Tag Archives: shaping a stem

KBB Yello-Bole Stembiter Cured with Real Honey 4261B Yacht

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By Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one of three that was dropped off at my house on Saturday for clean up and restoration. Robert stopped by with a bag of pipes that his brother had picked up for him while hunting for pipes in New York. The lot included a Medico Ventilator, a couple of Grabows, a small salesman’s pipe, a Smokemaster, an unmarked sandblast pot, an Oom Paul Natural Grain Algerian Briar France, a Comoy’s Grand Slam Patent Pot, and an interesting KBB Yello-Bole Zulu/Yacht with a unique biteproof stem. We went through the lot and chose the three pipes that he wanted to work on. I have circled them in the photo below.I chose to work on the Yello-Bole Zulu/Yacht first as it was unique and just called out to me. The finish was very dirty but the grain was quite beautiful around the bowl and the shank. The pipe is stamped on the left side and reads KBB in a cloverleaf next to the bowl/shank union. To the right of that it is stamped Stembiter [over] Yello-Bole [over] Cured with Real Honey. On the right side of the shank it is stamped with the shape number 4261B. The bowl had a thick cake but underneath there was remnants of the yellow Honey Coating that Yello-Bole draw their name from. The finish was dirty and had some peeling varnish around the bowl. The base of the bowl and shank had been flattened to make the pipe a sitter. It had a vulcanite push stem with the classic Yello-Bole Spade style stinger apparatus in the tenon. The stem was oxidized. The aluminum spacer on the shank end of the stem was oxidized and pitted. It was rough to touch. There were very light bite marks on the surface ahead of the button. The Stembiter system was unique on the stem end – a scooped out divot on both sides and then a twin bore button end. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my clean up work. The photos of the rim top show the lava build up and marks on the top and the darkening on the inner edge of the bowl. You can also see the yellow bowl coating on front side near the bottom of the bowl surrounded by the cake. The photos of the stem show the deep oxidation on both sides. They do show the yellow O logo on the stem top. The stem end shows the Stembiter system.The next series of photos show the stamping on the shank sides. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts of the pipe. It looks quite beautiful.Before I started my work on the pipe I decided to do a bit of work on the Patent Number and the shape number on the heel of the bowl. I remembered that Troy Wilburn, one of our blog writers and good friend of rebornpipes sent me a shape number list for old Kaywoodie and Yello-Bole pipes that is on the blog. I found it very useful and typed it into a chart format. Troy said that he got the data for this from the Kaywoodie Forums. I decided to post the chart on the blog for easy access. Thank you to the KW forum for the information. Here is the link to the full shape chart information that I have on the site (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/05/07/kaywoodie-yello-bole-shape-numbers/). The pipe I am working on has a push tenon, vulcanite stem as noted in the expanded Kaywoodie/YB charts on the above link. While there is not a listing for a 61 the numbers around that on the chart all include that the pipes had a vulcanite push stem. The good news is that I have the original stem.Troy also included the following information on the first two digits of the shape number. I quote in full regarding that below.

2-digit prefixes for 4-digit pipes – you might find an odd ball or a rare one that is not on the list.
From the time of the first Kaywoodie until 1938 for Kaywoodie and for Yello-Bole, Kaufmann Brothers & Bondy used a 4-digit number system (plus a letter sometimes) to identify the line and shape number. The 4-digits were not used after 1938. The first two, which we’ll call the prefix, referred to the finish and the second two, the suffix numbers referred to the shape number.

The 42B is the Yacht Freshman shape and the L identifies it as a large version of the pipe. Note also that the pipe was only made between 1936-1937 so it is an old timer.

