Blog by Steve Laug

When I was traveling for work I was in Budapest, Hungary I visited the Gallwitz Pipe Shop. It is a shop I have visited several times in the past. I wrote about my first visit to various Budapest Pipe shops including Gallwitz back in 2015 (https://rebornpipes.com/2015/09/30/my-how-things-change-reflections-on-pipe-smoking-while-visiting-budapest/). When I visited it this time I spent time with the current owner and proprietor of the shop, Viktor Zollner (the grandson of the last Gallwitz owner). We had a great visit talking about the current state of pipes and pipe repair in Hungary since I had visited in 2015. Viktor had carved many pipes but was currently focusing his attention on pipe repair and estate pipes. He said that he loves the challenge of pipe and stem repair more than pipe carving – just as I do. He brought out some boxes and bags of estate pipes for me to look over and there were some real beauties that I have not seen before among them. We talked about repairs and cleaning of pipes and stems. One of the pipes that he had not worked on yet was a freehand that he said was a Tatu Pipe. It caught my attention enough that I laid it aside while looking at the others he brought out. It was stamped with two pipes toward the front of the smooth panel on the underside. That was followed by the stamping 1126 [over] Tatu Pipe. It was a large freehand pipe in a mushroom shape. It had a smooth rim and a sandblast bowl finish. There was a bit of plateau on the rim top toward the front of the bowl. There as also what looked like a boxwood shank extension. It was light and a contrast with the briar. The shank end had a brass circle to re-enforce the mortise of end of the shank. There was what appeared to be a burn mark on the bottom front of the bowl toward the bottom. I examined it but it was not clear if it was a burn mark on the briar or the beginning of a burn through. The bowl had a thick cake around the bowl and some lava overflow and darkening on the inner edge, heavier toward the back of the bowl. The stem was lightly oxidized and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took photos of the pipe when I got back to the flat we had rented in Budapest. I took some photos of the bowl, rim top and the stem. The details of the rim top and inner edge were as noted in the description above. The stem also shows the condition as noted in the above.I took a photo of the stamping. It was faint but readable with a lens and read as noted above.I also took a photo of the burn damage on the front lower part of the bowl. It was hard to tell whether it was the beginning of a burn out or burn damage on the briar from setting it in an ashtray.  I decided to take a calculated risk and purchase the pipe. I would more once I had cleaned it up.Before I started my work on the pipe I really wanted to know about the brand. It was a brand I was not overly familiar with and wanted to gather background information. I did a Google search to see if there was anything under the Tatu Pipe stamp. The first site that came up was for a pipe for sale on smokingpipes.com. I quote from there below as it pointed toward more information for me (https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/estate/japan/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=143673). It was description of a particular freehand pipe but the background information included was very helpful in giving me clues to move ahead.

Japanese Estates: Tatu Pipe by Tetsuo Tajima (Unsmoked) Tobacco Pipe

Tajima-san made his US debut at the 2011 CPCC, and his work impressed enough, that both European and American dealers were all but slapping each other’s hands, in an effort to acquire his briars. Up until the end of 2004, Tatsuo worked as film and graphic designer, but 2005 found him committing his time to learning pipe carving and his mentor was none other than Shizuo Arita. If memory serves, this Tajima oceanic denizen was carved in 2012, and it remains unsmoked to this very minute. Novel shape, solid grain, and best held with the ever-reliable finger-crook method.

From that clue I turned to the Tatu pipe information on Pipephil’s site to get some more history and background on the brand (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-t2.html#tatupipe). I have included a screen capture of the information that was included there along with a photo of the pipe maker, Tatsuo Tajima and some sidebar information below. It also helped give me information on the stamping on the pipe. Artisan: Tatsuo Tajima (born 1955) formerly was a film and graphic designer. He started making pipes in 2005.

Since the pipe I had bore the stamp 1126 which I could now interpret to refer to the year the pipe was made (11=2011) and the 26 indicates the manufacture rank in that year (rank 26). That was a significant piece of information on the pipe. I now knew the date of the carving was 2011 and that this was the 26^th pipe of the year.

I turned then to Pipepedia and looked in the Japanese Pipe Makers section under the name Tajima (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Tajima) and found some more information as well as other pipes that he had carved with similar design features. I quote below.

Tatsuo Tajima, born in 1955, native of Tokyo. His previous life was a well decorated Film and Graphic Designer. Since 2007, as fate says under the guidance of Shizuo Arita and Shigeyoshi Yanagihara embark on pipe crafting as a second career.

Drawing from other genre of smoking culture such as shisha and similar paraphernalia he makes you wonder and reconsider what smoking pipe actually is about. At most part, he would say the experience, the quality of smoke (moisture, flavour, and temperature) while using something that we can appreciate aesthetically. His work set boundaries free and invite smokers to be more universal and uniting at one point: on the flavour of tobacco and the experience of drawing a smoke.

For inspiration, he goes to the same park most of the time. He picks up elements of nature that he saw interesting. “Nature is different everytime we visit.” says Tatsuo-san. It is alive. Some days, even hours, leaning more towards the sun. It might be blooming, or fallen to the ground. There are movement.

Not only a naturalist in approach but artificial landscape and man-made creation also inspire him. NASA space shuttle to construction site digging gave him inspiration. I just called it simply being a Japanese and their fascination of robots and mechanical wonders. If his pipe is a painting, his expression would be Dali kind of surrealism.

