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Introduced to a Bamboo Briar of Spain Oval Shank Billiard

Blog by Steve Laug

I don’t know why but I keep taking out some unique pipes from the box my brother Jeff sent me. He has an uncanny ability to find the unusual and interesting pipes for me to restore. This one is one I had never heard of before. I have seen other bamboo rusticated pipes but not one that had the stamping that this one does. It is stamped on the underside of the bowl with the words BAMBOO BRIAR in an arch over the word Spain. The carver did a marvelous job of replicating the look of bamboo in the briar. The nodules, lines and grooves that he/she put in the briar really look like bamboo. To give it even more of an interesting look they left the briar natural to highlight the subdued grain of the briar coming through the smooth areas of the bamboo and the carved nicks in the surface. It is really beautiful.

When I took it out of the box the bowl had a thick cake of carbon built up in the bowl. The rim was thickly caked as well with lava. The outer edges of the bowl had some nicks in it and there was a small burn mark on the front right inner edge of the bowl. The stem did not fully seat in the mortise because of the tars and oils there. The exposed portion of the tenon and the stem were badly oxidized. There was some light tooth chatter on the stem but overall it was in decent shape underneath the oxidation. I took some close up photos of the rim and the bottom of the bowl. The picture of the rim shows the thickness of the cake and the state of the top of the rim. This old pipe was pretty clogged up with cake and tars. The picture of the bottom of the bowl shows the stamping. It reads Bamboo Briar over Spain. I removed the stem and dropped in a jar of Oxyclean to soak the heavy oxidation for several hours. Before working on the bowl I did a little research on the brand and found that on my go to site, Logos and Stampings, or pipephil there was a notation. Here is the link: http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b1.html#bamboobriar.

On that site the pipe is described as follows: The bamboo like decorative carving was typical of Valencia’s manufacturers since the early 20th century. However it’s difficult to say who exactly the maker was.

With that information in hand I went to work on the bowl. I reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer beginning with the smallest cutting head and working up to one that was the same diameter as the bowl. I removed the cake and took it back to bare wood. I finished the reaming and cleaned up the bowl walls with the Savinelli Pipe Knife. The outer edge of the rim was rough and the top had some nicks in the briar that made topping the bowl necessary. I topped it to remove the damaged areas of the rim using a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with acetone (fingernail polish remover) on cotton pads to clean up the dirt and oils from the natural finish of the briar. I sanded the topped rim with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then used a light brown stain pen to stain it to match the patina on the bowl. I used a black Sharpie pen to touch the “root nodules” of the simulated bamboo. I hand applied some Conservators Wax to the bowl and once it dried hand buffed it with a shoe brush.I took photos of the pipe after buffing it. The colour of the rim and the patina that came out on the bowl with the wax gives it an aged bamboo look that I really like. I cleaned out the shank with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to remove the tars and oils. I was quite surprised by how little came out of the shank with the cleaning. I expected it to be far worse.The stem had been soaking in Oxyclean for about four hours so it was time to work on that. I set the bowl aside and removed the stem from the Oxy soak. The soak had softened and removed much of the oxidation from the surface. It had also brought the deeper oxidation to the surface.I rubbed the stem down to remove the softened oxidation and then used needle files to clean up and define the edges of the button.I used pipe cleaners and alcohol to clean out the inside of the stem and again was surprised by the lack of real oils and tars.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the file marks and to remove the oxidation on the surface. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and gave it a coat of Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. I buffed the stem on the buffer with Blue Diamond and then gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax. I used a light touch on the bowl and shank so as not to clog up the nodules or grooves in the bamboo carving with too much wax. I raised the shine with a clean flannel buff on the buffer and then gave it a hand buff with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I really like the way the patina of the briar and the carvings on the bowl and shank give the pipe a look of aged bamboo. The unknown Spanish carver did a great job on this one in my opinion. Now I have to decide whether to keep this one or not. It is so unique that I think it deserves a place in my collection. Thanks for looking.