Now to work on the pipe itself. I started by reaming it with a PipNet Pipe Reamer. The bowl was large enough that I used the second and third cutting heads. I took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I also scraped off the lava build up on the rim top with the knife. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. I took it back to smooth walls. The walls looked very good with no sign of checking or burning. I heated the spade style stinger with a lighter flame and once it heated the tars that held it in place let loose and I was able to remove it. I cleaned up the aluminum stinger with alcohol and a 320 grit sanding pad to remove the debris. I set the stinger aside and then I cleaned out the shank, mortise and the airway in the bowl and the stem with pipe cleaners (both smooth and bristle), cotton swabs and 99% isopropyl alcohol. It took a lot of cleaners but I got the grime and oils out of the shank and stem. The pipe smelled of tobacco it was much cleaner smelling than previous to that. I set the stem aside and turned my attention to the bowl. I wiped it down with some 100% acetone to remove the varnish coat and clean up the remnants of that finish around the bowl and shank. It came off quite quickly and looked nice. I touched up the spotty rim top and inner edges with a Cherry stain pen. It matched the colour of the rest of the bowl and shank. Once it was buffed and polished it would blend in perfectly.I sanded the bowl with sanding pads – 320-3500 grit pads. I dry sanded it and wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad. I was able to remove all of the shiny coat and the bowl began to take on a natural shine. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris on the surface. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth and shoe brush to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I wiped down the stem surface with Soft Scrub. I used cotton pads to remove the oxidation and it was amazing how much came off with the scrubbing.I cleaned out the oxidation in the Stembiter with cotton swabs and Soft Scrub. I was able to remove all of the oxidation and the stem is looking much better at this point.I polished the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It removes the dust and also gives the sanding pads some bite. By the final pad it was looking quite good. Following my usual process in restoration 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 Obsidian Oil. I polished it further with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to absorb the oil. The KBB Yello-Bole Stembiter Cured with Real Honey 4261B Yacht Freshman is finished other than the final waxing and buffing. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and gave it several coats of carnauba. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad on the buffer to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 26 grams/.92 ounces. It is a great looking pipe now that it is restored. It feels great in the hand and as it warms up it as smoked it should be even better. I have two more of Robert’s pipes that I need to work on and then will call him to pick them up. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of it once he has them in hand. If the condition was any indicator it is a good smoker. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this KBB Yello-Bole Stembiter Yacht Freshman.

Renewing an UNSMOKED Briarcraft Smokemaster Custom Made Patent Apple

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By Steve Laug

The next pipe is one that has been sitting here for quite awhile in a box of unsmoked/new old stock pipes that I have here. I went through them yesterday and sorted the out. I put all of them on the rebornpipes store but this one. There was just something about it that grabbed my eye. It is a classic apple shaped pipe that is stamped on the left side of the shank and has a white hollow star next to the shank followed by the Briarcraft logo – a B in a diamond. Next to that it is stamped Custom [over] SMOKEMASTER [over] Made. On the right side of the shank it was stamped Pat. 2.166.537. The was a white letter B on the left side of the shank – the Briarcraft logo. We picked up the pipe on 11/09/2023 from a seller in Nampa, Idaho, USA. The pipe is unsmoked and the bowl is fresh. The finish on the bowl and shank is very shiny with varnish or possibly shellac but it is peeling and cracking in places. The grain on the pipe was quite stunning and would really shine through once the finish was gone. It was an incredibly lightweight pipe to hold. The stem is dirty with some sticky stuff from possibly a price tag and some nicks and scratches from laying around a long time somewhere. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started working on it. It was going to be a pretty simple cleanup. I took closeup photos of the unsmoked, new briar bowl and rim top to clearly show the condition of both. The condition matches what I described above. I also took photos of the stem to show the sticky spots and scratches on the stem surface ahead of the button on each side. I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. The varnish around the stamping and the white star is peeling and crackled. The B logo on the left side of the stem is clear and in good condition. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. I tried to capture the three holes in the end of the tenon. I laid the stem on the shank to try to capture it and I held it and took a photo of the tenon end. It is an interesting drilling that almost looks like a mouse head with the two ears.I had cleaned up a Smokemaster Bard Billiard in the past but it did no have the original stem like this one. I went back and reread the blog to remind myself of what I had learned in the process of working on that pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/2013/12/23/giving-a-smokemaster-bard-billiard-a-facelift/). I have included a bit of the information that I had included on that blog below:

I knew nothing about Smokemaster pipes and had no idea who made them. The finish and shape reminded me a lot of Dr. Grabow pipes that I have reworked but that was not enough for me. As has become my habit with pipes I don’t know about, I did a bit of research on the web and found out that the pipe was made by the Briarcraft Pipe Company. The Company was very prosperous between 1920 and 1940. They produced both Briarcraft pipes and a line of seconds under the following names: Airo, Arcadian, Briarmeer, Smokemaster, Cavalcade, Hallmark, Sterling Hall, Filter Kleen and Wimbledon. They closed their doors in 1950.

The pipe that I was working on currently was definitely made pre-1950 and the stamping was clearly made by Briarcraft. The beauty of that is that the pipe was clearly made between between 1920-1950 when they closed their doors. Perhaps when I check the patent information I will learn more and be able to pin down the date a bit more.

