Deviating from that, Yello-Boles were manufactured by The New England Briar Pipe Company in Penacook, New Hampshire to use this KB&B subsidiary to capacity.

As briar was hardly had during World War II, the KB&B Company embarked on a project of domestically grown briar wood, called Mission Briar or manzanita early in 1941. The Pacific Briarwood Company, a subsidiary founded for this purpose, began harvesting the burls growing on the slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. Though this wood is botanically the same as briar form the Mediterranean countries, the smoking characteristics were not quite as good and the project was abandoned after the war.

Was it for that reason? Advertising from the 1940’s pictures the Yello-Bole “Honey Girl”, who gently urges the pipe smoker to smoke the pipe with “a little honey in every bowl.” In fact, honey was an ingredient of the material used to coat the inside of the bowl. It was said to provide a faster, sweeter break-in of the pipe.

In 1952, 101 years after the Kaufmann brothers had opened a small pipe shop in the Bowery section of New York City, Kaufmann Bros. & Bondy Company with all subsidiaries was purchased by an unknown company strange to pipe industry. (At least, the new owner was economical because the KB&B managers had to leave their luxurious bureaus on 630 Fifth Avenue, New York – the Rockefeller Center – for new rooms in the factory on 6400 Broadway, West New York.) This interlude ended after only 3 years in March of 1955, when S. M. Frank & Co. bought Kaufmann Bros. & Bondy, The Kaywoodie Company, Reiss-Premier Corp., The New England Briar Pipe Co. and – of course – Yello-Bole.

From the time of S.M. Frank’s purchase in 1955 until 1972 Yello-Bole was run as a separate company, as division of the parent. Through this period, Yello-Bole, same as Kaywoodie, had its own officers, sales force and maintained the production facilities in West New York. These 17 years were probably the most glorious years in Yello-Bole’s history.

I also found a listing in the business directory for the New England Briar Pipe Co. I have included that information below.I used the hints above to check on the shape number 14 in the Pipedia listing of Kaywoodie shape numbers (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Kaywoodie_Shape_Numbers). That gave me the information that the number 14 was a Full Bent Medium Billiard with a Taper Stem that was made between 1927-1972.

That information gave a range that the shape was made for Kaywoodie pipes. However, since the pipe made by the New England Briar Pipe Co., a company that ceased to exist in 1955, the pipe in hand was made prior to that time period. The pipe was made by the company in Penacook, New Hampshire. Now it was time to work on this old pipe that was no longer a mystery.

I started my work on the pipe reaming the bowl. I started by doing the work with a Pipnet Pipe Reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the remnants around the bowl sides with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife and then sanded the walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The walls were smooth and showed no burn damage.  I scraped the lava build up on the rim surface with the Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I was able to remove all of the thick lava. It still needed some thorough cleaning but it was looking better.I scraped out the mortise with a small pen knife to remove the thick tars and oils. I cleaned out the interior of the shank, mortise and airway in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. It was a dirty pipe.I scrubbed the externals of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked over the inside of the bowl at the same time. I rinsed it with warm water to remove the grime and debris. I dried it off with a soft cotton cloth and lightly buffed it with the cloth. It smelled very clean. I used a 320 grit sanding pad to remove the remaining tars and oils on the rim top. I worked it over to clean up the top and prepare it for polishing with micromesh sanding pads. I polished the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cotton pad after each sanding pad. The briar really took on a patina that began to look better with the polishing. I paused the polishing and used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage on the inner edge of the rim. It looked much better. Then I stained the rim top with a Cherry Stain pen. It matched the rest of the briar very well. With polishing it would be unrecognizable. I went back to the polishing process with the remaining micromesh sanding pads from 3200-12000 grit pads. The briar began to take on a rich shine. I rubbed the bowl down with 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. 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 in the restoration. You see the shine that the briar has taken on and the way grain pops with the light buffing. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. There was some damage on the stem top next to the button on both sides. I was not sure if it was tooth marks or file marks. The were deep cuts but the stem is quite thick at this point on both sides. I filled the spots in with black CA rubberized glue. I set the stem aside for the repairs to cure.While it cured I touched up the blurry stamp on the top of the stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. Then I scraped away the excess white acrylic with a 320 grit sanding pad. It was fascinating to see that underneath the white acrylic the stamp was a train engine. It was very well stamped but faint in spots.Once the repairs on the stem cured I used a file to flatten them and reshape the button on both sides. It was showing promise. I sanded the surface of the repair smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I also sanded the oxidation on the stem surface at the same time. By the time I finished wit the reshaping and sanding the stem looked much better. 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 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.  I am glad to be on the homestretch on what was a mystery pipe when I started. I really am looking 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 pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and shank. This NEBPC – New England Briar Pipe Company Flagship Algerian Bruyere 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: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.45 ounces/41 grams. This NEBPC pipe was a fun one to work on with a great piece of history and connection with KB&B Yello-Bole. I will be adding it to the American (US) Pipe Making Companies Section on the rebornpipes store shortly. 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 Lightweight Gourd Calabash Pipe

