Tag Archives: Savinelli Pipes

Next on the Table – a Savinelli Deco 622KS Bent Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is a Savinelli line pipe that was a new one to me. It is stamped on the left side of the shank Savinelli in an arch over DECO. On the right side it is stamped with the Savinelli “S” Shield and the shape number 622KS over Italy. The stem has the Savinelli Shield on stamped on the topside and 6mm stamped on the underside. The pipe was dirty and there was a thick cake in the bowl. There is some lava on the inward bevel and some darkening as well. There is also some lava on the rim top. The finish is in excellent condition other than being dirty. The stem is acrylic and there are tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button with light damage on the button surface itself. The stem is free of the 6mm filter and looks like one has not been used in the stem. The internals of the pipe are very dirty. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work on it.  The photos of the rim top and bowl show the thick cake, tobacco debris and thick lava overflow on the rim top. The pipe was a mess. You can also see some chipped areas on the outer edge of the bowl and nicks in the sides of the bowl. He captured the grain around sides of the bowl in the next photos. You can also see the nicks and chips out of the briar but it is still quite pretty beneath the wear and tear and grime! He took photos of the stamping on the shank sides. They are clear and readable and read as noted above. The acrylic stem was in good condition other than the tooth marks on the surface of both sides ahead of the button and some wear on the button as well.Jeff out did himself on the cleanup of this pipe and when I received it I was not disappointed as it showed what I saw on the briar in the photos above. The grain was quite nice and the colour was very good. Jeff had reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the debris left behind with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush and rinsed it off with running water. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the debris on the stem. The pipe looked quite amazing. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration. I took a close up photo of the rim top to show the damaged areas and how clean it was. You can see damage on the right front inner edge and back left edge of the rim. There appeared to be some burn damage and darkening. The stem looked good other than the tooth marks and the light chatter on the surface ahead of the button.I took the stem off the shank and took a photo of the parts. It is a great looking pipe.I decided to start on the inner rim edges and the rim top. I sanded the beveled edge with a piece of folded 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damaged edges and removing the darkening. I stained the edge with a Maple Stain Pen. The rim top also looks much better and will improve with polishing.I polished the bowl and rim with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove the dust left behind from sanding. I buffed bowl on the wheel with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and bring the grain out. I rubbed it down with Before & After Refurbishing Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and let it sit for 20 minutes. The Balm works to preserve, protect and enliven the briar. The pipe is starting to look very good at this point. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter remaining on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and followed that by starting the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I continued polishing the stem with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red gritty paste that feels a lot like Tripoli. I find that it works well to polish out some of the more surface scratches in the vulcanite left behind by the 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I rub it into the stem surface with my fingertips and buff it off with a cotton pad.I used Antique Gold Rub’n Buff to touch up the stamping on the stem. I applied a spot of the product on the surface and worked it into the stamping with a tooth pick. I rubbed it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The finished look was very good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with a cloth containing some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. This Savinelli Deco 622KS Bent Pot is a nice looking pipe. I put the bowl and stem back together again and buffed the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I polished the metal band with a jeweler’s cloth. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax. I carefully buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I finished buffing with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe looks very good. The grain is quite beautiful a mix of cross grain and birdseye grain around the bowl sides and the rim top and heel. The pipe feels great in the hand. It has an interesting shape that fits well in either the right or left hand. The finished Bent Pot is shown in the photos below.  The 6mm filter stem is in great condition. What i like about the 6mm filter pipe is that it can be smoked without a filter and still has a great draw. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 5/8 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. This great looking Savinelli pipe turned out very well. It should be a great pipe. It will be going on the rebornpipes store shortly if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

A Gift for My Good Friend in India – An Italian Savinelli Punto Oro 413KS Woodstock

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Blog by Dal Stanton

As I begin this restoration, my mind is replaying the plethora of experiences that were shaped and riveted into my memory of my visit last year to India.  Not many ‘good’ experiences in life can be described as ‘life changing’.  These kinds of changes are usually reserved for the difficult times – like now, as the world is navigating a pandemic that creates confusion and uncertainty about life and the future.  Yet, Paresh’s invitation to me, along with the rebornpipes’ trust, Steve and Jeff Laug, to visit his home and family was an experience that was life changing for me.  It wasn’t just the sights and sounds of a different cultural context or the different foods the pallet experienced tasting Indian cuisine.  What was so profoundly and wonderfully life changing was the depth of loving hospitality Paresh and his wife, Abha, provided to us during the visit.  Meeting and enjoying his family, along with their two daughters, Mudra and Pavni, was truly an experience that will walk with me in the life I continue to enjoy by God’s grace.  Of course, I cannot fail to mention the ‘reason’ for our travels where West met East!  Paresh asked that we collaborate in the restoration of one of his heirloom pipes, an unbelievably fun and enriching experience that produced this story, perhaps my favorite:  West Meets East in India to Restore a Grandson’s Treasure – an 1846 BBB!  How does an Italian Savinelli Punto Oro heading to India enter this story?  It has to do with an Italian American L. J. Peretti pipe that I noticed in India – basking nonchalantly among the historic pipes of Paresh’s unbelievable heirloom collection he received from his grandfather.  The Peretti that got my attention was not from his grandfather’s collection, but a pipe that Paresh had acquired himself.  Since doing my first restoration of a L. J. Peretti, I have become somewhat of a collector of these blue collar ‘shop pipes’ from the second oldest tobacconist shop located in downtown Boston.  I had never seen a Peretti Cutty shape before and hence, the Savinelli Punto Oro makes his debut on the stage.One of the great things about ‘Pipedom’s’ smaller subset, pipe restorers, is that it is special and an honor to have pipes in your personal collection that have come from other restorers who you’ve learned from and appreciated.  I have pipes in my rotation from Steve, who introduced me to the world of pipe restoration and is a good friend who has visited me here in Sofia and I’ve had the privilege of visiting his home terrain, Vancouver.  When I enjoy fellowship with one of his pipes with my favorite blend stoked in the bowl, the relationship is always the focus of the reflection during those paused moments.  I managed to secure one very special pipe for my collection from Charles Lemon of Dad’sPipes, who I’ve also learned much from in his restorations and appreciated that his health has allowed him to come back from hiatus.

When Paresh became aware of my attraction to his L. J. Peretti Cutty, the accord we ratified between us was to do a reciprocal gifting from our personal collections.  Paresh gifted me his Peretti Cutty which I brought home to Bulgaria from India.  After getting back to Bulgaria, I chose a pipe from my personal collection for him.  The special pipe I chose for Paresh was a Savinelli Punto Oro that was in my personal restoration queue – for a LONG time.  The problem of restoring pipes primarily for others is that sometimes it’s difficult to work on your own trove of treasures!  When I saw the Punto Oro on German eBay located in Bühl, I was drawn by the elegant lines of this Savinelli offering. The shape is unique with the Dublin-esque bowl, but not quite.  In my initially assessment of the pipe, I was calling it an oval shank, slightly Bent Billiard – but not quite. The shank was not actually a true oval but a compressed oval – an American football or rugby ball shape.  The unique shape created a lined definition running down the sides of the shank transitioning into and through the stem – flow and balance!  With so much attention on focused the shape, the fact of the striking fire grain showcased throughout the pipe – was reminiscent for me of a tiger’s fur, flowing even through the shank composition.  This only added frosting on this Savinelli Punto Oro cake!  Very nice! Unfortunately, it has taken me a few years to get to this beautiful pipe, but it was waiting.  It was patiently waiting in the ‘Help Me!’ basket and when it came to mind as a comparable reciprocal gift for Paresh, his debut on the worktable became a reality.  Here are more pictures of a very nice Savinelli Punto Oro yet having some daunting issues. The nomenclature is on the upper shank and it reads, SAVINELLI [over] PUNTO ORO, (Gold Point).  ‘Gold Point’ may also be referencing the single gold point brass dot embedded on the upper stem panel.The lower panel section is stamped with the encased ‘S’ in Savinelli’s well known and recognized symbol.  The Savinelli symbol is to the left of the shape number, 413KS [over] the COM, ITALY.  The shape is found in the Savinelli shapes chart found in the Pipedia article on Savinelli,  but the chart offers no names for the shapes, only numbers.  This 413 is designated as a ‘King Size’ by the KS.   Whatever the shape is, I like it!Not satisfied with my lack of definition on what to call this shape, I sent a note off to Steve asking for his opinion – Calabash, Dublin, fancy Billiard?  Steve’s response settled the question directing me to Savinelli’s website – my first thought, why didn’t I think of that?  In the Savinelli line up of shapes or models, the 413KS is described as a Woodstock (pictured below).  Nice!  Bill Burney’s description of the Woodstock in his Pipedia shapes discussion is helpful and includes all the variations I was contemplating!

Zulu/Woodstock – The Zulu shape combines the canted bowl of the Dublin with an 1/8 bent stem.  The shape is sometimes referred to as a Woodstock, Yacht or Yachtsman.  The gentle bend makes the pipe more comfortable to hold in the teeth than a straight pipe.  This popular style is made by most pipemakers and is widely available on the estate market.My first restoration with the Italian name of Savinelli stamped on the pipe was a Tortuga, which was a very sharp looking pipe.  During that initial exposure to the name Savinelli, I learned that before and after WW II, when Italian pipe production was known more for volume than for quality, and not considered by many in the same league with other European pipe makers, Achille Savinelli Jr.’s ambition took shape to make Savinelli one of the premier names in pipe making today.  This clip from the Pipedia Savinelli article summarizes this well:

Savinelli Pipes began production in 1948 and, although the pipes were of a superior quality and unique in their aesthetic, the brand wasn’t an immediate success. Few new brands are. It takes time for the public to catch on. Retailers were skeptical of placing Italian pipes alongside their best sellers from England or France, and customers, in turn, were hesitant to purchase a Savinelli over pipes by already established, foreign brands. Achille Jr. stood by his product, however; he knew it was only a matter of time before the world realized that these pipes were of a far superior quality, capable of competing with even the most well-established pipe manufacturers in the world. As it turns out, he was right. In less than a year, Savinelli pipes gained prestige in markets all across the world—heralded for their delicate balance of innovation and tradition, of form and function. Savinelli pipes were placed alongside the likes of Dunhill and Comoy’s in tobacconists from the United States to Europe, and, in time, this exposure modified Italy’s reputation; it was not only the premier exporter of briar, but now a premium source of fine briar pipes.