I turned to the article on Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Smokemaster) to see what I could learn there. I was expecting a bit of info on both Briarcraft and Dr.Grabow. So it would take a bit of filtering.

Smokemaster pipes are unusual in that they had two different makers in different time periods, and in the style of their tenon.

The tenon had a single aluminum inner tube and two holes which were meant to hold a pipe cleaner folded in half, one end in each hole. The pipes were first made by Briarcraft, in lines including the Custom-made, Standard, and Bard. That company went out of business in the 1950s. In 1967 Dr. Grabow bought the rights to the name and the system, and began producing Smokemasters in three lines, stamped 100, 200 and 300. These pipes had a red diamond logo on the stem.

In addition, both Briarcraft and Dr. Grabow made Smokecraft pipes which were not stamped with that name, but with L. L. Bean. The pipes continued to be produced into the 1990s in Sparta, North Carolina, and were offered as a mail order pipe on packets of Dill Pipe Cleaners at one point. They are no longer produced.

I have included two advertisements from the site that had helpful information on the special filter system using pipe cleaners. Read over the first advertisement below. It has the same patent number as the pipe I am working on. It also has a clear explanation of the unique pipe cleaner filter system in the stem. The second advertisement show the same pipe with the specifics of an L.L. Bean pipe that has the same pipe cleaner filtration system. I then turned to Pipephil’s site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s9.html) to have a look at the information included there. I have included a screen shot of the information there. The logo on the stem of the shank of the pipe I am working on is identical to the one shown in the first photos below. I have included only the section on the Briarcraft version of the pipe made prior to the buyout by Dr. Grabow.I found out that the Smokemaster had a very unique filter system and was distinct from other filter systems in that it did not include a stinger apparatus. Rather it used a slotted tenon/tube that had two special holes in it (shown in red in the drawing below of the tenon end). A folded pipe cleaner was inserted into the two holes and extended the length of the shank. It collected the tars and moisture of the smoke and could be easily changed and replaced by the pipe smoker. The diagram below shows the design from the end of the tenon.I did a patent search and it gave me the following information. This includes both the original description by the inventor and also a diagram submitted at the time of the patent application. I found it at this site:

https://www.google.com/patents/US2166537?dq=2166537&hl=en&sa=X&ei=r2u4UtPOHI_ZoAT9moHYCg&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAQ

I have included that information below on the same patent number:

Description
1939 – B. M. SHOEMAKER 2,166,537
TOBACCO PIPE Filed Oct. 12, 1934 crnar B.M. Shoemaker INVENTOR v ATTORNEY Patented July 18, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

1 Claim.

My invention relates to tobacco pipes and more particularly to the type in which the bit and bowl portions are separately united to each other.

The principal object of my invention is to maintain the smoke passage in the pipe substantially free of solid deposits, making for general cleanliness in the interior of the pipe and sweet, cool smoking qualities.

I accomplish this object by arranging within the pipe a readily replaceable absorptive member which is designed to receive condensate and solid matter from the smoke as it passes through the pipe. The preferred form of such absorptive member is an ordinary pipe cleaner which, as is well known in the art, comprises a highly flexible metallic core portion carrying a large number of bristles extending there from.

One embodiment of the invention is illustratively exemplified in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a pipe; Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a broken elevation view of a metallic tube or liner constituting one of the pipe elements; Fig. 5 is an elevation view broken intermediate its ends, of the form of absorptive member used in the present construction.

Referring to the drawing, and more specifically to Figs. 1 to 3, denotes the pipe bowl, 1 the bowl stem, 2 the bit and 3 the tenon by which the bit and bowl stem are separately united. The bowl stem has the usual well l4 and the bit the usual smoke or draft passage 15. The bit 12 is further provided with three bores, 15b, c, d, and forming a continuation of the smoke passage 16. A metal tube 16 is provided which is longitudinally slotted at its lower portion and through the slot l8 the products of well be omitted. The tube l6 lies in the bore 15b. The pipe cleaner is doubled upon itself and the two legs or branches of the pipe cleaner enter the bores 15c and l5d and rest there during use of the pipe. The bores 15c and l5d parallel the bore 15b at opposite sides of its longitudinal centre. The embodiment of the invention described is a very desirable construction inasmuch as it receives a standard length pipe cleaner, which in its folded position in the passage 14 is offset from the axis thereof, and which when rotated or twisted with the tenon to seat the same the folded strands of the cleaner engage and brush or clean the wall of the bore.
The operation of the device is very simple. The pipe is sold complete with the pipe cleaner in position. After the pipe has been used for a length of time it will be found that the pipe cleaner is practically saturated with deposited matter. Thereupon the pipe cleaner is simply removed from the pipe and a new one inserted in its place. If desired, the cleaner may also be used in the ordinary manner, naturally before it has become fouled, by moving it back and forth once or twice through the draft passage l5 and/or tube.