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a small older style meerschaum lined Gourd Calabash without the top. It is one we picked up from and estate in Oregon City, Oregon, USA on 03/21/2024. The surface of the gourd is smooth and unadorned. It has an acrylic shank extension. The gourd had obviously been waxed and the surface was smooth and shiny. The meerschaum was unique in that it was almost like a meerschaum lining in a briar pipe than the typical cup liner that I was familiar with in Calabash pipes. The meer bowl had a light cake in it but the rim top looked good and had taken on a nice patina. The inner edge had some slight damage on the right side and was a little rough to the touch. The acrylic shank extension was in excellent condition and fit with a slight waist at the gourd end. The fancy turned stem was quite heavily oxidized and there were light tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. The stem had also straightened out over time and would need to be re-bent to fit the flow of the bowl. I took a few photos of the pipe in the car on the way home and have included them below. I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. The bowl shows that is clear of caking on the walls. The rim top showed some darkening. The inner edge of the bowl has some damage that will need to be taken care of. The photos of the stem show the heavy oxidation and light tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe. It is a nicely shaped gourd and the meerlining looks great. The stem length works very well with the pipe.I started my work by cleaning up the inner edge of the meerschaum lining. I gave the inner edge a slight bevel with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper.I cleaned up the cake in the meerschaum bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife and then sanded the walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The walls were smooth and showed no burn damage.I cleaned out the interior of the shank, mortise and airway in the gourd and in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. The pipe was surprisingly clean. I polished the rim top (meer and gourd) and the gourd body itself with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. At the same time I polished the acrylic shank extension. I wiped it down with a cotton pad and a cloth impregnated with Obsidian oil after each sanding pad. The briar really took on a patina that began to look better with the polishing. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the gourd. I work it into the gourd 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. I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The calabash 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 gourd has taken on and the way grain pops on the smooth portions and the rusticated parts have depth. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I decided to rebend the stem to fit the flow of the bowl. I heated it with a lighter flame and put it in the shank. I bent it so that when it was held in my mouth the bend of the stem was straight and even with the top of the bowl. I sanded the re-bent stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth damage and chatter as well as the oxidation. It began to look much better.I worked on the oxidation on the stem with Soft Scrub. I worked it into the surface of the vulcanite with cotton pads and was able remove the majority of the oxidation on the stem surface. 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 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. More than usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I really am looking 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 gourd bowl and the vulcanite. I gave the gourd 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 shiny black acrylic shank extension and the vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and shank. This Meerschaum Lined Gourd Calabash 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 ¾ inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.27 ounces/36 grams. I will be adding it the Ceramic and Meerschaum Pipes section of the rebornpipes store. 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 another Pipe Hunt Find from Idaho, an interesting looking Kaywoodie Standard Called an Embassy Pipe

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by Steve Laug

Recently when I visited my Dad and family in Idaho Falls, Idaho Jeff and I did a bit of pipe hunting. We did not find much but we picked up this Kaywoodie Standard Long shank Billiard – shape and finish that I had not seen before. The price was right ($30USD) so we brought it home to Jeff’s house. The surface of the briar was rusticated with a smooth band on the shank end, twin bands around the bowl on the top half and a smooth panel on the underside of the bowl and shank which allowed it to be a sitter. The exterior of the bowl had been coated with a very shiny coat of varnish and there was some dust underneath the shiny coat. The pipe was stamped on the underside on the smooth panel and read Kaywoodie [over] Standard. The bowl had a light cake in it but the rim top and edges looked good underneath the shiny coat. The stem had a white Kaywoodie Club/Shamrock logo on the left side that was in good shape. The stem was lightly oxidized and there were light tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. The stem was also overclocked. When I removed the stem, I found that the stinger had been cut off but was well done. It was actually smooth and wide open. I took a few photos of the pipe in the car on the way home and have included them below. I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. The bowl shows some light to moderate cake on the walls. The rim top showed some darkening and debris in the rustication under the shiny coat. The edges of the bowl looked good. The photos of the stem show the light oxidation and light tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping was 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 turned to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-kaywoodie.html). I went through all of the sections on the site through the various lines of Kaywoodie pipes and did not find one similar to the one I had in hand. There were Standards but none were finished like this one. They also said made in Italy and bore a different stem logo. This pipe was not made in Italy.