The Punto Oro line is considered a top shelf Savinelli offering.  When I first acquired this pipe, wishing to know more especially about the Punto Oro line, I emailed rebornpipes contributor, Al Jones, for his input.  His response was helpful.

Dal:

I’m sorry to say that I have very little expertise in the Savinelli world, save the Guibileo d’Oro or Autograph lines (and only cursory in those).

Here’s an interesting thread about that line on the Pipesmagazine.com forums (I’m a moderator there) http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/opinions-sought-savinelli-punto-oro.  Older ones, like yours appears to be, were a pretty high grade, from what I can gather. 

If your stem is vulcanite and non-filter, it should have been made before 1981 (looks that way to me).   In ’81, they switched to filter pipes.

I’ll look forward to your restoration!

Al

The thread from PipesMagazine.com Forum was helpful.  The general impression from the thread was that the older Punto Oro pipes were on the upper shelves of Savinelli offerings, just under the Guibileo D’Oro and older Autographs.  The Punto Oro catalog ad on Pipedia describes the quality of this Savinelli line and the processes involved in the producing the quality finish.  I found interesting that the ad describes the two finishes available with the Punto Oro line – “Rich Mahogany and genuine Sandblast”.  With the smooth surfaces, the hue is mahogany – the pipe on my table fits this described hue with flare!

I like this pipe – a Woodstock (!) a lot and I think it will be a good addition Paresh’s collection although a lesser, humbler cousin in that collection to be sure!  Looking at the state of the Punto Oro’s condition, the briar landscape is beautiful – no issues that I can see.  The chamber has very light cake – the appropriate dime-width that is recommended.  I’ll remove it for the briar to have a fresh start and to inspect the chamber condition.  The rim reveals the lighting practices of the former steward – over the aft rim surface where it’s darkened and caked with crusted lava flow.  The picture below looks at the chamber and rim.The major issues with the restoration of this Punto Oro are with the stem.  The upper bit has tooth compressions on the bit and button.The lower bit is where all the fun is hiding!  The lower button has broken off and the break migrates down the stem – it will be no small button rebuild to address this moon crater!  There is also tooth chatter evident on the lower bit.  To restore the usefulness of this original Savinelli ‘Gold Point’ stem, which to me is critical, requires a button rebuild.  Rebuilds are never as strong as the original stem, of course, but I’m hopeful of building in some strength as I do this rebuild. I begin the restoration of this gift for Paresh by cleaning the Savinelli stem airway with a pipe cleaner wetted in isopropyl 95%.  It takes one cleaner to do the job.The oxidation on the stem is deep.  I use grade 000 steel wool with CIT, a product like SoftScrub, to work on the oxidation before putting it into the soak of Before & After Deoxidizer.  I like this product but when the oxidation is deep I’ve found that the soak alone is not sufficient to remove the oxidation.  The steel wool gives a head start for the Deoxidizer to break up the oxidation.The stem is then added to the soak of Before & After Deoxidizer along with several other pipes in the queue and their stems.  I let the stem soak for a few hours.When I fish out the stem after a few hours, I let the Deoxidizer fluid drain off the stem and I also squeegee the stem with my fingers.  Using a pipe cleaner wetted with isoproypl 95%, the airway is cleaned of the Deoxidizer.  I also wipe off raised oxidation from the stem with a cotton pad wetted with alcohol.  To help to rejuvenate the vulcanite stem, I also apply paraffin oil and set the stem aside to soak in the oil.Turning now to the stummel, I use the Pipnet Reaming Kit to begin the removal of carbon cake from the chamber.  After taking a picture showing the starting point, I use 3 of the 4 blade heads available in the kit. The chamber narrows at the bottom, consistent with a conical shape of the Woodstock crafted stummel.  I use the Kleen Reem Tool that more easily reaches to the floor of the tapered chamber.  The Savinelli Fitsall tool continues the scraping and finally the chamber is sanded with 240 grade paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen.  After wiping the chamber with a cotton pad wetted with alcohol to clear the carbon dust, an inspection reveals heat veins in the chamber briar.  These are fissures that form from overheating the stummel.  The veins are not substantial enough to repair, but I will complete the restoration by applying a coating of yogurt and activated charcoal mixture to the chamber that will protect the chamber wall and encourage the formation of a protective cake. Switching now to the external briar surface, undiluted Murphy’s Oil soap is used with a cotton pad to scrub the stummel.  The thick, crusted area on the aft of the rim is stubborn.  With the solvent working, I also carefully scrape with my thumb nail, with the edge of my Winchester pocketknife, and with a brass wired brush.  After working on the scrubbing of the external briar surface, I then transfer the stummel to the kitchen sink and using warm water, I scrub the internal mortise and airway with shank brushes and anti-oil liquid dish soap.  After a thorough rinsing, I take a picture back on the worktable.  The stummel cleaned nicely, but the darkened area remains on the stummel’s rim.  I’ll continue to work on that with minor sanding later.I turn now to focus on the internal cleaning.  With only one cotton bud and one pipe cleaner wetted with isopropyl 95%, the fact of the internal cleaned condition is established.  Nice!With the stummel cleaning completed, I turn now to the stem.  The daunting aspect of the restoration is the button rebuild.  Before starting on this, I first focus on the tooth chatter and compressions on upper and lower bit.  I go in this order because the approach in rebuilding the button introduces the CA glue and activated charcoal patch which has a different composition from the vulcanite stem. Since I’m beginning with the heating method to erase as much as possible the chatter and compressions, this involves the heating and expanding of the vulcanite.  This is better done before the patch is applied in the button rebuild.  Using a Bic lighter, I paint the upper and lower bit to heat the vulcanite and through heating the rubber compound expands to reclaim its original disposition – or closer to it.  After going through the painting procedure and comparing the before and after pictures, the heating method did not help a great deal with the composition of this vulcanite stem. It helped some, but not a great deal it seems to me.With pictures showing the starting point for the upper and lower bit, it’s interesting to me to see where the tooth chatter is on the lower bit.  It extends about a quarter of the way down the stem!  I think what this indicates is that a frustrated steward, after he crunched the button, refused to put one of his favorite pipes aside!  Just like in American baseball, he ‘choked up’ on the stem, to keep using his pipe even though the button had endured catastrophic failure.  Now I turn my attention to the button rebuilding procedure.  First, I fashion a cone that inserts into the airway having a pipe cleaner running through the cone into the airway.  The cone is covered with scotch tape and then petroleum jelly is put on the tape.  This helps the cone not to get stuck after the patch material is applied. The patch material is a mixture of activated charcoal that is in capsule form and CA glue.After placing the charcoal in a small pile from the capsule, the glue is placed in a small puddle next to it.  The toothpick is used to mix the charcoal and glue by gradually pulling charcoal into the CA glue while mixing.  As the charcoal is mixed in, the patch material thickens.  After it reaches the consistency like molasses, I apply the charcoal putty to the button using the toothpick as a trowel. I intentionally use a mixture that is a bit thinner at the beginning so that is will seep down around the cone filling in the open spaces.  This is important to create as much strength as possible in the rebuild.  I apply more than is needed to build a mound that will later be filed and sanded to shape the new button. After enough patch material has been applied, I put the stem aside overnight allowing the button build to cure.  The lights go out!Well, the next morning held some surprises!  When I examine the button rebuild, looking forward to starting the process of filing and shaping, I discover that the new CA glue that I used did not cure to a solid state!  The patch was reminiscent of a bite guard – pliable rubber.  With some tugging and peeling, the repair came off in two pieces….  Interestingly, nowhere that I can find on the labeling that this glue does not harden, unless the “Extra Durable and Versatile” on the front label implies this?The good news is that the cone was removed without trouble and is ready to go again for button rebuild patch attempt number two!  I’ll spare the reader of all the pictures to record this second process but will jump forward.  What I did do differently after examining the large area of the patch, was to better engineer and strengthen the resulting rebuild.  I carefully applied rounded and flat needle files to the edge of the break.  I filed to taper downwardly the edge toward the break. My thinking is that this small innovation perhaps will strengthen the patch by providing more of a shelf or footing upon which the patch material can rest.  It seems that this engineering would inherently provide better buttressing than a straight vertical edge drop.  I’m thinking also that this will help in the sanding and blending of the patch. The sketching below illustrates my thinking.  I also file and clean out the entire button cavity and clean it with a cotton pad wetted with isopropyl 95% in preparation for the new patch.  Before starting on the button patch, I decide to do a quick fill of the upper bit and button lip where there were compressions.  I use medium-thick black CA glue to do the filling.  To quicken the curing and to hold the patch in place I use an accelerator.The next pictures show the second finished button rebuild patch with the engineering changes beginning the curing process.After the second button rebuild patch is cured, using the flat needle file, the patch on the upper bit and button lip are filed down flush with the vulcanite stem surface.Switching to the underside, filing and shaping begin on the button rebuild.  I start with the slot facing to flatten it by removing the excess patch material.  Then, cutting the line shaping the button lip is next.Filing continues with the main bit patch and button shaping.  I’m careful to allow a rounded patch and not filing straight across horizontally.  This would weaken the patch – thinking of the difference between an arched bridge’s symmetry rather than that of a flat bridge’s.  Maintaining the patch thickness is critical to its strength.With the filing phase completed I transition to using 240 grade paper starting first on the upper bit and button lip fills.The 240 grade sanding fine tunes the button rebuild further. I’m careful not to sand too much on the patch and continue to round it to maintain thickness.  A slightly thicker lower button lip purchases some strength as well. I focus on sanding the seams of the patch so that they are flush with the vulcanite surface.  The patch is still rough but making progress!I use the flat needle file to shape and smooth the slot as well.  It’s almost a given that air pockets will emerge as the sanding continues to shape the button.A careful examination of this cross-section view of the slot facing shows the added buttressing effect of the earlier tapered filing.  Arrows help to show this.With the 240 grade sanding paper still in play, I sand the entire stem to remove any residual oxidation.  Deep oxidation always seems to appear during the fine sanding and polishing phases.  Sanding the stem with 240 now will hopefully address this as well as the remnants of tooth chatter remaining on the bit.  I use a plastic disk that I fabricated to be able to sand the stem facing without shouldering the edges.Next, I sand the entire stem by wet sanding with 600 grade paper and following this, 000 grade steel wool is applied.The upper bit and button repairs are looking great – the sanding is erasing the contours of the patch and blending nicely.Work on the lower stem side is a bit more of a challenge with the huge button rebuild patch material.  The stem is looking great, but the challenge is to blend the large patch area.Air pockets are the most common side effects of patching.  Air bubbles are trapped in the CA glue and activated charcoal as it is mixed and these air bubbles become visible as sanding dissects and reveal the pockets.The many microscopic air pockets are not easy to remove.  I use a clear acrylic nail polish to try to fill and erase the pockets.  CA glue can be used to do the same. I use the brush provided by the nail polish and I paint over the pockets almost covering the entire patch.  I let it dry and repeat the process for a second coating.After the acrylic polish cures, I apply 000 steel wool to the patch and the picture below shows the results.  The nail polish does an amazing job but there remain some pockets.  These are very small and I’m doubtful that more coating will erase them.  I’m satisfied now with leaving them and moving on!  They remain as a testament to the catastrophic button failure and this noble attempt to recommission this beautiful Savinelli Punto Oro Woodstock!  Moving on!I move on to applying the full regimen of micromesh pads to the Woodstock stem.  I begin with wet sanding using pads 1500 to 2400 and follow by dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000.  Between each set of 3 pads, Obsidian Oil is applied to condition the stem and to protect it from oxidizing.  The stem is looking great. With the stem sanding completed, looking now to the stummel, I focus first in cleaning up the rim.  There remains darkened briar from the lava flow earlier cleaned on the aft quadrant of the rim.  The inner rim edge is also darkened at places with the normal nicks from wear and tear.  The outer edge of the rim is also with some normal nicks and dents – all very small. To clean the rim, I first start by using 240 sanding paper and doing a very light inner and outer rim bevel – just enough to clean the edge of the rim.  After this, I also use the 240 paper to lightly ‘feather sand’ the aft part of the rim to clean the darkened surface.  I run the sandpaper lightly around the full rim plane surface to clean the briar, not to remove it.I follow the same procedure with the rim edges and the rim plane with 600 grade sanding paper.  The rim is shaping up very nicely.Next, I use micromesh pads to do fine sanding on the Savinelli Gold Point stummel.  I begin by wet sanding with pads 1500 to 2400 and then dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 120000.  The fine sanding brings out the grain and restores the mahogany finish for which the Punto Oro line is known.  Very nice indeed! To deepen the natural hues of the briar, Mark Hoover’s Before & After Restoration Balm (www.ibepen.com) does a great job.  I put some of the Balm on my finger and work it into the briar surface.  The Balm begins with a cream consistency and then thickens into a waxy consistency as it is worked into the stummel.  After working the Balm thoroughly into the surface, I put the stummel aside for about 20 to 30 minutes as the Balm is absorbed into the briar.  The picture below was during this period.  Afterwards, I wipe off the Balm with a cloth dedicated to this, and then the stummel is buffed up using a microfiber cloth.  The stem also is a beneficiary of Before & After Fine Polish and Extra Fine Polish.  The polish helps further to condition the vulcanite and to rid the stem of oxidation.  Starting with the B&A Fine Polish, I work the black oily liquid into the stem – the liquid has a gritty texture.  Afterwards, I let the stem absorb the polish for 15 minutes and then wipe the excess off with a paper towel.  I follow by applying the Extra Fine Polish in the same manner.  Again after 15 or so minutes, the excess is wiped off and the stem is buffed with a microfiber cloth.Now, the homestretch.  After reuniting stem and stummel and mounting a cloth buffing wheel to the Dremel setting it at about 40% full power, Blue Diamond compound, a fine abrasive, is applied to the pipe.  After this, the pipe is wiped down with a felt cloth to clean it of compound dust before application of the wax.  Next, after mounting another cotton cloth buffing wheel onto the Dremel at the same speed, carnauba wax is applied to the pipe.  Following the wax application, the pipe is given a vigorous hand buffing to further raise the shine.

