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Resurrecting a Brigham Made in Canada 625 Bulldog with a Frozen Stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

On Saturday, April 27 Kenneth and I went to an antique and collectible sale at an arena in New Westminster, BC, Canada. I wrote about the adventure and posted it in a previous blog last weekend (https://rebornpipes.com/2024/04/28/you-have-to-join-kenneth-and-me-on-a-great-morning-pipe-hunt/). On the hunt I picked up four pipes that I have listed below:

  1. Jeantet Fait Main Bent Freehand Dublin 4 with a diamond shank
  2. Jeantet Fait Main Bent Apple 9 with a uniquely shaped shank and stem
  3. Republic Era Peterson’s System Pipe 1307 Bowl sans stem
  4. Brigham Made in Canada 625 Squat Straight Bulldog

I have included photos of the foursome below. They are in the order of the list above. I chose to work on the final pipe in the above photos. It is shown in the photos below and is stamped 625 next to Brigham [over] Made in Canada on a smooth panel on the left underside of the diamond shank. There are three vertical brass dots that are corroded and dark on the left topside of the diamond stem. It is squat straight Bulldog shape with a smooth cap, twin rings below the cap and a rusticated bowl and shank. The pipe has some great grain around the rim cap. The rim top is clean and shows some darkening on the back topside. The inner edge of the bowl is damaged and slightly out of round. The bowl had a light to moderate cake on the walls and some spots of lava on the rim top. The briar is dry and lifeless with some grime and grit ground into the briar. The stem was oxidized and had some tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. The stem was frozen in place in the shank and was not removable. From my experience I would guess that the aluminum tube in the shank had begun to oxidize and that combined with the tars and oils had bound the tenon apparatus to the briar in the shank. I had a feeling it was going to be a real pain to separate the stem and the shank. The photos below show what I saw when I examined the pipe. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the bowl. The rim top has some darkening and scratches in the smooth surface. There was some damage around the inner edge of the bowl and there is a moderate cake in the bowl. The stem is oxidized and is very dirty from the shank to the button. There are tooth marks and chatter on the stem on both sides ahead of the button. Remember the stem is not removable at this point.I took photos of the stamping on the topsides of the shank. It reads as noted above. It is faint in spots but is still very readable. There are three brass dots stacked vertically on the top left side of the diamond stem. They are oxidized but are present.The next best thing to talking with Charles Lemon of Dad’s Pipes is to read the article he wrote on dating Brigham pipes on Pipedia. Charles has done a magnificent job of collating the material on the brand into this article and giving a historical flow of the eras of the Brigham pipe since its beginning in 1906. Thank you Charles for you work on this as it is a one of a kind resource. (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Pipes_%E2%80%93_A_Closer_Look_at_Dots,_Dates_and_Markings).

Around the late 1960s or early 1970s, at the beginning of what I’ve called the Canadian Era (roughly 1970 – 1980), the stampings changed again as Brigham moved to modernize its logo. Pipes are stamped with the 3-digit shape number and “Brigham” over “Made in Canada”. Note these two variants of this stamping.

Canadian Era StampsI then turned to Charles Lemon’s book, “Brigham Pipes A Century of Canadian Briar” to confirm the meaning of the 625 shape number and the placement of the three dots on the stem side. I have collated the information I found there below.

The shape # 625 indicates a 600-series shape 25. The shape 25 is a Medium Squat Bulldog. The text in the list of shapes in the back of the book says it has a taper stem but the photo shows the same pipe I have with a saddle stem. The saddle stem on this one is the original stem so I believe the photo in the list is correct rather than the description. The block letter “Made in Canada” stamp was used in the Canadian Era, approximately 1970 through 1979. The stamp on the pipe I am working on is like the first one above so I believe it was made in 1978. The stem carries the vertical 3-Dot pattern of the Brigham Executive grade, which pairs with the 600-series shape number.

Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe. I decided to tackle the stuck stem first. It was actually the first of the four pipes that I worked on. I used all the tried and true methods for removing stuck stems and I have to tell you that none of them worked. I left it in the freezer for increasingly longer times – starting with 15 minutes and finally leaving it in overnight. Nothing worked. It did not budge at all. I heated the shank and stem with a heat gun working it carefully over the surface so as not to burn either the briar or the vulcanite. Again, no amount of heat or time made any difference at all. I put the pipe in the microwave and heated it carefully with no success. I was not going to give up on it. I would beat this stuck stem one way or another. But, do understand that all of these procedures took me from the day I found the pipe on April 27 until May 10th. In between all the other methods I used a pipe cleaner to apply alcohol at the joint of the stem and shank with no success. I used the same method with acetone and again no success.

Finally, I inserted a folded pipe cleaner in the slot and pushed it as far as it would go into the stem. I wanted to block off the button and the inside of the hard maple filter that Brighams have in the elongated aluminum tenon. Once it was inserted I filled the bowl with acetone (fingernail polish remover) and let it sit until it evaporated. I repeated the process morning, noon and night before bed. Nothing was working to beat the frozen stem. Finally, this morning I was on the phone with my brother and the fill of acetone had evaporated so I decided to wiggle it while we talked. Low and behold, shiver me timbers, be still my beating heart, whatever phrase you want to you it moved just slightly! With a cry of exhilaration, I knew I was going to beat this stuck stem situation. I wiggled the stem all the way through the conversation and just before we closed the Facetime call the stem turned and was able to turn it free. The amount of sludge (I don’t know what else to call all the white build up in the shank and on the tube) was absolutely awful. I don’t know if I have ever seen it this thick. It was pitting the aluminum and the inside of the briar had a thick coat that filled in the gap between the tube and the walls. It was a huge mess.But that was not the end of the stuck tenon and parts! The maple hard wood filter with an aluminum cap was absolutely stuck in the tube. I could not remove it with pliers. I heated it with a lighter and tried it once more with no success. So… I resorted to an old alcohol bath I have here and have not used for over a year or more. I took the cap off the container that held the darkened alcohol and dropped the stem into the mix tenon down. It sat in the mix for at least and hour before I got back to it. I removed it from the container and used the pliers to grab the aluminum end and turn it. Sounds easy right? Wrong… I have had these aluminum tips snap off and leave the hardwood stuck in the tenon. I gingerly wiggled the end while carefully pulling on it and low and behold it let loose and the entire tube and tip was free! Once again the inside of the tube was a mess but the acetone had done a bit of work softening the goop on the aluminum walls.I was excited to say the least. It took literally 10 days short of a month to get this stem removed from the shank. You don’t even know how many times I was tempted to pitch the pipe in the trash and move on to other pipes. I even buried it on a corner of the desk that I don’t use much for daily work but it had a bit of a siren call and I could not ignore it. Today I beat it! Today I won this seemingly insignificant battle. But to me it felt epic to win. I took photos of the parts in celebration of the win. You can see the corrosion on the aluminum tip of the hard wood insert. You can also see the slight thinning of the tube just ahead of the tip – it could easily have snapped leaving me with yet another mess! The aluminum tenon is also corroded and has some of the white “aluminum oxide” build up around the length. The inside of the mortise is also thickly coated with a furry white insulation. Now that it was apart it was time to do a bit of cleaning before I could even begin working on it. I wanted to remove as much of the white fuzzy oxide on the inside of both the shank and the aluminum tenon tube as possible before going further. I pitched the hard wood filter in the garbage as it would be replaced when the work was finished. I cleaned out the shank with a pen knife to scrape away the debris then clean it with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol until they came out significantly cleaner. I did the same with the aluminum tube tenon. Remember this was step one of the clean! I would do much more before this pipe was actually finished.I guess one of the benefits of the bowl soaking with acetone for two weeks is that the cake absolutely dissolved and I was able to wipe it out after each evaporation and refill of the bowl. It was surprisingly clean. I cleaned up the remnants of the cake on the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl sides with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The bowl walls showed no heat damage or checking and were almost bare briar in the bottom half of the bowl.I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the inner edge to remove the damage and nicks in the surface. It did not take too much to smooth out the damage on the inner edge and make it look much better.I scrubbed the externals bowl and shank with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the grime and debris from the scrubbing. I scrubbed the inside of the shank and the aluminum tenon tube with Murphy’s as well using a set of shank brushes. The white is all gone and the pipe actually smells amazing!I cleaned out the internals of the bowl, mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem a second time with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to make sure it was clean inside. I was not expecting a lot of dirt and debris after the double scrubbing it had already received but I wanted to make sure. Because of the length of the tube I had to strategically fold the pipe cleaners to scrub the tube. Shining a light through it now shows it just shines… whew.I sanded the surface of the briar with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It took on a real shine on the briar as I worked through the pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust and debris left behind. The pipe had cleaned up so well that I turned to polish the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. By the final pads the briar really had a shine.  I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really came alive with the balm. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. To help remove the oxidation I scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub Cleanser and cotton pads. It took some elbow work but the stem definitely looked better and the sulphur smell of the oxidation is gone!I “painted” the tooth marks on the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift them. I was able raise them some. I filled in what remained with some clear CA glue and set it aside to cure. In the morning I used some small files to flatten the repairs into the surrounding surface of the stem. I sanded the repaired areas with 220 grit sandpaper to further flatten them. The stem was beginning to look good. I sanded the surface with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further clean up the spots of oxidation on the surface of the stem. I wiped it down with a soft damp cloth following each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. I also worked on the aluminum tube tenon with the pads. I was able to remove debris and smooth out the pits in the aluminum. There is some staining on the tube that I was not able to remove.I polished out the scratches with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I also used the pads on the aluminum as well and made some more progress. I found my box of Brigham Rock Maple Distillators and took a clean one from the box to replace the one that was stuck in the pipe when I received it. The beauty of these is that they can easily be rinsed out with alcohol or warm water to remove the tars and oils and reused. I put the bowl and stem back together. I buffed 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 Brigham Squat Bulldog with the rusticated bowl and shank and smooth bull cap is quite beautiful and it has some beautiful grain around the rim cap. The contrast of swirling grain looked good with the polished black vulcanite. This Brigham Squat Bulldog 625 is really a beauty. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.27 ounces/36 grams. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. With it I have finished the Antique Show finds and am on to other pipes in the queue.

