Tag Archives: repairing bite marks

Restoring a Beautiful St. Claude Ben Wade Calabash

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Blog by Steve Laug

This St. Claude, France Ben Wade Calabash is quite stunning. The shape and flow of the briar, the rich red stains and the curve of the Lucite stem all combine to create a shape that is elegant and beautiful. Jeff picked this pipe up from a favourite shop in Utah. I have never seen one of these before even though I have worked on a lot of both English and Danish Ben Wade pipes. This one is a French Made Ben Wade. It is stamped on the left side of the curved shank with the words Ben Wade in script over Calabash. The name is also stamped on the left side of the half saddle stem. On the right side it is stamped St. Claude arched over Bruyere Garantie. To the left is a very tight stamp France. On the underside of the shank it is stamped with the letter F. There appears to be remnants of gold leaf in the stamping on both sides of the shank. It can be seen in the photos below. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he began his cleanup work on it.The pipe was dirty and there were some worn spots on the plateau rim top. The original colour had been black but the dust had turned it almost grey. There was a cake in the bowl and some lava overflow on the plateau. The finish on the bowl was cordovan or oxblood. It was dirty as well with some nicks in the finish. You can see the chipped areas around the rim top and the lava in the plateau in the photos below.Jeff took photos of the bowl from various angles to give a picture of the grain and the condition on the finish of the pipe. It is a beautifully grained and finished pipe. The oxblood stain really works well to highlight and showcase the grain. Jeff also took photos of the stamping on the shank and the stem. The first two photos show the left side of the shank and stem. The third photo shows the stamping on the right side and the fourth shows the stamping on the underside. The acrylic/Lucite stem was dirty and there were tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside. There was one deep tooth mark on the underside up against the button edge. The flat surface of the button had tooth chatter and wear on both sides. Jeff also took a photo of the gentle curve of the half saddle stem and I have included that below. Jeff did his usual extensive cleanup of the pipe. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer removing the cake from the bowl so that we could see what was going on underneath the surface. The interior of the bowl looked very good. He cleaned the internals of the pipe and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners until it was very clean. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He worked over the plateau rim and edges with the brush and the soap and rinsed the pipe down with warm water. He cleaned the stem as well so that the externals and internals were clean. He did scrub the stem with Soft Scrub on cotton pads to remove the grime on the surface. It was acrylic so it was not oxidized so it was not necessary to soak it in a deoxidizer. I took photos of the pipe when I unpacked it and brought it to my work table. I took close up photos of the stem and the rim top to show the condition. The cragginess of the plateau is clean and shows the peaks and valleys in their fullness. You can also see some of the worn spots on the rim top where the finish has been removed. The stem looks good. The photo of the underside shows the deep tooth marks next to the button (third photo).I took some photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank to confirm what I mentioned above. The stamping is crisp and readable.I took the stem off the shank and took two photos to give a clear idea of the gentle curves of the pipe and the look of the rugged plateau rim on the delicate bowl. It really is a beauty! The tenon is drilled for a 6mm filter but could easily be smoked without one or with an adapter.Jeff and I were talking on Facetime and he was showing me how well the pipe had cleaned up. We do that often as he is in Idaho and I am in BC Canada. While he was carefully turning the stem into the shank we both heard and audible “POP”. That sound is a pipe restorer’s nightmare. If you have not heard that sound I can guarantee you will one day. Jeff groaned and showed me the crack in the shank. So when it arrived here in Vancouver I had a look. I took a photo of the crack and have included it below. It is on the top left side of the shank and is a good ½ inch long. That would need to be repaired. I also found some small hairline cracks on the top right side near the plateau top. They were not deep or serious but nonetheless they were present.I decided to deal with the cracked shank first. I went through some brass bands that I have that are polished gold in colour and would go well with the gold stamping on the stem and shank. They were quite thin and some have an inward bevel on the shank cover. I chose the band on the right and used my topping board to reduce the depth of the band by half. I wanted to retain as much of the stamping as possible and still bind the cracked shank together.I spread the crack in the shank and pushed some CA Glue into the space. Because of the way the curve in the shank I could not drill and hole at the end of the crack. I clamped it together until the glue cured. I did not glue the band on at this point because I wanted to touch up the gold stamping before I put it in place. Once the repair cured I put the stem on the shank and took a photo to give an idea of what the band looked like with the stem in place.   With that repair complete it was time to deal with the hairline cracks on rim edge. I used a tiny bit to put a hole at the end of each crack and filled them in with a bead of CA glue. The photo below is very blurry but shows the glued are well enough(I apologize for the lousy picture). I also filled in some of the pits in the back side of the bowl.Once the repairs had cured I sanded them smooth with a 1500 grit micromesh pad to blend them into the surface of the surrounding briar.I have found that the Mahogany stain pen I have blends really well with oxblood or cordovan stain. I touched up the sanded areas on the shank top, right side of the bowl at the topo and the back of the bowl with the pen and let it cure. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the debris. The bowl began to look very good. I also really like the look of the polished brass band on the shank end. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and into the plateau with a horsehair shoe brush. I let it sit for about 10 minutes and buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth. The product cleans, protects and preserves the briar and leaves it enriched and beautiful. I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. I sanded the tooth chatter on both sides of the stem with particular attention to the large tooth mark on the underside of the stem just ahead of the button. I cleaned the tooth mark with alcohol on a cotton swab. I filled it in with a bead of clear CA glue and set it aside to cure. When the repair cured I used a needle file to sharpen the edge and flatten the repair.I sanded the repaired area and the rest of the tooth chatter areas on both sides of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and followed up with a piece of 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the stem with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish from a tin of it I have in the drawer here. It is a gritty red paste that I rub on with my finger tips and work into the surface of the stem and button and buff off with a cotton pad. It gives me a bit of a head start on the polishing work.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I buffed the stem with a soft cloth to raise the shine. I paused in my polishing of the stem to touch up the gold leaf on the stem side and the sides of the shank. I used Rub’n Buff Antique Gold and pressed it in the stamping with the end of a tooth pick. I let it sit for a few minutes then buffed it off with a soft damp cloth to remove the excess. I went back to polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed the stem with a clean cotton rag. The stem looks really good at this point.I used a dental spatula to spread some white glue around the shank end. Once the glue was evenly spread I pressed the band in place. I adjusted it so that it fit well. I set it aside to cure for a while as I wanted the band to be permanent. It looks very good now.I am excited to finish this beautiful Ben Wade Calabash from St. Claude France. It is both a rare one in terms of availability but also for me as I have never seen one before. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the grain popping through on the bowls sides and the contrast of the black plateau rim top. The brass band on the shank adds a touch class to the overall look in my opinion. When you add to that the polished black acrylic stem with the shining gold stamping you have a winning combination. The gold stamping also looks great on the shank and stem. This grain on the smooth finish Ben Wade Calabash is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced for a large pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 ¾ inches, Height: 3 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.    

A Quick and Easy Restoration on a Brigham 3 Dot Dublin 306

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Blog by Steve Laug

Even with the COVID-19 warning rolling in incessantly I am still working on pipes! It keeps my mind busy and focused. There is no reason to not enjoy the time alone at the work table bringing these old-timers back to life. The next pipe I have chosen is an interesting looking mixed finish Dublin that was stained with a rich brown colour on both the smooth upper portion and rusticated lower portion of the bowl and shank. It was stamped on the smooth underside of the shank. The stamping was readable. The shape number 306 is on the heel of the pipe and identifies the shape. The stamping Made in Canada and then the Brigham stamp in script followed on the rest of the flattened shank. The age on this one is Post-Patent era, nominally 1960s. The pipe comes to me I think from a trade I did with Alex but I am uncertain. It was in decent condition when I brought it to the table. The finish was a little dirty and the rim top had some damage but otherwise looked decent the inner edge of the bowl was slightly out of round due to some burn damage. The internals were quite clean. The stem was in good condition other than a few tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. The Maple Distillator was dirty and would need to be replaced. I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the table. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top was clean, but there was a slight burn mark on the front inner edge. You can also see that the bowl was out of round. I also took close up photos of the stem to show how well surface looked on both sides. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is faint but it is readable.I took the pipe apart and removed the Distillator from the aluminum tenon. It was stained but otherwise clean. I would need to replace it when I was finished. Before I get into the restoration part of this pipe I decided to include a poster I picked up that shows the filtration system of the patented Brigham Distillator. Give the poster a read. It also helps to understand the internals of these older Canadian Made pipes.I decided to start my restoration work on this one by dealing with the damaged rim top. I sanded the inner edge of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to reshape the out of round bowl and deal with the burned spot on the front edge. I gave it a slight bevel and I am pleased with the results.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. After each pad I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. With that done the bowl was finished other than the final buffing. I set it aside and turned my attention to the stem. I painted the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks from the surface.After the heat had done its work on the tooth marks on the top side I was left with some damage on the button edges and on the underside of the stem. I filled in the remaining tooth damage with clear CA glue and set the stem aside to dry overnight. I sanded out the repaired tooth marks and chatter with 220 grit sand paper to blend them into the rest of the stem surface. I started to polish it with a folded piece of 400 wet dry sandpaper. Once it was finished it had begun to shine.        I polished the stem with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish from a tin of it I have in the drawer here. It is a gritty red paste that I rub on with my finger tips and work into the surface of the stem and button and buff off with a cotton pad. It gives me a bit of a head start on the polishing work. Before I finished the polishing stem I decided to fit it with a new Rock Maple Distillator.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I am continuing to experiment with Briarville Pipe Repairs new product, No Oxy Oil so I rubbed the stem down with the oil on the cloth that was provided with it. I am excited to finish this Brigham. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the grain popping through on the bowls sides and rim top. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem with the shining brass pins was beautiful. This mixed grain on the smooth finish Brigham 306 Dublin is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. When I was going through the box of pipes in my box of pipes to be done I came across this beautiful 3 Dot Brigham. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.    

