Tag Archives: repairing bite marks

Breathing New Life into a Stanwell Dorado 175 Stack

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by Steve Laug

It is a beautiful chilly day in Vancouver without rain so I decided to go to the basement and work on another pipe that was purchased on 02/16/2023 in a lot of pipes that came to us from a seller in Copenhagen, Denmark. It included a group of Danish Made Stanwell pipes that are quite beautiful. The grain around the bowl and shank of this Stack has a mix of birdseye, straight and flame grain. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads STANWELL [over] Made in Denmark [over] Dorado. On the right side of the shank it is stamped with the shape number 175. The pipe was dirty when Jeff received it. There was dust and grime ground into the finish. It is finished in the warm stain that highlights some nice grain around the bowl and shank. The bowl was heavily caked and there was some darkening and lava on the rim top. The inner edge shows some damage and darkening around the bowl. There was a ferrule on the end of the shank with two think black lines around the band. The stem is acrylic and is dirty with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. There is no logo on the sides or top of the taper stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before the clean up. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the darkening and lava on the inner edge and top of the rim. The acrylic stem was in decent condition with tooth marks that are visible in the photos below. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the grain around the bowl and shank. The stain adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on the sides of the shank are shown in the photos below. It is clear and readable as noted above. I turned to Pipephil’s site to see if I could find any information on the Diplomat line of Stanwell pipes (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-stanwell.html). There was nothing specific on the line but the summary of Stanwell History is quite helpful. I quote it below.

Brand & factory were established in 1942 by Poul Nielsen. The company has been owned since 2000 by Nordisk Tobaks Kompagni A/S.

The factory in Borup crafted all Stanwell pipes from 1965 until 2009. From 2010 on the pipes are crafted by Barontini (Italy) exept for the limited editions.

Production (2007): 115 000 Pipes/year – Denmark

I turned to Pipedia to an article that originally was posted here on rebornpipes and written by my late friend Bas Stevens (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell_Shape_Numbers_and_Designers). The list did not clarify who designed the shape so that was still a bit of a mystery. Whoever did so, created a beauty. I now knew that the shape 175 was a Tall Billiard or Chimney with tapered stem. There was no other information. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife.  He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. It came in Stanwell Box with Pipe Sock. I removed it from the sock and took photos of the pipe once I received it. I took close up photos of both the rim top and the stem. Jeff had been able to get the grime and lava off of the rim top and it looked pretty incredible. Even the darkening and marks on the rim top on the right side and the back of the bowl are very obvious now that it is clean. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were minimal and should be easy to remove.The stamping on the shank side was readable as noted above. I also took a photo with the stem removed to give an idea of the perspective and design of the pipe.I started my work on the pipe by addressing the damage on the inner edge of the bowl with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and a sphere to remove the damage. I then used a half sphere to further shape the rim top to bring the edge back into round and it looked much better. Over all the rim top and edges looked much better.I sanded the outside of the bowl and rim with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to remove the scratching and marks on the briar. I wiped the bowl down between pads with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. I stained the sanded and polished rim top with a Maple stain pen and it matched the colour of the rest of the pipe. I polished the smooth bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads using 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiping it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust and debris. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl and shank with my fingers. I want the product to go deep into the finish because it works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. Once I was confident that it was deeply worked into the finish I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth to polish it. The pipe really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. The grain really stands out on the pipe in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the acrylic stem. I tried to raise the tooth marks on the acrylic stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter and was not able to lift any of the marks. I filled in the tooth marks with black CA glue (I forgot to take photos of the repairs once I glued them). Once the repairs cured, I used a small flat file to smooth out the repairs. I then sanded the areas with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them out and blend them in. I wiped it down with an Obsidian cloth to remove the debris. I sanded the stem with 320-1500 grit sanding pads to further blend the sanding marks into the surface of the acrylic. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian cloth to remove the debris from the sanding.I polished the acrylic stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. This Stanwell Made in Denmark Dorado 175 Stack with an acrylic taper stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful finish really highlights the straight grain and the polished finish is stunning. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Stanwell Dorado 175 Stack fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 38 grams /1.34 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the Danish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in purchasing this pipe send me a message or an email.

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 pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Cracking the Mystery of an Alluring Gourd Calabash