Refreshing a Beautiful and Unusual Clairmont Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

Once again my brother Jeff scored a beautiful and unusual pipe. It is stamped Clairmont on the left side of the shank. On the underside it is stamped MY PIPE and Handmade Italy. On the right side it bears the stamping 810 (it appears to be double stamped). The briar is naturally finished with no stain. There are some small fills on the shank extension and one on the left side of the bowl on the underside of the outer rim lip. They are small but visible at this point. The bowl had a slight cake in it that was uneven and there were some tobacco remnants on the bottom of the bowl. The top of the rim was dirty as was the rest of the finish. The Cumberland stem was in good shape but there were some light tooth marks on the top and underside next to the button edge. The slot in the end of the stem was rough and uneven. There was some red (maybe Tripoli) in the edges of the slot. I took the pipe apart and photographed the parts. The shank insert is pressure fit in the mortise of the bowl. It is a good snug fit with no looseness. The stem fit in the other end is also very snug and clean. The green dot on the Cumberland stem looks good. The tenon on the stem is integral to the stem. The finish on the stem is dull. While I really liked the looks of the pipe and knew it was Italian handmade I had no idea who made the brand. The stamping MY PIPE on the underside still has me mystified. I don’t know if the maker stamped it that way or if the first owner had it stamped that way. I will probably never know that but I wanted to know who made this pip as I had never seen this brand. Like always I begin the hunt for information at one of my favourite websites Pipephil’s Logos and Stamping site. It did not take long and I found the information at this link: http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c5.html.

The site showed a nice looking full bent pipe with a Lucite stem that had the green dot on the top side just as the stem I had did. The stamping was the same in terms of the script Clairmont. The Sardinian Briar * stamp was not present on mine. I found out that the brand was created by Alberto Paronelli in the 1970’s. I found that the pipes were usually crafted by Tom Spanu. Both of those names were familiar to me so that help. I have one of Tom’s Olivewood pipes and love it. The link gave information on the name. It turns out that “Clairmont” is a Francization of “Chiaramonti” which is the birthplace of Tom Spanu.Now I knew that I was dealing with a 1970’s era pipe made by Tom Spanu and named after his birthplace. For me this solidified the connection to Spanu. It was time to work on his pipe. As I worked on it I wondered if the MY PIPE stamp on the bottom was stamped by Tom and this was one of his own pipes. I cleaned up the internals of the pipe, reaming the bowl with the Savinelli Pipe Knife and scrubbing out the airways from button to bowl with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I scrubbed down the exterior of the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the grime and oils that were dirtying the natural finish of the bowl and shank extension. I was able to get quite a bit of the rim darkening off this way. The crowned rim top is beautiful. I thought it was fitting to rub down an Italian natural finish pipe with a light coat of olive oil. I rubbed down each of the briar parts of the pipe and put it back together. The olive oil brought life back to the briar and the grain began to shine through. This is a beautiful piece of briar. I set the bowl and shank aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth marks and smooth out the flat surfaces. I sanded the end of the button to clean up some of the nicks and damage there. I also used a needle file to clean up the inside of the slot and smooth out the lines.I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the scratches. I dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit micromesh pads to progressively polish the stem and bring the depth of the Cumberland back to life. I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and then gave the entire pipe several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to add depth to the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I like this one a lot so I think it will probably stay in my collection. Thanks for looking!

Unzipped an old Pouch and found a Butz Choquin Oval Shank Capitan 1635

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Blog by Steve Laug

My brother sent me another box of pipes that he had picked up on eBay and in different shops. Included in this lot was a suede leather pipe pouch. It was dried out and worn with a zipper on the top and a zipper on the bottom. I unzipped the top area and found that it was canvas lined and had an old 3 way pipe tool inside. I unzipped the bottom and found a small compact Dublin pipe. It was a mess and looked well smoked and poorly cared for. The finish was worn and dirty but had an interesting sandblast poking through. The rim was caked with lava and it was hard to see any of the blast on the surface. The bowl had a very thick, hard cake inside that would need to go. The pipe was stamped Butz Choquin over Capitan on the underside of the shank. At the stem shank union it had the shape number 1635. The mouthpiece did not sit against the shank. There was a gap on both sides with the stem touching in the middle. When held up the light this gap was angled and large. It was also wider on the underside of the stem than the topside. The stem was oxidized and dirty. The slot in the button was closed to the size of a small thumb tack. I took some pictures of the pipe before I started working on it (I remembered to do that once again!). You can see the issues that I pointed out above as you look at the photos. I took some close up photos of the rim/bowl and the stem to try to capture how dirty this pipe was when I removed it from the pouch. In the photo of the stem you can see the gap I mentioned at the stem shank union. I decided to try a variety of methods to try to tighten up the fit of the stem. I started by carefully facing the shank on a topping board. I have had success in the past with this and was hoping that it would solve the issue.I also used a sharp knife to bevel the end of the mortise thinking that it would better accommodate the rise around the tenon.But none of these measures solved the issue of the fit against the shank. The fit was better but the gap remained. I would need to come up with another solution. I laid that issue aside and reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer. After reaming I used a brass brush to clean off the buildup on the rim. I was able to get rid of the thick tars and reveal the sandblast that was underneath.I scrubbed the finish on the bowl with acetone and cotton pads to remove the grime and grit in the crevices of the blast. The more I looked at the pipe the more I wondered if someone had not cut off the end of the shank to shorten it or to remove damaged areas. The number stamping was really close to the stem even before I faced it. I worked on the stem to clean it up. I used a dental pick to open the slot on the end and then used pipe cleaners and alcohol to clean out the tars and oils.I cleaned out the shank at the same time with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. While I was at it I thought a band might look good on the pipe and give me a clean edge to fit the stem against. I went through my box of bands and found a round one that was the correct diameter. I squashed it to the shape of the shank and heated it with a lighter. I pressed it onto the shank. It covered the shape number but did not affect the rest of the stamping.I liked the classic look of the nickel band on the shank of the Dublin and figured that once I had polished it and the stem I would have a good looking pipe. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the bite marks, the tooth chatter and the build up around the button. It also loosened the oxidation. I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and gave it a rub down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit micromesh pads and then gave it another coat of oil. I finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of oil. I let the oil dry. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to raise the shine on the stem and the band. I lightly buffed the bowl so as not to damage the sandblast. I gave the bowl a light coat of carnauba wax and the stem several coats of wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then by hand with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I think the band gave this particular pipe a touch of class. The pipe is a beautiful example of this shape. Thanks for looking.