A New Beginning For An Inherited Peterson’s # 3 System Pocket Pipe…

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

Over the last month and a half, I have worked on five Peterson’s pipes to be added to my personal collection; two from my inherited lot (DONEGAL ROCKY # 999 and KAPMEER # 120S) and three that I had purchased on eBay, a Peterson’s SYSTEM # 31 just so that I could include it in my rotation, a Peterson’s BARREL and a Peterson’s OLD ENGLISH COLLECTION. Continuing with my work on Peterson’s in my collection, the next and sixth pipe that is now on my work table is one from my inheritance; a unique small system pipe with oval shaped chamber/ stummel. The stem folds itself over the rim top, further making it compact enough in size to be carried in one’s vest pocket.

The smooth stummel of this pipe has a beautiful mix of Bird’s eye on the foot of the stummel and cross grain on the front, back, sides and the upturned shank of the stummel. An oval shaped stummel, short upturned shank with a nickel plated ferrule at the shank end and a proportionate vulcanite stem with an orifice for a slot, makes it a visually appealing pipe. It is stamped on the left side of the shank as “K & P” over “3”. The shank end is adorned with a nickel ferrule that is stamped in three shields as “K” “&” “P” over three faux hallmarks a Shamrock, a Prone Fox, and a Stone Tower. The stummel is devoid of any COM stamp that would help in dating this pipe. Even the stem is unstamped. Since I have been recently working on Peterson’s pipes in my collection and reading about it as much as I could, I knew that K & P pipes did not have any COM stamp during the early part of the Patent Era. Furthermore, this pipe has a reservoir/ sump in the mortise making it a System pipe!! The stem slot is a round orifice which points to this pipe being an old one. Thus from these facts, I can safely presume this pipe to be from the Patent Era, that is from 1875 to 1922.

However, in spite of my extensive research on Peterson’s pipes for shapes and models from this era, I came a cropper!!!! In case any of the esteemed readers has some additional information on this pipe, I would request you to share it on Reborn pipes for the benefit of our community.

Initial Visual Inspection
The smooth stummel on this pipe is covered in a thick layer of dust and sticky grime giving it a dull and lackluster appearance. Through all the grime, bird’s eye and cross grains can be still seen at the foot and on sides, front and back of the stummel respectively. The rim top surface appears uneven and is covered in dust, heavy lava overflow, grime and will need to be cleaned and polished. There are a few scratches on the left side of the stummel which will need to be addressed. A few fills seen on either side of the stummel need to be refreshed. The stummel has developed a nice patina which I shall endeavor to preserve. The chamber has a thick layer of uneven cake with lava overflow over the rim top surface. Remnants of half burnt tobacco can be seen at the bottom half of the stummel. The condition of the inner walls of the chamber will be ascertained once the existing cake has been taken down to the bare briar. The draught hole is completely blocked with absolutely no draw. This needs to be addressed. The thin and delicate rim edge appears to be severely damaged with dents and dings all around; however, the extent of this damage will be ascertained once the cake and lava overflow from the chamber and rim top is entirely removed. There is a very strong smell to the chamber which, perhaps, may reduce appreciably after the chamber has been cleaned. The mortise and sump are clogged with dried oils and tars. The nickel ferrule at the shank end, though heavily oxidized, is undamaged. It is cut at an angle to accommodate the stem when it is turned over the stummel. The ferrule, once cleaned should polish up nicely. The vulcanite stem is heavily and deeply oxidized with tooth indentations on the button edge and chatter on either surfaces of the stem in the bite zone. The tenon end shows heavy traces of dried oils and tars. It’s going to take some elbow grease to clean up this stem to a nice deep and shining black. The perpendicular tenon end will make the internal cleaning a bit challenging. The orific slot shows deposition of dried oils and tars. The stink from the stem and clogged airway will take a lot of effort and time to clean up. The Process
I began the process of refurbishing this pipe by using my fabricated knife to remove the unburnt tobacco and thick layer of cake. I further took the cake down to the bare briar with a folded piece of 150 grit sand paper. Once the walls of the chamber were rid of all the remnants of the cake, the chamber walls were found to be smooth and without any damage. With my modified and straightened cloth hanger used as a poker, I cleaned the grime and cake that covered the draught hole at the heel of the stummel. I further wiped the chamber with a cotton swab wetted with isopropyl alcohol to completely remove the sanding dust. While handling the stummel for internal cleaning of the chamber, the nickel ferrule came off, revealing a crack on the left side. This crack extends from the shank end rim surface (indicated with a yellow arrow) and along the shank on the left side (indicated with blue arrows). The extent of the crack will be determined once the dirt, grime and dried glue are removed from the surface. The edges of the ferrule are slightly uneven while the insides of it have traces of deeper oxidation.   I scraped the shank internals with a fabricated tool to remove all the crud that had accumulated along the shank walls and further cleaned it with bristled and regular pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol. A huge pile of q-tips, pipe cleaners and lots of elbow grease later, the sump and mortise still appear dirty. I shall further draw out all the residual oils, tars and gunk by subjecting the chamber and the shank to a salt and alcohol bath. I gently scraped the shank end rim surface to remove all the accumulated oils and grime. Now that the shank end rim was cleaned, a second crack on the right side came to the fore (indicated in yellow arrows). This project is turning out to be more time consuming than I had anticipated. I shall deal with these cracks after I am done with internal and external cleaning of the stummel. I cleared the draught hole using a fabricated poker and further cleaned it using pipe cleaners and alcohol. I continued with the cleaning of the chamber and shank internals with a salt and alcohol bath. I use cotton balls which is an at par substitute to Kosher salt as I have realized over the years. I draw out a wick from the cotton and along with a folded regular pipe cleaner; insert it in to the mortise and through the draught hole into the chamber. Thereafter, I packed the chamber with cotton balls to about quarter of an inch below the rim’s inner edge and soaked the cotton balls with isopropyl alcohol up to the brim. About half an hour later, the level of alcohol had gone down, having being absorbed by the cotton. I topped it up once again and set it aside overnight. By the next afternoon, the cotton and alcohol had drawn out all the remaining oils and tars from the chamber and mortise, fulfilling its intended task. I removed the cotton balls and ran pipe cleaners through the mortise to clean out all the loosened tars and gunk. Using my fabricated tool, I scraped out the entire loosened gunk from the sump and further cleaned it with alcohol and q-tips. The chamber now smells clean and fresh. I set the stummel to dry out naturally. Now that the internals of the stummel were cleaned, I scrubbed the external surface of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s oil soap and hard bristled tooth brush. I deliberately cleaned the thin delicate rim top and the surface just below the rim edge with Scotch Brite and a soft bristled brass wire brush to remove the entire lava overflow and dried it using paper towels and a soft cotton cloth. The shank end rim surface and the shank were deliberately cleaned to remove the grime and dirt so that the exact extent of the two cracks could be fathomed. The thin rim top is generously peppered with nicks, dings and dents. The fills and cracks that are visible on the stummel surface are marked in yellow circles and blue arrows respectively. I removed the old fills and prepared the stummel for a fresh fill. Using my dental tools, I progressed to removing the fills. I know these pictures do not present a very encouraging scenario at this stage, but I shall prevail… I wiped the surface from where the old fill was gouged out, with isopropyl alcohol to clean the area. I let the stummel dry out completely and after all the alcohol had evaporated, proceeded to fill the gouges with CA superglue and briar dust using the layering technique where I put down a thin layer of superglue in to the fill and press briar dust over the glue. I continue with this process till the fill rises above the rest of the stummel surface. Once all the gouges were filled up, I set the stummel aside to cure for the next 24 hours.While the stummel fills were curing, I worked the stem. The stem air way was filthy to say the least. Using a shank brush and dish washing soap, I cleaned the stem air way. I further cleaned the stem internals with hard and regular pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. A lot of elbow grease and a pile of pipe cleaners later, the pipe cleaners did not emerge as white as I wanted. The perpendicular positioning of the tenon to the rest of the stem made cleaning of the air way all the more difficult. In my exuberance, I chipped the very end of the tenon… Some additional unwarranted work and time penalty!! With the stem internals now somewhat clean, I moved to external cleaning of the stem surface by sanding the surface with a piece of 220 grit sand paper and thereafter dunking the stem in to “Before and After Deoxidizer” solution developed by my friend Mark Hoover. The solution helps to draw out heavy oxidation to the surface making its further removal a breeze, while the minor oxidation is eliminated to a very great extent. I usually dunk stems of 5-7 pipes that are in-line for restoration and the K & P # 3 pipe is marked in pastel pink arrow. I generally allow the stems to soak in this solution overnight for the solution to do its work.Next day, I remove the stems from the deoxidizer solution and clean them under warm running tap water to remove all the solution. I scrubbed the stem surface first with scotch brite pad followed by a piece of 0000 grade steel wool. This helps in removing all the raised oxidation from the stem surface. I rubbed a little Extra Virgin Olive oil in to the stem and wiped the excess with a paper napkin. This was followed by inserting a petroleum jelly smeared folded pipe cleaner in to the tenon for reconstruction of the tenon end. Using a mix of CA superglue and food grade activated charcoal, I began the arduous process of rebuilding the chipped tenon end and also the bite marks on the button edges on both sides in the bite zone. I set the stem aside for the fill to cure and harden completely. I took a stock of the progress made till now on this pipe; stummel internals/ externals cleaned, old stummel fills have been refreshed and cured, stem internals cleaned, stem oxidation removed to a great extent, stem repairs set aside for curing. Addressing the stummel cracks, sanding of the stummel and stem fills, refurbishing the nickel band and final polishing is all that remains to be completed.