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by Kenneth Lieblich

This is a wonderful gourd calabash with a long history, and I hope that one of you will fall in love with it. There is an elegance to the lines of this pipe, with its swan-like curves. It is a classic, and looks (and feels) satisfying in one’s hand. It had been well-loved by its previous owner, and understandably so. This calabash hid a big secret and it was my job to uncover and repair it. Sometimes I bite off more than I can chew and this might be one of those times. Maybe this should have been called Kenneth’s Krazy Kalabash Kure. No markings at all on this pipe, but no matter. Let’s take a closer look at it. The gourd has a deep, rich colour that I really like. The size is really pleasing too. It is more modestly sized than most calabashes – and that’s a positive. I bought this pipe in an auction and, because the auction was away from my home, I didn’t get to inspect the pipe closely beforehand. Boy, was I in for a surprise! The pipe was in dirty but decent condition. The vulcanite stem had quite a bit of wear: lots of tooth marks, oxidation, calcification, etc. The acrylic shank extension was dirty, but otherwise fine. The gourd, similarly, was dirty, but in good shape. BUT, as soon as I removed the meerschaum bowl from the gourd, I saw the problem. At some point in the past, the bowl had cracked in half: northern and southern hemispheres, if you like. That’s a big deal! This was a tough repair, but I am pleased with the results and the pipe is good to go now.As the photo above shows, the bottom part of the bowl was embedded into the gourd. I gave a preliminary and somewhat half-hearted attempt to pry it out with a dental tool. That didn’t work and it’s probably just as well. In attempting to pry it out, I was quite concerned about either cracking the gourd or cracking the bowl further – or both. I ended up heating the gourd and bowl with my heat gun – hoping that ancient tars were holding it in place. And that did the trick: I was able to extract the bottom bowl chunk (plus a few fragments) safely from the gourd without causing further damage to either. You can see the results below.At this point, I figured that I would restore the stem while I thought about what to do with the bowl. I used a disposable lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame. The gentle heat of the flame can cause the dents in the vulcanite of the stem to expand back into shape. In this case, some improvement occurred – but not a lot. The stem’s calcification was quite substantial. I used an old butter knife and gently scraped some of the thicker accretion off. Doing this now helps later in removing the oxidation. I used isopropyl alcohol on a few cotton rounds and wiped down the stem to provide an initial cleaning of filth before moving on to the next steps. The primary cleaning came next. I disinfected the inside of the stem with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly to make sure the interior was very clean. The goal of the next step is the removal (or minimization) of oxidation. Going to my sink, I used cream cleanser, cotton rounds, and a toothbrush, and scoured the stem to remove as much surface oxidation as possible. As the photos show, the result was a hideous, ochre-coloured mess – but better off the stem than on it.Once the stem was reasonably clean, I soaked it overnight in some Briarville Stem Oxidation Remover. This solution works to draw oxidation in the stem to the surface of the vulcanite. This is a major aid and an important step in ensuring a clean stem. The following day, I drew out the stem from its bath and scrubbed the lingering fluid with a toothbrush. Due to the severity of the oxidation, I then repeated the scrubbing with the cream cleanser for maximum effect.While the stem was soaking, I also cleaned the acrylic shank extension. I followed the same cleaning procedure as with the stem. It took a while, but I got it clean.As the stem was now clean and dry, I set about fixing the marks and dents in the vulcanite. This was done by filling those divots with black cyanoacrylate adhesive, impregnated with carbon and rubber. I left this to cure and moved on.The penultimate step for the stem is sanding. First, with my set of needle files, I reduced the bulk of the cyanoacrylate repairs. I removed the excess adhesive as near to the surface as possible, without cutting into the vulcanite. Following that, I used all nine of the micromesh sanding pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand out flaws, even out the vulcanite, and provide gentle polishing of the finished surface. I also applied pipe-stem oil while using the last five micromesh pads. There was a wonderful, deep black shine to the stem when I was done. I did the same with the shank extension. I moved on to the gourd. I cleaned the exterior of the gourd with some pH-neutral detergent and some distilled water, on a few cotton rounds. I cleaned inside of the gourd gently by scraping with my reaming knife, tube brushes, and some other tools. I was pleased with the results. I gave the gourd a thorough going-over with some beeswax polish and let that sit. I buffed it with a microfibre cloth and then, much later, I rubbed some LBE Before & After Restoration Balm into the gourd and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. I then buffed the gourd again with a microfibre cloth. On to the bowl. Meerschaum is too fragile for a proper reamer, so I used 220-grit sandpaper on the end of a wooden dowel to clean out the bowl and it turned out well. One of the frustrations of cleaning meerschaum is that once smoked, the stains never go away – and this pipe was heavily smoked. However, I did what I could and it definitely improved.Now with the stem, shank extension, gourd, and meerschaum cleaning done, it was time to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Before repairing the separated chunks of the bowl, I needed to secure the two hemispheres together. This was not intended to be the critical attachment point, but just a solid method of marrying the two pieces. I used an adhesive for ceramics and clay – not because meerschaum is ceramic or clay (it isn’t) – but it does mimic certain characteristics of those insofar as it is very porous. This adhesive worked perfectly – it did exactly what I wanted it to. I was also able to attach the small shards of meerschaum that were left over (as seen in photos above).Now to go ‘all in’ on the repair of those missing chunks. I taped off the areas of the bowl that I didn’t want affected by the repair medium. This was a long and challenging repair and went through several failed attempts (which I won’t bore you with). Some failures included plaster of Paris, amalgams involving primarily calcium carbonate, and other ingredients (like leather dye). In the end, I came up with a good solution that maintains the integrity of the bowl shape, gives an incredibly resilient (and hard) repair, is resistant to high temperatures, and is completely inert when cured. After much trial and error, I settled on a particular type of epoxy mixed with a combination of the aforementioned calcium carbonate and briar dust. You might reasonably ask, ‘Why calcium carbonate?’ Good question. It is a material that best acts as a repair medium for meerschaum and I encourage you to read an important article I wrote about the issue here. You may also ask, ‘Why briar dust?’ Also a good question. This provided a slight brownish tint to the epoxy and CaCO3 mixture. Matching the surrounding colour was always going to be an impossibility, but I wanted to do the best I could.

I mixed my concoction and applied it liberally to the affected areas. During this process, the epoxy mix was much less viscous than I had hoped it to be. This was a big problem as it was oozing in ways that I didn’t want it to! However, like the trooper I am, I fiddled and fixed and floundered until I got it just right. It needed a full 24-hour cure and I was only too happy to leave the frustrating thing alone for a while!In the meantime, I glued the shank extension back into place in the gourd. Looks great.On the morrow – no surprise – the bowl was pretty darn ugly, but I can fix ugly. I donned a tight-fitting dust mask and went to work. My goal, of course, was to sand down excess epoxy and bring it to the level of the surrounding meerschaum, while simultaneously not reducing the bulk of the meerschaum. This took a lot of hard and careful work (plus a few touch ups), but we got there in the end. I am satisfied with the results, since the repair was never going to look invisible. The benefit of this pipe is that the repair is hidden from view, below the rim of the gourd. I then sanded down the entire piece of meerschaum with my Micromesh pads. I also rubbed two different beeswax polishes into the meerschaum. Then I let it sit for 20 minutes, buffed it with a microfiber cloth and then repeated the beeswax process. Worked like a charm! Before I went off to the buffer, I gave the meer and the gourd another going over with Clapham’s beeswax rub. This really worked well. I only took the stem to the buffer, as meerschaum and gourds don’t tolerate those high speeds very well!