Freshening up an old BBM 736 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

This one came to me through my brother. It seems like he is on a roll finding some nice old pipes. This one is in really good shape. I will need to clean it up and remove some tars on the rim but the finish is in great shape. The inner rim edge has some damage at the front. There are some small scratches and wear on the bowl but nothing significant. The bowl is dirty and lightly caked but otherwise in good shape. The stem is lightly oxidized but should clean up pretty easily. The stamping on the shank is clear. On the left side it reads De Luxe over BB&M in a triangle. On the right side it reads 736 which is the shape number. I can find nothing on any of my usual web sources or Who Made That Pipe or Lopes that gives me any information on the brand. So it is another unknown brand to me. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The photos below were included in the eBay ad and were taken by the seller. They show the state of the pipe very well and when it arrived there were no surprises. When I got it to the work table I took my usual pre-work photos. They were probably not necessary but I am working on keeping the habit so that I do not forget to document the work I am doing on pipe restoration. I worked on the rim of the pipe with saliva and cotton pads and a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad. I was able to remove the build up on the rim. The damage on the inner edge at the front is very visible.I lightly topped the bowl with micromesh pads. I then used my new Savinelli Pipe Knife to ream the bowl and clean out the buildup.I worked on the inside of the rim edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and beveled edge inward.Even though the stain on the bowl was a dark oxblood colour it also had some dark brown overtones. I used a dark brown stain pen to touch up the rim top and edges. I buffed the rim with Blue Diamond to blend the stain into the rest of the briar.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and also the slight pitting on the surface of the vulcanite. I cleaned out the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners to remove the tars and oils. I also cleaned out the shank and mortise with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I was surprised to see that what came out was the red stain. It appears that the pipe may well have been dipped in stain. It took quite a few cotton swabs to remove the stain. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the pitting on the surface and to remove the oxidation. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil and then dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I continued to sand it with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of oil. I let it dry. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then by hand with a microfibre cloth to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a beauty with a long stem – almost a Bing Crosby style pipe. The grain is beautiful and it was great to have an easy pipe to work on for once. Thanks for looking.

Restemming a Comoy’s Sandblast Goldenbark 6 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

This sandblast bowl came to me in a lot of pipes from eBay. When I saw it I was pretty excited about refurbishing it. It had a great blast and really appeared to be a decent looking pipe. With a little bit of elbow grease it would be a beauty. It is stamped on the on the underside of the shank in a smooth flat base. It reads COMOY’S over SANDBLAST on the bottom of the bowl. Next to that is stamped GOLDENBARK followed by the Com Stamp – a circle composed of MADE ENGLAND with IN stamped in the middle of the circle. Following that it is stamped with the number 6. The finish was dirty but underneath there was some great grain showing through the blast. Someone had reamed the bowl before I got it so it was really quite clean. Once the grime was cleaned out of the swirls and ridges in the blast it would look really sharp. I would need to fit a stem to the shank to complete this pipe but it had a lot of promise. I went through my can of stems and found this one. It took very little sanding on the tenon to get a snug fit in the shank. I scrubbed the top of the rim with a brass bristle brush to remove the tars and grit in the sandblast in that area. The blast looked really good under the grit. So far so good!I scrubbed the finish with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish and the grit. With the grime cleaned off the rim I found three disturbing looking cracks on the rim. One of them was small and was on the top with minimal cracking down the side of the bowl. One of them was cracked down the inside of the bowl about ½ of an inch and the third was cracked down the outside of the bowl almost an inch. This was a huge disappointment. I figured I had a nice example of a Comoy’s Sandblast and while it was the cracks gave me serious pause. This one would clean up and be good basket pipe but never one that is stellar. It would probably last longer than me but I was choked.

