I picked this old timer up on EBay. It is stamped on the left side of the bowl – Rogers De Luxe. The stamping on the silver cap is Sterling in an arc over the letters HC in an oval with the word London in an arc below the oval. The right side of the shank is stamped with London in an arc over a reverse arc of Los Angeles. In the centre of the oval formed by the two arcs are the words PIPE SHOP. There is also a shape number 25 stamped just ahead of that stamping. The stamping makes me wonder who the maker was. The HC on the cap leads me to think it may be a Comoy’s pipe but I am not sure of that. The stem that was in it was badly chewed and cut off. It was very short and not usable. The bowl was in rough shape and all the stain and finish was worn off.  The silver end cap was tarnished and when it arrived it was split on the underside. It had been repaired with some glue and that was a mess. There were some dents in the sides of the bowl but underneath the grime and dents of a beat-up old pipe was some nice grain. Evidently the previous owner had found that it was a good smoker and chomped his way through the stem and enough tobacco to let it build up to thick hard cake.

I cleaned and reamed the pipe, cleaned the shank and worked a new stem for it. The stem I chose is an old stock orific button stem. I polished and cleaned the silver. I soaked the bowl in an alcohol bath to remove the grime and remnants of the finish. Once it was dry I restained the pipe with an oxblood aniline stain. I flamed the stain to set it in the grain. I then polished it with Tripoli and White Diamond to give more visibility to the grain. It has been polished and waxed. The stain really highlights the grain on this old beauty.

The stem I chose, while it fits, is still not quite right for the pipe. I am keeping an eye out for a new one that is more proportionally correct. This one is a bit short for the size of the bowl and kind of changes the beauty of the pipe. I know what I am looking for and when I find it I will restem it and it will be as good as new.

Today (September 9, 2012), I found the stem I was looking for, though it was not an orifice button the slot and the shape tell me it is an old stock stem. I used my Dremel to rework the taper on the military bit end so that it would fit the shank correctly. I sanded the stem with Fine grit emery cloth to remove the oxidation on the stem. I also sanded out the scratch marks left by the Dremel. I proceeded to sand with 240 grit sandpaper, 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper and water to further remove the scratches. I then used micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12,000 to finish the sanding. When I had finished with that I took it to the buffer and buffed it with White Diamond to deepen the shine. I then wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil and finally inserted it in the pipe and waxed the pipe and stem with several coats of carnauba wax. I really like this stem better.