by Steve Laug

My brother sent me this pipe that was stamped on the left side of the shank The Tinder Box [over] Coventry and on the right side it read by Sasieni and left of that was the rugby ball shaped COM stamping Made In England and to the right it is stamped with the shape number M55. It was stamped with a white -S- on the left side of saddle stem. The finish was dirty with grime ground into the surface. There was some great grain showing through the grime on the sides of the bowl and shank. The bowl had a thick cake with an overflow of lava on the rim top and the bevelled inner edge. The heel of the bowl and shank were flattened and the pipe worked well as a sitter. The military bit stem was oxidized and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show the condition of the pipe when we picked it up from the shop. Jeff took photos of the bowl, rim top and the stem to show the condition of the pipe when we received it. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top and inner edge. He also captured the condition of the stem showing the tooth chatter and oxidation. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the grain in the briar. It is a beautiful bowl. It is nice looking Military Bit Billiard and is eye catching. Have a look. The next photos Jeff took show the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above.I have worked on Sasieni Coventry pipes in the past but never on one that was stamped on the left, The Tinder Box Coventry and on the other side By Sasieni and Made in England before. It was a new one to me. So I did a little searching.

On one of the online forums I found a clue that the Sasieni had worked with The Tinder Bbox. There was a link mentioned in the 1979 Tinderbox catalogue that had the following quotation regarding the line called the Ivory. “Made to our specifications by Albert Sasieni of London. The Sasieni Ivory is a Tinder Box exclusive.” The mention of the name Albert Sasieni I believe is an error as the company was run by Alfred Sasieni.

I knew from the link that Sasieni and the Tinder Box were linked in 1979, the end of the family era. The collaboration between Tinderbox and Sasieni was established in that catalogue. It referred to the Ivory made by Sasieni was like the Unique made by Charatan’s. Both were special orders by Tinder Box from those pipe companies. I have included a copy of the page in the 1979 catalogue.I also found a Sasieni Shape Chart online and copied the page that had the 55 shape listed. The 55 is called a Buckingham. I knew that I was working on a Sasieni/The Tinder Box collaboration pipe that was probably made in the 1970s. The name Coventry by Sasieni and The Tinder Box stamp clearly link the two companies.

My brother did a great job of cleaning up the pipe. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed it under running water. He was able to remove the wax and oils on the surface of the bowl and leave the briar pretty bare. The rim top and bevelled inner edge looked very good. He cleaned out the mortise and airway in the shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs, shank brushes and alcohol. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the stem. He rinsed it with warm water to remove the deoxidizer from the stem. I took the next photos of the pipe before I started working on it. I took close up photos of the rim and the stem to show the beauty of the rim top post clean up. The bevelled inner edge was also in excellent condition. The stem closeup photos of surface show that it is in good condition and had light oxidation.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank and the -S- logo on the left side of the saddle stem. I took the stem off the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the beauty of the pipe. I turned to work on the pipe itself. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – I dry sanded the briar with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the debris. It really took on a rich shine. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my finger tips to get into the wood. The product is incredible and the way it brings the grain to the fore is unique. It works to clean, protect and invigorate the wood. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. It began to take on a rich shine.I touched up the -S- stamp on the left side of the saddle stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick. Once it dried I removed the excess with a 1000 grit sanding pad. It looked good – a little faint at the top of the stamp but still very clean and readable.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it 1500-12000 pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian after each pad to remove the dust and polishing debris. I polished it with Before After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil. The Tinder Box Coventry by Sasieni M55 Billiard with a vulcanite military saddle stem turned out very nice. The mix of brown stains highlights the grain around the bowl sides and bottom. The rim top and bevelled edges look very good. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition. I put the stem back on the shank and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished The Tinder Box Coventry by Sasieni M55 is very nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. It is a nice pipe whose dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 45 grams/1.59 ounces. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store, in the British Pipe Makers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know by message or by email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for your time.

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