This gourd calabash was a delightful can of worms right from the start and its beauty only increased through the restoration process. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘Calabash’ pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 6½ in. (165 mm); height 4½ in. (115 mm); bowl diameter 2⅛ in. (54 mm); chamber diameter ⅞ in. (21 mm). The weight of the pipe is 2⅜ oz. (68 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring a Rugged Jobey Florentine EXTRA E72 Canadian

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a Canadian pipe with a heavily rusticated bowl and shank. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. The underside of the shank is stamped Jobey over Florentine in script [followed by] EXTRA next to that [E72] and finally by PAT.3537462. That helps to date this to the time after the patent was filed in 1970.The stamping is clear and readable. It has rugged rusticated finish that is very tactile on both the shank and the bowl. The shape works very well with the rustication. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime deep in the valleys of the rustication but the black and brown stain really highlighted the highs and lows of the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a lava coat on the rusticated top and edges. The stem is lightly oxidized and has tooth marks and dents on the top and underside of the stem. There is a brass Jobey logo on the topside of the stem. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it.  I took a closer photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of the bowl and rim. You can see the light cake in the bowl and the darkening and lava on the top and inner edge. It was heavier on the sides and back of the rim and top.I took a photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe. Before I started my work on the pipe I turned to Pipephil’s site to see if I could find any info on the brand and on a Florentine (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-j3.html). The information on Jobey was helpful but there was no listing on the Florentine line. I have included a screen capture of the information and also included the sidebar information.These pipes are made in St Claude (France) by Butz-Choquin (Berrod-Regad group) since 1987. Before this date some were manufactured in England and Denmark (Jobey Dansk). Jobey’s seconds: Shellmoor

I turned next to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Jobey). To deepen my understanding of the information of the brand. It was helpful in helping to understand the mess of where Jobey pipes were made and who made them. I have included the amount below.

English – American – Danish – French… Sadly, solid information about Jobey is scant

Probably established in England around 1920(?) the brand hiked into the USA later. In the course of time owner, distributor and manufacturer changed repeatedly. As far as is known the following companies have been involved with the brand:

Throughout decades Jobey pipes were mainly sold in the USA, Canada and England but remained almost unknown in continental Europe. The bulk of Jobeys were predominantly made according to classical patterns and mainly in the lower to middle price range. The predominant judgment of the pipe smokers reads: “A well made pipe for the price.” So, there is hardly anything very special or exciting about Jobey pipes although a flyer from ca. 1970 assures: “The briar root Jobey insists upon for its peer of pipes is left untouched to grow, harden and sweeten for 100 years. […] Jobey uses only the heart of this century old briar and only one out of 500 bowls turned measures up to the rigid Jobey specifications.” 99.80% of cull… that makes the layman marveling!

This particular Jobey includes a US Patent number that is for the Jobey Link System tenon that holds the stem to the shank. It is a great read and also tells me that the pipe was made after the Patent was received in 1970. I have included the link for the US Patent site and the information on the particular patent below (https://ppubs.uspto.gov/basic/). I enjoy working on Jobey pipes and it is fun to be able to trace them back to the company that made the pipe – in this case a bit of a mystery though the US Patent makes me think that this one may be a US Made pipe. Since it was made after the 1970 Patent I believe that the pipe was made by Weber Pipe Co. perhaps for the Patent Holder, Wally Frank, Ltd. I turned to work on the pipe itself.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I worked on the darkening on the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush. I was able to remove the majority of the darkening with this method.I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners.I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I removed the stem and set it aside. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the oxidation and tooth chatter on both sides. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads to further adjust the fit of the stem to the shank. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I put the Jobey Florentine Extra E72 Canadian back together then polished the stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and gave it several coats of carnauba. I polished the bowl and shank with Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a shoe brush. 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 finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 ¾ 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 38 grams/1.34 ounces. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the American Pipe Makers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding it to your collection email me at slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message on Facebook. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this rusticated Patented Jobey Florentine Extra E72 Canadian.

The fourth of a foursome of Beautiful pipes sent to me with Potential Burn Out Issues

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by Steve Laug

On November 29 I received an email from a fellow regarding a Moretti that came to him from a dear friend. He stated that it had a burnout and that he had someone ream it for him. I have included his first email below.

Steve, I have a Moretti pipe that belonged to a dear friend. It had a burnout and I had the bowl reamed, but I’m afraid to smoke it. Can you offer a suggestion of how the inside of the bowl can be treated against possible future burnout, or can you fit the bowl with either a meerschaum or graphite liner? – Michael

We talked back and forth regarding the pipe and various options for repair. I agreed to work on them and told him to mail it to me. Once he packed it he added another three pipes to the box that he was sure had the same issues. He mailed them to me on December 8 and sent me another email.

You have convinced me that you’re the person who can help restore my pipes! I shipped 4 pipes to you today by USPS, and declared their value at $5 each for a total of $20 as you requested. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but all four have had burnout issues and I’m hoping that you can clean them out and coat the inside of the bowls as you described. If you feel that more effort is needed, please let me know.

On December 28th I received the package from Michael. I opened the box and inside there were four beautiful Italian Made pipes. I have listed them below and included photos of the pipes.

Savinelli Autograph Sandblast Bent Cherrywood
2008 Ardor DR bent Dublin
Mastro Beraldi 2 Bent Dublin
2005 Moretti 1 Bent Rhodesian

The fourth and final pipe I brought to the table is an Ardor Scoop. Overall it looks very good. It is stamped on underside of the shank and reads DR [over] Ardor [over] Marte [over] Italy [over] Fatta a Mano [over] 2008. The stamping is clear and very readable. The pipe has a mix of black and brown stains on a smooth finish and amazing grain that the shape follows well. The oval rim cap is smooth and there is some darkening around the inner edge of the bowl. The rest of the finish was very clean and the bowl had a light cake on the walls but the rim top was clean other than the edge darkening. I inspected the walls of the bowl and could not find any issues or divots in the walls. I spoke with Michael and he mentioned that it looked like it had some small checking/cracking on the walls of the bowl. Initial inspection reveals that the light cracking in the cake on the bowl walls. The other issue Michael spoke of is that the front wall of the bowl was particularly thin and when smoked was very hot. I would need to examine it further once it had been reamed and cleaned. The acrylic black original taper stem had a white saddle portion on the end of the stem ahead of the tenon. There was a blue dot encircled in a silver circle on the top of the white saddle portion. The stem showed light tooth marks or chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the clean finish on the bowl. The photos show a moderate cake in the bowl and a very clean rim top. The stem photos show the condition of the taper stem ahead of the button. I took photos of the stamping on the left and underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe.I did a quick review of the history of the brand by turning to Pipedia. The link there led to an article that came from Italian Pipemakers.com. Here is the link – https://pipedia.org/wiki/Ardor. I quote part of the article that gives a quick view of the brands

Ardor Courtesy of italianpipemakers.com

In 1974 Dorelio Rovera, with his father Angelo, established the Ardor Pipe, name which comes from the “AR” (Angelo Rovera) and “DOR” (Dorelio Rovera), changing a medium quality level production into a completely handcrafted product, with a very high level of design and finishing.