I almost stopped working on it at this point and pitched it back in the refurb box but I decided since I was so close to finishing it I would complete the task. I rubbed the bowl down with a light coat of olive oil and dried it off. I buffed the bowl with a shoe brush. The photo below of the top of the rim shows the crack toward the back of the bowl that ran down the back side for almost an inch. I would need to drill the end of the crack and repair it. The other cracks are not as visible but they are at about 10 and 4 if the front of the bowl is 12. I used a micro drill bit on the Dremel to drill a small hole at the bottom end of the largest crack. The crack on the inside of the bowl was irreparable at this point and I drilled a small hole at the end of the small crack as well. I used a tooth pick to push super glue into the holes and then pushed super glue into the cracks on the bowl sides. At the top of the rim I also used the tooth pick and pressed the glue down into the cracks. Once the glue had dried I used a sanding stick to gently sand the glue that was on the surface of the rim and in the cracks on the bowl sides to remove the excess. The repairs to the cracks were as complete as I could make them so I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I have to tell you the pleasure of fitting this stem and making it shine had pretty much dissipated. This is one of the frustrating things about pipe restoration. You find what appears to be a great pipe only to run into unforeseen issues in the restoration. For me this one had move from a pleasure to a “get it done” pipe! I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 and gave it another coat of oil. I finished with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of oil. I set it aside to dry. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel – careful to have a light touch on the bowl. I then gave the pipe several light coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I then buffed it by hand with a microfibre cloth. The look of the blast is quite beautiful it is only a shame that the bowl had the cracks in it. The repairs are quite invisible but I know that they are there and to me it diminishes the beauty of the pipe. It will likely smoke well and last longer than me. One day I will likely gift it to a friend. Until then it will reside in my collection. The photos below show the finished pipe. Thanks for looking.

Restemming a GBD International London Made – 508 Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

Quite a while ago now my brother Jeff picked up a handful of pipes from an antique shop in Montana. There were quite a few GBD pipes in the lot. One of them was this GBD International bent billiard. It came with a gnawed off stem that was irreparable. The bowl was caked and dirty and the rusticated/plateau top was filled with grime to the point that it was almost smooth. The bowl looked good under the grime and the finish looked salvageable. The pipe was stamped GBD in an oval over International over London Made on the left side of the shank. On the right side it was stamped with London England over the shape number 508. I failed to take photos of the bowl before I cleaned it up as I was on a roll with about four bowls going at the same time. Here is what it looked like after I had wiped it down with alcohol. I scrubbed the plateau top with a brass bristle brush and some Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it down with cool water and dried it off. It is in very good shape. I had reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and cleaned out the shank and the bowl. I went through my stem can and had several potential stems there. I chose one that was slightly larger in diameter than the shank. I had to shorten the tenon as it was too long to sit correctly in the shank. With the tenon shortened the stem fit nicely in the mortise. The diameter was close and I would adjust it to fit.The stem was a used one that I recycled and it had one deep bit mark on the top side near the button. I sanded it smooth and cleaned it before I filled it in with black super glue. Once the glue cured I sanded the repair with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out. I used the Dremel and sanding drum to reduce the diameter of the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper until the transition was smooth. I wiped down the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to clean off the remaining grime before restaining the rim with a Black Sharpie. I heated the stem over a heat gun until it was pliable and bent it to the proper angle. I set the bend with cold water. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the scratches left behind by the Dremel and smooth out the flow of the stem. I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit pads. I gave it another coat of oil and then finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of oil and let it dry. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and then gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The grain on this pipe is spectacular – great birdseye on the sides and cross grain on the front, back and bottom. The plateau or rustication on the rim that I stained black gives it a unique look. I think it is a beauty! Thanks for looking.

The Transformation of a Second Ugly Duckling – Can it be done a second time?