Restoring a Beautiful Danish Freehand

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

From time to time, I come across a pipe that seems to embody everything one wants a pipe to be: aesthetically pleasing, well proportioned, skilfully carved, forcefully present. This is one of those pipes. It is a Granhill Select Freehand. The grain on this pipe is absolutely beautiful. There is precious little information on the Granhill name. Yonks ago, Steve did a blog post on a Granhill pipe and it contained all the available information at the time. The maker was either a carver named Michael Kabik or a tobacconist named Lonnie Fay. Now, Fay may well have produced pipes under this name, but I think we can say with certainty that this pipe is by Kabik, based on the similarity of design and logo. I will reproduce here some of what is written is Pipedia:

Michael Victor Kabik or Michael J. Kabik, now retired artisan and pipe repairman, was born in Annapolis, Maryland in 1950. As a student he was fascinated by science, but finally turned to the arts. In the early 1970s he started working as an artisan and designer for Hollyday Pipes Ltd., and when the company closed he set up in his own right.

Kabik writes as follows:

…In the 1960s, I had helped Jay build Jay’s Smoke Shop and was his first employee. Since that time, he had set up one of the very first freehand pipe-making operations in the U.S. along with his partner, Chuck Holiday, called CHP-X Pipes. The staff consisted of four full-timers actually making the pipes and perhaps another four in sales and office work. Chuck, who did the actual design and carving, had long since had serious disagreements with Jay and split. Chuck’s replacement from the staff was quitting, and Jay was in a bind. Jay offered me the job, and I gladly accepted. The fellow quitting was supposed to train me for two months but left after two weeks, leaving me with an awesome responsibility. I felt as though the future employment of all these people depended on me as the designer and cutter…and it did.

 …Sadly, CHP-X closed its doors two years after my arrival, due primarily to distribution, sales force problems, and other issues to which I was not privy…In love with a medium that satisfied my creative impulses while, pretty much, paying the bills, I bought up the essential equipment and produced pipes on my own. I did this from a farm house my wife and I rented in Phoenix, Maryland. I produced pipes under the name KANE, Gran Hill and others I can’t remember as well as a private label line for a store in, I believe, South Dakota.

 …In 1973, I was approached by Mel Baker, the owner of a chain in Virginia Beach called Tobak Ltd. Mel was interested in producing a freehand pipe line and was alerted to my product by Al Saxon, one of his managers and a former CHP-X employee. Mel wanted to relocate me to Virginia Beach, give me carte blanche, and recreate the CHP-X studio with, of course, a new name for the product. I’m sure my answer came very quickly.

 …We decided on the name Sven-Lar. Why? Well, when I bought out CHP-X, I also got a small drawer full of metal stamps that were created for private-label work. The Sven-Lar name was conceived but never realized. Aside from having the stamp already made, there were other reasons we chose Sven-Lar. First, we were making a line of pipes in the Danish freehand tradition and also, sadly, we knew the difficulty American pipe makers had breaking the foreign market mystique barrier. The latter certainly played a big part in the demise of CHP-X.

You can read the entire Pipedia article on Kabik here. Just to close the loop on this, I also found Kabik on Facebook. I haven’t contacted him yet, but I may to see if we can get some more historical information. Here is a relatively recent photo of him:

The markings on the pipe are as follows. On the shank, there is a large letter Z [over] Danmark [over] Granhill [over] Select. Mysteries abound! I don’t know what the “Z” refers to, I don’t know why he uses the Danish spelling of Denmark rather than the English (given that he’s American), I don’t know if Granhill is the same as Gran-Hill, etc., and, finally, I don’t know where “Select” ranks in the pantheon of Kabik pipes. Frustrating.

Let’s have a closer look at the pipe itself. It really is an attractive piece. Overall, it is in good condition – no major issues to resolve. Just a few minor ones – particularly on the stem. It had some significant tooth marks in the button and, as the photo shows, debris clogging the bore. I started with the BIC lighter and “painted” the stem with its flame, in the hopes of raising some of the dents in the vulcanite. Although they did not disappear altogether, they were substantially improved and I was pleased with the results.I wiped down the stem with some Murphy’s on some cotton rounds. Then, I cleaned out the insides of the stem with pipe cleaners and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. Once that was done, the stem went for an overnight soak in the Before & After Hard Rubber Deoxidizer. After soaking, I cleaned off the de-oxidizing fluid with alcohol, pipe cleaners, et cetera. The oxidation had migrated to the surface and I used SoftScrub to work it off. I built up the tooth damage on the stem with black cyanoacrylate adhesive and let it fully cure. I used my miniature files to take down the majority of the dried glue. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. I used the PipNet Reamer (and some sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel) to take the bowl down to bare briar, as I wanted to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the walls of the bowl. Fortunately, there were none. I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and isopropyl alcohol. It took a fair amount of cotton to get this thing clean!A de-ghosting session seemed like a good idea. This de-ghosting consisted of thrusting cotton balls in the bowl and the shank, and saturating them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused the oils, tars and smells to leech out into the cotton. Finally, a relatively clean and fresh-smelling bowl emerged. I then moved on to cleaning the outside of the stummel with Murphy’s Oil Soap and some cotton pads. I also scrubbed the plateau with a toothbrush. What a difference that made! I then cleaned the insides with some Castile soap and tube brushes. After this, I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to smooth out everything in the briar. Then a light application of Before & After Restoration Balm brought out the best in the stummel’s grain. The grain on this pipe is pretty fantastic! Off to the bench polisher to put the final touches on this pipe. A dose of White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax were just what this pipe needed. The lovely shine made the wood look absolutely beautiful.

All done! This Granhill Select Freehand looks fantastic and is ready to be enjoyed again by the next owner. 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 “American” 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 6 in. (155 mm); height 2½ in. (64 mm); bowl diameter 1⅞ in. (47 mm); chamber diameter 1 in. (24 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1¾ oz. (52 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I did 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 Five Pipes at Once

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

One of my customers very kindly sent me five pipes to clean up for him. I had the pleasure of working on some beauties and I thought I would share the results with all of you. I was sent two Jobeys and three Peterson Sherlock Holmes pipes. On this occasion, I did something different than I usually do: I restored all five at once, rather than one at a time. The results on the pipes were as good as usual, but the results on your author’s sanity were perhaps less good. This blog is more of a show-and-tell than my usual restoration stories. Onward ho!