[Editor’s Note: Angelo Rovera is the son of Francesco Rovera, who along with his brothers comprised Sociedade Rovera, a pipe company they founded in 1911.]

Dorelio personally chooses the briar which is left seasoning for at least 4 to 5 years before it is worked. It is stocked in particular baskets which leave the wood always visible and airy. The pieces chosen to become a pipe are cut with a circular saw to identify the model. Then each piece is rough hewn by hand with special files, definitely “dangerous” but very efficacious to give the shape to the wood.

Like most artisans, Ardor couples a classical style and a very original style with definite but free and fanciful lines, to offer and meet the largest number of requests, from the simple to the most complex. Ardor is a pipe company which is always looking for innovations, indispensable to collectors, but trying to offer a very high level product in the smoking aspect and performance of the briar, always dried and light for a higher comfort of the smoker.

With Damiano, Dorelio’s son, Ardor introduced the coloured methacrylate (acrylic) stems, really appreciated in the international markets. Damiano has been able to condition the Ardor style with new shapes and with a new mouthpieces style, having a modern point of view. His target is to keep up the interest of new generations, surely more variable in a shorter period.

The Ardor Marte that I have was marked DR which told me it was made by Dorelio Rovera. The stem on this Scoop adds a definite flair to the pipe that is unique.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I thoroughly cleaned the bowl walls, shank and the airway in the stem. I used cotton swabs, pipe cleaners (both bristle and regular) and Isopropyl alcohol.I used a worn 320-400 grit sanding pad to work on the rim top and inner edge and remove the darkening in those areas before I scrubbed the briar.I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I examined the cleaned walls of the bowl and found some small divots around the sides of the bowl half way down across the sides. I could feel it with my fingers. I wiped the bowl clean with a cotton pad and alcohol to remove any debris on the surface. I mixed a batch of JB Weld to repair the divots around the bowl wall. I pressed it into the damaged areas with a dental spatula. I set the bowl aside for the repair to cure. Once it cured I sanded it smooth with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel to smooth out the repair. I wiped it down with a damp pad to remove the sanding debris. I mixed a bowl coating of sour cream and activated charcoal powder. I inserted a pipe cleaner in the airway entrance to the bowl to keep it open. I applied it to the walls of the pipe with a folded pipe cleaner and repeated it until I had the walls thoroughly covered. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad. I polished the acrylic with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I the polished black acrylic taper stem with a white ring and the DR Ardor Marte 2008 Scoop bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and raise the shine. I gave the stem and the bowl several coats of Carnauba Wax then 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. This turned out to be a beautiful DR Ardor Marte 2008 Scoop and black acrylic stem with white ring. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: ?? inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches wide x 1 ¾ inches long, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.08 ounces/58 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked this beautiful Bent Dublin. This one will join the first one I restored both will await my completion of the work on the other two pipes Michael sent me. Thanks for looking.

The third of a foursome of Beautiful pipes sent to me with Potential Burn Out Issues

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by Steve Laug

On November 29 I received an email from a fellow regarding a Moretti that came to him from a dear friend. He stated that it had a burnout and that he had someone ream it for him. I have included his first email below.

Steve, I have a Moretti pipe that belonged to a dear friend. It had a burnout and I had the bowl reamed, but I’m afraid to smoke it. Can you offer a suggestion of how the inside of the bowl can be treated against possible future burnout, or can you fit the bowl with either a meerschaum or graphite liner? – Michael

We talked back and forth regarding the pipe and various options for repair. I agreed to work on them and told him to mail it to me. Once he packed it he added another three pipes to the box that he was sure had the same issues. He mailed them to me on December 8 and sent me another email.

You have convinced me that you’re the person who can help restore my pipes! I shipped 4 pipes to you today by USPS, and declared their value at $5 each for a total of $20 as you requested. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but all four have had burnout issues and I’m hoping that you can clean them out and coat the inside of the bowls as you described. If you feel that more effort is needed, please let me know.

On December 28th I received the package from Michael. I opened the box and inside there were four beautiful Italian Made pipes. I have listed them below and included photos of the pipes.

Savinelli Autograph Sandblast Bent Cherrywood
2008 Ardor DR bent Dublin
Mastro Beraldi 2 Bent Dublin
2005 Moretti 1 Bent Rhodesian

The third pipe I brought to the table is a Savinelli Autograph Sandblast Bent Cherrywood. Overall it looks very good. It is stamped on smooth heel of the bowl and reads Savinelli [over] Autograph [followed by] Made in [over] Italy and to the right it is stamped with a 2. The stamping is clear and very readable. The pipe has a mix of black, brown and oxblood stains on a sandblast finish and the blast shows amazing grain that the shape follows well. The crowned rim cap is also sandblast and the heel of the bowl is smooth in a patch that bears the stamping. The shank end is a blue/white acrylic. The finish was very clean and the bowl had a light cake on the walls but the rim top was clean. I inspected the walls of the bowl and could not find any issues or divots in the walls. I spoke with Michael and he mentioned that it looked like it had some small checking/cracking on the walls of the bowl. Initial inspection reveals that the light cracking in the cake on the bowl walls. I would need to examine it further once it had been reamed and cleaned. The acrylic black original saddle stem is on the pipe and has an autograph on the top of the taper. The stem showed light tooth marks or chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the clean finish on the bowl. The photos show a moderate cake in the bowl and a very clean rim top. The stem photos show the condition of the taper stem ahead of the button. I took photos of the stamping on the left and underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe.I wanted to remind myself a bit about the Autograph line from Savinelli so I reread a blog I had written on a previous Autograph restoration (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/01/05/restoring-a-savinelli-autograph-3-rhodesian-dublin-long-shank/). I quote a portion of the blog now:

I turned first to the Pipephil website (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-savinelli1.html) to get a brief overview of the Autograph line. There I found out that the Autographs were hand made and unique. The Autograph Grading system is ascending: 3, 4, … 8, 0, 00, 000.

I turned then to Pipedia to get a more background on the Autograph line. I had the outline I needed from pipephil for the pipe but wanted more (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Savinelli). I quote in part from the article on that site.