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Blog by Steve Laug

This afternoon I took on the second ugly duckling from the eBay “hackster” who had ruined the pipe that I transformed into a swan earlier. This one is stamped Morell over Mackenzie on the left side of the shank and Imported Briar over Italy on the right side. The Morell was a filter pipe so it was made to accommodate a Medico style paper filter. The pipe was a mess. Picture with me what it looked like. It had been painted with a band of coffee grounds (?) around the rim going down the sides of the bowl about a ¼ inch. The rim had been roughly sawn off and the tooth marks of either the file or saw were still present. The shank had damage that was ignored. The entire pipe had then been coated with a thick, runny coat of shellac that had rippled over the surface and given the pipe an obscene shininess that highlighted the atrocities that had been done to it. The stem was original but the “hackster’s” hand had not missed it either. It was cut off and a poorly cut button was carved into the stem. No care of thought was taken to account for the angles of the stem to the button and nothing had been done to open a slot in the end of the button. If you cannot picture it in your mind’s eye here are some photos. I took some close up photos of the rim and stem. The rim photo is a little out of focus but you can see what I was talking about above. It was a mess. The issues with the stem are pretty self evident. I scraped the coffee grounds off of the bowl edge with a sharp pen knife. In doing so I found a large pink/white fill on the left side of the bowl across the top just below the rim edge. In the next two photos you can see the coffee grounds on the cloth I put on the work table to collect them when I scraped them off. The bowl was pretty full of fills all the way around. I scrubbed off the shellac with acetone on cotton pads until I had removed all the thick, runny coat that covered the bowl. I took a close up photo of the fill area on the left side to give you an idea of the size of it. It was large and ugly. The other side of the bowl also had several and one larger one mid bowl. I took a photo of the rim to show the detail of the file or saw marks.With fills this large and a pipe this ugly something had to be done with it or it would end up looking worse than it did when I started. The ugly duckling would just be a duck of another colour. There would not be any swan emerging unless I took some drastic measures. I taped off the stamping on the bowl and a band around the shank stem union with some electrical tape to protect it during the rustication and the staining. I used a series of burrs on the Dremel to cut a random rustication pattern on the sides of the bowl. Different burrs gave a different effect so follow the photos until the end of the rustication to get a full idea of how each burr worked. When I finished with a series of five different burrs I then used the rustication tool that was gifted to me and tore up the finish even more. I wanted to cut some deep gouges in the briar to give it heavy rustication.I followed that up with a flower frog (see picture below) to further rusticated the finish.Once finished with the serious weapons I used a brass bristle brush to knock of the loose particles of briar and smooth things out a bit.My next step in the transformation process was to stain the bowl. I chose an aniline black stain to go into the grooves of the rustication because of the large fills. The black stain would penetrate even the white stain in the grooves I cut into it. I applied the stain and flamed it to set it in the briar. When the stain dried I removed the tape from the smooth areas. I sanded the high points on the rustication with a sanding block to remove the black from those areas. I wanted to have a contrast that blended well with the smooth areas. I chose on this bowl to also rusticate the rim because of the amount of damage that the “hackster” had done to that area of the pipe. With the sanding done you can see the contrast beginning to show. After I sanded the bowl and rim I rubbed it down with a light coat of olive oil to enliven the briar. I let is absorb into the wood before I hand buffed the pipe with a shoe brush. With the bowl finished it was time to tackle the damage done to the stem. It had been clipped off and then sloppily tapered to the hand cut new button. I worked on the taper with a flat file and a sandpaper until the transition on both sides of the stem matched. I also cleaned up the button as it was wider on the top than the bottom. I also shaped the button so that it was uniform. The button was pinched and there was an indentation on both sides of the stem in front of the button. I sanded the sides of the stem to remove that indentation.The end of the stem was left with a raw air hole. I used needle files to clean up the shape of the button from the end and also to cut and shape a slot. The photo above shows the general shape of the slot. I still needed to flatten the face of the button and to clean up the slot but you get the idea. I also used some tiny spots of superglue to fill in the areas on the left side of the stem near the button where the “hackster” had cut back too much material. Once it dried I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and blend it into the surface of the stem.With the reshaping and tapering done to the stem I went on to use my usual array of micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and gave it a coat of Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads, another coat of oil and then finished with 6000-12000grit pads. I gave it a final coat of oil and let it dry. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond – making sure to use a light hand on the bowl. Then I gave the stem several coats of carnauba wax. I gave the bowl a coat of Halcyon II wax and hand buffed the bowl with the shoe brush. I gave the entire pipe a final buff with a microfibre cloth. I think the ugly duckling once again became a swan. What do you think? I may well have to make a new stem for it one day.

There has got to be a Swan in there somewhere – doesn’t there?