What I claim is: In a tobacco pipe, a bowl portion having a stem provided with a central bore, and a bit portion for said stem, the bit having a centrally disposed smoke passage and grooves arranged in the bottom of said passage, a tubular liner mounted in the smoke passage and adapted to project into the bore of the stem, said liner having its underside provided with a longitudinal slot opening into the grooves and bottom of the central bore of the stem beyond the bit, and an absorptive member mounted in said grooves and arranged under the liner throughout its length to receive condensate from the liner and to wipe the wall of said bore when the bit is turned.

BERNARD M. SHOEMAKER.
Classifications

U.S. Classification 131/184.1, 131/203

International Classification A24F1/00

Cooperative Classification A24F1/00, A24F2700/03

European Classification A24F1/00
I find that kind of information fascinating and am always intrigued by the ongoing urge of pipe designers to provide a cooler and cleaner smoke for the pipeman who uses their inventions. The patent information helped me to also pin down the date of manufacture. In this case I now knew that the pipe I had in hand was made between 1939 and 1950, a nice 11 year window. It was a real beauty and with the clean up it would only look better. Now it was time to work on the pipe itself.

I began by removing the peeling and spotty varnish coat with acetone on a cotton pad. What made this a bit tricky was the white stamped star outline on the left side of the briar next to the bowl. It had been painted and I did not want to damage that colour. Once the varnish coat was removed I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. By the end of the process it looked quite good. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips. It works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The grain came alive. I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I rubbed it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. With the stem cleaned up it was time to fit the tenon with the folded pipe cleaner filter as shown in the photos of the advertisements and also patent information. I took photos of the process. This Unsmoked Briarcraft Smokemaster Custom Made Pat. 2.166.537 is quite a stunning pipe now that it has been stripped and restored. The beautiful grain around the bowl works well with both the shape and the polished vulcanite taper stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the wheel and followed by buffing the pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Briarcraft Smokemaster Custom Made Apple fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 22 grams/.78 ounces. I will be putting this interesting old timer in my own collection of unique pipes. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. I appreciate your support and time!

Restoring and Restemming a John Crouch Heavyweigh Rhodesian

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By Steve Laug

A while back I received an email reaching out about a pipe that the writer, Anthony had acquired long ago and wanted to know if I had heard of it. He wrote the following email:

Hello, I am just wondering if in all your refurbishings you’ve come across any pipes stamped with the name John Crouch? I would love to send you photos but don’t see a way possible to do that. I’ve had this for 20 years and don’t really remember where I picked it up. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

I wrote him back and asked for photos of the pipe and the stamping so I had something to work with. For me this always helps in the hunt for the identity as generally it gives me a lot of information. Anthony wrote back and sent some photos for me.

Hi Steve, thank you for the quick response!! Here are a few shots I have of this beauty. It’s one of the only bulldogs I’ve seen without the double lines engraved into it. Like I said in my first message. I’ve had it for 20+ years. If I had to guess I picked it up in Colorado when I lived out there. I would love to hear what you think. Thanks again!!! ps. if you need more photos let me know. The third photo he included gave a clear look at the stamping on the left side of the shank. It read John Crouch [over] HEAVYWEIGH [over] Italy. My initial thinking before doing any digging on the brand is that it was a pipe made for a pipe shop by someone like Savinelli (Italy). It is stamped with what I think is the shop name. I think that the “T” is missing on the end of HEAVYWEIGH as the shank is to short for the stamp. But some digging will clear that up.I wrote Anthony back with what I found. I was surprised that Pipedia included the brand but not surprised that it confirmed my suspicions about it being a pipe shop pipe. Here is my email:

The pipe is a beauty Anthony. I did a bit of digging and found this information on https://pipedia.org/wiki/John_Crouch