Let’s examine the five pipes. First is a Jobey Band E79 partially rusticated bullmoose with a variegated, acrylic, fishtail, saddle stem. Second is a Jobey Hand-Rubbed 680 smooth bent egg with a black, vulcanite, fishtail, saddle stem. Third is a Peterson’s Sherlock Holmes Professor large bent billiard with a sterling silver band and a black, vulcanite, P-lip, tapered stem. Dated 1998. Fourth is a Peterson Sherlock Holmes Hansom large (and very tall) bent bulldog with a sterling silver band and a black, vulcanite, P-lip, tapered stem. Dated 1997. And fifth is a Peterson Sherlock Holmes (without a specific name) large bent Rhodesian with a sterling silver band and a black, vulcanite, P-lip, tapered stem. Dated 1987. I cleaned the outside of all of the stems with Murphy’s and the insides with pipe cleaners and Q-tips dipped in isopropyl alcohol. The vulcanite stems were tossed into the oxidation removal fluid for a good soak. I later cleaned off the oxidation and went to fill in the tooth dents with black cyanoacrylate adhesive. I worked off the high points with my needle files and sanded them all with Micromesh pads and Obsidian Oil. On to the stummels. I reamed out all the bowls and removed all of that old cake. Some bowls had lava on the rim, so I carefully removed that without damaging anything further. I also cleaned the outside of the stummels with Murphy’s. These stummels had been quite well maintained over the years, so there wasn’t much difficulty in cleaning out the gunk inside – with one exception. The Jobey bent egg had a hidden trap of debris inside that had evidently never been noticed. As the photos show, there was some dreadful goo to remove from there! I set all five pipes up for a de-ghosting session and, since I was doing them all at once, an egg carton made an excellent holder for multiple pipes at once.Again, four of the five stummels were in great condition and didn’t really need much work to the outside briar. The exception was that same Jobey egg – it had a couple of significant blemishes which I repaired with briar dust and cyanoacrylate adhesive. After this, all of the stummels were sanded down with Micromesh pads and then left to sit with a coat of Before and After Balm. It sort of moisturizes the wood and gives it a lovely gloss. I took the pipes to my bench buffer and spiffed them all up with some White Diamond and carnauba wax. My last stem was to polish the sterling silver ands with my jewellery cloth. And voilà! These beauties are already on their way back to their owner. I trust that he will enjoy their new and improved status. I hope you enjoyed reading this quick write-up of this lovely bunch of pipes. 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.

Restoring the first of the Antique Collectible Finds – a Jeantet Fait Main Bent Freehand Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

Last weekend on April 27 Kenneth and I went to an antique and collectible sale at an arena in New Westminster, BC, Canada. I wrote about the adventure and posted it in a previous blog last weekend (https://rebornpipes.com/2024/04/28/you-have-to-join-kenneth-and-me-on-a-great-morning-pipe-hunt/). On the hunt I picked up four pipes that I have listed below:

  1. Jeantet Fait Main Bent Freehand Dublin 4 with a diamond shank
  2. Jeantet Fait Main Bent Apple 9 with a uniquely shaped shank and stem
  3. Republic Era Peterson’s System Pipe 1307 Bowl sans stem
  4. Brigham Made in Canada 625 Squat Straight Bulldog

I have included photos of the foursome below. They are in the order of the list above. I chose to work on the first pipe in the above photos. It is shown in the photos below and is stamped Jeantet [over] Fait Main (Hand Made) on the left underside of the shank. On the right underside of the shank it is stamped with the number 4 (shape number perhaps) and with Made in France along the shank/stem junction. There is a Jeantet logo J in a silver oval on the left topside of the diamond stem. It is kind of a Freehand Bent Dublin with a Diamond shank. The pipe has some great grain around the bowl sides and shank. The rim top is flat and slightly oval. The bowl had a moderate cake on the walls and thankfully no lava on the rim top or edges of the bowl. The briar is dry and lifeless with some grime and grit ground into the briar. The stem was oxidized and had light toothmarks on the top and underside ahead of the button. The photos below show what I saw when I examined the pipe.  I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the bowl. The rim top is clean with no lava and there is a moderate cake in the bowl. The stem is lightly oxidized and is very dirty from the shank to the button. There are light tooth marks and chatter on the stem on both sides ahead of the button.I took photos of the stamping on the undersides of the shank. It reads as noted above. It is faint in spots but is still very readable. I took the stem off and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the size of the bowl. I turned to Pipephil’s site to see what I could learn about Jeantet pipes (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-jeantet.html). There was nothing specific about that line though was a brief summary of the history. I quote from the top bar below:

The company joined the Cuty-Fort Entreprises group (Chacom, Ropp, Vuillard, Jean Lacroix…) in 1992. In 2010 it dropped out and the brand isn’t part of the group any more. The label is owned by the Jeantet family (Dominique Jeantet) again. The pipe production is discontinued. Dominique Jeantet retired in 2000. See also: Antidote, Duke of Kent, Grand Duke, Hermes, Sir Bruce, Sir Duke

I turned to Pipedia to get a more detailed history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Jeantet). There as a short history there that I have reproduced below.

The firm of the Jeantet family in Saint-Claude is first mentioned as early as 1775. By 1807 the Jeantets operated a turnery producing in particular wooden shanks for porcelain pipes and wild cherry wood pipes. The firm was named Jeantet-David in 1816, and in 1837 the enterprise was transformed into a corporation as collective name for numerous workshops scattered all over the city.

The manufacturing of briar pipes and began in 1858. 51 persons were employed by 1890. Desirous to concentrate the workers at a single site, the corporation began to construct a factory edifying integrated buildings about 1891 at Rue de Bonneville 12 – 14. This took several years. In 1898 Maurice Jeantet restructured the business. He is also presumed to enlarge Jeantet factory purchasing a workshop adjoining southerly. It belonged to the family Genoud, who were specialized in rough shaping of stummels and polishing finished pipes. (In these times it was a most common procedure to carry goods from here to there and back again often for certain steps of the production executed by dependant family based subcontractors. Manpower was cheap.)

Jeantet was transformed to a corporation with limited liability in 1938. By that time a branch workshop was operated in Montréal-la-Cluse (Ain), where mainly the less expensive pipes were finished. 107 employees – 26 of them working from their homes – were counted in Saint-Claude in 1948 and 18 in the Ain facility.

The Saint-Claude factory was considerably modernized by ca. 1950 installing (e.g.) freight elevators. In 1952 the southern workshop was elevated. 80 workers were employed in 1958. The factory covered an area of 2831 m²; 1447 m² of the surface were buildings.

The climax of the pipe production was reached around 1969, when thirty to thirty five thousand dozens of pipes were made by 72 workers (1969). But then the production continuously dwindled to only six or seven thousand dozens in 1987 and only 22 workers were still there. Even though, around 1979 a very modern steam powered facility for drying the briar had been installed in the factory’s roofed yard.

Yves Grenard, formerly Jeantet’s chief designer and a great cousin of Pierre Comoy, had taken over the management of Chapuis-Comoy in 1971. Now, to preserve the brand, the Jeantet family went into negotiations with him, and resulting from that Jeantet was merged in the Cuty Fort Group (est. 1987 and headed by Chacom) in 1988 along with the pipe brands of John Lacroix and Emile Vuillard. Chacom closed the Jeantet plant, and the City of Saint-Claude purchased it in 1989. After alternative plans failed, the buildings were devoted to wrecking. The southerly workshop was wrecked before 1992.

Today Jeantet pipes were produced as a sub-brand by Chapuis-Comoy who’s mainstay is Chacom of course.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and then cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl sides with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The bowl walls showed no heat damage or checking. I scrubbed the internals of the airway and mortise in the shank and the airway in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until the airways were clean and the pipe smelled fresh. I scrubbed the externals bowl and shank with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the grime and debris from the scrubbing. The pipe had cleaned up so well that I turned to polish the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. By the final pads the briar really had a shine. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. 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 aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. To help remove the oxidation I scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub Cleanser and cotton pads. It took some elbow work but the stem definitely looked better and the sulphur smell of the oxidation is gone!I sanded the surface with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further clean up the spots of oxidation on the surface of the stem. I wiped it down with a soft damp cloth following each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris.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. It really took on a shine and I knew that once it was buffed it would look amazing. This Jeantet Fait Main Freehand Bent Dublin 4 with a vulcanite stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful grain around the bowl sides stands out very well with the contrast of the polished vulcanite stem. I 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. I 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 Jeantet Fait Main Freehand fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 61grams/2.15 ounces. I will be adding this one to the French Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in adding it to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!

Cleaning up a Wayward Republic Era K&P Peterson’s System Standard 314

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Blog by Steve Laug

Sometimes there is benefit to being a pipe rescue location. Although I am not sure my wife and daughters would agree with that. But I have to say it does keep this old guy busy rejuvenating old pipes and giving them life. If you were to come into my basement office/workshop (but mind you few do) I think you would be surprised by two things – the number of books on the shelves and the number of pipes in the storage bins behind my desk! There are a lot of pipes that still need attention. Most have been reamed and cleaned so that part is finished. But many still need a lot of attention to make them smokable again. Ah well, enough of that. This post is about a pipe I received in the mail today. Several weeks ago I received an email from a friend, Dave in Nova Scotia regarding a pipe he had that he thought I might enjoy having. I have included a portion of his email as it sets the stage for this interesting old Peterson’s System Standard 314.