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Blog by Steve Laug

Sometimes you are handed an ugly pipe. This one came to me from my brother and was part of a lot from an eBay seller who claims to be restoring estate pipes. Let me tell you, this guy should be shot for what he does to old pipes. My brother picked up four of his pipes. From his photos they appeared to be okay. But when they arrived they were absolutely awful. He had a lovely Stanwell sandblast billiard that he hacked the blast off of. He had a nice looking Dublin shape that he glued what appears to be coffee grounds around the rim from the top down about ¼ inch of the side. The third was butchered as well. Then there was this one – it must have been a nice Rhodesian but he had sawed it off below the rings and then left a very rough rim. He had drilled out the bowl and left it rough and out of round. To my thinking this one had been a GBD Rhodesian. The stem was stamped with the characteristic FRANCE across the joint of the shank and stem. There were remnants of a shape number on the right side that was illegible. There was also a very faint part of the oval on the left side of the shank. He had ruined a very sought after pipe. Added to that he had not even bothered to open the airway as it was plugged with thick black tars and I could not blow any air through it.

To top it all off he even pictures the final insult – in his sales he shows a can of shellac and proudly says he coats all of his work with shellac. Well the amount of dried, runny shellac on these bowls was astonishing. Under the shellac there were even hairs and dust permanently encased in a coat of the thick shiny mess. They all looked awful. The dried runs, the scratches and grooves left much to be desired. Even the stem had not escaped his savage attempts at restoration. There were sanding marks and large dings along the surface of the top and the bottom. The tooth marks that had been there were still evident. A large part of me wanted to throw them all away. But there is always that part of me that wants to see if I can reclaim these hack jobs and make something useful and beautiful out of the guy’s mess. I decided to tackle the cut off Rhodesian first. Time would tell if I could redeem the pipe and make it usable and beautiful once more.

Here is what it looked like when it arrived. Understand that the photos do not begin to give an idea of what the pipe looked and felt like I person… the best that they can do is give you a sense of what was there. The first thing I decided to do after looking at it was to reshape the bowl. I used a Dremel and sanding drum to round the edges of the top to make it look more like a prince. It was a lot of sanding with the Dremel to reshape the bowl. The photos below show the process of shaping from the beginning. The first two photos show the first steps in the removal of briar to give the pipe some shape. Was the swan starting to appear? Not sure at this point. I gave the sides of the bowl more of a curve toward the rim and reduced the size of the rim with the Dremel and sanding drum as shown in the next photos. At this point I decided to top the bowl and get rid of the deep scratches on the rim top. The bowl after topping was beginning to take some stately shape. Maybe the swan was beginning to appear. There was still too much width on the rim and not enough curves to the sides of the bowl for my liking. I sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to further shape it. I used acetone to remove the shellac and the messy finish on the remaining part of the bowl and shank. The pipe was quickly becoming mine rather than the work of the “hackster”.I tried in vain to blow through the shank. The airway was blocked. I used an unfolded paperclip to break through the thick blockage. I poked and probed until I was able to blow through the airway. Once it was opened I used the drill bit on a KleenReem pipe reamer to unblock the airway. It took a bit of pushing and twisting to get it through the hard tars that lined the airway. Finally I was able to break through. I cleaned the shank and airway with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I put the pipe away for the night. In the morning I was still not pleased with the curvature of the bowl top so I used the Dremel and sanding drum on it once again and gave the bowl more of an upward slant toward the rim. I reduced the width of the rim top to almost nothing. Once I had the bowl shape better defined I sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to shape it further. I then went to work on the rim. I decided to bevel the rim inward to try to clean up the shape of the bowl. I folded a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and worked on the rim until I had a nice rounded top and beveled inner edge.I sanded the bowl with a medium and a fine grit sanding block to remove the scratches. To me the swan is finally emerging. This piece of briar has some beautiful grain that was hidden beneath the dirty finish and the overcoat of shellac. I am liking the look of the pipe more and more. The stem was actually more of a mess than I had initially thought. In sanding out the bite marks as much as the hack had done he has changed the slope of the stem. Now the angles of each side were different and the marks he had left behind were quite deep. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the marks and to try and reclaim the shape of the stem. Once I had the shape of the stem repaired I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads – wetsanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and then rubbing it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of oil. I sanded the bowl with micromesh sanding pads at the same time. Each successive grit pad from 1500-12000 gave the bowl a deeper shine. I finished by buffing the pipe on the wheel with Blue Diamond polish and giving it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then gave it a final hand buff with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown below. The grain on this old timer that has been given a new life is amazing. What do you think did the swan emerge from this ugly duckling? I think so but I am curious as to what you think. Thanks for looking.