After the buffing, one project came to mind that I had almost forgotten.  Earlier, after inspecting the chamber and finding some heating veins, I had decided to apply a coating of natural yogurt and activated charcoal powder mixture to the chamber wall.  This mixture, after applied to the chamber, hardens into a protective layer to help protect the briar as well as encourage the formation of a protective cake.  I mix some charcoal powder with a small amount of natural yogurt.After the yogurt and charcoal are mixed and is somewhat thickened – not running but with the consistency of mud, and after inserting a pipe cleaner to keep the draft hole cleared, I use the pipe nail and spread the ‘mud’ over the chamber wall.  After it is covered, since it is late, I put the pipe aside to allow the mud to dry through the night and the lights go out!The next morning, after applying the pipe mud mixture to the chamber, I give the pipe one more rigorous hand buffing to raise the shine and my gift to Paresh is complete.

The button rebuild was, without doubt, the most technically demanding part of the restoration of this striking Savinelli Punto Oro Woodstock.  The grain is beautiful, and I am especially drawn to the Woodstock shape with the lines guiding the eyes down the sides of the pipe, taking in the movement of grain and shape.  I’m thankful for my L. J. Peretti Cutty that I received from Paresh when I was in India.  I have yet to put the Cutty into service here in Bulgaria – it has been waiting for my gift to Paresh to make it to India.  It still needs to be refreshed and a little polishing work, and my plan and hope is that Paresh and I will share our first bowls together with our gifted pipes to each other, perhaps not in person, but via video conferencing, today’s miracle bringing people together throughout our ever shrinking world.  After the pandemic issues are behind us, I’ll be mailing the Savinelli Punto Oro Woodstock to India.  Thank you for the Peretti Cutty, my friend!

Cleaning up a Unique Savinelli Made Antique Shell 623 Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

In the next box of pipes Jeff sent me there was an interesting Bulldog with a blue acrylic stem that I wanted to restore. It is stamped on the left underside of the diamond shank Antique Shell and the shape number 623 over Italy. The shape number is definitely a Savinelli shape number so I am safe to assume that this is a Savinelli Product. I have not seen one with a blue acrylic stem before so I was looking forward to the restoration. It was a dirty pipe when we received it. There was a coat of lava and dust in the rusticated finish of the rim top. The inner edge and outer edges of the rim looked very good. There was a thick cake in the bowl that had remnants of tobacco stuck in it. The finish was dirty and there dust and debris in the rusticated finish around the bowl. There also appeared to be what looked like either a crack or a fissure in the right side of the bowl toward the bottom. The blue acrylic stem looked good but there were tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. There was tooth chatter on both sides of the stem. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their general condition. You can see the tars and debris in the rustication of the rim top. The cake in the bowl is quite thick and there is tobacco debris on the walls of the bowl. The finish on the bowl is dirty but looks good. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give an idea of the finish on this particular piece of briar. It is different and tactile looking. I cannot wait to see what it looks like once it is polished and waxed.Jeff took a photo of the heel of the bowl. On the right side of the photo (also right side of the bowl) there is an area that looks like a crevice or possibly a crack in the bowl. I have circled it in red for easy identification. I will need to check that out once I am working on the pipe.He took a photo of the stamping on left underside of the diamond shank. There was a smooth panel with the stamping on it. It reads as it is stated above.This pipe has a very unique clear blue acrylic stem that goes really well with the contrasting browns of the bowl and shank. It is in very good condition with light tooth marks and chatter near the button.  I have worked on Savinelli Antique Shell pipes in the past but this was the first one with the blue acrylic stem. There are no stampings on the stem so it may be a replacement but it fits the shank very well. I moved forward to work on the pipe itself and see what I had to do with it. It had come back looking amazingly clean. The bowl looked very good and the crevice on the bottom of bowl, though still visible was even more obviously a crevice rather than a crack. I would need to probe it more once I started to clean up the pipe. The stem looked like new, with most of the tooth chatter gone. I was impressed. Jeff had done his normal thorough clean up – reaming, scrubbing, soaking and the result was evident in the pipe when I unpacked it. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took some photos of the rim top and stem. The rim top and bowl looked very good. The cake and lava overflow were gone and the rim was very clean. Jeff had been able to get rid of the lava and tars. The close up photos of the stem shows that it is a much cleaner and better looking stem. The light tooth chatter was greatly reduced and the stem looked really good.I took a photo of the stamping on the left underside of the shank to show the condition after the cleanup. Often the stamping takes a hit with the cleaning and is lessened in it clarity. Jeff does a great job in leaving the stamping looking very good.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe at this point. It really is quite a stunning pipe with the clear blue acrylic stem.I started my restoration work on this pipe by addressing the crevice or potential crack on the lover right side of the bowl. I probed it with a dental pick to see how deep it went and if it was a crack or just a natural flaw in the surface of the briar. It did not appear to go very deep into the briar but my examination with the probe using a lens were inconclusive. I used a light and lens to check out the inside of the bowl and it was flawless – whew! I was glad to see that. It added credence to my thinking that it was a crevice. However, I decided to address it as a cosmetic crack and do the repair accordingly.I used a microdrill bit on my Dremel to drill a small pilot hole at what I ascertained were the ends of the crevice/crack. These are tiny holes shown in the next two photos. I have circled them in red below. The first photo has two and the second has one hole.I filled in the holes and the crevice on the heel and side of the bowl with clear super glue. I pressed briar dust into the holes and the crevice with a dental spatula. I cleaned off the debris with a brass bristle wire brush. It removes the loose debris but leaves the repairs in the crevice and holes intact.I was happy with the coverage of the repair but as is often the case a super glue and briar dust repair leaves smooth shiny spots on the finish. I dislike these shiny tells! I used a small round burr on the Dremel to create the same kind of rustication that was on the rest of the bowl. Once it was stained I was pretty sure it would look great.I used a Walnut stain pen to restain the newly rusticated surface of the repair. I like the way it looks and it will look even better as the bowl is polished and waxed.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm 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. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. The repair looks really good. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the blue acrylic stem. I sanded out the remaining tooth chatter with 220 grit sandpaper and started to polish it with a folded piece of 400 wet dry sandpaper. Once it was finished it was smooth.I used some Denicare Mouthpiece Polish that I have in my kit to start polishing out some of the scratches and remaining oxidation on the stem. I rubbed it in with a cotton pad and my finger tip and buffed it off with a cotton pad.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a cloth containing some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. I love the end of a restoration project like this one that needed more than first appeared. It is the moment when all of the parts come together and the pipe looks better than when we started the cleanup process. I put the stem back on the bowl and lightly buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I carefully avoided the stamping on the shank sides during the process. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad on the buffer. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is a really beautiful rusticated bowl with a stunning blue acrylic stem. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This Savinelli Made Antique Shell Bulldog shape 623 is a great looking pipe. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be putting this pipe on the rebornpipes store shortly. If you want to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for your time.