“John Crouch Tobacconist embodies the essence of Virginia. After all, tobacco is Virginia’s oldest industry. Years ago, tobacco was believed to have medical properties and a tobacconist was consulted in much of the same way that a pharmacist is today. In those days, a tobacconist would create a blend of tobacco products to ease an ailment. John Crouch Tobacconist has been home to the Washington areas’ nicest and largest humidor for over 30 years.” Apparently they also have pipes made for them under their name. I have also included photos from that listing. Hope that helps – Steve

I am including the following photos from Pipedia and the advertising page that Anthony sent as well as they give a clear picture of the manufacturer of the pipe and the shop it was made for. Now I really want to visit this shop! Anthony wrote back and I include that below. I think his idea of calling or emailing them is perfect. He also asked if I would consider working on it if he chose to send it to me.

Hey Steve, Thanks for the info. I, too, found this but didn’t think it was associated with the shop in Virginia!!! I guess I need to give them a call or email them to try to get to the bottom of this. Thanks for the help. Actually, two other things. 1.Is there a reason so few bulldogs lack the double engraved lines around the bowl? 2. If down the line what would a refurbishing run me? Rough estimate, nothing set in stone find of thing. Again. Thanks for your quick responses and your time.

I answered him that I would gladly take on the project for him for the chance to see the pipe up close and personal. I answered his other questions about the lack of rings around the bowl cap. Some time went by and he wrote again.

I also wanted to thank you for helping me figure out my John Crouch Heavyweigh pipe!! I contacted and talked with one of the guys down there in Alexandria, VA. He said, yes, back in the 70’s they in fact imported these Italian pipes then stamped and sold them. I would love to send you this pipe for a restoration. If you could send me your address I’ll send it off in the next few days. I should have ask first if you have time or backed up on restorations? Or when would be a good time to send it to you?

I look forward to seeing what you can do to this amazing pipe. I love how detailed your blog posts and restoration process are!!

Thank you again and hope to hear from you soon.

I answered and Anthony wrote that he had sent the pipe to me. He also included another piece of information that would be important in the restoration and repair.

Hey Steve… I should tell you I did break a chunk of the stem off. I slipped off a step as I was walking down then and unfortunately one of my reactions was to bite down and it broke the mouth piece of the stem. I think I have them still. If I can find the pieces should I send them?

Thank you in advance. I can’t wait to see the transformation and the documentation on the blog. All the best!! Anthony