Next, I address the two cracks at the shank end. Using a magnifying glass and a white correction pen, I marked the points for the counter holes at the end points along the extent of the cracks seen on the stummel. I drilled counter holes with a 1mm drill bit mounted on to my hand held rotary tool, deep enough to serve as a counter hole while taking care that I did not drill a through and through hole. These counter holes arrest and prevent the spread of the cracks further. I filled these cracks and counter holes with a mix of briar dust and CA superglue using the layering method (layer of superglue followed by sprinkling of briar dust and repeated it till desired thickness of fill was achieved) and set it aside for the fills to cure. I ensured that I filled the thin outer edge of rim top surface that I will subsequently sand down to match with the rest of the rim surface. I set the stummel aside for the fills to harden. I cleaned the nickel shank band with Colgate Toothpowder, which Abha, my wife, uses to polish her silver and gold cutlery and jewelry. This compound is a very fine powder and is least abrasive with fantastic results. The band is now a nice shining piece of nickel and should provide a nice contrast to the shining black stem and the dark brown stummel. The patches of deep oxidation that were observed were also completely eliminated.  With the stummel fills nicely cured, it was time again to work on it. Using a flat head needle file, I sanded the fills and followed it by sanding with worn out folded piece of 150 grit sand paper. I sand the thin rim top surface with the same sand paper to minimize the numerous chips, dents and dings. I did not resort to topping since the oval shape with a slight saddle dip in the centre makes it difficult to top without compromising the shape of the rim top. A couple of dents and chips are still visible, but I shall let them be as a part of this pipe’s journey from my grandfather then to with me now!!! The fills have blended in quite well. However, I shall strive to further achieve a near perfect blend during further sanding and polishing with micromesh pads. The shank end crack repairs are now solid and have blended in really well. Yeah, I am pleased with this progress. Thereafter, I polished the entire stummel with micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 12000 pads. I wiped the surface with a soft moist cloth at the end of the micromesh cycle. The stummel looks amazing with a deep shine and beautiful grains over the stummel surface. Another issue that was addressed to a great extent was that of the minor scratches and nicks that were observed on the stummel. The rim top surface looks good with the few nicks and chips still visible, if observed closely. The refreshed fills distinctly stand out because of their dark coloration, and I shall let it be as a testimony of the journey of this beautiful pipe. I am very happy with the appearance of the rim top and stummel at this stage. I rubbed a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to briar 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 dark hues of the grain contrasting with the rest of the stummel surface. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. I set the stummel aside and took up the stem repairs. The tenon tip rebuild had cured nicely. With a flat head needle file, I sand the rebuilt portion of the tenon and the button edges to achieve a rough match. Using a round needle file, I shaped the opening of the tenon to a perfect round. I resorted to topping the tenon end on a piece of 220 grit sand paper to achieve the correct tenon size, which is just below the opening of the draught hole in the mortise. This ensures that the Pete’s famed “System” functions as effectively. I further sand the entire stem surface with a folded piece of a 220 grit sand paper to achieve a perfect blend of the fill with the stem surface. With the same piece of sand paper, I sharpened the button edges on both the upper and lower surface. I wiped the stem with a cotton swab and Murphy’s oil soap to further remove the oxidation and sanding dust. I rubbed some extra virgin olive oil into the stem and set it aside to be absorbed into stem. I polished the stem with micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 12000 grit pads. I rubbed a little extra virgin olive oil in to the stem at the end of all the micromesh pads. Next I rubbed a small quantity of extra fine stem polish that I had got from Mark Hoover and set it aside to let the polish work its magic. After about 10 minutes, I hand buffed the stem with a microfiber cloth to a nice shine. The stem is now nice, smooth and shiny. Now with the stummel nicely polished, the nickel band polished and shining and stem repairs and polishing completed, all that remained to be done was to get these parts together for a final polishing with carnauba wax. I glued the nickel ferrule to the shank end with CA superglue.To apply the finishing touches, I mount a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and apply a coat of Blue Diamond to the entire pipe to polish out the minor scratches. With a cotton buffing wheel that I use for carnauba wax, I apply a coat of carnauba wax to the stummel and stem and continue to work on it till the complete coat of wax is polished out. I mount a clean cotton cloth buffing wheel and gave the entire pipe a once over buff. 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 is shown below. P.S. – This is another unique and vintage pipe of my grandfather that has been passed on to me. I feel singularly fortunate and honored to carry forward his legacy while at the same time preserving a part of history of these pipe brands. Thanks for your patience and looking forward to inputs about the write up.

I had decided to let the fills be seen and not mask it under a darker stain; I am still open to suggestions from esteemed readers!!

 Cheers…

Another Fun Restore from Bob Kerr’s Estate – A BBB 2 Star Apple 11

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Blog by Steve Laug

Even with the COVID-19 warnings rolling in incessantly I am still working on pipes! It keeps my mind busy and focused and not to get carried away with the sense of powerlessness. There is no reason to not enjoy the time alone at the work table bringing these old-timers back to life. After brief foray restoring pipes referred to me by my local pipe shop I am back to Bob Kerr’s estate (his photo is to the left). If you have not “met” the man and would like to read a bit of the history of the pipeman, his daughter has written a great tribute that is worth a read. Because I have included it in over 60 restorations to date I thought that I would leave it out this time. Be sure to check out some of the recent Dunhill restoration blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/01/01/restoring-the-last-of-bob-kerrs-dunhills-a-1962-dunhill-bruyere-656-f-t-bent-billiard/).

The next pipe I have chosen from his estate is an interesting looking Apple with a slender stem. It is stamped BBB in a diamond on the left side of the shank with a Star on each side of the diamond. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in England over the shape number 11. The slender stem does not bear the BBB brass logo. The tapered stem is oxidized and has tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. There is some calcification on the stem with damage to the button. The finish is worn and dirty. There is a thick cake and lava overflow on the rim top. There is some damage on top & edges. There appears to be some chips out of the thin rim top/edge that will need to be addressed in the restoration. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show its general condition before he did his cleanup. The finish on the pipe was very dirty – grime and grit from years of use and sitting fill the crevices in the rustication. The rim top was covered with a coat of thick lava that overflowed the bowl. There was also some darkening and chipping damage on the rim top. The bowl itself had a thick cake with flecks of tobacco stuck in the cake on the sides.Jeff took photos of the sides and the heel of the bowl to give a better feel for the grain around the bowl. He took a photo of the stamping on the sides of the. You can see that the stamping is very clear. On the left side it reads BBB in a diamond with a star on each side of the base. On the right side it reads Made in England over the shape number 11.The stem was dirty and extremely oxidized. Once again the stem appeared to be a replacement as I have learned Bob was a chewer and his stems seemed to have been replaced often. This one at least fit well to the shank and did not yet have the chew marks that were a norm on Bob’s pipes.Before I started my work on the pipe I decided to read a bit of BBB history to remind myself how the two stars fit into the hierarchy of BBB pipes. I turned first to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-bbb.html). I have included a screen capture to show the stamping on the pipe. At this point I still did not know how it fit. Also the pipe I was working on did not have the BBB Diamond or Brass logo on the stem.I turned to Pipedia to see what I could gather there about the hierarchy of the Two Star pipe (https://pipedia.org/wiki/BBB). I read through the page and found some more information. I quote a pertinent section of the article that give the information that I was hoping for and expecting.

…In the Thirties, the top-of-the-range one becomes “BBB Best Make” with alternatives like “Super Stopping” and “Ultonia Thule”. The BBB Carlton, sold with the detail with 8/6 in 1938, is equipped with a system complicated out of metal, system which equipped the BBB London Dry too. Blue Peter was not estampillées BBB but BBB Ultonia, and the BBB Two Star (* *) become the bottom-of-the-range one.