Hi Steve,

Dave in Nova Scotia. Hope you’re enjoying the spring!

If you’re interested and want to send postage for a Canada Post small box, I’ll send you this Peterson system standard, 314.

Was my brother-in-law’s. He bought it Ireland many years ago. Needs some TLC. 

Yours is the home for wayward pipes!

So, I knew that the pipe was a Peterson’s System Standard 314 that had originally belonged to his brother-in-law who had purchased it directly from Peterson’s in Ireland. He included two photos of the Peterson for me to have a look at. I have included them below. The pipe was in desperate need of a restoration that is for sure. But I have truly worked on pipes in worse condition than this one. The box arrived on Friday this past week and I unpacked it to examine it carefully. The pipe was very dirty and tired looking. The finish was dirty and the nickel ferrule on the shank end was very corroded in spots on the left and underside and covered in thick grime. There were some dark spots on the left and right side toward the bottom of the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava coat that flowed up from the thick cake in the bowl. It was stamped on the left side vertically under the ferrule and read Peterson’s with the forked leg on the P [arched over] System [over] Standard. On the right side of the shank the stamping is horizontal and reads Made in the Republic of Ireland [in three lines] with the 314 shape number underneath that. The nickel ferrule was stamped under the grime and read K&P over Peterson’s. The stem is covered in a thick build up of dirt and oils. There is some oxidation on the stem surface and surprisingly there are no tooth marks. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the bowl. You can also see the condition of the nickel ferrule with all of the corrosion and grime completely removing the shine of the nickel ferrule. The stem is dirty around the insert in the ferrule. It is lightly oxidized and is very dirty on the stem and the button. There are light tooth marks and chatter on the stem service on both sides ahead of the p-lip.I took photos of the stamping on the shank sides. It is faint but still very readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. You can also see the dark spot on the right side of the bowl ahead of the stamping. I started my working on the pipe by addressing the corrosion and oxidation on the nickel ferrule. I sanded it with 320 grit sanding pads to remove the corrosion. I was utterly surprised that the nickel ferrule cleaned up and had a rich shine to it. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to remove remnants of cake. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I scrubbed the externals bowl and shank with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the grime and debris from the scrubbing. I scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to remove the grime in the shank and sump of the Pete. I also scrubbed the airway on the inside of the stem at the same time. The pipe was very dirty but it cleaned up well.I cleaned off the remaining darkening on the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It cleaned up very well and looked good. There was no damage to the inner or outer rim edges.I worked over the briar bowl sides and rim top with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I sanded down the dark spots on the surface and was able to remove the damage. Thankfully they were not burn marks. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the dust and sanding debris left behind. The pipe had cleaned up so well that I turned to polish the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. By the final pads the briar really had a shine. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. 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 aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. To help remove the oxidation I scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub Cleanser and cotton pads. It took some elbow work but the stem definitely looked better and the sulphur smell of the oxidation is gone!I sanded the surface with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further clean up the spots of oxidation on the surface of the stem. I wiped it down with a soft damp cloth following each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris.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. It really took on a shine and I knew that once it was buffed it would look amazing. This Republic Era Peterson’s System Standard 314 Bent Billiard with a vulcanite stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful grain around the bowl sides stands out very well with the contrast of the polished nickel ferrule. 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. I 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 Peterson’s System Standard 314 fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 45grams/1.59oz. This one has been reserved for first refusal. If you are interested in being in the queue for this pipe send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!

Refurbishing An Early Butz Choquin “A Metz” Bent Billiard

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

This pipe too came to me in that lot of 40 pipes purchased from Etsy.fr of which I have restored a few, the ROPP PNEUMATIC being the latest project. This pipe is a large billiard with a swan neck like graceful bend to the shank that extends over to the horn stem. The stummel appears dull and lifeless and yet through this, beautiful cross grains can be faintly made out over the sides of the stummel with bird’s eye grain at the foot. A copper band adorn the shank end with it’s crimped shank end edges covering the shank face. It is stamped over the left shank surface as “BUTZ-CHOQUIN” over “A” over “METZ”. The copper band has minuscule cartouche with some mysterious stampings that are neither visible under bright light nor under magnification.A couple of years ago, I had worked on an early Butz Choquin pipe that was very similarly stamped. I had studied the brand then and also before that when I had refurbished my inherited CHOQUIN PIPE from first era 1858. Given below is the link to the write up on the similarly stamped pipe. For the sake of brevity, I have avoided reproducing the information and implore readers to follow the link for better understanding the brand and establishing the provenance of the pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/2022/04/17/restoring-a-beautiful-older-butz-choquin-a-metz-pipe/).

After reading through the material and correlating the dates, I can, with certainty, claim that this pipe (broadly) is from pre 1951 when Berrod- Regad took over Butz Choquin and moved production from Metz to St. Claude as evidenced from the A METZ stamping.

Further narrowing down the period, I strongly feel that this pipe dates to pre 1920. This conclusion is based on the fact that; firstly, the stem and tenon material used is horn and bone respectively which were the preferred material after Amber during this period for making stems as hard rubber/ vulcanite gained prominence during 1920s. Secondly, the round orifice at the stem end was commonly used until 1920s when vulcanite/ hard rubber with elliptical slot end gained prominence subsequently. Thirdly, use of cork lining inside the mortise to firmly seat the bone tenon in to the mortise.

Any inputs and corrections to my above understanding are solicited and encouraged. Such healthy discussions not only promote interaction between us but also enhance knowledge about pipes and establishing its provenance by sharing information.