A Striking Savinelli Fiammata 2 Briar Calabash for a Clam Man Pipe Man

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Blog by Dal Stanton

The Lot of 66 is a gift that simply put, keeps on giving.  It was the first time I stuck my neck out to buy a lot of pipes on eBay’s auction block.  I’m thankful that I did – it has produced many treasures that are now in the possession of new stewards from a good cause called the “Caring Place” in Georgetown, Texas.  The description of the Lot of 66 was “Huge Lot Of 66 Smoking Pipes Pre-Owned Pre-Smoked and Deeply Loved” followed by information that this was one person’s collection that had been donated to benefit the Caring Place helping the community in Georgetown.  This Lot of 66 benefiting the community there has also continued to benefit the work of the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited.  Here is the picture I saw and the Savinelli Fiammata Briar Calabash now on my table is circled.Most people commission pipes from my online ‘Help Me!’ baskets in the For “Pipe Dreamers” Only collection where pipes in need of adoption may be commissioned by pipe men and women benefiting the Daughters of Bulgaria.  Jon commissioned two pipes but as a visitor to Bulgaria he was able to peruse the actual boxes and buckets and chose a pipe.  Jon was part of a church team from South Florida exploring the work we do in Bulgaria.  Of course, if guests are in my home, they find out about The Pipe Steward and receive a tour of the work room and the Man Cave on my 10th floor balcony!  Jon brought along his daughter as well, but what was unique to me was that Jon is a farmer – of sorts.  His farm is under water as he grows and commercially sells clams as well as other various sea foods which I absolutely love!  His farm is called Southern Cross Sea Farms.  Next time I’m in South Florida I hope to visit Jon, share a bowl with him and hopefully a few clams!

Not only did Jon commission the Savinelli Fiammata 2, but he also drooled over my collection of Churchwardens and when I would not relent in allowing mine to find a new home in South Florida’s clam country, he commissioned a Churchwarden project along with the Fiammata.  To benefit the Daughters of Bulgaria, I also fashion CWs with re-purposed bowls that most likely, would have never again be put into service – castaways to be used a forgotten.  Again, so many analogies to the work we do here with the Daughters!  Here are pictures of the Briar Calabash that got Jon’s attention. The nomenclature that is stamped on the left flank of the shank is ‘FIAMMATA 2’.  On the right flank is stamped 611KS – the Savinelli shape number [over] ITALY, the COM.  There are no stampings on the stem that I can detect.I’m calling the Fiammata 2 a ‘Briar Calabash’.  The 611KS is a Savinelli shape number and it is depicted in the familiar shapes chart provided on the PipePedia discussion of Savinelli.  In the same article, Fiammata is listed as a second of the well-known Italian name, Savinelli. The interesting factoid related by Pipedia is that this second, ‘Fiammata’ was a special line of pipes that did not make the prized Savinelli line, “Giubileo D’Oro” (“Gold Jubilee”) – a Straight Grain line.  What this means is that a Fiammata marked pipe was of an initial assessed quality that destined it as a ‘Top Shelf’ Savinelli pipe offering, but because it didn’t meet that standard along the way, it was put in the ‘first runner up’ Fiammata line.  So, in no way would this line be considered a sub-quality line, but an upper shelf to be sure.  Fiammata means ‘Flame’ in Italian.  Pictures of the Gold Jubilee offerings in Pipedia’s Savinelli article bare this out. The Fiammata I’m looking at looks strikingly similar.

The Savinelli Pipedia article also included some catalog page examples (courtesy Doug Vliatchka) of this top shelf line, “Giubileo D’Oro” which describe the line of pipes that the Fiammata seems to have fallen short in achieving!.  I find the page clipping below interesting because of the information it provides, but also the similarity of the grains depicted like the Fiammata on my worktable – long straight grain, fire grain.So, the Savinelli Fiammata 2 on my worktable started with great aspirations, and the grain it has is very appealing.  The condition of the Briar Calabash is generally good, but with some issues.  The chamber has a light cake on the walls.  The rim has a dark ring around the inner rim edge which should clean up.  It also has what appears to be a large fill on the rear, left hand side.  The right side of the rim also has some dings. There is a major scratching event on the lower left heel – ugh!  It appears that it was in a bucket of nails or something – the scratching is deep and will need to be sanded out. The stem has minor oxidation but there is tooth chatter on the upper and lower bit in need of sanding out.To begin the restoration of the Savinelli Fiammata 2 Briar Calabash, I first use only a pipe cleaner dipped in isopropyl 95% to clean the airway of the stem.With the airway clean, the Fiammata stem joins several other stems in a soak of Mark Hoover’s product (www.ibepen.com) Before & After Deoxidizer.  This is the only part of the restoration process that I try to mass produce!  The Fiammata is on the far left, next in the queue, and it joins several other pipes that are also in the queue along with their stems in the soak as well.  The stems were just put in the Deoxidizer and are in the process of sinking into the interesting mixture.  I leave the stems in the soak for a few hours.After a few hours, I fish out the Fiammata’s stem and after using my fingers to squeegee the Deoxidizer off, I run some pipe cleaners wetted with isopropyl 95% through the airway to clear out the fluid.  I then use a cotton pad wetted with alcohol to wipe down the stem to remove raised oxidation from the stem.To enhance the rejuvenation of the vulcanite, paraffin oil is applied with a cotton pad and the stem is set aside to soak in the oil.Turning now to the stummel cleanup, I begin by reaming the chamber with the Pipnet Reaming Kit.  With the day a bit warmer during this time of self-quarantine because of the virus concerns, I’m trying to work out on the Man Cave as much as possible.  My ‘Man Cave’, where I’m allowed to smoke my pipes is located on the 10th floor of our apartment blok built during the days when Communism was still up and functioning in Bulgaria.   I take my tools to the Man Cave and go to work.  I’m enjoying a bowl of Black Stoker in a Made in London England Canadian.The cake is not bad, but the long, conical chamber of the Savinelli Fiammata 2 is a challenge.  The shape of the chamber tapers down so that is it narrower at the floor of the chamber. I use all 4 of the blade heads available to me in the Pipnet reaming kit, which speaks to the size of the chamber as it expands upwardly.  I am careful not to bore ridges into the side of the chamber with the different blade heads starting at different points.   I transition after the blades to the Savinelli Fitsall Tool to fine-tune the chamber wall scraping reaching down to the floor and to the more difficult areas of the conical chamber.  To rid the final vestiges of carbon, I then wrap 240 grade paper around a Sharpie Pen and sand the chamber. After wiping the chamber with a wetted cotton pad to clear the carbon dust, I inspect the wall and find a healthy chamber.  I move on! Transitioning to cleaning the external surface, I use cotton pads wetted with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap.  I patiently focus on the blackened ring on the internal edge of the rim.  My thumbnail proves to be helpful as well as a gentle scraping with my Buck pocketknife.  A brass wired brush also helps.  Transferring the pipe to the kitchen sink, I also employ shank brushes with anti-oil liquid dish soap to clean the internal mortise and airway.  After a thorough rinsing, the stummel returns to the worktable.  The cleaning did a fantastic job on the rim.  What I thought to be fills on the rim, held very firmly and have all but disappeared.  To make sure the internals are clean, a few pipe cleaners and cotton buds dipped in isopropyl 95% confirm this!  I move on!The disaster area on the front left side of the heel of the Fiammata Calabash stummel is now my focus. The sharp cuts in the briar are most likely from metal.  It’s sad…First using 240 grade sanding paper I sand the impacted area.  I do not go beyond the damaged area because heavy sanding changes the composition of the surface drastically.  It creates a lightened patch that needs again to be darkened in order to re-blend it with the surrounding briar complexion.  While the 240 paper is in play, I also lightly sand the rim’s internal edge to remove fully the darkening that remains after the cleaning.  There’s a lot of forgiveness in a rounded rim presentation!After the 240 grade paper, I sand with a dry 600 grade paper to the lightened area.  You can see how the sanding process gradually coaxes the briar grain to darken moving toward blending the sanded area.  Not pictured is that I do the same with the rim area that I had sanded with 240 paper.The blending continues by sanding the bowl with sanding sponges.  Before doing this, I cover each of the stampings of the Savinelli nomenclature with masking tape on both sides of the shank.  I try not to contribute to the demise of this pipe’s history and story!I start with a coarse sponge and follow with medium and light grade sponges.  The sanding sponges, unlike the 240 grade paper, are a gentler form of sanding that is less invasive.  Sanding sponges address the minor nicks and cuts that come through the normal life of a pipe in service.  They also help with the darkening and re-blending of the damaged sanded area (second picture).  I like the results and the fire grain of this Fiammata Briar Calabash is starting to get my attention – wow!  This is a quality piece of briar block! Loving the briar grain that is emerging through the sanding processes, I transition next to applying the full regimen of 9 micromesh pads from grades 1500 to 12000.  First, wet sanding is with pads 1500 to 2400 followed by dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000.  I’m loving the show of the grain on this stummel gradually emerging!  The damaged area has been fully reintegrated into the briar environment. The next step is to apply Mark Hoover’s Restoration Balm (www.ibepen.com) which works well to bring out the rich deeper hues of the natural briar grains.  After placing a small amount of the Balm on my finger, I work it into the briar surface.  It begins with a cream-like consistency and then thickens to a waxiness that covers the entire surface.  After a thorough application of the Balm, I set the stummel aside to absorb the Balm for about 20 minutes (pictured below).  After the 20 minutes, I use a dedicated microfiber cloth to wipe the stummel removing the excess balm and to buff the stummel somewhat.  I also use this ‘balm saturated’ cloth to wipe other pipes in my collection for regular Balm maintenance – they enjoy this very much!  I follow with another microfiber cloth to buff further.  My, oh my….The Calabash’s bent stem is waiting for my attention.  It’s the next day and continuing to work on the Man Cave with another beautiful day, I take another close look at the stem.  The Before & After Deoxidizer has done a good job dealing with the oxidation.  The upper and lower bit has tooth chatter, but not severely.  The button is in pretty good shape.  To help to minimize the chatter and one evident scissor bite mark I see on the upper side, I first use the heating method.  Using a Bic lighter, I ‘paint’ the chatter with the flame.  The flame heats the vulcanite and it expands to reclaim its original disposition – or at least closer to it.  This then allows sanding out the remaining marks easier.  Before and after pictures comparing the effects of the heating approach are below – a definite improvement.  First, the upper bit comparison – note the minimization of the vertical scissor bite compression:Next, the lower bit comparison – the chatter disappears:Next, I use the flat needle file to refresh the button and 240 sanding paper to erase what remains of the tooth chatter.Even though the stem showed no signs of oxidation after use of the deoxidizer soak, I expand the sanding to the entire stem with the 240 paper.  I want to make sure no vestiges of oxidation show up in the latter stages of polishing which is when deeper oxidation usually shows up!Next, I wet sand using grade 600 paper and follow by applying 000 grade steel wool.The sanding preparatory work is completed and now the fine tune sanding with the full regimen of micromesh pads follows.  First, I wet sand with pads 1500 to 2400 and follow by dry sanding with pads from 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000.  Between each set of 3 pads, Obsidian Oil is applied to rejuvenate and to protect against future oxidation.  I love the ‘pop’ of newly micromeshed stems! Now, the home stretch.  After rejoining stem and stummel and after mounting a cotton cloth buffing wheel to the Dremel setting it at 40% of full power, the fine abrasive compound, Blue Diamond, is applied to the entire pipe.  Following the compound, after wiping the pipe with a felt cloth to clear the compound dust, another cotton cloth buffing wheel is mounted and at the same speed carnauba wax is applied.  The restoration is completed after giving the pipe a rigorous hand buffing with a microfiber cloth to raise the shine.