While Savinelli’s serially produced pipes account for around 98% of annual production, the marque also creates a number of artisanal, handmade pieces as well. The Autographs, the Creativity line, and the Mr. A. line are all the result of Savinelli’s unique handmade process, with the Autographs reflecting the larger Freehand aesthetic, the Creativity line delving into more complex hand carving, and the Mr. A. line sidestepping the standard shape chart for remarkable and unusual pipes.

All of the briar for Savinelli’s Autographs and other freehand pipes is sourced specifically for those pieces. While the majority of the marque’s serial production is made from extra grade ebauchon blocks, Savinelli keeps a separate supply of Extra Extra plateau blocks for Freehands. This variety of briar is much larger, and of a higher quality, which explains why so many Autographs and Savinelli handmades are naturally larger designs.

These handmade pieces are shaped much like traditional Danish Freehands: they are shaped first and drilled second. Using this method, Savinelli’s team of artisans is able to showcase their own creativity, as it maximizes flexibility and facilitates a more grain-centric approach to shaping. The resulting Freehand designs are at once both a departure from the marque’s classical standard shapes, yet very much still “Savinelli” in their nature—i.e. proportioned so that the bowl is the visual focus when viewed from the profile, juxtaposed by the comparatively trim lines of the shank and stem. To provide a little more insight into the differences between Savinelli’s standard production and freehand lines, Luisa Bozzetti comments:

“When we choose to make Freehand pipes we must stop production on the standard shapes. The process for Freehands is much more involved and takes much more time. Finding the best people from the production line and pulling them to make Freehands is challenging since it’s not an assembly line, but rather a one or two man operation.

After the rough shaping of the stummel, we must get together and brainstorm which style of stem will be paired before the pipe can be finished since we do not use pre-shaped stems. All accents and stems for the Freehands are cut from rod here in the factory. A lot of care goes into the few pieces lucky enough to make the cut; to end up with a certain number of Autographs, for instance, means that many, many more will be made, and only the few will be selected.”

The quality control process for Savinelli handmades is even more rigorous than that employed in the standard lineup. Many blocks are started and later discarded because of pits or defects. While Savinelli’s briar sourcing is a constant process, working with some of Italy’s top cutters to ensure only the finest and most suitable blocks make their way to the factory, it’s impossible to source plateau briar that’s completely free from flaws. That’s just nature. Savinelli creates the standard for quality by working through the rough (a very high-quality rough, mind you) to find that shining diamond with the potential to become a Savinelli handmade.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I then thoroughly cleaned the bowl walls, shank and the airway in the stem. I used cotton swabs, pipe cleaners (both bristle and regular) and Isopropyl alcohol.I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I examined the cleaned walls of the bowl and found a divot on the left side of the bowl half way down across the side. I could feel it with my fingers. I wiped the bowl clean with a cotton pad and alcohol to remove any debris on the surface. I mixed a batch of JB Weld to repair the divot on the bowl wall. I pressed it into the damaged area with a tooth pick and a dental spatula. I set the bowl aside for the repair to cure. Once it cured I sanded it smooth with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel to smooth out the repair. I wiped it down with a damp pad to remove the sanding debris.I mixed a bowl coating of sour cream and activated charcoal powder. I inserted a pipe cleaner in the airway entrance to the bowl to keep it open. I applied it to the walls of the pipe with a folded pipe cleaner and repeated it until I had the walls thoroughly covered. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad. I polished the acrylic with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I the polished mottled brown acrylic taper stem and the Savinelli Autograph 2 Cherrywood bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and raise the shine. I gave the stem and the bowl several coats of Carnauba Wax then 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. This turned out to be a beautiful Savinelli Autograph 2 with a black acrylic saddle stem. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches wide x 1 ¾ inches long, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.08 ounces/58 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked this beautiful Bent Dublin. This one will join the first one I restored both will await my completion of the work on the other two pipes Michael sent me. Thanks for looking.

Restoring a Dunhill Tanshell Briar 6475F/T Friendly Cherrywood

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a Dunhill Tanshell Cherrywood with a vulcanite saddle stem. It is in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on a smooth heel of the bowl and reads 6475 F/T [over] Dunhill Tanshell [over] Made in England11 [over] circle 4T. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has rich Tan and Brown stains on a Shell sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and lightly dirty with grime in the nooks and crannies of the sandblast. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava coat on the smooth crowned rim top and edges. The original white spot saddle stem is dirty and oxidized. It had a white Delrin replacement tenon that seemed to be loose. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the lava coat on the rim top. There was some tobacco debris in the bottom of the bowl. The stem photos show the condition of the saddle stem ahead of the button. The stamping on the heel of the bowl is clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is a real beauty.One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephill helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The F/T is the stamp for a fishtail type stem. The Dunhill Tanshell is the finish. Following the Made In England11 gives the year that the pipe was made. The four digit shape number is a bit of a mystery.

I turned to Pipedia’s shape charts on Dunhills (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Shape_Chart). I quote what was written there and have included the shape charts from the site.

The standard catalog currently encompasses thirty-five distinct shapes, each designated by a two-digit numerical code. From time to time, however, the inherent characteristics of a particular piece of briar lend themselves to the creation of a form that exists outside this established repertoire. These unique, non-standard shapes are collectively referred to by the term “Quaint”. The modern four-digit identification system has been successfully in place for more than three decades, serving Dunhill, its commercial partners, and its clientele with proven efficacy.From the above information I could see that I was working on a Cherrywood shaped pipe but the shape number above did not match that. The chart shows that the Cherrywood was a 20 but there is no 20 number on the pipe I am working on. From there I turned to the next chart on the site which gave a digit by digit breakdown of the shape number. I include the chart below and then underneath I give the break down on the number.

  • The shape number of the pipe is 6475F/T using the chart above here is what the numbers tell us.
  • The first digit 6 is the group size of the pipe making it a large Group6.
  • The second digit 4 is the mouth piece which in this case is a ¼ bent taper but the pipe I am working on is a ¼ bent saddle stem which should be a number 5.
  • The third + fourth digit 75 which does not match anything on the chart above. Even the shape number on the first chart above identifies a Cherrywood as a 20.

From there I turned to another link on Pipedia which gave shape numbers and names on the pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Shapes_List). The site listed that the shape I have in hand is one know as a Group 6 size 475 which is known as a Friendly.