Initial Visual Inspection
The elegant swan neck shape of the shank that extends into the stem is the USP of this pipe. The chamber appears to have an even thin layer of cake that appears to have been meticulously maintained by the previous owner. There are a few minor dings to both the inner and outer rim edges. The stummel boasts of beautiful cross grains over the surface with bird’s eye grains at the foot of the stummel. The briar looks dull and lifeless. The mortise has residual old oils and gunk making the draw hard. The horn stem with bone tenon is dull, dry and shows signs of beginnings of cracks over the surface. Both the tenon and orifice slot are clogged with old tars and grime. This one will require a ton of work to spruce it up to its former glory. Following pictures should provide a better understanding of the condition of the pipe before I begin my work. Detailed Visual Inspection
The first impression that I got at a glance of the chamber was an even well maintained layer of cake with practically no darkening of the rim surface or accumulation of carbon overflow. This definitely was either a well cared for pipe or the seller had done so for bargaining a better price. There a few dings on the right and left side of the outer rim edge (encircled in blue). The inner rim edge is intact save for some very minor divots that should be easily addressed with a couple of passes of a piece of 180 grit sandpaper along the edge. The rim top is nicely even and clean, requiring no topping, which I tend to avoid as much as possible. The stummel is dull, lifeless and lacklustre. Under all the dullness and poor appearance, lurks some beautiful cross grains and bird’s eye over the feet of the stummel awaiting exposure. The stummel has developed a deep dark patina from all the years of smoking and handling. There is one fill (encircled in yellow) that would need to be refreshed. Also a couple of minor divots (encircled in red) mark the stummel surface. The mortise is chock-a-block with old oils, tars and gunk and this leads me to the conclusion that it was the seller who had reamed the cake and cleaned the rim surface to ask for a better price. The copper band at the shank end is dull and covered in dust, grime and oxidation. The first issue that I noticed on close examination of the stem surface were a number of cracks all over the upper and lower surfaces. I drew out my magnifying glass and had a hard look at the cracks under bright light. Thankfully, almost all of these cracks were minor and very superficial, save for a few (encircled in red) over the upper surface and would need to be addressed. These cracks are caused because of drying of the horn material due to lack of usage and hot weather conditions. These cracks would need to be stabilized, repaired and hydrated. There are deep tooth indentations in the bite zone, very close to the button edges on either surface of the stem. The long bone tenon has darkened considerably and is covered in grime with the opening showing accumulation of oils, tars and gunk. This condition is similar at the orifice slot. The seating of the stem in to the mortise is very loose. The Restoration Process
The process of this restoration started with stem repairs. I first cleaned the stem airway by running a few hard bristled and regular pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol followed by further cleaning with anti oil dish washing soap and thin shank brushes. The pipe cleaners pictured below and the gunk that was removed while cleaning with the shank brushes of which pictures were not clicked, tell a story of how dirty the stem internals were. I continued cleaning of the stem air way till white foam was seen coming out from the air way. I also scrubbed the stem surface with a Scotch Brite pad and soap. The next step was to stabilize the cracks on the top surface of the stem. Using a 1 mm drill bit mounted on a hand held rotary tool, I drilled counter holes at the start and end points of these cracks. These counter holes prevent the further expansion of the cracks in either directions. I filled these holes, cracks and the tooth indentations in the bite zone with CA superglue and set it aside for the glue to harden. I was still sometime away from hitting the sack and with the stem set aside for the repairs to cure; I decided to work the stummel. I began with reaming the chamber with size 1 head followed by size 2 head of the PipNet reamer. The heap of dislodged carbon did surprise me as I had anticipated a far less cake formation along the walls. I further scraped the chamber walls with my fabricated knife to remove the remaining carbon deposits where the reamer head could not reach. Once the cake was reamed back to the bare briar, I used a 220 grit sand paper to remove all the traces of remaining cake and also to smooth out the inner walls of the chamber surface. Finally, to remove the residual carbon dust, I wiped the chamber with a cotton pad wetted with 99.9% pure isopropyl alcohol. The chamber walls are solid without any heat lines or fissures.While I was handling the bowl, the copper band at the shank end came loose and it was then that I saw the cork lining along the walls of the mortise that was in place to ensure a snug fit of the long bone tenon in to the mortise. This cork lining has dried and needs to be revitalized. This lining also means that I would have to be careful while I clean the mortise so as not to erode and break the cork thus disturbing the seating of the stem.As observed above, the mortise is completely clogged with old oils, tars and ash resulting in a very hard and laborious draw. This was the issue that I addressed next. Using dental tools and fabricated poker, I scraped out the entire gunk from the walls of the mortise taking care that the cork lining is not damaged in the process. I used the drill bit from the Kleen Reem to remove and open up the shank airway. It was a tedious and time consuming work, but well worth the caution and efforts. The heap of crud extracted from the shank confirms the reason for the hard and laborious draw. I ran a few hard and regular pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol through the mortise and airway to remove residual gunk. The mortise is now clean with a much better open and easy draw. I shall continue with the cleaning process when I clean the stummel surface.The last agenda for the night was the external cleaning of the bowl and further internal cleaning of the mortise. I cleaned the external surface with a hard-bristled toothbrush and concentrated Murphy’s oil soap. I scrubbed the rim top and stummel surface with the soap and Scotch Brit pad. I rinsed the stummel under warm running water and dried it with paper towels and soft cotton cloth. The grains are now clearly visible and awaiting a nice polish to pop out. This cleaning also brought a few dents and scratches over the stummel surface and outer rim edge to the fore that would need to be addressed and the fill observed near the foot has loosened that would need to be refreshed. I extended my work time for a while and cleaned out the shank internals. I cleaned the shank walls by scrubbing it with shank brushes and anti-oil dish washing soap while being careful around the cork! The bowl is now clean and fresh. I set the bowl aside to dry under a heat lamp.The next evening with the stummel now dry and the stem repairs completely cured, I had the option of either working on the stummel or the stem. There was this small step that was needed to address the fill that required to be refreshed and that is where I began. With sharp dental tool, I removed the old fill and cleaned the area with alcohol. Next, I mixed briar dust with CA superglue to form putty and applied this mix over the area to be filled. I set the stummel aside for an hour or so for the mix to harden, which is almost instantaneous over the surface.I set the stummel aside and worked on the stem repairs next. The repairs had completely hardened and all that needed to be done was to blend in these repairs with the rest of the stem surface. I began by sanding the fills with a flat needle file to achieve a rough match followed by sanding the entire stem with a worn folded piece of 180 grit sandpaper. The button edges were also evened out and sharpened during the process. The fills will be further blended during the polishing cycle using various grit sandpapers and micromesh pads. I applied a generous layer of EVO and massaged it in to the horn stem to hydrate it and set it aside for the oil to be absorbed into the horn.Using the same tools and sandpaper, I blend in the stummel fill with the rest of the briar surface. This blending of the fill will be further fine-tuned when I sand the stummel surface with 220 grit sandpaper to address the issue of dings and scratches over the surface.I addressed the dents and dings to the outer rim edge by creating a bevel with a folded piece of 180 grit sandpaper pinched between fingers and running them evenly over the outer edge surface. I am quite happy with the appearance of the bowl with the bevelled outer rim. Next, I cleaned the copper ferrule at the shank end with “Pitambari”, a powder that is available all across India that is used to clean and shine brass, copper and silver ware. This compound is a very fine powder and is least abrasive with fantastic results. The band is now a nice shining piece and will provide a nice contrast between the shining horn stem and the dark brown stummel. I attached the band at the shank end with all-purpose glue.The next step was to sand the entire stummel surface with sandpaper to remove the scratches and dings that are visible. I used a well worn piece of 180 grit sandpaper to sand the surface. The sanding marks that are now visible will not be so once the bowl is subjected to polishing regime with micromesh pads and compounds. There are a couple of dings and scratches that are still visible, but I shall let them be as part of the pipe’s century old existence! I followed it by wet sanding the entire stummel with 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads, wiping frequently with a moist cloth to check the progress. I rubbed a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” deep in to the briar with my finger tips and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance with the beautiful grain patterns displayed in their complete splendor. The contrast of the dark browns of the Bird’s eye and cross grains with the natural patina of the rest of the stummel adds an interesting dimension to the appearance of the stummel which cannot be sufficiently described in words and be rather seen in person. I really like the looks of the stummel at this point in restoration. The grains and the clean lines of this piece of briar is really appreciable. With the stummel set aside, I polished the stem by wet sanding, starting with 400 and progressing through 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit sandpapers. I rubbed a good amount of EVO in to the stem surface and set it aside to be absorbed.A few hours later, I wiped the stem surface with paper towels and began the polishing cycle using micromesh pads. I wet sanded the stem surface going through 1500 to 12000 grit pads. I set the stem aside after rubbing it down with EVO again.To complete the restoration, I mount a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and polished the stummel and stem with Blue Diamond compound. This compound helps to remove the minor scratch marks that remain from the sanding. With another cotton buffing wheel that I have earmarked for carnauba wax, I applied several coats of the wax. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The finished pipe looks amazingly beautiful and is ready to join my collection. I only wish it could share with me its life story of the past years while I enjoy smoking my favorite Virginia blend in it or maybe an English blend or maybe just keep admiring it! Big thank you to all the readers who have joined me on this path by reading this write up as I restored and completed this project.

New Life for a 1961 Dunhill Shell Briar 252 Billiard 4S

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a sandblast Dunhill Billiard. It had a taper, vulcanite stem with a white spot. We purchased it from a seller in Copenhagen, Denmark 02/02/2024. The pipe is stamped on the heel of the bowl and on the underside of the shank. On the heel of the bowl it is stamped with the shape number 252. That is followed with stamping on the shank Dunhill [over] Shell Briar. That is followed by Made in [over] England1. There is a 4 in a circle and an S which speak of the size of the pipe being a Group 4 and the finish S a Shell Briar. The rim has a thick lava coat filling in the sandblast. It is from the overflowing cake in the bowl. It is hard to assess the condition of the inner edge of the rim due to the cake and lava overflow. There were oils and grime ground into the bowl sides gives the finish a flat look. There is a deep sandblast showing through the grime. The vulcanite stem is oxidized, calcified, and dirty with grime and grit on the surface. There were scratches and some deep tooth marks on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. I have included them below. He took photos of the pipe’s bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava coat overflowing onto the top. It is another dirty pipe. He also took photos to capture the tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the rugged sandblast around the bowl and the amount of grime ground into the surface of the briar. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is faint in spots but still readable as noted above. I wanted to unpack the Dunhill stamping on the shank and work to understand each element of the stamp. I generally use the Pipephil site to gather as much initial information as possible (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number 252 is the shape number for a taper stem Billiard. The Shell Briar stamp refers to the finish. The superscript 1 following the D of England would give the date the pipe. The 4S is the size of the pipe and the finish. The photo below is of the stamping on a Don shape but the stamping is similar on this one.Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has a superscript 30 following the D in England. There was no patent number so that took me to the section on the chart below (column one) which instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being made “posterior to 1954”. I followed the link under “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The second column (suffix 1…4) or (11…39) led me to the section with a 1 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix 1 which gives the pipe a date of 1961.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Shell Briar to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Shell

A deep craggy sandblast with a black stain finish (usually made using Algerian briar) – the color of the stain used has varied over the years. Although there is some doubt as to them being the first to sandblast pipes, Dunhill’s Shell pipes, and the sandblasting techniques developed to create them are considered one of Dunhill’s greatest and most lasting contributions to the art of pipe making.