If this pipe is a normative example of the “Giubileo D’Oro” (“Gold Jubilee”) reject line, keep the rejects coming!  What can I say?  This is one of those restorations that discovered gold in hiding. The grain presentation on this ample Briar Calabash bowl is reminiscent to me of Preben Holm’s moniker, ‘Follow the grain.’  The straight, fire grain reaches toward the rim and the rim’s rounded shape provides a view of delicate bird’s eye, a 3-D perspective of the tips of the fire grain’s release into the air.  The heel presentation is equally expressive of larger, more chaotic patterns – for me, characteristic of the origins of the fire.  The Briar Calabash shape also contributes to the ensemble with its sweeping curves and lines moving toward the gently bending stem.  Is it obvious that I’m impressed with this line of Savinelli, Fiammata?  Clam man Jon commissioned this pipe and has the first opportunity to adopt him from The Pipe Steward Store benefitting the Daughters of Bulgaria.  Thanks for joining me!

Restoring a Savinelli Autograph 5 Freehand Style Bent Sitter

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Blog by Steve Laug

As you might have figured out from the title I am working on another pipe from Italy. This one is a Savinelli Autograph 5. It reads Savinelli over Autograph on the underside of the bowl on a smooth panel. It is also stamped with the Grade number 5 and Italy. The pipe has a beautiful sandblast on the bowl, rim top and shank. The bowl is canted from front to rear. The rim top was filled in with lava and there was thick cake in the bowl. The outer edge of the bowl had some nicks and scratches particularly at the front. There was Sterling Silver band on the shank that was a previous repair to a crack. The crack had been repaired but there was still cosmetic damage on the underside of the shank. The autograph stamp on the vulcanite stem was worn away and non-existent anymore. The twist to the stem confirms that the stem is original. The pipe was dirty but it showed a lot of promise. Jeff took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. Jeff took close up photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the pipe at this point. The bowl has a light cake and some debris in the bottom of the bowl. The rim top is dirty but undamaged. The stem looks pretty good with the autograph stamp readable. There is tooth chatter and marks on the top and underside just ahead of the button on both sides. He took photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel of the bowl showing the great grain showing through the sandblast finish.   He took a photo of the smooth underside of the bowl/heel. You can see the stamping – Savinelli Autograph 5 over Italy. It is stamped on a smooth portion of the heel while leaving the other portion sandblasted.     He also took photos of the Sterling Silver band on the shank as well as the crack in the underside of the shank. The next photos show the top and underside of the stem. There is a chip out of the top left edge of the button. The overall stem is deeply oxidized and has calcification on both sides at the button. There is also some tooth chatter and some light tooth marks. The final photo shows the curve of the full stem. I wanted to remind myself a bit about the Autograph line from Savinelli so I reread a blog I had written on a previous Autograph restoration (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/01/05/restoring-a-savinelli-autograph-3-rhodesian-dublin-long-shank/). I quote that portion of the blog now:

I turned first to the Pipephil website (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-savinelli1.html) to get a brief overview of the Autograph line. There I found out that the Autographs were hand made and unique. The Autograph Grading system is ascending: 3, 4, … 8, 0, 00, 000.

I turned then to Pipedia to get a more background on the Autograph line. I had the outline I needed from pipephil for the pipe but wanted more (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Savinelli). I quote in part from the article on that site.

While Savinelli’s serially produced pipes account for around 98% of annual production, the marque also creates a number of artisanal, handmade pieces as well. The Autographs, the Creativity line, and the Mr. A. line are all the result of Savinelli’s unique handmade process, with the Autographs reflecting the larger Freehand aesthetic, the Creativity line delving into more complex hand carving, and the Mr. A. line sidestepping the standard shape chart for remarkable and unusual pipes.

All of the briar for Savinelli’s Autographs and other freehand pipes is sourced specifically for those pieces. While the majority of the marque’s serial production is made from extra grade ebauchon blocks, Savinelli keeps a separate supply of Extra Extra plateau blocks for Freehands. This variety of briar is much larger, and of a higher quality, which explains why so many Autographs and Savinelli handmades are naturally larger designs.

These handmade pieces are shaped much like traditional Danish Freehands: they are shaped first and drilled second. Using this method, Savinelli’s team of artisans is able to showcase their own creativity, as it maximizes flexibility and facilitates a more grain-centric approach to shaping. The resulting Freehand designs are at once both a departure from the marque’s classical standard shapes, yet very much still “Savinelli” in their nature—i.e. proportioned so that the bowl is the visual focus when viewed from the profile, juxtaposed by the comparatively trim lines of the shank and stem. To provide a little more insight into the differences between Savinelli’s standard production and freehand lines, Luisa Bozzetti comments:

“When we choose to make Freehand pipes we must stop production on the standard shapes. The process for Freehands is much more involved and takes much more time. Finding the best people from the production line and pulling them to make Freehands is challenging since it’s not an assembly line, but rather a one or two man operation.

After the rough shaping of the stummel, we must get together and brainstorm which style of stem will be paired before the pipe can be finished since we do not use pre-shaped stems. All accents and stems for the Freehands are cut from rod here in the factory. A lot of care goes into the few pieces lucky enough to make the cut; to end up with a certain number of Autographs, for instance, means that many, many more will be made, and only the few will be selected.”

The quality control process for Savinelli handmades is even more rigorous than that employed in the standard lineup. Many blocks are started and later discarded because of pits or defects. While Savinelli’s briar sourcing is a constant process, working with some of Italy’s top cutters to ensure only the finest and most suitable blocks make their way to the factory, it’s impossible to source plateau briar that’s completely free from flaws. That’s just nature. Savinelli creates the standard for quality by working through the rough (a very high-quality rough, mind you) to find that shining diamond with the potential to become a Savinelli handmade.

It looks like the Autograph 5 I am working is pretty high in the hierarchy of the line. Like other autographs I have worked on in the past this one has a unique twist to the vulcanite stem. Jeff once again did an amazing job cleaning the pipe. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and got rid of the cake so that we could see the walls of the bowl and assess for damage. He cleaned the internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to get into the grooves and valleys of the rustication. He rinsed the pipe under warm water. He dried it off with a cloth and then let it air dry. The stem was scrubbed with Soft Scrub and then soaked in Before & After Deoxidizer. It came out looking pretty good with a light coat of oxidation still present. The finish on the bowl and the rim top cleaned up pretty good. I took pictures of the pipe to show how it looked when I unpacked it.     I took a close up photo of the rim top to show how clean it was. There was some damage to the finish on the rim top and some damage to the inner edge of the rim. The stem looked good just the chip on the top edge of the button and some light tooth marks. Overall the pipe looked impressive at this point in comparison to where it had started. The band was firmly glued and pressed in place. The crack was seal and solid when I picked at it with a dental pick. I cleaned it out with alcohol and a cotton swab to remove any debris in the surface area. I filled in the crack with clear super glue to seal it further and minimize the damage to the shank area.Once the repair cured I sanded the filled area with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I work to smooth out the repair and blend it into the surface of the surrounding briar. I was very happy with the way in which the repair blended into the surrounding sandblast.  I decided to address the damage to the inner edge of the rim. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the rim edge and cleanup the slight bevel that was there. I was able to minimize the damaged area. I stained the inner edge with a black stain pen and mixed the stain with a Walnut stain to blend it into the rest of the rim top. I also stained the damage to the outer edge at the same time.   I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my finger tips and a horsehair shoe brush. The product is a great addition to the restoration work. It enlivens, enriches and protects the briar while giving it a deep glow. It is a product I use on every pipe I work on.   I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I rebuilt the chip out of the top left side of the button with clear super glue. I built it up and reshaped the button edge with 220 grit sandpaper and polished it when I did the rest of the stem.I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the sanding marks with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. The photos show the stem at this point.    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 it into the surface of the stem and button and buff it off with a cotton pad. It gives me a bit of a head start on the polishing work. I wet sanded the tooth chatter on both sides of the stem with 1500 -12000 grit micromesh pads to polish it. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil on a cloth after each sanding pad. I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I rubbed it down with Briarville’s No Oxy Oil as a final preservative measure to protect the stem.    I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the smooth part of the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the sandblasted bowl and shank several coats of Conservator’s Wax 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 contrast of the beautiful dark and medium brown stains and the smooth and sandblast finish worked amazingly well with the polished black vulcanite stem. The sandblast was deep and craggy on the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. This is truly a beautiful Freehand pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 1/2 inches, Height: 3 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. I have restored quite a few Autographs over the years and this estate is another rare beauty. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers. 