6475 Friendly (=475?) 4 5½” 1950, 1969

From there I wanted to pin down the date stamp 11. I have included the chart below for you to follow (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The second column is where the 2-year suffix fits. To arrive at the date the suffix 11 is added to 1960 making the pipe a 1971 Tanshell Cherrywood with a saddle stem – a Dunhill Friendly.I also am including a link to a similar pipe in the shape number 475 on the blog that is very similar to the one I am working on.

https://rebornpipes.com/2018/11/09/restoring-an-amazing-1963-dunhill-tanshell-cherrywood-475/

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I worked over the rim top with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the rim top down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The crowned smooth rim top looks good.I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter with 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove all of the tooth damage on the stem and the majority of the oxidation.While I was working on the stem the white acrylic replacement tenon came out in my hand. It had not been glued in place in the stem so it easily slipped out. This was actually great because I wanted to replace it with a black tenon.  I went through my Delrin tenons and found one that was perfect and looked more like the original. I fit it in the shank and to make sure it all fit together correctly.I glued the new tenon in place in the stem with Black CA Glue. Once the glue set on the tenon I worked over the tenon surface with a flat file and 220 grit sandpaper to get a snug fit in the shank. I wiped down the stem and tenon with some Obsidian Oil and it began to look very good. I sanded the stem and tenon surface with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I the polished stem and the smooth portions of the Cherrywood bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and raise the shine. I gave the stem several coats of carnauba wax and the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax then 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. This turned out to be a beautiful Dunhill Tanshell 6475F/T Cherrywood Friendly. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.48 ounces/42 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked this beautiful little Dunhill sandblast. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Maker Section soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for looking.

Rethinking the Repair of Damaged Stems

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by Kenneth Lieblich

Welcome to another installment of my Pipe Incident Reports. The idea, in general, is to provide a brief write-up – focusing on a particular pipe-restoration-related issue – rather than an entire restoration story. I’ve been blessed by a precious few God-given talents in my life, but innovation is not among them. I’m not usually able to come up with groundbreaking ideas to do things differently. Having said that, I do try and improve my repair/restoration skills, techniques, and procedures wherever I can. One can call it kaizen or whatever, but I try to find better ways of restoring pipes.Today, I am attempting to improve the process of repairing stem bite-throughs by incorporating steel mesh. Now, you might be thinking, ‘That’s not a sentence I ever expected to read’, and you are justified in that thought.

Many pipe repairmen have used various methods for repairing bite-throughs (holes) in vulcanite. Normally, this involves mixing cyanoacrylate adhesive with activated charcoal or powdered vulcanite. Some fellows have also tried some sort of epoxy to bring the stem back to life. In fact, when I started doing pipe repairs, I used that mixture of cyanoacrylate adhesive and activated charcoal. Then I discovered a black-tinted cyanoacrylate adhesive that came pre-mixed with rubber and charcoal. I introduced this product to Steve and it’s what he and I have been using ever since. However, I have always wondered about the durability of these repairs – especially against the bite of a man’s jaw. I wondered, could there be a better way?

Maybe. Read on, but please note: what I am proposing is NOT a complete solution. This is an idea that I hope someone will take and turn into a workable method.

I decided to test a pipe-stem repair with the aforementioned adhesive built around a stainless-steel wire-mesh structure. My thinking is that this would enhance the strength and durability of said repairs. For any engineers or scientists reading this article, please know that I have no scientific background and I am not equipped to conduct accurate tests of compressive or tensile strength. I am merely running an idea up the proverbial flagpole and seeing who salutes it. I hope that someone reading this will take the idea and, either, discredit it or expand upon it. The experiment I describe below is just that: an experiment. It is, possibly, a proof of concept – but certainly not the final step.

The idea came to me one day as I saw some sort of wire mesh being used in a concrete foundation. This mesh is used in construction to control cracking, to distribute stress, and add tensile strength. Perhaps it can be used, in like manner, where a large vulcanite repair is needed. My encounter with the concrete was providential because I had recently acquired a large lot of pipes, many of which had damaged stems. There was one stem in particular that stood out as a candidate for this experiment. Here it is: This is a stem that I would normally likely toss in the garbage, unless a customer specifically asked me to repair it. The damage is obviously serious. Ironically, this brutal damage actually makes this stem the perfect patient for this type of surgery.

Here is the stainless-steel woven wire mesh. For those of you who know such things, this mesh has a mesh number of 200. It can be acquired inexpensively and comes in various mesh numbers. The larger the number, the finer the holes in the mesh. To be frank, my selection of 200 was pure guesswork. I didn’t really have a sense of what would be best – other than to say that it needed to be fine enough to prevent the adhesive from pouring straight through.On with the work! I first needed to create a platform upon which the adhesive and mesh could rest. This was obviously essential in order to maintain the draught hole in the bit. In the first photo below, you’ll see that I used cardboard, but I immediately abandoned that idea (I’ll explain why momentarily). I am displaying this photo in order to demonstrate my use of a pencil to scribe the precise shape of the missing section of vulcanite.I quickly eliminated the cardboard idea because it just isn’t as useful a material for this purpose. Instead, I used several layers of duct tape as my substrate. I can still scribe a line on the duct tape, but – more importantly – cyanoacrylate adhesive doesn’t stick to it. In other words, once the work had fully cured, I could readily remove the duct tape without affecting the repair.

With my scribed line, I was able to transfer the pattern of the absent vulcanite on to the wire mesh and cut it to shape. Truth be told, it would probably be better to use welded wire mesh, but I have no idea where you acquire that in such a small mesh number. Anyway, before cutting the wire mesh, I took the critical steps of (1) gently sanding the mesh with sandpaper to provide a slightly rough surface to maximize the adhesive bond, and (2) cleaning the mesh thoroughly with acetone, to remove any sanding grit and any other substance that would inhibit a good adhesive bond.

And away we go! It is important to apply the cyanoacrylate adhesive in thin layers, rather than one thick blob. I chose to apply a layer, spray it with an accelerator, apply another layer, etc. – until I was satisfied. Once complete, I left it to sit overnight and came back the next day. I freely admit that I am still concerned about the brittleness of this repair, but I think this is definitely a step in the right direction. Naturally, shaping and sanding was the next step – and this took a while. I should emphasise at this point that I didn’t employ the same attention to detail on this stem, as I would on a stem for a customer. I just wanted to get this done and see if it would work. As I sanded with needle files and sanding pads, I shaped the button and melded the repair into the surrounding vulcanite. You can see the results below. It’s pretty good and I’m sure it would look even better if I was doing it for sale or for a customer.