The documented history of Dunhill’s inception of the Shell is largely limited to patent applications — there are no catalog pages or advertisements promoting blasted pipes at the time. The preliminary work on the English patent (No. 1484/17) was submitted on October 13, 1917. The patent submission was completed half a year later, on April 12, 1918, followed by the granting of the English patent on October 14, 1918. This was less than a month before the end of The Great War on November 11th.

In 1986 Dunhill released a line of premium Shell finish pipes – “RING GRAIN”. These are high-quality straight grain pipes which are sandblasted. Initially only Ring Grain, but now in two different finishes. In 1995 the “Shilling” was introduced with Cumberland finish – it is an extremely rare series. These pipes exhibit a deeper blast characteristic of that of the 1930’s – mid-1960’s (and the limited ‘deep blast’ pipes of the early 1980s) and show a fine graining pattern. These are considered the best new Dunhills by many enthusiasts today and are very rare. The finish is sometimes described as tasting like vanilla at first, with the taste becoming more normal or good as the pipe breaks in.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs,pipe cleaners and shank brushes. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. It looks pretty good with the tars and oils removed from the rim top. The inner edge of the bowl was slightly damaged and out of round. The bowl itself was very clean. The stem came out looking quite good with deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The photo shows the stamping and is actually more readable in person. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe.I sanded the inside of the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage to the edge. I stained the sanded edge with a Walnut stain pen to blend it into the surrounding briar surface. It looked much better. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface 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 pipe really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem issues. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter. I was able to lift the marks on the stem top leaving light marks but the ones on the bottom side were much deeper and the flame lifted them slightly but they still remained. I filled in the marks that remained with clear CA glue. Once the repair cured I flattened the repair with a small file. It looked much better. I cleaned up the repairs with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to flatten them and blend them in very well with the surface of the vulcanite. I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. By the final 3500 grit sanding pad the rim top had a shine.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. This 1961 Dunhill Shell Briar 252 Billiard Vulcanite taper stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The Shell Briar mixed brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has a unique sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. The polished vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell Briar 252 Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.23 ounces/.35 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store in the English Pipe Makers Section. Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Nicely Grained Churchill 999 Imported Briar Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

Last week I received a text from Robert about restoring three pipes his brother had found in Eastern New York. There were two Kaywoodies and a Churchill. The Kaywoodies included a small apple stamped Campus and an octagonal pipe stamped Kaywoodie Standard. The Churchill was a 999 Pot shaped pipe. He sent along two photos of the pipes. You can see the condition of the three pipes. They are dirty and worn. The last pipe in the photo, the Campus has what appears to be a broken shank and a potential repair. It looks to be poorly done. Robert said that he was fairly certain that the stem was glued onto the shank with the repair. On Saturday he brought the pipes by for me to look at. I now had three more pipes to clean up and repair. The Churchill 999 Pot and the Kaywoodie Standard Oxagonal 44 Apple were dirty but were in good repair. I had finished the little KW Campus repair and the pipe looked good (https://rebornpipes.com/2024/04/21/repairing-and-restoring-a-kaywoodie-campus-apple/). I also cleaned up the second Kaywoodie, the Octagonal Apple and it looked good. Here is the link to that blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2024/04/22/restoring-a-kaywoodie-standard-octagonal-44-apple/). There was a moderate cake in the bowl with tobacco debris. There was a coat of lava on the rim top that was quite thick and the inner edge showed some damage. The outer edge looked very good. The finish was dirty but otherwise showed some nice grain underneath. The stamping on the pipe is very simple. On the left side of the shank it is stamped Churchill’s arched over 999 with Imported Briar underneath. The stem was very oxidized and there was light tooth chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The stem was also plugged with tars and debris in the slot and airway was narrowed down.

I have worked on several Churchill pipes over the years and have done research on the brand when I worked on them. Here is a link to one of them that I had worked on. Here is the link to the blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2013/09/08/churchills-bent-pot/). I am including that information below.I am fairly certain that the pipe came from Churchill’s Tobacco Shop in Norwich, England. I found the following information on the Pipes and Logos website http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c4.html On the site there is a small paragraph which I have copied as follows: “Churchill’s Tobacco shop is situated in St Andrew’s Street at the corner of Bridewell Alley in Norwich, England. The shop was next to a church and at the bottom of two hills, and that’s how it became “Churchill’s”. Former manager: John Elvin (retired on May, 31 2008). Current owner (2008): Keith Garrard.” I have included these pictures from that website as they show the stamping on both the shank and stem that is identical to the pipe that I have just refurbished.According to the Churchill’s website it is the last remaining specialist tobacconist in Norwich, originally standing at 32 St Andrews Street for over 23 years. http://www.churchillsofnorwich.com/index.php?_a=viewDoc&docId=1 The site also notifies the shop’s clients that Keith Garrard, who had a wealth of knowledge and was an avid pipe and cigar smoker himself, passed away on 23rd March 2012. His wife Coral continues to maintain the business in his honour.

I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the worktable. I wanted to show the general condition of the pipe before I started my work on it. You can see the cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top. The rim top appears to be good under the lava. The stem is dirty and heavily oxidized as noted and light tooth marks are on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took some close up photos of the rim top and the stem surface. I wanted to show the condition of both more closely. The rim top and the inner and outer edges of the bowl heavily cake in lava and you can see the marks on the inner bowl edge. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the oxidation and the light tooth marks on the stem surface. I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank and it is clear and readable. It is stamped as noted above. I removed the stem for the shank and took a photo of the bowl and stem to give a picture of what it looked like. Now it is time to clean up the pipe. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and the second cutting head. It cleaned up most of the cake. I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and cleaned up the remaining cake leaving bare briar. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grip sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I smoothed out the bowl walls and they looked very good. There was no heat damage or checking on the walls. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. It works exceptionally well to remove unwanted oils from the briar and also the grime on the rim and the bowl sides. I rinsed it in warm water while scrubbing with the tooth brush. The pipe looks very good at this point. The rim top is clean enough to know the condition it is in and what I need to do to deal with it. There are scratches and nicks on the rim top and they are very visible now that the lava has been removed. I scrubbed out the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol.
I gently topped the bowl to remove the damage on the rim top and to minimize it on the rear edge where the most damage was. I used a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper.There was some damage and wear on the front outer edge of the bowl. Built it up with CA glue and briar dust to fill in the damage. I smoothed out the damage with 220 grit sandpaper and reshaped it to follow the flow of the bowl. I sanded it further with 320 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repair. It really started to look very good.I touched up the stain on the rim top and on the front of the bowl with a Walnut stain pen. It is a little streaky at this point. It will work better when I finish the sanding and polishing of the rim and bowl.I sanded the bowl and rim top to clean up the damage and repairs to the edge and start the polishing of the bowl. I used 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. It really began to take on a shine. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris on the surface. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth and shoe brush to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem issues. I scrubbed the stem oxidation with Soft Scrub and cotton pads. I was able to remove the majority of the oxidation. Then, I sanded it with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It looked much better at this point. To remove the remnants of oxidation from the vulcanite I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. By the final 3500 grit sanding pad the rim top had a shine.The stem was in good condition so 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 gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. This Churchill 999 Imported Briar Pot cleaned up really well and looks very good. The Before & After Restoration Balm brought the colours and grain out in the smooth finish on the pipe. It works well with the polished vulcanite taper stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I 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 Churchill 999 Pot fits nicely in the hand and I think it will feel great as it heats up with a good tobacco. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.13 ounces/32 grams. I know Robert is going to enjoy this last pipe of the three once I return them to him. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Restoring a Kaywoodie Standard Octagonal 44 Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

Last week I received a text from Robert about restoring three pipes his brother had found in Eastern New York. There were two Kaywoodies and a Churchill. The Kaywoodies included a small apple stamped Campus and an octagonal pipe stamped Kaywoodie Standard. The Churchill 999 Pot shaped pipe. He sent along two photos of the pipes. You can see the condition of the three pipes. They are dirty and worn. The last pipe in the photo, the Campus has what appears to be a broken shank and a potential repair. It looks to be poorly done. Robert said that he was fairly certain that the stem was glued onto the shank with the repair. On Saturday he brought the pipes by for me to look at. I now had three more pipes to clean up and repair. The Churchill 999 Pot and the Kaywoodie Standard Oxagonal 44 Apple were dirty but were in good repair. I had finished the little KW Campus repair and the pipe looked good (https://rebornpipes.com/2024/04/21/repairing-and-restoring-a-kaywoodie-campus-apple/). I looked second Kaywoodie, the Octagonal Apple over carefully and this is what I saw. There was a thick cake in the bowl with tobacco debris. There was a coat of lava on the rim top that was quite thick but the inner edge looked very good. The outer edge had some damage on the back side above the shank bowl union. The finish was dirty but otherwise showed some nice grain underneath. The stem was dirty with light tooth chatter on both sides ahead of the button.