The pipe arrived yesterday just as I finished the repair on the table that was ahead of it. Great timing! I opened the box and took photos of the pipe as I examined it to get a clear assessment of the work that lay ahead of me. Before I took the photos I removed the Softee Bit from the stem so I could see the damage on the stem top that Anthony had mentioned. I love the shape of the pipe – to me a Rhodesian without the rim cap rings but still the right shape. The pipe is well used and must be a great smoker. There was a moderate cake in the bowl and lava on the rim top. The inner edge of the bowl is rough and shows some reaming damage leaving it out of round a bit. The finish is dirty and there are some spots of varnish or shellac remaining around the bowl and shank. There are a few fills but they are solid. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads as noted above. The stamp is clear and readable. I wonder if the HEAVYWEIGH stamp is missing the “T” but suppose we won’t know for sure. The stem is well fit but the damage on the topside was more extensive than I thought once I remove the Softee Bit. I have mad patches this big before but really never have been happy with the suspected lack of durability of them. I think this one would be better off with a new stem. I took some closeup photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition. You can see the damage on the inner edge and the generally roughness of the top and edge. The photos of the stem surface show the size of the damage. I hope you can see my rationale for restemming this one rather than making a patch that large.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. It is clear as noted. You can also see why I wondered if the HEAVYWEIGH portion is missing the T. You can also see the shellac or varnish on the shank in this photo. To give a sense of the proportion of the of the pipe I removed the stem and took a photo of it. This will help me when I choose a new stem for it.Now to work on the pipe itself. I started by reaming it with a PipNet Pipe Reamer. The bowl was large enough that I used the second and third cutting heads. I took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I also scraped off the lava build up on the rim top with the knife. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. I took it back to smooth walls. The walls looked very good with no sign of checking or burning. I cleaned out the shank, mortise and the airway in the bowl with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It took a lot of cleaners but I got the grime and oils out of the shank and though the pipe smelled of tobacco it was much cleaner smelling than previous to that. I chose not to clean the stem since I was going to replace it.With the internals cleaned I turned my attention to the rim top. I worked over the inner edge of the bowl and the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I then gently topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper. I cleaned up the inner edge a bit more. The pipe looked amazingly good. I wiped down the bowl with acetone soaked cotton pads to remove the varnish/shellac coat. It was particularly heavy around the stamping on the shank – both sides. It took much work to remove the shiny coat. I sanded the bowl with sanding pads – 320-3500 grit pads. I dry sanded it and wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad. I was able to remove all of the shiny coat and the bowl began to take on a natural shine. I stained the rim top with a Cherry stain pen to match the rest of the briar. I also stained the lighter areas around the shank end. The rim top looked much better.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris on the surface. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I used a shoe brush to work it into the twin rings around the bowl cap. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth and shoe brush to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to a new stem. I found a blank in my can of stems that was close to the right diameter and just slightly longer. With a few adjustments to the tenon and the diameter at the shank the fit will be good. You can also see the large broken chunk missing on the original stem in the photo below. In the second photo below, I knocked off the casting debris with a Dremel and sanding drum in preparation for using my tenon turning tool.I used the PIMO tenon turner to bring the tenon down close to the size that I wanted. I do this in stages as the tool can chip the tenon if you take too big a bite at one time. The second photo shows it getting closer. I paused mid turn to show how it cuts away material. Once I cleaned it up the fit was very close. Some sanding would make the fit perfect. I used a small flat file to remove the casting marks on the sides of the stem and fine tune the tenon fit in the bowl and took some photos of where it stands at this point.I started sanding the diameter of the stem to match the shank and then decided to give it a quick bend. I heated it with the flame of a lighter until the vulcanite was soft then bent the end to get the angle correct. I checked it against the original stem and the bend matched. Good to go! Now I had a lot of hand sanding to do to trim back the diameter to fit the shank. I do this next part all by hand with the stem removed and constantly putting it on the shank and checking progress. It is tedious so I can think of other things while sanding. It makes the process a bit of a respite. I can’t tell you how many hours of sanding this took but it is finally there. The fit is right and now it is time to polish it. Once the fit was correct, I started polishing out the scratch marks and smoothing the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It removes the dust and also gives the sanding pads some bite. By the final pad it was looking quite good.Following my usual process in restoration 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 Obsidian Oil. I polished it further with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to absorb the oil. The John Crouch Heavyweigh(t) Rhodesian has been restemmed and is finished other than the final waxing and buffing. I polished the new stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and gave it several coats of carnauba. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad on the buffer to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 45 grams/1.59 ounces. It does not feel heavy and the weight certainly does not put it in a heavy category for me. I will be sending it back to Anthony shortly. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of it once he has it in hand. If the condition was any indicator it is a good smoker. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this John Crouch Heavyweigh(t) Rhodesian.

Reworking another trade, a Borlum KB&B Italian Briar Unbreakable Stem Bent Billiard

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by Steve Laug

A month or so ago I received an email from a fellow in Japan who had some pipes he wanted to sell. We came to an agreement and he sent me a few. One of them was this interesting smooth finish Bent Billiard. This pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank with the words BORLUM in an arc over KB&B in a cloverleaf. Underneath that it is stamped ITALIAN BRIAR in a reverse arc. On the right side of the shank it is stamped UNBREAKABLE BIT. The stamping was clear and readable. The band on the shank is cosmetic and original and reads KB&B in a cloverleaf [over] Nickel Plated. The bowl had been reamed and the pipe cleaned. The shank is very clean inside and the pipe smelled very clean. It was so clean that I don’t think the pipe had been smoked since the fellow in Japan picked it up. The rim top was clean though there were some scratches and darkening and the inside edge of the rim showed some nicks. There was no damage to the outer edges. The finish around the bowl was in decent condition with great grain under some of the grime and scratching. The stem looked good, though it was not centred on the shank. The diameter of the stem extended beyond the band on the right side and a little above the top and underside. I would need to reduce the stem diameter to fit the shank band. There were some light tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. Overall, I am happy with it but I will need to rework the stem fit to the shank and clean up the rim top and edges. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it.  I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition of the bowl and the top. You can see clean bowl and marks on the rim top. The inner edge is slightly out of round. The stem looks good with light tooth damage and no oxidation on the surface of the hard rubber. It will look much better once I trim down the top, underside and the right side of the stem.I took photos to show the stamping on the sides of the shank and the nickel band. It is clear and readable as noted above. You can also see the fit of the stem to the shank on the top and the right side. I took the stem off and took a photo of the pipe to show its condition.