Some final thoughts: I think there is a rudimentary idea here. I feel confident in saying that the repair itself is likely stronger and more resilient with the mesh than without. However, I am apprehensive about whether the brittleness of the cyanoacrylate adhesive is improved or not – and I’m not sure how to reasonably overcome that issue (other than trying epoxy). Another problem that still exists is that there is no direct connection between the mesh and the pre-existing vulcanite. This surely isn’t helpful. It is at the edges – where the adhesive meets the vulcanite – that the bond must be weakest. Next steps might include (1) embedding the wire mesh in an epoxy – this might be the best way of addressing brittleness; (2) overlaying the wire mesh on the original vulcanite to create a bridge structure (although this creates its own big problems); (3) developing a way of affixing the mesh to the vulcanite.

Now, over to you! What do you think of this idea? How would you improve it? What are the next steps? What colossal errors have I made? Please let me know what you think in the comments below. If you make use of the ideas from this experiment in your pipe work, please let me know how it goes. I hope you enjoyed reading this installment of my Pipe Incident Reports – I look forward to writing more. If you are interested in my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

A Lovely Republic Era Peterson’s Sterling Filter 69 Stirling Bent Billiard

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is smooth finished Peterson’s “Sterling Silver” pipe. The pipe came to us from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark. This one is a Peterson’s Bent Billiard pipe with a taper fishtail stem. It has a rich brown coloured finish with interesting grain around the bowl sides and shank. It is very dirty. This Bent Billiard has a silver band on the shank that was oxidized. The grime on the finish was ground into the briar. The brown stains make the grain really pop. It was stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Peterson’s [over] “Sterling Filter”. On the right side it is stamped with the three line Made in the Republic of Ireland stamp followed by the shape number 69. The tarnished band is stamped with Peterson’s [over] Dublin followed by Sterling [over] Silver. To the right that it has three hallmarks – Hibernia seated arm on a harp (signifies country of manufacture), a crowned harp designating Sterling quality and finally a Date Letter mark – in this case an italic “I” (1976). It was in filthy condition when Jeff brought it to the table. There was a thick cake in the bowl and spots of lava on the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had light tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside near the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work before he started on the pipe. Jeff took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is lightly caked and the rim top and edges look very good. The stem is oxidized and has light tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the grain that was around this bowl. It is a nice looking pipe. He took photos of the sides of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is readable in the photos below and is as noted above. The stamping on the Sterling Silver band is also readable through the oxidation. I am including the information from Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

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

Sterling (1949-c1957; 1978-) – Higher grade line with sterling band. Early example, 1949-57, with COM of Made in Ireland forming a circle, were offered to the US market through Rogers Imports and have no hallmark, although until recent years the line carried Peterson’s maker’s mark, the K&P is in separate shields. Models beginning in ’78 with hallmarked dates and a COM stamp of Made in [over] the Republic [over] of Ireland.

I knew that I was dealing with a pipe made between 1949-1957 as shown by the Made in the Republic of Ireland three-line format stamp. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, shank brushes, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked very good when it arrived here. I took some close-up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. The rim top and the inner edge looked very good. The silver cleaned up well on the band, though it needed more work. The stem was clean and the tooth marks and chatter were minimal.I took photos of the stamping on the top and underside of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is faint and readable. I took the pipe apart and took a photo of the pipe. It is a good looking pipe and has some nice looking grain around the bowl. I sanded the briar with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads to remove the scratches and marks in the finish. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. It really looks much better. I polished the briar with 1500-12000 grit micromesh pads – dry sanding it with each pad and wiped down the bowl after each pad. I gave it a final wiped with a Briar Wipe cloth to polish the finish. The briar looked very good at this point. I began my work on it by working some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I polished the Sterling Silver band on the shank with a jeweller’s cloth to remove the tarnish and polish it. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads and wiped it down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad. The stem began to take on a shine.I touched up the P stamp on the left side of the stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I worked it into the P stamp with a tooth pick. Once it dried I scraped off the excess of the acrylic with my fingernail. I sanded the stem area with a worn 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad. It looked very good. I fit the stem with a Vauen Dr. Perl Junior 9mm filter in the filter tenon of the pipe. It is a great fit and that it fit very well.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I am excited to finish this smooth Peterson’s “Sterling Filter” 69 Bent Billiard. I put the pipe back together and lightly buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the depths of the sandblast taking on a rich glow. Added to that the polished Sterling Silver band and the black vulcanite taper P-lip stem was beautiful. This smooth Classic Peterson’s “Sterling Filter” 69 Bent Billiard is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 59 grams/2.08 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the Irish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

What a Lovely Republic Era Peterson’s “Sterling Silver” 68 Brandy

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is smooth finished Peterson’s “Sterling Silver” pipe. The pipe came to us from a Facebook seller in Oregon City, Oregon, USA. This one is a Peterson’s Brandy shaped pipe with a taper P-lip stem. It has a rich brown coloured finish with interesting grain around the bowl sides and shank. It is very dirty. This Brandy has a silver band on the shank that was badly oxidized. The grime on the finish was ground into the finish on the bowl sides. The brown stains make the grain really pop. It was stamped on the left side of the shank and reads K&P in shields [over] “Sterling [over] Silver”. To the right of that it is stamped with the three line Made in the Republic of Ireland stamp followed by the shape number 68. The heavily tarnished band is stamped with K&P in shields [over] Sterling [over] Silver. To the right that it has three hallmarks – Hibernia seated arm on a harp (signifies country of manufacture), a crowned harp designating Sterling quality and finally a Date Letter mark – in this case an italic upper-case italic “I” (1994). It was in filthy condition when Jeff brought it to the table. There was a thick cake in the bowl and spots of lava on the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had light tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside near the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work before he started on the pipe. Jeff took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is lightly caked and the rim top and edges look very good. The stem is oxidized and has light tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the grain that was around this bowl. It is a nice looking pipe. He took photos of the sides of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is readable in the photos below and is as noted above. The stamping on the Sterling Silver band is also readable through the oxidation. I am including the information from Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

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

Sterling (1949-c1957; 1978-) – Higher grade line with sterling band. Early example, 1949-57, with COM of Made in Ireland forming a circle, were offered to the US market through Rogers Imports and have no hallmark, although until recent years the line carried Peterson’s maker’s mark, the K&P is in separate shields. Models beginning in ’78 with hallmarked dates and a COM stamp of Made in [over] the Republic [over] of Ireland.