Dal had worked on a Kaywoodie Standard, but shape 33 and done a fair bit of research on the pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/03/23/new-life-for-a-kaywoodie-standard-apple-for-a-special-pipe-woman/). I have included the link above if you would like to read it. I have copied the pertinent portion on the 2 digit shape numbers and dating of the pipe below.

The next picture in this set shows the Kaywoodie shape number ‘33’ on the right flank of the shank which points to the designation of a ‘Large Apple’ from the US production of Kaywoodie pipes (LINK).  According to this discussion on Tapatalk.com, the 2-digit system, employed from 1927 to 1972 when the system was changed to a 3-digit system, was when pipe production (for Kaywoodie, Yello-Bole and Medico) was moved to the Medico factory in Richmond Hill Queens NY as plans for new plant were in process.  The 3-digit numbers was used during this period for all Kaywoodie and Medico pipes, from 1972 to 1980.  The same article indicated that the 2-digit numbers were only for Kaywoodies produced in the US – that Kaywoodie of London (Cadogan) had their own three-digit system.  Putting all the information together, this Kaywoodie Apple is most likely a 1960s vintage.  According to the Kaywoodie Discussion at MyFreeForum the ‘Standard’ line of Kaywoodie started in the 1950s, but with the 2 digit shape number and the 3 hole stinger, the evidence points to the 1960s dating.

I included a portion of the shape number chart from Pipedia and the link to the chart as well (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Kaywoodie_Shape_Numbers). I did a screen capture of the section with the shape 44 number. It is interesting in that the shape was available for only a few years – 1965 to 1970. That helps narrow down the date on the pipe I am working on. It also identifies it as an Octagon Apple.I also have included a portion of a chart with the pipe line names and the approximate date of manufacture below (https://pipedia.org/images/3/3d/Kaywoodie_Pipe_Names.pdf). It identifies the date of the Standard line production between 1950 and the present.I learned that the line was introduced in 1950 and the specific shape I had in hand was made between 1965 and 1970. The tenon/stinger was a typical Drinkless type and was threaded to screw into the fitment in the shank. From that I knew that I was working on an older pipe.

I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the worktable. I wanted to show the general condition of the pipe before I started my work on it. You can see the cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top. The damage on the back edge of the rim top is also visible. The stem is dirty and lightly oxidized as noted and light tooth marks are on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took some close up photos of the rim top and the stem surface. I wanted to show the condition of both more closely. The rim top and the inner and outer edges of the bowl heavily cake in lava and you can see the marks on the back outer edge. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the general dullness of the stem and the light tooth marks on the stem surface. I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank and it is clear and readable. It is stamped as noted above. The right side has the shape number but it is almost filled in with dirt. It is still readable but I could not capture it in a photo. I removed the stem for the shank and took a photo of the bowl and stem to give a picture of what it looked like.Now it is time to clean up the pipe. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and the second cutting head. It cleaned up most of the cake. I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and cleaned up the remaining cake leaving bare briar. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grip sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I smoothed out the bowl walls and they looked very good. There was no heat damage or checking on the walls. I scrubbed out the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I cleaned up the stinger with pipe cleaners, cotton pads and alcohol.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. It works exceptionally well to remove unwanted oils from the briar and also the grime on the rim and the bowl sides. I rinsed it in warm water while scrubbing with the tooth brush. The pipe looks very good at this point. The rim top is clean enough to know the condition it is in and what I need to do to deal with it. I gently topped the bowl to remove the damage on the rim top and to minimize it on the rear edge where the most damage was. I used a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper.I repaired the outer edge of the rim at the back with clear CA glue and briar dust. I sanded it smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to start blending the repair into the rest of the briar. It was smooth to touch and did not stand out as a dark repair.I sanded the bowl and rim top to clean up the damage and repairs to the edge using 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. It really began to take on a shine. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris on the surface. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth and shoe brush to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem issues. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a lighter. I filled in the deep tooth marks with black CA glue. Once it cured I sanded it flat to the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It looked much better at this point. To blend the repairs into the surface of the vulcanite I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. By the final 3500 grit sanding pad the rim top had a shine. The stem was in good condition so 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 gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. This Kaywoodie Standard Imported Briar 44 Octagonal Apple cleaned up really well and looks very good. The Before & After Restoration Balm brought the colours and grain out in the smooth finish on the pipe. It works well with the polished oval vulcanite taper stem. 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. I 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 Kaywoodie Standard 44 Octagonal Apple fits nicely in the hand and I think it will feel great as it heats up with a good tobacco. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.34 ounces/38 grams. I know Robert is going to enjoy this second pipe of the three once I return it to him with the other pipes he dropped off. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

New Life for a Pipe Pub France 1985 297/350 Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a great looking Bent Billiard with great grain around the bowl. It has a well shaped vulcanite taper stem. We purchased it from an estate sale in Spring Branch. Texas, USA on 02/29/2024. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads 1985 [over] 297/350 setting this pipe aside as #297 out of 350 Pipes made in 1985. On the right side it is stamped Pipe Club (separated by a pipe) [over] France. There was a thick cake in the bowl and some darkening and lava on the inner edge of the bowl and some spots of lava on the rim top. It was hard to know for certain the condition of the inner edge though it appeared to be in good condition. There were oils and grime ground into the bowl sides gives the finish a flat look though there is some great grain. The shank has a slight curve to it giving the pipe a Bent Billiard shape. The taper stem matches the curves of the bowl and shank. It has what looks like a pair of bands on the end of the stem – green acrylic and brass. The vulcanite stem is a dirty with some calcification, oxidation, grime, grit on the surface and also light tooth marks on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. I have included them below. He took photos of the pipe’s bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl, the darkening on the inner edge and the spotty lava coat overflowing onto the top. It is another dirty pipe. He also took photos of the stem to capture the oxidation, calcification and the light tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the rich grain around the bowl and the amount of grime ground into the surface of the briar.   He took photos of the stamping on the sided of the shank. It is clear and quite readable. It reads as noted above. He also took a photo of the twin bands on the stem end – the brass and green acrylic band. I remembered that Dal had worked on a Pipe Pub pipe so did a quick search of my site and found the blog (https://rebornpipes.com/tag/pipe-pub-pipes/) that I remembered that Dal had written on the brand. What was fascinating was a conversation that he and I had via email that led him to some helpful information. I quote the majority of his research section from the blog below:

To learn more about the provenance of the Pipe Pub name I started my search in my regular go to sites – Pipedia.com and Pipephil.eu and came up with absolutely nothing.  I broadened my search on the internet by simply searching ‘Pipe Pub’ and ‘Pipe Pub Brigade’.  My initial findings had more to do with bagpipers, bagpipe brigades, Irish pubs and pipes…, all of these go well together!  Yet, I wasn’t finding anything that helped me with the Canadian looking back at me on my worktable.  I looked in my copy of Wilczak and Colwell’s ‘Who Made that Pipe?’ and found nothing giving me a direction.  Usually, when I face the brick wall my response is to send Steve an email.  With all his vast rebornpipes experience, surely, he’ll know something.  Steve’s response was quick and helpful:

Hi Dal

I have heard of it. Here is a link to one on Smoking pipes.com

https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/estate/england/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=200834

I would try to ferret out the shape number. For instance, on the one from Smoking pipes it is a 124… which interestingly is a GBD shape number for a Billiard. I wonder if the brand was not made by special order for pipe shops and stores. — Steve

I looked at the link and saw my first example another Pipe Pub pipe – a very nice classic Billiard.  I immediately looked again to see if I missed a shape number on the Canadian – I still saw no number.  But the other piece of information that Steve gave was helpful – the brand was perhaps a special order for pipe shops and stores.  I went back to Google not looking for pipes but for places named ‘Pipe Pub.’  I hit pay dirt and the dirt was surprising!  With the COM of the Canadian stamped indicating London, England, I had been expecting to find something that was UK based but instead, I found a reference for Pipe Pub that was based in the great US state of Texas – who would have thought?  Through several iterations of search parameters, I came across a Google Group chat stream that started in 1998 entitled, “Pipe Pub?” .  The question posed was about a Pipe Pub “almost Canadian” pipe that had the same nomenclature and stem ‘PP’ as mine, but the COM was stamped, ‘Italy’.  The questioner in the stream proposed a correlation with the Italian Savinelli name wondering if Pipe Pub might be a second of that well-known Italian pipe house?