Now I knew about where the Two Star fit – at the bottom of the range. Armed with that information it was time to work on the pipe. Jeff cleaned this filthy pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. This one was a real mess and I was looking forward to seeing what he had done with this one when I took it out of his box. It looked amazing and CLEAN and other than the stem work needing a little effort on my part. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. The finish looks good with great looking grain around the bowl and shank. The rim top and front of the bowl was severely damaged with burns. The condition of the inner and outer edges was rough. The stem looked a lot better but damage was evident on the button. Jeff soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. The pipe was ready for me to carry on the next part of the process. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top was clean and the damage was very evident. There were several chips on the edge of the rim top with the largest being at the back of the bowl.  I also took close up photos of the stem to show how well surface looked on both sides. I took a photo of the stamping on the sides of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above.I decided to start my restoration work on this one by dealing with the damaged rim top. I filled in the damaged areas with a drop of clear Krazy Glue (CA) and then pressed some briar dust into the glued areas with a dental spatula. I set the bowl aside to dry overnight.   I sanded the repaired areas with 220 and 400 grit sandpaper to shape the repaired areas and blend them into the rest of the bowl. I also worked over the edge and top to minimize the darkening to the edges.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. After each pad I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth. I touched up the rim top colour with a Maple Stain Pen to match the colour of the rest of the bowl. I let it dry and buffed it by hand.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. With that done the bowl was finished other than the final buffing. I set it aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the remaining tooth marks and chatter with 220 grit sand paper to blend them into the rest of the stem surface. I started to polish it with a folded piece of 400 wet dry sandpaper. Once it was finished it had begun to shine.        I polished the stem with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish from a tin of it I have in the drawer here. It is a gritty red paste that I rub on with my finger tips and work into the surface of the stem and button and buff off with a cotton pad. It gives me a bit of a head start on the polishing work.  I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I am continuing to experiment with Briarville Pipe Repairs new product, No Oxy Oil so I rubbed the stem down with the oil on the cloth that was provided with it. This BBB Two Star 11 Apple was another interesting pipe to work on. It is a classic shaped Apple. It has a tapered vulcanite stem that I am pretty certain is a replacement stem. The grain on the pipe is very nice and the shape has a great look and feel in the hand. The smooth finish is beautiful and highlights the grain. The repaired rim top looks very good and blends in well. I polished stem and the bowl with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. 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 deeply grained briar took on life with the buffing. The rich browns of the briar works well with the polished vulcanite stem. The finished pipe has a rich look that is quite catching. Have a look at it with the photos below. The shape, finish and flow of the Apple are very well done even with the replacement stem. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. 

The 18th Pipe from the 19 Pipe Eastern Canada Lot – a GBD Popular 12 Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

With two pipes left to finish for the fellow in Kitchener, Ontario I decided to work on one more of them. He had been referred to me by my local pipe and cigar shop. While I am not currently adding more pipes to my queue of repairs I have made a commitment to the shop to work on pipes for their customers. Generally they have one or two pipes that need a bit of work. This fellow sent me the following email:

I just came across my smoking pipes that I’ve had in storage for about 40 years. I’m wondering what you’d charge to have them refurbished. There are 17 in total (11 are Brighams and 6 are various).

It turns out he said he had 17 pipes. That was certainly more than I expected but I communicated that there was a large queue ahead of him and I would have to fit them in as I could. He was fine with whatever time it took. He sent me the following photos of his collection that he wanted restored. The first photo shows his eleven Brigham pipes – all very interesting shapes. The second photo shows the six various pipes in the collection – A Republic Era Peterson’s System 1312 (Canadian Import), A Bjarne Hand Carved Freehand, a Comoy’s Everyman London smooth billiard, a GBD Popular Dublin 12, an English made Kaywoodie Rustica 72B, a Kriswill Bernadotte 60 with a broken tenon. When the box arrived there were two additional pipes included for a total of 19 – a Ropp 803 Deluxe Cherrywood Poker and a Comoy’s Sandblast Everyman Canadian 296. It was a lot of pipes! I have been randomly choosing the next pipe to work on and chose the Bjarne Hand Carved Freehand that is shown in the second photo below. I have drawn a purple box around the GBD Popular 12 Dublin in the photo below. I have also put and X through all of the pipes that I have finished. I am making progress on the lot – I have finished 17 pipes now and this is the 18th.The 18th pipe that I took out of the box was a GBD Popular. It had a smooth finish. It was stamped on both sides of the shank. On the left side it read GBD in an oval over Popular in script. On the right side it was stamped Made in England and under that was the shape number 12. The finish was really dirty and spotty looking. The rim top had a thick coat of lava on the flat surface and the beveled inner rim. The bowl had a thick cake in it that was hard and crumbling. The vulcanite stem was lightly oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter near the button on both sides. The GBD roundel on the left side of the stem looked good. It seemed to have tabs around the edges that held it on the stem surface.   I took close up photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the bowl and the darkening and damage to the inner edge as well. You can also see the cake in the bowl. I also took close up photos of the stem to show its condition as mentioned above. I took photos of the stamping on both sides of the shank to show what I was speaking about above. It is very readable. On the left side it reads GBD in an oval over Popular.  On the right side it read Made in England over the shape number 12.  The stem also had a GBD Roundel on the left side of the taper.   Before doing cleanup work on the pipe I decided to do some research on the pipe. I looked first on the Pipephil website and found nothing on the Popular line. I turned to Pipedia and also was disappointed to find nothing on the line. Hitting the dead end I decided to turn to working on the pipe. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer to remove the cake. I cleaned up the remaining cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper on a piece of dowel to smooth them out. I was happy that the walls looked very good.   I scraped off the lava on the rim top with the edge of the Fitsall Pipe Knife. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the top of the rim and the bevel on the inner edge. I was able to make it look significantly better. I cleaned the mortise and the airway in the shank and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. They were dirty but the pipe is clean now.   I scrubbed the surface of the bowl and rim top with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the grimes, oils and tars and leave the surface clean. I rinsed it off with warm running water to remove the grime and the soap.   I polished the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the rim down after each sanding pad to remove the dust and debris from the sanding. The rim top was looking very good after the final polishing pad.     Once I had finished with the 2400 grit pad I touched up the colour of the rim top using an Oak Stain Pen. It blended very well with the colour of the bowl and shank. Once it cured I went on with the polishing with the remaining micromesh pads. I rubbed the bowl and shank 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 to raise the shine.     I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I rubbed the stem down with Soft Scrub on with a cotton pad and it removed the oxidation. It was looking better.     I sanded out the remaining tooth marks, chatter and oxidation with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.     I rubbed down the stem with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish, a red gritty paste and a cotton pad to remove the remnants of oxidation and to blend in the sanding. The stem is starting to show promise at this point in the process.  I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with a cotton pad to remove the sanding debris.  I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both fine and extra fine. I finished by wiping it down with Briarville’s No Oxy Oil and buffing it to a shine.   It feels good to be one pipe away from finishing the restoration of this 19 pipe lot from Eastern Canada. With the completion of this one I have finished 18 of the pipes. I put the English Made GBD Popular 12 Billiard back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the grain showing through the rustication on both sides and the smooth rim top. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem was beautiful. This nicely finished GBD Popular Billiard is nice looking and feels great in my hand. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Once again I am looking forward to what the pipeman who sent it thinks of this restoration. Only 1 more pipe to do in this lot! Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on the trust to the next pipeman or woman.

Breathing Life into a Brigham 3 Dot 333 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

Not too long ago I received an email from a fellow in Kitchener, Ontario regarding some pipes he needed cleaned up. He had been referred to me by my local pipe and cigar shop. While I am not currently adding more pipes to my queue of repairs I have made a commitment to the shop to work on pipes for their customers. Generally they have one or two pipes that need a bit of work. This fellow sent me the following email:

I just came across my smoking pipes that I’ve had in storage for about 40 years. I’m wondering what you’d charge to have them refurbished. There are 17 in total (11 are Brighams and 6 are various).