I knew that I was dealing with a pipe made between 1949-1957 as shown by the Made in the Republic of Ireland three-line format stamp. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, shank brushes, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked very good when it arrived here. I took some close-up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. The rim top and the inner edge looked very good. The silver cleaned up well on the band. The stem was clean and the tooth marks and chatter were minimal.I took photos of the stamping on the top and underside of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is faint and readable. I took the pipe apart and took a photo of the pipe. It is a good looking pipe and has some nice looking grain around the bowl. I sanded the briar with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads to remove the remainder of the varnish coat that the acetone did not remove. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. It really looks much better. I polished the briar with 1500-12000 grit micromesh pads – dry sanding it with each pad and wiped down the bowl after each pad. I gave it a final wiped with a Briar Wipe cloth to polish the finish. The briar looked very good at this point. I began my work on it by working some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I polished the Sterling Silver band on the shank with a jeweller’s cloth to remove the tarnish and polish it. I scrubbed the oxidized stem surface with Soft Scrub cleanser on cotton pads. I was able to remove a major portion of the oxidation. It began to look much better.I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads and wiped it down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad. The stem began to take on a shine.I touched up the P stamp on the left side of the stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I worked it into the P stamp with a tooth pick. Once it dried I scraped off the excess of the acrylic with my fingernail. I sanded the stem area with a worn 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad. It looked very good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I am excited to finish this smooth Peterson’s “Sterling Silver” 68 Brandy. I put the pipe back together and lightly buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the depths of the sandblast taking on a rich glow. Added to that the polished Sterling Silver band and the black vulcanite taper P-lip stem was beautiful. This smooth Classic Peterson’s “Sterling Silver” 68 Brandy is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 59 grams/2.08 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the Irish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Restoring and Irish Made Peterson’s Killarney Natural 381 Billiard

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is natural finished Peterson’s Straight Billiard that we purchased from and our connection in Copenhagen, Denmark on 12/09/2023. It was stamped Killarney in script on the left side of the shank. On the right it is stamped “A Peterson’s [over] Product” [over] Made in Ireland (in two lines). The shape number 381 is near the bowl/shank junction. It has a smooth, natural finish with great grain around the bowl and shank. There is some patchy varnish on the surface that is dirty with a lot of oils, debris and grime. The bowl had been recently reamed and there was a light cake. There light spots of lava on the rim top and edges. The top and edges of the rim looked very good. It appeared that there was a beautiful pipe underneath all of the buildup of years of use. The stem was a Peterson’s P-lip taper stem with a Peterson’s P logo on the left side. It was quite clean and did not seem to have a lot of oxidation or calcification. There was some light chatter on the stem and the button edges were quite clean. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the look of the bowl and the rim top. There were small spots of lava on the top of the rim and the edges of the bowl. Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the light tooth chatter and overall good condition of the stem surface. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the grime around the sides of the bowl and shank. Even under the dirt and debris of the years it looked very good. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping was readable as you can see from the photos. It read as noted above.I am including the information from Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Kilarney Pipe. On page 306 it had the following information on the pipe.

Kilarney (1949-) Entry line with smooth finish and P-Lip mouthpiece. May have either a K or P stamped on the mouthpiece; may have an aluminum stinger (not to be confused with the tenon extension tube found on straight System pipes). 1949-c.1957 examples made for the US market may have any of the following COM stamps: MADE IN IRELAND (forming a circle), “A PETERSON’S PRODUCT” over MADE IN IRELAND or LONDON MADE over ENGLAND. Some early specimens stamped KILLARNEY over NATURAL (a higher grade) have MADE IN IRELAND (forming a circle). Examples c. 1986-90 feature a nickel band, which was replaced in ’91 with a shank extension of nickel band with black acrylic inlay. Fishtail mouthpiece from ’86 although P-Lip is sometimes seen. For the current German market, the Killarney is stamped CONNEMARA

I knew that I was dealing with a pipe made 1949-c1957 due to the stamping on the shank and a natural finish. It has the “P” stamp on the stem side and a P-lip mouthpiece. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the light cake in the bowl with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs, shank brushes and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava spots with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better when it arrived. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show what an amazing job Jeff did in the cleanup of the rim top. The rim top and inner edge of the bowl looked very good. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the condition of the vulcanite. It was quite clean and there were light tooth marks ahead of the button.One of the things I appreciate about Jeff’s cleanup is that he works to protect and preserve the nomenclature on the shank of the pipes that he works on. He was able to preserve and maintain its condition in the process. I took some photos to show the clarity of the stamping. I have noticed that many restorers are not careful to protect the stamping in their cleaning process and often by the end of the restoration the nomenclature is almost destroyed. I would like to encourage all of us to be careful in our work to preserve this as it is a critical piece of pipe restoration! I took the stem off the shank and took a photo of the pipe. I wiped the bowl down with acetone and cotton pads to remove the remnants of the varnish coat on the bowl sides and shank. I sanded the briar with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads to remove the remainder of the varnish coat that the acetone did not remove. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. It really looks much better. I polished the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the dust. The briar was really shining by the final pad. I rubbed the bowl and rim down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for 10 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I really like watching the Balm do its magic and bring the briar alive. I touched up the “P” logo on the left side of the saddle stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I let it dry then I polished off the excess with a worn 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad. Once the excess was removed the stamp looked much better. There were some weak spots on the leg and tail of the “P” stamp.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet 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. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry. Once again at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when the Made in Ireland “A Peterson’s Product” Killarney 381 Billiard with a taper stem is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. 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 shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the natural browns of the bowl and thick shank. This Irish Made Peterson’s Killarney 381 Billiard was another fun pipe to work on. It really is a quite stunning piece of briar whose shape follows the flow of the briar. The pipe feels great in the hand will be better when warmed up while smoking. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length:6 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.38 ounces/39 grams. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipemakers Section if you would like to add it to your rack and carry on the previous pipeman’s legacy.

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 pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.