The next response to Bro. R from Larry introduced the Texas connection:

Bro. R,

Back in the 70’s the mall tobacconists here in Austin, TX, were named Pipe Pub; they became Pipe World a little later.  I don’t know if, then or now, these businesses were strictly local or part of a larger chain.  I’m pretty sure they sold a store brand with their name on the pipes.  Today, Pipe World’s store brand pipes *are* made by Savinelli.

Larry

With these two entries, I knew that we were talking about the same pipe name – the ‘PP’ on the stem was the clincher.  Pipe Pub is a local Texas tobacconist which had pipes manufactured with the Pipe Pub name.  But there was more information that perhaps should be submitted to Pipedia!   The next entry I’m including in its entirely because it brings in much of the historical context with much color and the source of the information is a Jon Carter, who is described by Don Schram as a manager of Pipe Pub in the 80s.

Here’s the skinny on Pipe Pub, as related to me by Jon Carter, former manager of Pipe Pub from 1983 to 1987, who isn’t online as of yet. (Messages will be relayed to him through me at: dsc…@bigfoot.com ,however.)

Pipe Pub was started in the Houston area of Texas in the early 70’s with a single downtown store.  It was joined a short time later by a store located in the Austin, TX, area, which was owned and operated by a brother-in-law of the original founders (whose name escapes Jon for the moment).  While Pipe Pub wasn’t nationwide, they owned approx. 14 stores throughout Texas, primarily in the Houston area, and were much in competition with Tinderbox. (Comparable to Churchill’s in the S.E. Michigan area.)

The Pipe Pub pipe in question was confirmed by Jon to be a pipe from this chain.  The letters ‘PP’ in script on the stem indicate that the bit is original, and you are correct in that it stands for Pipe Pub.  As far as the age, there is no definite method of dating this pipe, however; Pipe Pub only carried their own line of ‘Private Label’ pipes between the early 70’s and 1983 when they were phased out in favor of higher grade (and higher priced) pipes, to coincide with the Texas oil boom of the 80’s.  Jon was not able to confirm positively that the pipe is indeed of Savinelli make (second or otherwise), however, he did point out that Pipe Pub did have an excellent relationship with the Savinelli company, as they were allowed to carry and sell the rare Savinelli 0000 (Quadruple-ought) Autograph, of which only 3 have been produced in the last century.  Jon also pointed out that he and another manager sold it to a gentleman who worked for the telephone company to complete a collection of Savinelli Autographs.  (He went to the bank and took out a $5000 loan for it.  The bank, initially thought he was purchasing ‘oil drilling pipe’, but gave him a personal loan for the tobacco pipe anyways.  He kept it in a lock box for a while, then finally broke it out and smoked it for the first time during the 1986 or 1987 Superbowl.)

To round out the history of Pipe Pub, the chain was bought out, save one store, in 1985 by a family, by name of Kowalski, who turned the tobacco chain into a chain of mall knick-knack stores.  (Sound all-too familiar Churchill’s customers?)  The one store, Pipe Pub in Austin, run by the brother-in-law, was not included in the deal, but it was agreed that he would change the name of the store.  Jon commented that the lone store may have changed its name to Pipe World, but wasn’t really privy to such information, as it was, more or less, operated as a renegade store.  The Kowalski’s opened one additional store in Louisiana, their home state, and promptly ran the chain right into the ground after one Christmas season, due to poor ownership and product focus.  Jon pointed out, “They carried vibrating pillows, for God’s sake!”  Forcing the company into bankruptcy, the Kowalski’s sold the chain back to the original owners, whom to his knowledge, still own it today.

For more information, Jon recommends calling down to Houston and asking information for their main office, which was on Mitchelldale.  [A search of Yahoo Yellow Pages came up empty, however there is a Carol’s Pipe Pub in Bacliff, TX, a suburb of Houston.  Phone (281) 488-7300.  It’s unknown if they’re related.]– DS (Don Schram.)

This information-filled post is dated, 1998.  On a hunch, I google the name of the offshoot store characterized as the ‘renegade’ store that wasn’t part of the reported 1985 Pipe Pub acquisition described in stream above.  As part of the legal agreement this store was required to change the name without further association with the Pipe Pub name.  Pipe World, based in Austin, and run by a “brother-in-law” family member came into existence – or, more accurately, carried on the original legacy of Pipe Pub under a different name because it seems that the new owners of Pipe World ran the company off the rails.  I found http://pipeworld.com/ with different locations in Texas and wondered if this was the same ‘Pipe World’ referenced above.

As I’ve done in the past with surprising success, I go directly to the front door and knock.  I went to the ‘Contact Us’ section on the Pipe World site and sent an email asking if anyone had been around long enough to know something about the history of the former, Pipe Pub Tobacconist out of which Pipe World came.  You never know what will happen! 

I received a reply to my email the same day from Pipe World – from Kyle who asked me to call directly if I had any questions.  Thankfully, I have an internet phone from Bulgaria and I called Kyle in Texas.  Kyle answered the phone and was extremely helpful.  His grasp of the history was amazing – he had been there during the whole transition.  I was totally taken off guard when I discovered through our conversation, that he was the owner of Pipe World.  His name is Kyle Haas.  He was the ‘brother-in-law’ referenced above who opened the new Pipe World and held firm to the values that had been true historically of Pipe Pub.

I enjoyed talking with Kyle, his recall of the events and his grasp of all the many moving parts of the tobacco industry fascinated me.  He was able to answer the primary question I had about the origin of the Pipe Pub pipes.  Definitively according to Kyle, during the 70s and early 80s, GBD/Comoy’s was producing the English line of pipes with the Pipe Pub name out of the London factory.  Pipe Pub pipes marked ITALY were all produced by the well-known Italian house of Savinelli.  He said that he doubted that Savinelli continued to do sub-contract work because they sell enough of their own pipes today to make it worthwhile.  He said that they had to order a lot of each shape as part of the requirements – I believe he said that they introduced a new shape each year.  He mentioned that the pipes that were produced in England and Italy with the Pipe Pub label were done with higher quality in mind.  I said that I could attest to this as I looked at the GBD/Comoy’s factory made Pipe Pub Canadian on my worktable.

Armed with Dal’s helpful information I now knew that my pipe was made for Pipe Pub as one of the yearly pipes for the shop. In this case it is a 1985 pipe and was #297 of 350 pipes which also fits the information above. In the last paragraph above Dal mentions that Kyle said that during the 70s and early 80s GBD/Comoy’s which I assume is Cadogan produced the English line of Pipe Pub pipes out of the London Factory. The Pipe I am working on definitely looks like a Comoy’s shape and I would bet that the France Stamp ties it to the Chacom factory (Chapuis-Comoy) in France.

Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He cleaned up the inside of the bowl with a PipNet reamer and a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. The bowl walls looked very good. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with shank brushes, pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening 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. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it.  I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show how clean it was. The top and the inner edge of the rim show some darkening, nicks and scratches. The stem looks clean of debris and grime. There are light tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of shank. The stamping is clear and readable (much clearer in person than the photos show). I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe. I polished the briar bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the debris. The bowl took on a rich glow. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for 10 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. Mark Hoover’s Balm is a product that I have come to appreciate and one I use on every pipe I have been working on. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem issues. I painted the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift all of them enough that sanding would finish blending them. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further blend them in and smooth out the surface of the stem. I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I put the stem back on the Pipe Club 1985 Bent Billiard France and took it to the buffer. I worked over the smooth portions with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax on the wheel and 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 really well and the rim top and edge looked good. I was happy with the look of the finished pipe. The photos below show what the pipe looks like after the restoration. The oxblood stained Bent Billiard that is a beautiful and unique take on a classic shape. The polished vulcanite taper stem with the twin bands of brass and green acrlyic looks really good with the rich reds of the briar. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.94 ounces/55 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the American Pipe Making Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. This Bent Billiard looks and feels great in the hand. This one should be a great smoker. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!