It turns out he said he had 17 pipes. That was certainly more than I expected but I communicated that there was a large queue ahead of him and I would have to fit them in as I could. He was fine with whatever time it took. He sent me the following photos of his collection that he wanted restored. The first photo shows his eleven Brigham pipes – all very interesting shapes. The second photo shows the six various pipes in the collection – A Republic Era Peterson’s System 1312 (Canadian Import), A Bjarne Hand Carved Freehand, a Comoy’s Everyman London smooth billiard, a GBD Popular Dublin 12, an English made Kaywoodie Rustica 72B, a Kriswill Bernadotte 60 with a broken tenon. When the box arrived there were two additional pipes included for a total of 19 – a Ropp 803 Deluxe Cherrywood Poker and a Comoy’s Sandblast Everyman Canadian 296. It was a lot of pipes! I have been randomly choosing the next pipe to work on and chose the final Brigham that I have drawn a purple box around in the photo below.When I unwrapped it the pipe it was a nice looking smooth nicely grained Billiard that was stained with a rich brown colour. It was stamped on the smooth underside of the shank. The stamping was readable. The shape number 333 is on the heel of the pipe and identifies the shape. The stamping Made in Canada and then the Brigham stamp in script followed on the rest of the flattened shank. The age on this one is Post-Patent era, nominally 1960s. The rim top had a thick lava overflow from the thick cake in the bowl. The bowl was in decent condition and the inner edge appeared to be in good condition. There was some darkening around the top and inner edges of the bowl. It was a dirty pipe but the finish appeared to be in okay condition under the grime. The 3 Dot saddle stem was oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter near the button on both sides. There was also some calcification for about an inch up the stem. I took close up photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the bowl and the rim edge as well as the cake and lava overflowing onto the rim top. I also took close up photos of the stem to show its condition as mentioned above.     I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank to show what I was speaking about above. It is very clear and readable. The 333 shape number is on the heel followed by Made In Canada then the Brigham script logo.I removed the stem from the shank to reveal the aluminum tube/tenon that held the Rock Maple Distillator. The distillator was dirty and tightly jammed in the tube. It would need to be replaced. This is another non-Can. Pat. Brigham pipe from the nineteen pipe installment. This is the final, the eleventh of the Brighams. I went to work on it immediately. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the second cutting head to take the cake back to bare briar so I could inspect the walls. I cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper on a piece of dowel to smooth them out and further examine them. I was happy that the walls looked very good. I scraped the rim top with a Fitsall Knife edge to remove the thick cake. I worked on the darkening on the rim top and the rough inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove the darkening and smooth out the inner edge of the bowl. I cleaned out the mortise area and airway to the bowl and the interior of the metal tube and airway in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. The aluminum tube was in better condition than others because the distillator had been used.  I scrubbed the surface of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit as well as the remnants of the shiny finish on the smooth portions of the bowl.          I wet sanded the rim top and edges of the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl surface down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding dust. Once I finished the bowl looked good.   I rubbed the bowl and shank 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 to raise the shine.   I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I rubbed the stem down with Soft Scrub on with a cotton pad and it removed the oxidation and the calcification build up. It looked a lot better.   This was the first of these pipes with some significant tooth indentations. Heating the vulcanite did not do anything to remove them so I wiped the stem down and filled them in with clear super glue. With this done I set the pipe aside and called it a night. Tomorrow I would address the stem.I sanded out the repairs to the tooth marks, chatter and oxidation with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I rubbed down the stem with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish and a cotton pad to remove the remnants of oxidation and to blend in the sanding. The polish is a red gritty paste that works wonders on removing stubborn remnants of oxidation in the crease. The stem is starting to show promise at this point in the process. Before I finished the polishing stem I decided to fit it with a new Rock Maple Distillator.    I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with a cotton pad to remove the sanding debris.  I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both fine and extra fine. I finished by wiping it down with Briarville’s No Oxy Oil and buffing it to a shine.     I am excited to finish last Brigham of the lot as it moves me one pipe closer to being finished. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the grain popping through on the bowls sides and rim top. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem with the shining brass pins was beautiful. This mixed grain on the smooth finish Brigham Exclusive Billiard is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. This 3 Dot Billiard is the last of the Brigham pipes that I have worked on in this collection. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This is the 17th of the 19 pipes sent to me from Eastern Canada for restoration. Once again I am looking forward to what the pipeman who sent it thinks of this restoration. Lots more to do in this lot! Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.

Breathing Life into a Can Pat Brigham Exclusive 314 Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

Not too long ago I received an email from a fellow in Kitchener, Ontario regarding some pipes he needed cleaned up. He had been referred to me by my local pipe and cigar shop. While I am not currently adding more pipes to my queue of repairs I have made a commitment to the shop to work on pipes for their customers. Generally they have one or two pipes that need a bit of work. This fellow sent me the following email:

I just came across my smoking pipes that I’ve had in storage for about 40 years. I’m wondering what you’d charge to have them refurbished. There are 17 in total (11 are Brighams and 6 are various).

It turns out he said he had 17 pipes. That was certainly more than I expected but I communicated that there was a large queue ahead of him and I would have to fit them in as I could. He was fine with whatever time it took. He sent me the following photos of his collection that he wanted restored. The first photo shows his eleven Brigham pipes – all very interesting shapes. The second photo shows the six various pipes in the collection – A Republic Era Peterson’s System 1312 (Canadian Import), A Bjarne Hand Carved Freehand, a Comoy’s Everyman London smooth billiard, a GBD Popular Dublin 12, an English made Kaywoodie Rustica 72B, a Kriswill Bernadotte 60 with a broken tenon. When the box arrived there were two additional pipes included for a total of 19 – a Ropp 803 Deluxe Cherrywood Poker and a Comoy’s Sandblast Everyman Canadian 296. It was a lot of pipes! I have been randomly choosing the next pipe to work on and chose the Brigham that I have drawn a green box around in the photo below.When I unwrapped it the pipe it was a nice looking rusticated pot that was lighter in colour than the other rusticated Brighams in the collection. It was stamped on the smooth underside of the shank. The stamping is faint but part of it was readable. The shape number 314 is on the heel of the pipe and identifies the shape. It is followed by the Can. Pat. 372982 and then the Brigham stamp in script. It had a rusticated bowl and shank with a smooth rim top. The rim top had a lava overflow from the medium cake in the bowl. The bowl was in decent condition, slightly out of round on the inner edge. There was some darkening around the top and inner edges of the bowl. It was a dirty pipe but the finish appeared to be in okay condition under the grime. The 3 Dot saddle stem was oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter near the button on both sides. There was also some calcification for about an inch up the stem. I took close up photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the bowl and damage to the rim edge as well as the cake and lava overflowing onto the rim top. I also took close up photos of the stem to show its condition as mentioned above.     I took a photo of the faint stamping on the underside of the shank to show what I was speaking about above. It is very clear and readable. The 314 shape number is on the heel followed by the Can. Pat. 372982 number then the Brigham script logo.I removed the stem from the shank to reveal the aluminum tube/tenon that held the Rock Maple Distillator. The distillator was dirty and tightly jammed in the tube. It would need to be replaced. Before starting my clean up work on the pipe I turned to a chart that Charles Lemon of Dad’s Pipes sent to me on the patent era Brighams. There were made from 1938-1980. As the pipe I am working on is a Patent pipe, it’s more accurate to refer to its grade by name (the post 1980 grading scheme refers to Dots). Here is the  chart that Charles sent me. The pipe I am working on is thus a Brigham Exclusive with the 3 brass pins arranged in a triangle. With this pipe I am continuing to work on another Can Pat Brigham pipe from the nineteen pipe installment. This is tenth of the eleven Brighams. I went to work on it immediately. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the second cutting head to take the cake back to bare briar so I could inspect the walls. I cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper on a piece of dowel to smooth them out and further examine them. I was happy that the walls looked very good.    I worked on the darkening on the rim top and the rough inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove the darkening and smooth out the inner edge of the bowl.    I cleaned out the mortise area and airway to the bowl and the interior of the metal tube and airway in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. The aluminum tube was dirty because it was missing the distillator and had been smoked sans filter.    I scrubbed the surface of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit as well as the remnants of the shiny finish on the smooth portions of the bowl.     I wet sanded the rim top and edges of the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl surface down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding dust. Once I finished the bowl looked good.    I rubbed the bowl and shank 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 to raise the shine.   I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I rubbed the stem down with Soft Scrub on with a cotton pad and it removed the oxidation and the calcification build up. It looked a lot better.        I sanded out the tooth marks, chatter and oxidation with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.     I rubbed down the stem with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish and a cotton pad to remove the remnants of oxidation and to blend in the sanding. The polish is a red gritty paste that works wonders on removing stubborn remnants of oxidation in the crease. The stem is starting to show promise at this point in the process.   Before I finished the polishing stem I decided to fit it with a new Rock Maple Distillator.  I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with a cotton pad to remove the sanding debris.  I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both fine and extra fine. I finished by wiping it down with Briarville’s No Oxy Oil and buffing it to a shine.     I am excited to finish another of the lot as it moves me one pipe closer to being finished. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the grain popping through on the rim top and the rustication coming to life. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem with the shining brass pins was beautiful. This mixed smooth and rusticated finish Brigham Exclusive Pot is nice looking and feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. This is the smallest of the Brigham pipes that I have worked on in this collection. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 5/8 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This is the 16th of the 19 pipes sent to me from Eastern Canada for restoration. Once again I am looking forward to what the pipeman who sent it thinks of this restoration. Lots more to do in this lot! Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.

Refurbishing A Preben Holm # 3 Freehand Pipe

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

The first ever Preben Holm in my collection was from eBay about two years back. It came to me with a broken stem and tenon stuck in to the mortise. This pipe received a new lease on life in the month of May last year when Steve, Jeff and Dal Stanton visited me here in India. I learned the process of tenon replacement along with many other tips and processes in pipe restoration. Here is the link to the informative write up by Steve on this pipe; https://rebornpipes.com/2019/05/14/restoring-a-preben-holm-hand-cut-sandblast-freehand-in-pune-india/

The second Preben Holm in my collection came from my Mumbai Bonanza, which I really enjoyed working on; (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/08/12/refurbishing-a-tired-preben-holm-1-from-the-mumbai-bonanza-lot/) .

The Preben Holm, currently on my work table, came to me from a seller on eBay along with another Preben Holm. Both these pipes had some serious stem issues which really kept other buyers away from placing their bids and lucky me, I got both these pipes for a really good price. Even though both pipes came to me together, I shall be working on them separately since they each have different set of issues involved.