Cleaning up a Lightly Smoked Savinelli St. Nicholas 2017 320KS

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Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff picked this beautiful 2017 Christmas pipe from an antique dealer in Utah. It is stamped Savinelli St. Nicolas on the heel of the bowl. That is followed by the Savinell ‘S’ Shield logo and the shape number 320KS over Italy. It is an attractive pipe with a multi-hued brown stain that highlights the nooks and crannies of the rustication. It has a white acrylic stem with twin red bands around it at the stem shank union. The pipe was lightly smoked with some debris in the bowl but there was no real cake in the bowl. The rim top had some dust and debris in the crevices of the finish but no tars or lava overflow. The stem had some tars and oils in the airway but it was also clean. There was light tooth chatter on the stem just ahead of the button on both sides.

I did a quick online search to see what information was available on the pipe. I found out on the Pipes & Cigars Website (https://www.pipesandcigars.com/p/savinelli-saint-nicholas-2017-pipes/2005051/) that “Savinelli Saint Nicholas 2017 Pipes are Savinelli’s Holiday release for 2017, and are briars that should put you in the Christmas mood. The pebble rustication finished in deep red mated to a creamy white acrylic stem makes for a cheery appearance. Dual vivid red rings on the stem are truly eye-catching accents.” That certainly described the one that Jeff had found. Jeff took the following photos when he brought the pipe home to clean it.

I found another site selling the pipes that describes the Savinelli Saint Nicholas 2017 Pipes as: Savinelli’s Holiday release for 2017, and are briars that should put you in the Christmas mood. The pebble rustication finished in deep red mated to a creamy white acrylic stem makes for a cheery appearance. Dual vivid red rings on the stem are truly eye-catching accents. The stem will accept Savinelli 6mm balsa filters, and come with an adapter to convert it to an unfiltered pipe. Best of all, they’ve chosen to make this line in some of their most popular shapes, including the fashionable author-shaped 320 and 321. Get yourself ready for some great holiday experiences with Savinelli Saint Nicholas 2017 pipes! He took some close up photos of the bowl and rim to show the condition. You can see the dust in the finish and the debris and light carbon on the bowl walls. The bottom of the bowl was still raw briar so the pipe really had not been broken in.Jeff took photos of the bowl sides to show how good the finish looked on the entire pipe. You can see the rustication style and it is quite stunning. He took a photo of the stamping on the heel of the bowl. The stamping is very clear and reads as noted above. The white acrylic stem also has a golden Savinelli “S” Shield logo on the top of the taper.Jeff took photos of the stem surface at the button. You can see that it looks very good.The pipe came in its original box so Jeff took a photo of the labels on each end of the box. One end identifies it as a St. Nicholas 2017 6MM 320 Pipe. That means that it will fit the 6MM Balsa filters that Savinelli makes. Interestingly the pipe also came with the adapter in place that replaces the filters all together. The other end of the box has a bar code and reads Saint Nicholas 2017 (320KS) 6mm.I did a bit more investigation and found that Savinelli has issued St. Nicholas pipes in a wide variety of shapes from at least 2013 if not earlier. Each year the banding and the stem are different colours but they are an interesting take on colours.Jeff cleaned up the pipe and sent it my way in a recent box. I did not have to do too much work on it as he had done the cleanup before he sent it. He had reamed it with a PipNet Reamer and a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and removed the thin cake/coating on the walls. He scrubbed the interior with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners – working over the mortise and the airways in the shank and stem. He scrubbed down the exterior of the bowl and rim with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed it off. He dried it and buffed it with a soft cotton cloth. When I opened the box he sent I took out the red Savinelli box and opened it. It included a red pipe sock, a booklet, a package of Balsa filters, an instruction sheet on breaking the pipe in, a quality control tag and an Italian flag decal. The pipe was impeccably clean and ready for the next person to smoke. I gave it a light buff and took photos of the finished pipe. It really is a beauty. The finish was described above as a pebble finish and that is as good a description as I can find for it. The colours are a mix of various brown stains. The finish works really well with twin red banded white acrylic stem. It is a beautiful pipe. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5.28 in./134.11 mm, Weight: 2.60 oz./73.71 g, Bowl Height: 1.62 in./41.15 mm,    Chamber Depth: 1.31 in./33.27 mm, Chamber Diameter: 0.91 in./23.11 mm, Outside Diameter: 1.98 in./50.29 mm. This will be going on the rebornpipes store shortly if you are interested in adding this beauty to your rack. Thanks for reading.

 

 

New Life for a Savinelli 320KS stamped Knudsen’s Pipe Dream

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Blog by Steve Laug

Recently I was traveling in Alberta with my brother Jeff and his wife, Sherry. In between work appointments and presentations we took some time to visit local antique shops and malls. We found quite a few pipes. In a small Antique Shop in Nanton we found a few interesting pipes. The fourth of the pipes that I have chosen to work on from that find is a beautifully grained Savinelli Shaped Author. The taper stem has a K.P.D. stamped logo on the left side. The pipe was dirty and caked when we picked it up. The rim top had a little lava and some small scratches in the edges of the bowl. The bowl had a thick cake in it that was hard and dense. The exterior of the bowl and shank are very dirty with grime and oils from prolonged use. It was also dull and lifeless. The stamping on the left side of the shank was readable and read Knudsen’s over Pipe Dream. On the right side of the shank it is stamped 320 KS over Italy. The vulcanite stem was had tooth chatter and tooth marks on the top and the underside near the button. I took photos of the pipe before I started the cleanup. I took close up photos of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe before I started my cleanup work. The rim top had some lava build up on the edge and there were some small nicks on the inner edge. There was a thick cake in the bowl. Other than being so dirty it appeared to be in great condition. The stem was dirty and there was tooth chatter and marks on the top and underside near the button and on the button surface itself. The stem was lightly oxidized.I took a photo to capture the stamping on the left side of the shank. The photo shows the stamping Knudsen’s Pipe Dream. The stamping on the right side says 320KS Italy. The first photo also shows the K.P.D. stamp on the left side of the stem. The shape number tells me this is a Savinelli made pipe and the shape is the 320KS.While we were traveling I decided to do a bit of work on some of the pipes that we had found. This was the fourth one that I worked on. I scraped the inside of the bowl with a sharp knife. I scraped the tars and lava off the top of the rim with the same knife.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with warm water and Dawn Dish Soap to remove the buildup of tars and grime around the bowl and on the rim top. I rinsed it well and wiped the bowl down with a clean paper towel to polish the finish on the bowl. The pictures that follow show the condition of the pipe after it had been scrubbed. When I got it home I would scrub the exterior and the interior some more. I did some digging to see if I could find anything out about the brand stamped on the left side of the shank. I found that there was a Knudsen’s Pipe Dream Pipe Shop in Regina, Saskatchewan. It was originally located at 4621 Rae St, Regina SK S4S 6K6. The company was originally incorporated on 7 February 1974 in Canada and was dissolved as a company on 2 May 2002. I worked on a previous Knudsen’s pipe that had been made by Charatan and was stamped London, England as opposed to having been made by Savinelli and stamped Italy. Here is the link to the previous blog on the English made pipe: https://rebornpipes.com/2016/09/09/charatan-made-knudsens-pipe-dream-oval-shank-banker-brought-back-to-life/

When I returned from my trip I turned my attention to cleaning up the pipes that we had found. I did a deeper and more thorough cleaning of the bowl and shank. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet Reamer using the largest cutting head to take the cake back to bare walls. I followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the remnants of the cake in the bowl. I sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel to smooth out the inside walls of the bowl. I scraped the inside of the mortise with a dental spatula to remove the buildup of tars and oils on the walls. I scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank, the metal mortise and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I cleaned up the scratching and darkening on the rim top with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. I steamed out the deeper scratches with a damp cloth and an iron. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding the bowl walls and rim top with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to wipe of the dust. I scrubbed the bowl down with Mark Hoover’s Before & After Briar Cleaner. I rubbed it into the surface of the briar, and as Mark wrote me it lifted the grime and dirt out of the briar. I rinsed the cleaner off the bowl with warm running water and dried it with a soft cloth. The photos below show the cleaned briar… Look at the grain on that pipe! I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm 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. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I painted the vulcanite stem with lighter to lift the tooth dents in the stem surface. I was able to lift them almost to the surface which allowed me to sand out the remnants of the tooth marks and chatter.I sanded out the remnants of the tooth marks with 220 grit sand paper and started to polish it with a folded piece of 400 wet dry sandpaper. I carefully worked my way around the KPD stamp on the left side of the stem. Once it was finished it began to shine.I polished the stem with some Denicare Mouthpiece Polish. It is a coarse red paste that works to remove oxidation. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and buffed it off with the same cotton pad. It did a good job of further removing the oxidation.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 a damp cloth. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. This is a chubby shanked and nicely grained Savinelli made pipe with a black tapered vulcanite stem. It has a great look and feel. The shape is a handful and feels comfortable and substantial in my hand. 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 grain on the bowl came alive with the buffing. The rich contrasting browns 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 pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over the next of the finds of Jeff and my Alberta pipe hunt. It is a beautiful straight grain Savinelli 320KS that bears the stamping of a now defunct Regina, Saskatchewan based pipe and tobacco shop. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store soon so if you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. 