From there I turned to the Kaywoodie Collectors section on Pipedia to see what I could find about the Standard (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Collector%27s_Guide_to_Kaywoodie_Pipes). The article is full or rich information on the brand. Give it a read. Disappointingly it does not include anything on the Standard with the twin rings on the bowl sides.

I googled for the Line with the twin rings around the bowl and found examples in a lot of different shapes but no information that helps establish a timeline for the pipe. I abandoned my search (at least for now) and I turned to work on the pipe.

SEE THE ADDENDUM: from that additional information I have learned that the pipe is somewhat rare and was only made in 1975 and 1976. The style is called an Embassy Style or Finish.

I started my work by trying to remove the shiny varnish coat on the bowl and shank. I went over the rusticated portions with a brass bristle wire brush to loosen the varnish coat. I went over the smooth portions with a 320 grit sanding pad to break up the shiny coat. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads repeatedly until I was able to remove the shiny coat. It looked better. I reamed the pipe with a Pipnet Pipe Reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the remnants around the bowl sides with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife and then sanded the walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The walls were smooth and showed no burn damage. I cleaned out the interior of the shank, mortise and airway in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. The pipe was surprisingly clean.I scrubbed the externals of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked over the inside of the bowl at the same time. I rinsed it with warm water to remove the grime and debris. I dried it off with a soft cotton cloth and lightly buffed it with the cloth. It smelled very clean. I sanded the smooth portions of the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the roughened finish. I wiped it down after each sanding pad to get a sense of the progress on the finish. It was looking better with each pad I used. I wiped the bowl and shank down with alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the sanding dust and get a sense of the grain around the bowl sides. I am very happy with how it is looking at this point. I polished the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a cotton pad and a cloth impregnated with Obsidian oil after each sanding pad. The briar really took on a patina that began to look better with the polishing. I paused the polishing of the smooth portions of the pipe to touch up the smooth portions of the pipe with an Oak Stain pen. It matched the rest of the stain around the bowl and once polished the match would be perfect. I went back to polishing the briar with the last three micromesh pads. The briar really began to take on a shine. It looked very good. I rubbed the bowl down with 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 and a shoe brush 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. 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 grain pops on the smooth portions and the rusticated parts have depth. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I decided to address the overclocked stem first. I heated the metal threaded tenon with the flame of a lighter to soften the glue. Once it was softened I turned the stem back into the shank and aligned the stem and shank sides. It looked much better.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 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.   More than usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I really am looking 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 pops on the smooth sections and in the rustication with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and shank. This Kaywoodie Standard 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 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.31 ounces/38 grams. It is the second of my Idaho Pipe Hunting finds. I will be adding it the American Pipemakers section of the rebornpipes store. 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.

ADDENDUM: I received an email from a reader, Mark Bialzik with information on the line that this pipe comes from. He sent me the information on a pipe that he purchased from a seller that was much the same as this one. Here is the information that the seller sent him and that Mark sent to me:

A very rare Dublin by Kaywoodie. The majority of people don’t even know what this special design is called. This is a Kaywoodie Embassy style or finish. As far as I know these were made only in 1975-76. As I said, many don’t know what these are called and you’ll see them called “ring grain” or other names. I’ve messaged a few sellers telling them the name, hoping it’ll help them sell faster. I try and buy every one that’s in very good condition I can. So far, I’ve owned 5 I think. Sold just one and the rest I’ve kept for myself. There are a couple I’ll list or when I get a duplicate.

 