Capturing nature in his own way, it could often be more realistic as a result.

Often you will see his combination of modernism and retro being executed with Wabi-sabi aesthetic. Also, behind that artistic styling and unique structure, he is always on the exploration on the new experience of smoking, when possible contribute to the health aspect. Such as the use of reverse calabash and longer shank to decrease moisture and cool down the smoke due to longer travel.

In life, he drinks tea throughout the year, warm Oolong Tea in winter and cold Mugicha in summer. He drinks no alcohol. By all means, I have tried with both tea or alcohol, and his pipes still smokes like a dream. He is also in touch almost on a daily basis with a retired senior pipemaker, Shigeyoshi Yanagihara.

Tatsuo Tajima, currently resides in Tokyo, lives quite close with his teacher and friend, Yanagihara-san. His current pipe production is about 60 pipes a year.

I then turned to Pipes2smoke where Maxim Engel currently sells Tatsuo Tajima’s pipes for further information (https://pipes2smoke.com/collections/tatsuo-tajima). I quote from that site below.

Tatsuo Tajima, (“Tatu”) was born in 1955 in Tokyo. He originally worked as a film and graphic designer and contributed large-scale image displays mainly for feature films and for such events as Tsukuba Expo ’85, Nara Silk Road Expo ’87, and Design Expo Nagoya ’89 as well as for museums such as Edo-Tokyo Museum. From ’93 onwards, with the general shift to digital media, he focused on multimedia titles and graphics as a graphic designer. He has received numerous awards from such competitions as Opel Design Contests, Epson Imaging Contests, and Victor Video Festivals.

From 2005 onward, Tatu committed himself to pipe making under the guidance of Shizuo Arita and Shigeyoshi Yanagihara. In 2009 he made his debut as a full time pipe artist at Amanoya in Setagaya, Tokyo. 

He had his first US exposure in 2011 at the Chicago Pipe Show. Every Tatu pipe shows the Japanese pipe aesthetic with its mix of curved and straight lines & at times asymmetry flowing into a harmonious whole. And always with the famous Japanese attention to detail.

If you would like to see more of Tatsuo Tajima’s work have a look at his Instagram site (https://www.instagram.com/tatupipe/). He does some fascinating work.

Now it was time to work on restoring this interesting Japanese Freehand. I decided to evaluate the damage to the front of the sandblast bowl. I wanted to know if it was the beginning of a burn out in the briar or if it had come from it having been set on a live coat in an ash tray. I examined the interior of the bowl and could find no obvious damage on the walls. I would know more once I had reamed and cleaned the bowl. I worked on the exterior of the finish with a brass bristle wire brush. I wanted to know if the damage was surface or only on the top of the finish. The brass brush revealed that it was not too deep. It appears that there was a flaw in the briar – a sandpit in blast. I circled the area with a red line in the second photo below.I filled in the sandpit with briar dust and clear CA glue. I used the brass bristle wire brush after the repair had cured to remove the excess repair and also rework the sandblast finish. It looks very good though there is some darkening around the spot. Once I knew that there was a sandpit/flaw and had repaired it I turned to more deeply examine the walls of the bowl to see if there were any checking or burns on the bowl walls or heel in the surrounding interior area behind the flaw. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet piper reamer to remove the thick cake on the walls. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife to remove the remaining cake on the walls. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. I wiped the bowl out with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris. I examined the bowl walls and they were smooth and wihtout checking or burn damage on the wall behind the mark on the outside of the bowl. I cleaned up the darkening and the burn damage to the rim edge and the top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. Once I had finished it looked much better.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and warm water to remove the grime in the sandblast finish. When I cleaned it the shank extension was loose but the pipe looked much better. I cleaned out the inside of the shank extension, shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and 99% isopropyl alcohol. It was really filthy so with a bit of work the pipe smelled much better.I reglued the shank extension to the shank with Weld Bond all purpose glue. I applied it to both smooth ends of the shank and extension with a tooth pick and pressed it onto the tube that held it in place on the shank. I aligned the sharp edge of the extension with the sharp edges of the shank and press it in place until the glue cured. I stained the bowl with a light brown aniline stain to blend in the burn marks on the exterior of the front lower sandblast bowl. I felt that it would blend in the damaged area with the rest of the sandblast on the bowl. I applied it with a dauber and then flamed it to set it in the finish. Once the stain had cured I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush. I wanted to make sure that it was in the deep grooves of the sandblast. I also worked it into the smooth shank extension with my fingertips. I let it sit and do its magic for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth. The pipe looked much better and the burn marks were blended into the surface with the stem. I set the bowl aside and “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a “Bic” lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to raise them some but not completely. I filled in the remaining marks on the button edge and the surface with black CA glue. Once it cured, I used a file to shape the button edge and also smooth out the fill. I sanded the remaining marks with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the surrounding vulcanite. I started polishing the stem surface with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Oil to preserve and protect the stem. I am excited to finish this Japanese Tatu Pipe by Tetsuo Tajima. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful mixed grain all around it. The polished black vulcanite stem combined with the bowl made a stunning pipe. This smooth Japanese Made Tatu Pipe 1126 Freehand is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 ¼ inches wide x 2 ¾ inches long, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 57 grams/2.01 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe that I will hang onto for awhile to enjoy. One day I may add it to the rebornpipes store. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.