Refreshing a Savinelli Dry System 362

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Blog by Dal Stanton

I acquired a pair of Savinelli Dry System pipes on the eBay auction block from a seller in Poughkeepsie, New York.  I initially was attracted by the ‘Peterson-like’ description of the pair – ‘Dry System’.  I also liked the tight bend and the ‘Dublin-esque’ bowls.  Both are ¾ bent with a conical bowl – a tight configuration that I liked immediately.  They almost seemed identical, but one had the shape number 362, the one on my worktable now, and the other had 3621.  When I unpacked them here in Bulgaria and took a closer look, I could see the differences.  Both have identical shapes but the 362 is a lighter rusticated finish with a smooth rim.  The 3621 is a darker blasted finish with a blasted rim.  These pictures show the differences.A friend of mine here in Bulgaria, Teo, saw the Savinelli pair on my website in the ‘For “Pipe Dreamers” Only!’ collection and inquired about them.  I was very happy that he commissioned the 362 to add to his collection which will benefit our work here in Bulgaria with the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited. Pipe smoking is very rare here in my adopted country of Bulgaria.  In the 13 years we have lived and worked in Bulgaria, I can count on one hand how many times I have seen a Bulgarian smoking a pipe!  After restoring the pipe, and if Teo decides to adopt it (it’s not obligatory for those who commission – they have the first opportunity to acquire it), I’ll look forward to sharing a bowl with him!  Here are more pictures of the Savinelli Dry System 362 on my worktable. The smooth underside panel holds the nomenclature.  To the left is stamped ‘DRY SYSTEM’ then the Savinelli ‘S’ logo.  To the right of the logo is 362 [over] ITALY.  The nickel shank cap is stamped on the left side with ‘SAVINELLI’ along with ‘S’ on the topside of the military stem. I found nothing about the Dry System on Pipedia but Pipephil.eu came through with some very helpful information – especially about the shape number differences.  Looking at the Savinelli shapes chart on Pipedia’s Savinelli article, shapes 362 or 3621 were not among those listed.  Pipephil provided this on the Savinelli Dry System with the information that the Dry System could be stamped with either 3 or 4 digits for the shape number:The panel above also references a link comparing Savinelli’s Dry System P-Lip stem with the Peterson standard. I found the most information about the Savinelli Dry System on another site as I broadened my online search.  A South African based tobacconist, Wesley’s  (See LINK), provided a gold mine of information about the Savinelli Dry System:

Launched in 1981, it had taken several years of research into the negative points of existing system pipes, in order to improve on them. Perseverance paid off – by combining trap and filter, and enlarging the smoke hole, Savinelli achieved the “Dry System”, which in our opinion is the best answer to “Wet Smoking” so far developed.

Especially for new pipe smokers, the Savinelli Dry System pipe incorporates everything needed to provide a cool, dry smoke.

The name “Dry” comes from the introduction of the Balsa “filter” into the traditional system pipe – the “System” being the presence of the built-in moisture trap in the shank, linked with the “smokehole on the top” mouthpiece. The balsa mops up the moisture in the smoke hence the term “Dry” system, and if the pipe is smoked without the balsa all that will happen is that this moisture will condense and collect in the trap. It can then either be mopped up with a folded pipe cleaner or flicked out. Just be careful where you flick it!

Put this all together and you can see why we say these are technically our best designed pipes. But the technical qualities are not all these pipes have to offer. Extra bonuses are the feel, the finishes and the balance.

This information marks the genesis of the Savinelli Dry System line in 1981. Added to this information, Wesley’s included the following benefits of the Savinelli system with a helpful cut-away showing the internals:The description of the ‘smokehole’ of the mouthpiece, is interesting in the way it disperses the smoke so that it avoids tongue burn as well as keeping moisture entering the stem from the mouth. The trademark filtering system is also optional – use of the balsa insert which I use with great satisfaction with some of my own Savinellis.  Yet, even if you do not utilize the absorbing qualities of the balsa insert, the built-in moisture trap will hold the moisture for clean-up after smoking.  Sounds good!

Wesley’s Tobacconist also included this helpful Shapes Chart for the Savinelli Dry System pipes. The description for the 3621 suggests:

Regular shapes 3613 & 3621 are ideal for the new pipe smoker or for a short smoke for anybody.

As I look at the Savinelli Dry System 362 now on my worktable, I’m wondering if it too is actually a 3621 and the craftsman applying the rustication was a bit overzealous.  I take a close-up to show that the latter half of ‘ITALY’ also succumbed to the rustication!Notwithstanding, this 362* is a sharp looking pipe in relatively good condition.  The chamber shows moderate cake build-up and the smooth, internally beveled rim is darkened with some lava buildup.  The rustication process is very tight and attractive and only needs some cleaning of the normal grime buildup.  The nickel shank cap will shine up nicely.  The Savinelli P-Lip stem has a good bit of oxidation and the P-Lip button shows almost no biting damage.  Overall, I’m hopeful of a smooth cleanup!  I begin the restoration by cleaning the airway of the stem with a pipe cleaner dipped in isopropyl 95% and then I place the stem in a soak of Before & After Deoxidizer along with other pipes in the queue.   My wife captured this Pipe Steward cameo appearance at the worktable! After several hours in the soak, I fish out the Savinelli stem and wipe it down with cotton pads wetted with alcohol to remove the raised oxidation.  I also run pipe cleaners through the airway to clear the excess Deoxidizer.  I can attest to the fact that this P-Lip stem is easier to clean than the Peterson version!To begin rejuvenating the vulcanite, a coat of paraffin oil on the stem does the job and I put the Savinelli P-Lip aside to absorb the oil.The chamber has a moderate cake build up and removing it to give the briar a fresh start and to inspect the chamber walls is the next step.Using only the smallest blade head of the Pipnet Reaming Kit, it becomes clear very soon how quickly the canonical chamber narrows toward the floor.  I do not force the blade downward with much pressure to avoid digging into the lower chamber wall to form a reaming ledge. This has been evident on several pipes where I’ve seen the results of overzealous reaming.  Utilizing the Savinelli Fitsall tool next, the blade is better suited to the contours of the chamber wall.  To remove the final carbon residue from the chamber wall, sanding the walls with a Sharpie Pen wrapped with 240 grade paper does the job well.  Finally, the chamber is cleaned of carbon dust with a cotton pad wetted with isopropyl 95%. Inspection of the chamber walls reveals a very healthy block of briar.Moving now to cleaning the external briar surface, undiluted Murphy’s Oil soap is applied to a cotton pad to scrub the rim and rusticated surface.  A bristled toothbrush also works well on the rough surface freeing it of dirt and grime.  Utilizing both a brass bristled brush and the sharp edge of the Winchester pocketknife, the darkened areas on the rim give way.  With a very gentle touch with the blade, the excess carbon gives way on the rim and the sharp internal bevel.  Taking the stummel to the sink and using warm water the cleaning continues with anti-oil dish soap and shank brushes to clean the internals.  After thoroughly rinsing, the internal cleaning continues at the worktable with pipe cleaners and cotton buds wetted with isopropyl 95%. As cotton buds are dipped in and out of the mortise, the schematic of the internals included above comes to mind.  Without doubt, the trap system works!  What a muck of gunk is excavated from the trap as dental spatula and spoon are utilized to scrape the mortise walls and trap.  Finally, cotton buds and pipe cleaners start emerging lighter and I move on with clean internals left behind.Before moving on to the stem, I decide to apply the coup de grâce to the internal cleaning process first.  While working on the stem, a kosher salt and alcohol soak will continue the cleaning passively and freshen the bowl for the new steward.  I form a mortise ‘wick’ first by pulling and stretching a cotton ball.  I guide the end of the wick into the airway cut-away with the help of a stiff wire.  Following this, more of the cotton wick is stuffed down into the trap.  With the wick in place, after kosher salt is added almost filling the chamber, the stummel is placed in an egg crate providing stability to the operation.  Using a large eye dropper, isopropyl 95% is then added to the bowl until it surfaces over the salt.  After a few minutes the alcohol is absorbed, the bowl is topped off with alcohol once again and the bowl is set aside to allow the soak to do its thing. Moving now to the stem, closeups of the upper- and lower-bit area show little tooth compression damage but the condition of the vulcanite is very rough.This is addressed by sanding the entire stem with 240 and 470 grade papers followed by wet sanding with 600 grade paper and finishing by applying 000 steel wool – throughout, care is given to sand around the Savinelli ‘S’ stamping on the upper side. Straight away, using the full regimen of micromesh pads, with pads 1500 to 2400 I wet sand, followed by dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000.  Between each set of 3 pads an application of Obsidian Oil further rejuvenates the vulcanite.  The stem looks great and I put it aside and turn to the bowl. The stummel has benefited from a kosher salt and alcohol soak through the night.  The soiled salt and wick reveal the extricating process of drawing the tars and oils out of the internal briar.  After clearing the used salt to the waste and blowing through the bowl and wiping it out with paper towel, to make sure all is cleaned and refreshed, another pipe cleaner and cotton bud are wetted with isopropyl 95% and inserted.  They reveal almost no soiling.  All is clean and I move on.Looking at the smooth rim, it is attractive and shows very nice potential of contrasting rough briar and smooth briar grain.  I appreciate contrasting briar textures in a pipe’s presentation.The rim has scratches and residual discoloration. To address this, both 240 and 600 grade papers are utilized to sand the rim and freshen the distinctive internal bevel.  Sanding very lightly, the patina is preserved while still cleaning the top surface.To now fully bring out the grain, I sand the rim with the full battery of micromesh pads – wet sanding with pads 1500 to 2400 and from 3200 to 12000 dry sanding does the job.  I’m really liking how this Savinelli Dry System is shaping up!I take another close look at the Savinelli rusticated surface. I’m attracted to the tight, distinct pattern of the rustication.  The reddish hue stands out nicely. I always look forward to the application of Before & After Restoration Balm to briar surfaces – both smooth and rough.  The effect of deepening of the hues subtly is why I like this product.  I apply some of the Balm to my fingers and rub it in very thoroughly over the rustication and rim.  As I’ve described before, the Balm starts with a cream-like viscosity and gradually thickens into a wax-like consistency as it is worked into the briar surface.  After the application of Balm is completed, it stands for about 20 minutes ( the next two pictures below) and then using a cloth I wipe off the excess and buff up the surface with a microfiber cloth.  I love the results! Before moving on with the next stage, the nickel shank cap needs addressing.  It is somewhat colored and dirty with fine scratches.  It will shine up nicely.To do the initial cleaning, Tarn-X is a product I acquired in the US and it works well.  After applying some of the solution with a cotton pad and scrubbing the nickel, I rinse it with tap water and dry. I’m careful to keep the solution off the briar.  It does a great job.After the cleaning with Tarn-X is complete, there remains the roughness of wear and tear shown in the picture below.To address this, a dedicated cotton cloth buffing wheel is mounted onto the Dremel with a speed set at about 40% full power and I apply Blue Diamond compound to address the scratches and fine lines in the nickel.  I’m careful to keep the wheel over the nickel and not overrun on the briar.  This process can stain the briar very easily with a blackish hue.  Not good.The results are great providing Savinelli shank cap bling!Moving on with Blue Diamond compound, I mount another cotton cloth buffing wheel to the Dremel, maintain the same speed and apply the compound to the smooth briar rim and stem.  I do not apply the compound to the rusticated briar surface.  I’m afraid it will gum-up the surface and be a bear to clean.Looking more closely at the stem…, well, my OCD pipe restoration tendencies would not allow me to ignore some residual oxidation making an appearance as I fine tune the buffing with the compound.  The next picture, lightened to show what I’m seeing, reveals the oxidation around the ‘S’ stamping as well on the edges of the hump of the stem rise.   The stamping was intentionally protected from sanding to preserve the Savinelli ‘S’.  Yet, I’m not satisfied with the wide birth of oxidation that I’ve left!  And the residue on the sides – just will not do.I begin a more conservative approach to remove these vestiges of oxidation.  I start with Mr. Clean Magic Eraser with little success.Then I use Before & After Fine and Extra fine polishes which are supposed to continue the oxidation removal process.  I apply the polishes successively, rubbing in then wiping off.  The polishes may have helped marginally. Not satisfied, sanding with 470, then 600 following again by applying 000 steel addresses the oxidation.As before, the full regimen of micromesh pads from 1500 to 12000 precedes applying Blue Diamond compound with the Dremel.  I’m satisfied with the results this time around! The oxidation encompassing the ‘S’ stamping is much tighter now and the oxidation spots that were on both sides of the hump have been eradicated. I move on.Before applying the final touch of polishing with carnauba wax, I freshen the Savinelli ‘S’ stem stamping using white acrylic paint. I spread some paint over the stamping and daub it with a cotton pad to remove the excess.  Using a toothpick, I very lightly scrape the paint removing the excess leaving the ‘S’ somewhat filled.  I repeated this process a few times to get it as right as possible.  The paint grips but not perfectly and the final ‘S’ isn’t as solid as I like, but it’s better than it was! To complete the restoration of this nice looking Savinelli Dry Air System 362, after a cotton cloth buffing wheel is mounted onto the Dremel and speed set and 40 percent full power, I apply carnauba wax to the stem and rim.  In applying carnauba to the rusticated surface, I increase the speed to about 60% full power.  This aids the heating and assimilation of the wax into the rougher surface.  After applying a few coats, I give the pipe a rigorous hand buffing with a microfiber cloth to raise the shine.