Restoring A Medico Double-Dri Bakelite Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

In the ongoing adventure of discovery of the quest for the drier smoking pipe I keep finding new ones that intrigue me. This latest addition that my brother Jeff picked up is unique even if it was not part of that adventure of discovery. It is stamped Medico over Double-Dri and it is unusual to say the least. The base of the pipe I believe is made of Bakelite. The bowl is painted briar or at least looks to be. The bowl is friction fit into the base and is held in place by a cork or composition ring around the edges of the base. The bottom of the bowl is a hard clay or ceramic material. The bowl is U shaped and has three holes in the bottom of the bowl that angle outward toward the edge of the external bottom of the bowl that fits in the base. The bottom of the base has a raise metal pillar that sits in an indentation on the bottom of the bowl once it is in place.

This directs the airflow into the rounded bottom of the base and the airway on the back of the pipe. There is a Medico paper filter that sits in the shank of the pipe and the tenon of the stem to further dry out the smoke. Thus there are two traps for moisture so that the smoke that is drawn into the mouth of the smoker is Double Dry. The stem on the one I have is made of a multi-coloured white/grey and has a raised interlocking DD logo. The white/grey nylon looks quite nice with the dark of the base and the white of the bowl.

The pipes seemed to come in a variety of colours and bowl configurations and materials from meerschaum to briar and painted briar. The bases also came in a variety of colours as did the stems. I found the next photo on the web that gives some idea of the wide variety of choices in this 50’s era pipe. Charles Lemon at Dadspipes wrote about one he did a refurb on and it got my attention so I have had an eye out for one. Here is his write up http://dadspipes.com/2015/10/30/1041/ He wrote that the “Double-Dri was Medico’s foray into the field of removable and interchangeable bowls, though where the Falcon pipe used aluminum for its shank, the Double-Dri used another 1950’s Space Age material, Nylon, for both shank and stem. Press-fit bowls were available in briar or the more expensive meerschaum.”

There was not much information on the brand. The PipePhil site just had the brand and a few photos of two different pipe configurations. The Smoking Metal site gave the name and a picture of the pipe put together and taken apart. There was nothing that I could find that spelled out what Charles spoke of in terms of the base and stem being nylon. It appeared to me that he was right about the stem on the one I had. It was nylon. The base however was exactly like earlier Bakelite pipes that I have in my collection. I know there is a way to check that but the look and feel certainly makes me think I am right in that assessment.

Like Charles I also found a few advertisements in 1950s era magazines that sold the pipe. I could not resist using the one to the left.It is a Medico advertisement in the March 1955 edition of Popular Mechanics magazine. The language of the advert makes for great reading. It says that it is the Best Looking Pipe and the Best Smoking Pipe. It smokes 35 degrees cooler. The Double-Dry system is shown in the line drawing as made up of three parts – Condensation, Radiation and Filtration. If you buy the press on this pipe you will wonder why it is not still being sold 60+ years later. (I would love to get a hold of a copy of the folder that is mentioned at the bottom of the advertisement if any of you have one around.)

When the pipe arrived I brought it to the worktable I took a few photos to show what the condition was when I started the clean up. It was in decent shape. The bowl was caked and the holes in the bottom of the bowl were clogged. I could not see how the airflow worked with the bowl and base from looking inside the bowl. The bowl had some nicks and damage on the top edge and had a thick coating of tars. The bowl exterior was also dirty and there were some black marks on the sides of the bowl. The base was dirty and caked with hardened tars and oils. The inside of the shank and airway were black and the airway into the base was reduced in size. The stem had a lot of tooth chatter on the top and the bottom sides near the button and the contrasting grey and white of the stem material were dull. The double DD on the stem looked to be in excellent shape. I took a close up photo of the rim to show the damage that would need to be dealt with. I also did a close up photo of the bottom of the base to show the inset up into the bowl base.

I took two photos of the base and the bowl – one looking at it from the top down and the other with the bottom side of the bowl showing.

I removed the stem from the pipe and the old paper Medico Filter was present.

I cleaned out the inside of the base with cotton swabs and alcohol and cleaned out the airways in the shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol.

The bowl had a rounded bottom so I used a PipNet reamer and reamed the bowl to remove the cake and enable me to see the airways in the bottom of the bowl.