Cleaning up a Vertically Challenged Dunmoor Imported Briar Squashed Tomato

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by Steve Laug

A few weeks ago, I visited my Dad and family in Idaho Falls, Idaho. My brother Jeff and I went through quite a few of our pipes and I pulled out some unique ones that I was interested in working on. I packed them and took them home with me. The next pipe is one we purchased on 05/09/2024 from an antique store in Vernonia, Oregon, USA. The pipe has a rusticated finish with a smooth panel on the left side of the shank and around the rim top. The stamping was on the left side of the shank in a panel. It read Dunmoor [over] Imported Briar. There was no shape number or other hints to the manufacture on the pipe. The bowl had a light cake in it and the rim top had some lava built up. The stem had an inserted silver O on the topside of the taper. The insert in the centre was missing. The stem was lightly oxidized and there were tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took a few photos of the pipe in the car on the way home and have included them below. I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. The bowl itself had a light cake on the walls and bowl bottom. The rim top showed some light lava and the inner edge was rough from being reamed with a knife and would need to be cleaned up. The photos of the stem show the light oxidation and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button. You can also see the open hole in the centre of the stem logo.I took a photo of the stamping on the side of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe.There was little information on the Dunmoor brand online. I checked all the standard sites and books of brands I have available to me. There were other Dunmoor pipes for sale all listed as US made pipes but no links to a maker. I did a final check on Pipephil’s site using the logo on the top of the stem to direct my search. There I found a US Made pipe with the same silver O on the stem surface. It appeared that the center was black. Here is the link to what is known as a Medico Cavalier (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/motifs/mo-ring.html#medico). The logo seems identical. It is similar enough for me to link the two pipes. I checked my stem and found that the center of the O was missing and I could blow air through it. That would need to be fixed. I have included a screen capture of the information on the site below.Now it was time to work on the pipe. I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to clean up the cake in the shallow bowl and to scrape off the lava on the rim top. I used a dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the walls of the bowl. I checked for damage on the bowl walls and it was in good condition.I scrubbed out the inside of the shank, mortise and the airway in both the stem and the shank. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It cleaned up very well.I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the damage around the bowl edge and the lava build up on the rim top. I polished it with 1500-3000 sanding pads. It is looking much better at this point in the process.I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a shoe brush 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. 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 rustication has depth. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I decided to start with the missing centre dot on the logo. The issue was that without the centre dot it was wide open and air was drawn through easily diverting the airflow from the button. I cleaned out the hole in the logo with a pipe cleaner. I greased a pipe cleaner with Vaseline and inserted it in the stem from the tenon end so that it was directly below the hole. I filled in the hole with black CA glue and used some accelerator on it to cure it quickly. I removed the pipe cleaner and sanded the repair smooth with the surface of the stem. 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 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. More than usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I really am looking 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 finish pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and shank. This Dunmoor Imported Briar Squashed Tomato 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: 1 inch, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.13 ounces/32 grams. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the American Pipemakers Section very soon. 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 Pipe Hunt Find from Idaho

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by Steve Laug

A few weeks ago, I visited my Dad and family in Idaho Falls, Idaho. While there my Brother Jeff and I did a bit of pipe hunting. We did not find much but we did find an interesting Banker shaped pipe in an Antique Mall. The price was right ($35USD) so we picked it up and brought it home to Jeff’s house. The surface of the briar has been roughened, perhaps by steel wool or a wire brush. The finish was rough to the touch but it looked like there might be some nice grain underneath. With the use of a lens I could read the stamping on the topside. It read House of Lords [over] Made in England. There was the remnant of the shape number on the right side of the shank next to the bowl. It could be a 52S shape. The bowl had a cake in it and the rim top had a thick coat of lava built up. The stem had a crown stamp on the topside of the saddle. The stem was lightly oxidized and there were tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took a few photos of the pipe in the car on the way home and have included them below. I reamed the pipe while I was staying with Jeff. I forgot to take photos of the pipe before I reamed it. I brought it home to finish my work on it. I took photos of the pipe when I took it out of the box this afternoon. Jeff had scraped the lava off the rim top and we cleaned up the outside of the bowl. You can see the damage to the finish in the photos below. Whoever had done the work on it had made a mess of it. This was going to be a fun one to bring back to life. I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. The bowl itself looked quite clean after our reaming. The rim top showed some darkening on the top and down the outside edges where it had run over the rim top. The inner edge was rough from being reamed with a knife and would need to be cleaned up. The photos of the stem show the light oxidation and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the side of the shank. The stamping was 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 turned to Pipephil’s site (www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-h3.html#houseoflords). I did a screen capture of the section on the site. It shows the stamping on the left side of the shank that matches the stamping on the topside of the pipe I am working on. The crown stamp shown on the stem I have is a lot like stamping on the stem I have. I am including the information from the side bar that says that House of Lords is a brand from Samuel Gordon and possibly a Sasieni second (J.M. Lopes, op. cit.). I further followed the link to “Gordon” and learned that Samuel Gordon had founded the brand “GORDON” in 1910-20 eras. This is the link for Gordon brand of pipes; www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-g4.html#gordon