This Savinelli Dry System came out well.  The rustication is striking, and the deep reddish hues of the finish are a very nice contrast to the smooth briar rim.  The tight bent Dublin-esque fits well in the hand.  I appreciated learning more about the enhancements that Savinelli made to its Dry System and I look forward to hearing whether it truly does provide a step toward the pipe smokers holy grail – a dryer and cooler smoke! Teo commissioned this pipe which benefits the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited, and he will have the first opportunity to acquire it in The Pipe Steward Store.  Thanks for joining me!

Restoring a Savinelli Autograph 4 Freehand Style Sitter

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Blog by Steve Laug

As you might have figured out from the title I am working on another pipe from Italy. This one is a Savinelli Autograph 4. It reads Savinelli over Autograph on the underside of the bowl on a smooth panel. It is also stamped with the Grade number 4 and Italy. The pipe has a beautiful sandblast on the bowl, rim top and shank with plateau on the shank end. There is a smooth portion on the front of the bowl wrapping around the right side of the bowl. The vulcanite stem also is stamped with the autograph just behind the saddle. The pipe came to me in a bag of pipes I brought home with me from Idaho Falls on a recent visit. I decided to work on the Autograph next as it was not a shape I had seen before in my restoration work. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took a close up photo of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the pipe at this point. The bowl has a light cake and some debris in the bottom of the bowl. The rim top is dirty but undamaged. The stem looks pretty good with the autograph stamp readable. There is tooth chatter and marks on the top and underside just ahead of the button on both sides.  I took a photo of the underside of the bowl/heel that is flattened to make the pipe a sitter. You can see the stamping – Savinelli Autograph 4 over Italy. It is stamped on a smooth portion of the heel while leaving the other portion sandblasted. The second photo below shows the plateau on the shank end. It is a really a great looking pipe.I wanted to remind myself a bit about the Autograph line from Savinelli so I reread the last blog I did on the Autograph line (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/01/05/restoring-a-savinelli-autograph-3-rhodesian-dublin-long-shank/). I quote that portion of the blog now:

I turned first to the Pipephil website (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-savinelli1.html) to get a brief overview of the Autograph line. There I found out that the Autographs were hand made and unique. The Autograph Grading system is ascending: 3, 4, … 8, 0, 00, 000.

I turned then to Pipedia to get a more background on the Autograph line. I had the outline I needed from pipephil for the pipe but wanted more (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Savinelli). I quote in part from the article on that site.

While Savinelli’s serially produced pipes account for around 98% of annual production, the marque also creates a number of artisanal, handmade pieces as well. The Autographs, the Creativity line, and the Mr. A. line are all the result of Savinelli’s unique handmade process, with the Autographs reflecting the larger Freehand aesthetic, the Creativity line delving into more complex hand carving, and the Mr. A. line sidestepping the standard shape chart for remarkable and unusual pipes.

All of the briar for Savinelli’s Autographs and other freehand pipes is sourced specifically for those pieces. While the majority of the marque’s serial production is made from extra grade ebauchon blocks, Savinelli keeps a separate supply of Extra Extra plateau blocks for Freehands. This variety of briar is much larger, and of a higher quality, which explains why so many Autographs and Savinelli handmades are naturally larger designs.

These handmade pieces are shaped much like traditional Danish Freehands: they are shaped first and drilled second. Using this method, Savinelli’s team of artisans is able to showcase their own creativity, as it maximizes flexibility and facilitates a more grain-centric approach to shaping. The resulting Freehand designs are at once both a departure from the marque’s classical standard shapes, yet very much still “Savinelli” in their nature—i.e. proportioned so that the bowl is the visual focus when viewed from the profile, juxtaposed by the comparatively trim lines of the shank and stem. To provide a little more insight into the differences between Savinelli’s standard production and freehand lines, Luisa Bozzetti comments:

“When we choose to make Freehand pipes we must stop production on the standard shapes. The process for Freehands is much more involved and takes much more time. Finding the best people from the production line and pulling them to make Freehands is challenging since it’s not an assembly line, but rather a one or two man operation.

After the rough shaping of the stummel, we must get together and brainstorm which style of stem will be paired before the pipe can be finished since we do not use pre-shaped stems. All accents and stems for the Freehands are cut from rod here in the factory. A lot of care goes into the few pieces lucky enough to make the cut; to end up with a certain number of Autographs, for instance, means that many, many more will be made, and only the few will be selected.”

The quality control process for Savinelli handmades is even more rigorous than that employed in the standard lineup. Many blocks are started and later discarded because of pits or defects. While Savinelli’s briar sourcing is a constant process, working with some of Italy’s top cutters to ensure only the finest and most suitable blocks make their way to the factory, it’s impossible to source plateau briar that’s completely free from flaws. That’s just nature. Savinelli creates the standard for quality by working through the rough (a very high-quality rough, mind you) to find that shining diamond with the potential to become a Savinelli handmade.

It looks like the Autograph 4 I am working is pretty high in the hierarchy of the line. Like other autographs I have worked on in the past this one has a unique twist to the vulcanite stem. The pipe was pretty clean externally so I decided to deal with the internals first. I reamed the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to scrape out the thin cake on the walls and the base of the bowl. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I scrubbed the internals of the bowl, shank and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. They were surprisingly clean and the grime came out quickly on the pipe cleaners and the cotton swabs.I used a small brass bristle wire brush to knock of the grime in finish on the rim top. I wiped it down with a damp pad to remove the dust. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar on the bowl and the rim top. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the wood. Once the bowl was covered with the balm I let it sit for about 20 minutes and buffed it off with a shoe brush and then polished it with a microfiber cloth. I took photos of the pipe at this point to show what the bowl looked like at this point. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the sanding marks with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. The photos show the stem at this point.  I wet sanded the tooth chatter on both sides of the stem with 1500 -12000 grit micromesh pads to polish it. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil on a cloth after each sanding pad. I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil afterwards and buffed it on the buffing wheel with Blue Diamond and the finished it with a soft microfiber cloth. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the smooth part of the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the smooth part of the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I gave the sandblasted portions several coats of Conservator’s 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 contrast of the beautiful dark and medium brown stains and the smooth and sandblast finish worked amazingly well with the polished black vulcanite stem. The mix of straight grain sandblast on the rest of the bowl and shank is quite remarkable. This is truly a beautiful Freehand pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 1/2 inches, Height: 2 1/8 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/2 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. I have restored quite a few Autographs over the years and this estate is another rare beauty. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.