The first PH that I selected to work on is a beautiful freehand with some great flame grains all around the stummel and shank and bird’s eye at the foot of the stummel. The shank end has a nice large outward flare with a flattened lower edge, akin to a large whale tail fin. The rim top is a nice plateau with the shank end flare showing minor plateau along the upper outer edge, similar to the scars on a tail fin of a whale that has seen a few skirmishes in its lifetime. Here are the pictures of the pipe as it sits on my work table.   The pipe is stamped on the bottom of the flared shank end as “PREBEN HOLM” in block capital letters over “Hand Cut” in a cursive artistic hand over “COPENHAGEN” over “DENMARK”, all in block capitals. The left side of the shank bears the encircled numeral “3”. All the stampings are crisp and easily readable. The fancy vulcanite stem is devoid of any stampings.There is a lot of interesting information on the carver, Preben Holm, on pipedia.org (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Holm,_Preben) which makes for an interesting read, however, as before when I had worked on a PH from my Mumbai Bonanza, I still could not find any information on dating this particular piece of briar and also the significance of the # 3!!   I had made a humble appeal to all the readers then and making one again, to please share any information on this system of numbering followed by Preben Holm and also method of dating PH pipes.

Initial Visual Inspection
I am making a slight deviation from my usual process that I follow for my write ups in that, in this case, I shall first address an issue that I was aware of from the description given by the seller and thereafter continue with my initial inspection. The seller had advertised that the stem was stuck in to the pipe (mortise) and would not budge. True enough, when the pipe arrived, the stem was firmly stuck in to the mortise and no amount of twists and turns loosened the seating of the stem. I did not wrestle too hard with it as I did not want to have another broken tenon on my hands. I chucked the complete pipe in to the freezer and let it sit for 3-4 hours. Once I removed the pipe from the freezer, I heated the shank a little with my heat gun and gave it a gentle twist and the stem came out intact quite easily. I was very pleased with this progress. I sincerely apologize for not taking any pictures of this process. Now that the stem has been separated from the mortise, I proceed to complete my initial inspection.

The chamber has a thick layer of dry and hard cake with heavy overflow of lava on to the platue rim top surface. The slightly outward flared inner rim edge is covered in oils and tars, but there are no apparent signs of charring. The condition of the inner walls of the chamber can be checked and ascertained only after the cake has been taken down to the bare briar. The stummel boasts of beautiful flame grains all around and extends over the shank surface too!! The surface is relatively clean and without any fills save for a few scratches that could have been caused during routine use. The flared end of the shank is clean with the partial plateau top edge showing accumulated dust and dirt which should be a breeze to clean. The foot of the stummel shows beautiful bird’s eye grains and is sans any damage. Overall, the stummel presents a well cared for pipe. The mortise is clogged with accumulated oils and tars. That the draw is not as smooth and full was expected, given that the stem was firmly stuck in. With a through leaning, this issue should be resolved.The fancy vulcanite stem is where maximum damage is seen on this pipe. It is heavily oxidized and is peppered with deep tooth chatter/ indentations on either surface of the stem. The lower button edge has a bite through and will need to be repaired. The horizontal slot end of the stem is heavily oxidized to a dark brown coloration while the tenon end is covered in dried oils and tars. The button edges on either surface have worn down and will need to be sharpened. The fancy stem, though looks beautiful when black and shiny, is a bear to clean with all the dips and narrow gaps between the beads and rings etc.The Process
I began the process of refurbishing this pipe with cleaning the internals of the stem using pipe cleaners with isopropyl alcohol (99.9% pure) and dunking the stem in to “Before and After Deoxidizer” solution developed by my friend Mark Hoover. The solution helps to draw out heavy oxidation to the surface making its further removal a breeze, while the minor oxidation is eliminated to a very great extent. I usually dunk stems of 5-7 pipes that are in-line for restoration and this pipe is marked in pastel pink arrow. I generally allow the stems to soak in this solution overnight for the solution to do its work.With the stem soaking in the deoxidizer solution, I worked the stummel starting with reaming the chamber with a Castleford reamer tool, using the second, third and fourth head of the tool. Using my fabricated knife; I further take the cake down to the bare briar. With a 150 grit sand paper, the walls of the chamber were rid of all the remnants of the cake, revealing smooth and solid chamber walls. I further wiped the chamber with a cotton swab wetted with isopropyl alcohol to completely remove the sanding dust. Next, I tried cleaning the mortise with hard bristled and regular pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol. However, the pipe cleaners would not pass through the draught hole and in to the chamber. I used my fabricated tool, a simple straightened cloth hanger, and pried clear the chunk of dried gunk. This was followed by cleaning the shank internals with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. I further scrapped out the entire moistened gunk with a dental tool. The shank internals cleaned up nicely with a smooth and full draw.I scrubbed the external surface of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s oil soap and hard bristled tooth brush and dried it using paper towels and soft cotton cloth. I deliberately cleaned the plateau rim top to clean the entire lava overflow from the surface. The entire stummel cleaned up nicely. I set the stummel aside to dry out naturally. Staying with the stummel restoration, I polished the stummel with micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 12000 pads. I polished the raised surfaces on the plateau rim top surface. I wiped the surface with a soft cloth at the end of the micromesh cycle. The stummel looks amazing with a deep shine and beautiful grains popping over the stummel surface. However, I am not very happy with the way the rim top appears at this stage. No amount of wiping with a moist cloth could address this issue. If I wash it again with Murphy’s oil soap, it will be like going back to square one!! I would request all the esteemed readers to suggest remedial methods to this issue and help me learn. I rubbed a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to briar. I rubbed this balm deep in to the nooks and crannies of the plateau rim top surface with my fingers 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 dark brown hues of the grain contrasting with the rest of the stummel surface. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. The rim top has now taken on dark hues which is an eye sore at this stage. As mentioned in the write up on refurbishing S & R, Donegal Rocky # 999 and Countryman, I had worked on all the stems that had been soaking in the deoxidizer solution overnight. I fished out all the stems and cleaned them under running warm water and scrubbed the raised oxidation from the stem surface using Scotch Brite pad. I further removed the oxidation by scrubbing the stems with 0000 grade steel wool and applied a little olive oil to rehydrate the stems and set them aside for the oil to be absorbed. Unfortunately, I did not click any pictures of these stems at this stage.

This is how the stem of this pipe came out after the stem cleaning described above. Deep tooth indentations are visible at the base of upper and lower button edges with heavy tooth chatter visible in the bite zone on the lower surface. Complete oxidation was removed on this stem by the process described above.

I painted both surfaces of the stem with the flame of a lighter to raise the tooth indentations to the surface. This also helps in loosening minor oxidation from the stem surface. I sand the entire stem surface with a folded piece of a 220 grit sand paper to even out the raised tooth chatter and the tooth indentations to a degree and also to remove the loosened oxidation. I wiped the stem with a cotton swab and Murphy’s oil soap to further remove the oxidation. Even though the most of the tooth chatter has been addressed by heating the damaged stem portion with the flame of a lighter, couple of deeper indentations and bite marks/ deformation to the button edges is still visible on both upper and lower surface in the bite zone. At this stage in stem repairs, I now had a clear idea as to the extent of the through hole in the bottom surface of the stem. I also realized that the surrounding stem surface around the hole has thinned out and is brittle. However, I am happy with the way this stem appears at this stage and also with the deoxidizer solution. I filled the tooth indentation in the button edge on both lower and upper stem surfaces with a mix of activated charcoal and CA superglue and set it aside for the fill to cure. Once the fill had cured sufficiently, with flat needle file I sanded the fills to match with rest of the stem surface. With the same file, I sharpened the button edge on both the upper and lower surface. I fine tuned the blending of the fill with the rest of the stem surface using a 220 grit sand paper and also sanded down the entire stem to remove the stubborn residual oxidation. I further sand the stem with 600 and 800 grit sand paper and wiped the stem with cotton pad dipped in alcohol to remove the resultant dust. I rubbed some extra virgin olive oil in to the stem and set it aside to be absorbed in to stem. I polished the stem with micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 12000 grit pads. I rubbed a little extra virgin olive oil in to the stem at the end of the micromesh pads polishing cycle. I completed the polishing regime of the stem by rubbing a small quantity of Paragon wax and giving it a final polish with a soft cotton cloth. The stem is now nice, smooth and shiny.To apply the finishing touches, I mount a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and apply a coat of Blue Diamond to the stem to polish out the minor scratches. With a cotton buffing wheel that I use for carnauba wax, I apply a coat of carnauba wax to the stummel and stem and continued to work on it till the complete coat of wax had been polished out. I mount a clean cotton cloth buffing wheel and gave the entire pipe a once over buff. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine further. The finished pipe is shown below. P.S. – This was an indeed an easy restoration. The issue of the stem being stuck inside the mortise had driven bidders away from this beautiful pipe and it proved to be my gain. I am really fortunate to be in the process of learning the nuances of pipe restoration and cannot thank Steve enough for his support and guidance.

I wish to request all the experienced readers to shed some light on the numbering system followed on Preben Holm pipes and also on dating these pipes for the larger good of our fraternity.