From there I turned to the Sasieni listing on Pipedia and scrolled down to the list of seconds that was given there (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Sasieni#Sasieni_Seconds). From that information I learned that the pipe was definitely linked to Sasieni. The fourth listing in the screen capture Now I knew I was dealing with a Sasieni made pipe which helps explain the stamping on the pipe including the Made in England on the topside of the shank. I did a quick search of rebornpipes and found an article on a pipe I had restored that was the same shape as this one. I have included the link (https://rebornpipes.com/2015/10/25/cleaning-up-a-london-made-charleston-banker/). Have a look at the blog and you will see the shape I am referring to. I am also including some photos of the pipe that show the parallels to the one that I am working on now. I turned to work on the pipe next. Since it had been reamed and cleaned a bit I could forgo that part of the process. I used a 320 grit sanding pad to remove the darkening from the rim top. There was some burn damage on the back inside edge and the front inside and outside edge. I Then used a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and a wooden ball to give the top an inward bevel that took care of the damage to the inner edge and cleaned up the rim top. The pipe was beginning to look much better. I still needed to sand the rough finish but I liked the rim top at this point. I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the roughened finish. I wiped it down after each sanding pad to get a sense of the progress on the finish. It was looking better with each pad I used. I wiped the bowl and shank down with alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the sanding dust and get a sense of the grain around the bowl sides. I am very happy with how it is looking at this point. I polished the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a cotton pad and a drop of olive oil after each sanding pad. The briar really took on a patina that began to look better with the polishing. I rubbed the bowl down with 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. 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 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 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. More than usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I really am looking 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 pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and shank. This House of Lords Banker 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 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.08 ounces/59 grams. The pipe will be on the rebornpipes store shortly in the British pipe makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. 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.

A Barling’s Frustration

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I had this old bowl in my box that just looked like a Barlings. I took it out and studied under bright light and a loop. It had the arched Barlings over Make. The other side was stamped EL and Made in England (I believe). It had a serious crack in the shank so I superglued it and banded it. This little pipe became the definition of frustration for me. It was a beautiful and I was incredibly hopeful when I cleaned it up and prepared it for the new stem I had cut for it. The grain was very nice and to find that it was an older Pre-transition Barling’s pipe was exciting. The bowl cleaned up very well. The shank and new band looked great. All that remained was to finish working over the stem for it.

About that time my wife came down to the basement where I was working on it and we decided to go for our Saturday morning walk about. We had planned to take the bus down to an area we like to visit and check out the antique shops. This is something that we both enjoy so I put the little Barling’s my pocket and brought along some sand paper to work on it while sitting and waiting for the bus. We had a good morning, went to the Vancouver Flea Market and even found a couple of older Peterson pipes that I picked up. We decided to have some lunch before going home so we walked over to a nearby Korean BBQ and ordered a nice lunch.

While we were waiting for our lunch I guess the pipe fell out of my pocket. I did not notice until the waiter stepped on something and I heard a crack. Well the long and short of it is when we sat down to lunch it had fallen out of my pocket and when the waiter stepped on it the shank cracked off just ahead of the band. I had a sick feeling as I picked up the pieces of the broken old timer. My visions of a nice older Barling’s Pot shape were pretty much crunched. I put the pieces on the table and looked them over as we continue to wait for the meal and I grumbled about my stupidity in not zipping the coat pocket and also about bringing it with me in the first place.

Once we had finished eating and headed home I had calmed down enough to think about what I would do with the pipe. I took the pieces to the basement work table and turned on a bright overhead light so that I could examine the damages. As I looked at the broken shank I could see that the wood was darkened, almost burned around the crack. It was almost as if the heat in the shank had found a flaw in the briar and followed it outward to the surface. It had not gotten all the way to the surface but was just under the outer layer of the finish. So it appeared that the crack was worse than I had imagined.

That helped me to get over being incredibly frustrated and disappointed in the broken shank. So I spent some time looking it over and decided I could work with it. I decided to turn it into a nose warmer. The saddle stem I had made was too small in diameter to fit so I had to cut another stem. I cut off the ragged edges of the break and used a piece of sandpaper on a solid board to face the shank again. I also drilled out the shank and opened it up enough to accept the new tenon. The tenon is a bit shorter than normal 5/8″ to allow a little difference between the opening in the bowl wall and the mortise. I re-banded the shank for a second time to strengthen the shank after the previous break. I fit the stem to the pipe and sanded and polished it to a shine. Then I buffed and waxed the “new” little pipe. I made it such that I can one day put a church warden stem on the bowl should I desire to do so. For now though it is a nose warmer with a short taper stem. Total length is 4 3/4 inches.

Here are some pictures of the finished pipe. I had pictures of the pipe before and after the break but somehow they were erased so this is all I have left to show. I hope you can imagine what it looked like with the new saddle stem before it broke. But if not, you can see the new version. I am also ordering a churchwarden stem for it so I can fit one of those to it as well. Should look great that way as well.

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