I used a paper clip to break through the airways from the underside of the bowl.I scrubbed the bowl exterior and rim with cotton pads and alcohol. I was able to remove most of the grime from the bowl and a fair bit of the lava from the rim. I could see that the rim was actually unpainted briar. I sanded the bowl with 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads to remove some of the pieces of tar and oil that were stuck to the surface of the bowl. I also sanded the base with the micromesh to give it a shine. I lightly topped the bowl to clean up the outer edge of and the top of the rim. I sanded the inner edge of the rim to smooth that out as well. I followed up on it by sanding it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads.I sanded the tooth chatter and marks out of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and then wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads and the shine came back to the stem. The contrast of grey and white really began to stand out. I gave the nylon stem several coats of Conservator’s Wax and hand buffed the stem with a microfibre cloth. I put the pipe back together piece by piece including a new Medico paper filter in the stem. I gave the entire pipe another coat of Conservator’s Wax and hand buffed the pipe to a shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Other than the damage on the curve of the bowl the pipe looks very good. Thanks for looking.

Bringing New Life to a Yello-Bole Metal

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Blog by Steve Laug

My brother found this older Yello-Bole metal pipe. It is a lot like the older Grabow Vikings but the bottom of the bowl is different from the Grabow. Between the bowl and the metal base there is a flat perforated screen or disk that the tobacco sits on. It acts as the bottom of the bowl. The wooden bowl itself is a threaded tube that screws into the base. There are two pin holes on the sides of the base (one on each side about mid base below the bowl). These serve as openings to draw air into the bowl. This one was in decent shape and would take a little work to clean up. The photos below were provided by the eBay seller and show the state of the pipe. From the first two photos below you can see the wear on the stem and the white calcification that generally builds up under a rubber softee bit. The finish on the bowl is shot. There is nothing but bare briar showing. The outer edge of the rim looks good. The next two photos give a top and underside view of the pipe. You can see the ring of cake in the bowl around the middle and lighter on the top and bottom edges. You can see the metal disk in the bottom of the bowl. I have purchased a few of these over the years and almost all of them were missing the metal disk that sat in the base between the bowl and base. The stem shows some tooth marks on the top and underside. The final photo included by the seller showed the stamping on the underside of the base. It read Yello-Bole horizontally along the bottom of the shank. It also gave the patent number on the bottom of the base. It read PAT. over 2467002 over PAT. PEND. That was enough data to do a patent search on the US Patent Information site. http://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/search-patents. From there I copied the patent drawing and included it below.The diagram and the accompanying documents show the conceptual and descriptive narrative of what the pipe was about and what its maker hoped to achieve with his design. The inventor was a Samuel Laurence Atkins of New York. He filed his patent application on July 14, 1945. The patent was granted April 12, 1949. The pipe that I have is stamped Patent Pending thus it is easy to extrapolate that it was made between the dates July 14, 1945 and April 11, 1949 which are the dates before the patent was granted. That makes this pipe between 67-71 years old. It is in pretty decent shape for a pipe of that age. I took the following photos when the pipe arrived. The seller’s photos were pretty good at showing the issues with the pipe. All the things noted above were correct. The pipe was quite easy to take apart. I unscrewed the bowl and tapped out the disk in the base. The stem came out of the shank with little effort. I took the photo below to show the parts. The second photo shows the cake in the bowl. I started the clean up with reaming the bowl. I used the PipNet reamer and the largest cutting head to ream from the top of the bowl. I used the second head to ream the bowl from the bottom. I reamed it back to bare briar. There was still some of the signature Yello-Bole bowl coating showing near the top just below the rim. I scrubbed the bowl base with a brass bristle brush to loosen up the dried tars and oils in the base. I used a dental pick to clean out the threads. I also scrubbed the disk with the brush. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to clean the surface of the disk and the inside of the base and airway.

I scrubbed the interior and exterior of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners to remove the build up on the outside and the oils on the inside.With the cleanup finished I set the parts on the table and took a few photos of the cleaned up pipe. Now it was time to restore it. I wiped down the bowl with cotton pads and acetone to remove the grime and the remaining finish on the bowl.

I stained the bowl with a dark brown stain pen. I buffed the bowl with red Tripoli to spread and polish the stain. I buffed it with Blue Diamond and rubbed the bowl down with a light coat of olive oil. At this point in the process the bowl and the metal base was complete. I took the following photos to show the state of the progress thus far. I cleaned the stem and used a clear super glue to repair the deep tooth marks in the top and underside of the stem near the button. I sanded the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to blend it into the surface of the stem. I worked on the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and then rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I wet sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished by dry sanding with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of oil and let it dry. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and then gave both multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then by hand with a microfiber cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Thanks for looking.