Thanks for your patience and looking forward to input about the write up. Cheers…

Refurbishing A “Real Cherry Foreign” Pipe From Estate Lot Of 40

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

I had read about Etsy.com in various piper communities that I have subscribed to and on various blogs. My curiosity was thus stoked and I visited the site. True enough, I came across a lot of 40 pipes from an estate pipe seller. We struck a deal and about six months ago, this lot reached at my door step. Abha, my wife, though not very enthusiastic about the condition of a few pipes that were in the lot, was supportive enough to have chronicled each pipe and taken pictures of the entire lot. This lot did contain a few pipes that were worth adding to my personal collection and few that are, prima facie, not even worth attempting a restoration. However, on such pipes, I shall take a call as and when I get them on my work table (I hate discarding pipes in any condition!!). The pipe currently on my work table, from this lot, is humongous Cherry wood pipe with a thick removable cherry wood shank extension. This pipe is marked with a yellow arrow in the picture below and readers will also get a general idea about the size of this pipe.This sitter pipe has an intact bark all around the stummel and shank extension. The smooth bottom surface is at an angle which helps in weight distribution, making it a perfect sitter. The rim top, like the foot, is smooth. I wouldn’t exactly classify this pipe as beautiful, but it is definitely rugged looking with its own charm. Here are the pictures of the pipe as it sits on my work table. The pipe is stamped on the foot of the stummel as “REAL CHERRY” over “FOREIGN”, all in capital letters. The stampings are crisp and easily readable. However, there is no COM stamp anywhere on the pipe that would help me in establishing the provenance of this pipe. The vulcanite stem is devoid of any stampings.With no COM stamp, I am stonewalled in my quest to accurately ascertain the maker/ carver and in dating this pipe. I visited Reborn pipes, pipedia.org and pipephil.eu and from the write ups, pictures and information posted on these sites, my calculated guess is that this pipe would have been made in the ROPP factory for a retailer outside. From the perfectly round slot, I presume this to be a very early period, though, I am not very sure.

Any clarification/ confirmed inputs on this pipe are requested from all the learned readers of this write up!!

Initial Visual Inspection
The chamber has a thin and even layer of dry and hard cake with little overflow of lava on to the smooth rim top surface. The outward sloping rim top surface is stained a nice bright orange and is covered in places with overflowing oils and tars, but there are no signs of charring to the inner rim edge. The condition of the inner walls of the chamber can be checked and ascertained only after the cake has been taken down to the bare wood. The stain on the rim top surface should contrast beautifully with the rest of the dark colored bark of the stummel.The stummel has cherry bark all around which is covered in dust and grime. The bark is, however, intact. The Old bark has aged well and is beautiful in its patchy and scaly texture and color. There are signs of the beginnings of the process of exfoliation at the front of the stummel. The open area under the air hole at the bottom of the bowl and which houses the thick shank, shows minor accumulation of dried oils and crud. The flat bottom of the stummel, like the rim top surface, is stained bright orange. The long and thick cherry wood shank is tapered at both ends with a threaded stem end. The push fit tapered shank end that seats in to the stummel is uneven and covered in dust and grime. The cherry wood bark on the shank is intact and undamaged. The fit of the shank in to the stummel is snug and remains firmly attached. The thick rimmed full bent vulcanite saddle stem is lightly oxidized and is peppered with deep tooth chatter/ indentations on lower surface of the stem. The perfectly rounded slot of the stem has a number of cracks radiating outwards from the slot. The button edges on either surface have worn down slightly and will need to be sharpened. The wide chambered and threaded shank end of the stem shows accumulated dried dust and dirt. The seating of the stem over the the threaded shank is not flush and an irritating gap is clearly visible. It is likely that the issue will be addressed once the stem has been cleaned. The Process
I began the process of refurbishing this pipe with reaming the chamber with a Castleford reamer tool, using the size four head of the tool. Using my fabricated knife; I further took the cake down to the bare wood. With a 150 grit sand paper, the walls of the chamber were rid of all the remnants of the cake, revealing smooth and solid chamber walls. I further wiped the chamber with a cotton swab wetted with isopropyl alcohol to completely remove the sanding dust. Next, I cleaned up the interior of the shank and open area under the air hole in the bottom of the bowl with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I was surprised at how little dirt, tar and oil had built up there. The shank internals cleaned up nicely with a smooth and full draw.I scrubbed the external surface of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s oil soap and hard bristled tooth brush and dried it using paper towels and soft cotton cloth. I deliberately cleaned the smooth rim top to clean the entire lava overflow from the surface. The stummel and shank cleaned up nicely. I set them aside to dry out naturally. Staying with the stummel restoration, I polished the rim top surface and foot of the stummel with micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 12000 pads. I wiped the surface with a soft cloth at the end of the micromesh cycle. Both the surfaces look amazing with a deep shine. I rubbed a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to the cherry wood stummel and shank to enliven and protect it. I rubbed this balm deep in to the patchy/ scaly surfaces of the stummel, smooth rim top, foot and shank with my fingers and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the wood now has a nice vibrant appearance with the dark brown hues of the bark contrasting with the deep orange stain of the rim top and foot. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. Unfortunately, I completely missed out on taking pictures of this process and the results. I set the stummel aside.

Getting down to the stem repairs, I began with cleaning the stem air way and the threaded wide chamber. I painted both surfaces of the stem with the flame of a lighter to raise the tooth indentations to the surface. This also helps in loosening minor oxidation from the stem surface. I sand the entire stem surface with a folded piece of a 220 grit sand paper to even out the raised tooth chatter and the tooth indentations to a degree and also to remove the loosened oxidation. I wiped the stem with a cotton swab and Murphy’s oil soap to further remove the oxidation. Most of the tooth chatter has been addressed by heating the damaged stem portion with the flame of a lighter; the minor tooth chatter visible on the lower surface in the bite zone should be completely eliminated during further sanding by sandpaper. At this stage in stem repairs, I now had a clear idea as to the extent of the repairs required by the stem. I tightly wound a scotch tape around the thin end of a tapered pipe cleaner and inserted it through the rounded slot. This prevents the fill from pouring down in to the slot and blocking the stem air way. I filled the cracks radiating outwards from the round slot with a mix of activated charcoal and CA superglue and set it aside for the fill to cure. Once the fill had cured sufficiently, with flat needle file I sanded the fills to match with rest of the button end. With the same file, I sharpened the button edge on both the upper and lower surface. I fine tuned the blending of the fill with the rest of the surface using a 220 grit sand paper and also sanded down the entire stem to remove the stubborn residual oxidation. I further sand the stem with 600 and 800 grit sand paper and wiped the stem with cotton pad dipped in alcohol to remove the resultant dust. I further smooth the fill and polished the entire stem with a 0000 grade steel wool. I rubbed some extra virgin olive oil in to the stem and set it aside to be absorbed in to stem. There was an issue of gap in the seating of the stem over the threaded shank end. I had hoped that after cleaning the stem internals this issue would be resolved. However, this did not happen. There was no other way, that I could think of to address this issue, but mask it (The Purist, though, may not agree with me on this thought process)!! I decided to mask this gap with a brass ring at the stem end of the shank. I selected a ring that was a tad smaller in diameter than the shank end. With a 220 grit sand paper, I carefully sand the very stem end of the shank, checking frequently for the seating of the ring. Once I had achieved the desired seating, I aligned the shank, ring and the stem. The assembled parts matched perfectly with no gap between the shank and stem and looked really nice. I glued the ring in to place with CA superglue and set it aside. I polished the stem with micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 12000 grit pads. I rubbed a little extra virgin olive oil in to the stem at the end of the micromesh pads polishing cycle. I rubbed “Before & After Extra Fine” polish that has been developed by my friend, Mark Hoover, in to the stem surface. This removes minor oxidation and scratches from the surface. I completed the polishing regime of the stem by rubbing a small quantity of Paragon wax and giving it a final polish with a soft cotton cloth. The stem is now nice, smooth and shiny.To apply the finishing touches, I mount a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and apply a coat of Blue Diamond to the stem to polish out the minor scratches. With a cotton buffing wheel that I use for carnauba wax, I apply a coat of carnauba wax to the stummel and stem and continued to work on it till the complete coat of wax had been polished out. I mount a clean cotton cloth buffing wheel and gave the entire pipe a once over buff. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine further. The finished pipe is shown below. P.S. – This is in no way a beautiful pipe, but a rugged and rustic looking with such a solid construction that it is capable of lasting for ages!! It has its own charm and the addition of the shiny brass ring at the stem end of the shank has given it some bling, breaking the monotony of cherry wood and how!!

Thanks for your patience and looking forward to inputs on the write up and any information on this pipe. Cheers…

Restoring An African Themed Large Billiard Countryman With Hand- Carved Figurines

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

While surfing eBay for pipes a long time ago, I came across a pipe that was a large sized billiard and meerschaum lined. Well, upfront I wish to be candid and confess that I am not a big fan of meerschaum lined bowls and this pipe did not boast as being carved by any of my favorite makers! Yet I went ahead and made an offer which I feverishly hoped the seller would turn down, being ludicrously low from the asking price. However, the seller accepted my offer and a few weeks later, the pipe reached Abha. Surprisingly, she liked the pipe!! What attracted both of us to this large pipe was the hand carved figurines over the stummel surface. These figurines looked like to be that of an African mother holding her child (or is it just a figment of my imagination??).

The pipe is devoid of any stampings. The only clue as to the origins of this pipe came in the form of a stem logo of an Elephant on the left side of the stem saddle.I was keen to know more about the maker and hence turned to pipephil.eu and searched for stem logo under Animal- Mammals!! True enough, it was an easy find. It identified this pipe as Countryman, a brand of Tanganyika Meerschaum Corporation from Amboseli Pipes.

Thereafter I visited Reborn pipes for further information. Here is the link to the write up and it makes for an interesting read. (https://rebornpipes.com/2013/10/13/refurbed-a-tanganyika-meerschaum-prince/).

Kiko, meaning “pipe” in Swahili-Kiswahili to English translation, is probably the best known of the various brands of meerschaum pipes from there. In East Africa Meerschaum is found in Tanganyika, once known as German East Africa, and since 1964 part of the United Republic of Tanzania. The main deposit comes from the Amboseli basin surrounding the Lake Amboseli. Tanganyika Meerschaum is normally stained in shades of brown, black and yellow, and is considered to be inferior to Meerschaum from Turkey. Even though, the raw material is mined by the Tanganyika Meerschaum Corporation and to a large extent used for pipe making. Uncounted pipe makers throughout the world were supplied with Amboseli Meerschaum, preferentially used for Meerschaum lined briars or leather-clad pipes. In Tanganyika the Kilimanjaro Pipe Company Ltd. produced the following brands: Caveman, Countryman (Elephant logo), Kiko (Elephant logo), Kikob (Elephant logo), Kilimanjaro (Rhinoceros logo), Kudu (Giraffe Logo), Makonde (Rhinoceros logo), Merlin (Flying bird or Antelope logo), Sportsman (Elephant logo), Tembo, Townsman, Twiga (Giraffe Logo), White elephant (Elephant logo).

Initial Visual Inspection

The pipe, as it sits on my work table, is dirty with decent layer of cake, covered in dust and grime with a heavily oxidized stem. Here are a few pictures of the pipe before I proceed with a detailed visual inspection of each part of the pipe. The creases formed by the hand carved figurines over the stummel surface on this pipe are covered in a thick layer of dust and grime. The stummel appears dull and lackluster. However, the rich brown hues of the raised portions of the figurines contrast beautifully with the darker hues of the stummel and would look more appealing once the stummel has been cleaned and polished. The long and carved shank has a nice thick band of smooth briar. Once polished, this briar band should further enhance the beauty of this pipe. An aluminum tube/ mortise extension is fixed inside of the mortise over which the stem is seated.    The meerschaum lined rim top is surrounded by briar wood and is covered in dust, lava overflow, grime and will need to be cleaned and polished. This lava overflow is chipped at places revealing an intact white meerschaum layer. The briar surrounding the inner meer layer is chipped on the left side of the rim top in the 9 o’clock direction. The chamber has an even layer of thin cake that is dry and crumbling. The condition of the meerschaum lined walls of the chamber will be ascertained once the existing cake has been completely removed. The inner meerschaum layered rim edge appears intact, however, the same will be ascertained once the cake and lava overflow from the chamber and rim top is removed. The end of the aluminum tube which extends out from the shank end is darkened with a thick layer of dried oils and tars. The insides of this tube is clogged making the draw laborious. The surface of the tube is dull and lackluster.The straight tapered vulcanite saddle stem that sits atop the aluminum mortise extension is heavily oxidized and is peppered with deep tooth chatter/ indentations on either surface of the stem. The horizontal slot end of the stem is heavily oxidized to a dark brown coloration while the insides of the tenon end is covered in dried oils and tars. This should be a relatively simple repair and cleaning up job of the stem. The Process
I began the process of refurbishing this pipe with cleaning the internals of the stem using pipe cleaners with isopropyl alcohol (99.9% pure) and dunking the stem in to “Before and After Deoxidizer” solution developed by my friend Mark Hoover. The solution helps to draw out heavy oxidation to the surface making its further removal a breeze, while the minor oxidation is eliminated to a very great extent. I usually dunk stems of 5-7 pipes that are in-line for restoration and this pipe is marked in blue arrow. I generally allow the stems to soak in this solution overnight for the solution to do its work.With the stem soaking in the deoxidizer solution, I worked the stummel, reaming the chamber with a Castleford reamer tool, using only the second head. I was very gentle and diligent while using the reamer head by applying minimum force to avoid cracking the meerschaum lining. Using my fabricated knife; I further took the cake down to the meerschaum layer. With a 150 grit sand paper, the walls of the chamber were rid of all the remnants of the cake, revealing smooth meer lined chamber walls. I further wiped the chamber with a cotton swab wetted with isopropyl alcohol to completely remove the sanding dust. I gently scraped off the entire lava overflow from the rim top with a sharp knife blade. The inner rim edge has numerous very tiny dings all around which is not a big concern as these could be easily addressed either by topping or using a sand paper. I carefully scraped the aluminum shank extension with a fabricated tool to remove all the crud that had accumulated on the surface and further cleaned the shank internals with bristled and regular pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol. I further polished the aluminum extension with a 0000 grade steel wool. Next I addressed the issue of numerous dings to the inner rim edge. As mentioned above, I had an option of either using a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper and even out the tiny dings or topping the rim top on a topping board. I decided to follow the later path as it would also address the issue of the chipped briar on the rim top in the 9 o’clock direction. I topped the rim on a piece of 220 grit sand paper, frequently checking the progress as I did not want to sand too much and cause any damage to the carved figurines.I scrubbed the external surface of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s oil soap and hard bristled tooth brush and dried it using paper towels and soft cotton cloth. The light brown hues of the carved surfaces of the figurines contrast beautifully with the rest of the dark stummel. I set the stummel aside to dry out naturally. I packed the chamber with paper towels to absorb any water and moisture that may have inadvertently seeped in to the meerschaum. I wanted to further highlight the figurines from the rest of the stummel surface and to achieve the desired results; I polished the raised surfaces of the carved figurines, the rim top surface and the briar band at the shank end with micromesh pads, dry sanding with 1500 to 12000 grit pads. I really like the way the figurines stand out from the rest of the stummel surface and also the rim top surface. I rubbed a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to briar. I rubbed this balm deep in to the nooks and crannies formed by the carved figurines with my fingers 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 light brown hues of the raised carvings contrasting with the dark stummel surface. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. As mentioned in the write up on refurbishing S & R and Donegal Rocky # 999, I had worked on all the stems that had been soaking in the deoxidizer solution overnight. I fished out the stems and cleaned them under running warm water and scrubbed the raised oxidation from the stem surface using scotch brite pad. I further removed the oxidation by scrubbing the stems with 0000 grade steel wool and applied a little olive oil to rehydrate the stems and set them aside for the oil to be absorbed. Unfortunately, I did not click any pictures of these stems at this stage.

This is how the stem of this pipe came out after the stem cleaning described above. Some traces of oxidation are still visible at the base of the button edges on both surfaces and on the saddle which needs to be removed using more invasive methods. A few tooth indentations are visible on the top button edge and at the base of the button edge on both the surfaces. I painted both surfaces of the stem with the flame of a lighter to raise the tooth indentations to the surface. This also helps in loosening minor oxidation from the stem surface. I sand the entire stem surface with a folded piece of a 220 grit sand paper to remove the loosened oxidation. I wiped the stem with a cotton swab and Murphy’s oil soap to further remove the oxidation. Even though the most of the minor tooth indentations have been eliminated by heating the damaged stem portion with the flame of a lighter, couple of deeper indentations is still visible on both upper and lower surface in the bite zone. However, I am happy with the way this stem appears at this stage and also with the deoxidizer solution. I filled the tooth indentation in the button edge on both lower and upper stem surfaces with a mix of activated charcoal and CA superglue and set it aside for the fill to cure. Once the fill had cured sufficiently, with flat needle file I sanded down the fill to match with rest of the stem surface. With the same file, I sharpened the button edge on both the upper and lower surface. I fine tuned the blending of the fill with the rest of the stem surface using a 220 grit sand paper and also sanded down the entire stem to remove the stubborn residual oxidation. I further sand the stem with 600 and 800 grit sand paper and wiped the stem with cotton pad dipped in alcohol to remove the resultant dust. I rubbed some extra virgin olive oil in to the stem and set it aside to be absorbed in to stem.I polished the stem with micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 12000 grit pads. I rubbed a little extra virgin olive oil in to the stem at the end of the micromesh pads polishing cycle. I finish the polishing of the stem by rubbing a small quantity of Paragon wax and giving it a final polish with a soft cotton cloth. The stem is now nice, smooth and shiny. I refreshed the stem logo by masking the logo with a whitener correction pen. Once the whitener had dried, I gently wiped the excess whitener away. The stem logo now looks prominent.To apply the finishing touches, I mount a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and apply a coat of Blue Diamond to the stem to polish out the minor scratches. With a cotton buffing wheel that I use for carnauba wax, I apply a coat of carnauba wax to the stummel and stem and continued to work on it till the complete coat of wax had been polished out. I mount a clean cotton cloth buffing wheel and gave the entire pipe a once over buff. 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 is shown below. P.S. – Most discerning Readers would have noticed that after I had topped the rim top surface, I have not stained the briar portion of the rim top to blend in with the rest of the stummel.  Well, truth be told, Abha, my wife, liked the play of contrasts between the meerschaum lining, the brown hues of the surrounding briar and the very dark brown stummel. I too liked her suggestion and hence left it without staining. Though this pipe has neither any collector’s value or high resale value, but still I shall add it to my collection because of its uniqueness and it’s no less beautiful to boot.

Thanks for your patience and looking forward to input about the write up. Cheers…