From an earlier Borlum pipe that I had refurbished back in 2014, I had learned a lot about the background of the manufacturer of the brand. I quote from that blog to summarize the historical background of the pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/tag/kbb-borlum-pipes/). The italicized portions of the text come from the blog with minor edits.

I already knew that Kaufmann Brothers and Bondy was the oldest pipe company in the USA, established in 1851. The Club Logo predated Kaywoodie with the “KB&B” lettering stamped within the Club, and a multitude of KB&B lines were in production long before “Kaywoodie” first appeared in 1919. Therefore, I knew that the pipe I had was a pre-1919, pre-Kaywoodie KB&B Made BORLUM.

As noted above, this particular pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank with the words BORLUM in an arc over KB&B in a cloverleaf. Underneath that it is stamped ITALIAN BRIAR in a reverse arc. On the right side of the shank it is stamped UNBREAKABLE BIT. As stated above it was made before Kaywoodie became the flagship name for pipes from Kaufman Brothers & Bondy (KB&B). It was made before the Kaywoodie invention of the “Stinger” was added, and even before shank logos, model stamps and other features invented by Kaywoodie came to be standards of the pipe making industry. It comes from a time when names like Ambassador, Heatherby, Melrose, Suez, Rivoli, Cadillac and Kamello dominated the pre-Kaywoodie scene. Borlum is one of those names.

I learned while researching for that blog and rediscovered while working on this one that the Borlum pipe featured some innovations that were new for the time but commonplace to us. These included (1) a solid rubber bit (vulcanite, ebonite), (2) an aluminum inner-tube construction in the stem that stabilized and strengthened the stem explaining the stamping of “Unbreakable Bit” on the right side of the shank, (3) a standard nickel-plated band (marked KB&B) to strengthen the shank connection for the stem. The stem features the older style more rounded bit tip/orific button, and you can see the aluminum inner-tube fitting just inside the tip.

I have included several pictures that I found on the internet that show the unique stem tube in the Borlum that gives rise to the claim that it has an Unbreakable Bit. The first photo shows the bent stem, third from the left with the same metal tube showing at the button. The second photo shows the other end of the tube in the tenon in the Borlum stem. That told me that the pipe I had was made after 1851 and before 1919. I am guessing that because of the other pipes in this lot dating in the late 1890s to about 1905 this one is probably from that same era. Not too bad for a 100+ year old pipe. During the hunt for information, I also found the next photo of a Borlum display and sales card. What is particularly interesting to me is the diagram at the top of the card showing the interior of the stem in place in the shank. It also includes the claim, “Guaranteed against Breakage”. I love the advertisements and sales brochures of these old pipes. The descriptive language that promises so much and the prices the pipes sold for are a nostalgic journey to the past. Note the $1 and up price tag on the sales card. The pipe that I am working on presently is identical to the bottom pipe on the right side of the photo. I have circled it in red. It has the identical shape, curved shank but has a nickel-plated band like mine. It has the hard rubber stem with an orific button. It is more rounded than the modern flat stem but it is still a comfortable feeling stem in the mouth.Now it was time to work on the pipe. I decided to deal with the diameter of the stem against the shank first. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to take off the extra diameter of the stem on the right side and the top and bottom. I also sanded the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface. It was a lot of handwork and fussing to get the fit correct. Once finished it looked much better. I worked over the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the scratches left in the hard rubber surface of the stem. Once finished the stem had a deep shine and really looked much better.I polished the stem surface with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down between pads with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. It looked much better. I set the stem aside and turned my attention to the bowl. I smoothed out the damaged inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It looked much better. I started polishing out the damage on the rim top with the 220 grit sandpaper. It looked much better.I wiped the bowl down with isopropyl alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the shiny wax or shellac coat on the bowl surface. It cleaned up very well. There was a deep sandpit/flaw on the lower front left side of the bowl. I filled it in with a combination of CA glue and briar dust. I sanded the repair with 220 grit sandpaper and smoothed it out into the surrounding briar. I touched up the sanded spot on the bowl front with a Walnut stain pen. It matched the rest of the bowl surface. Once I polished it some it would blend in very well.I polished the bowl and the shank with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded with each pad and wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each pad. I paused the polishing and touched up the stain on the bowl front and the rim top. It really was looking much better at this point. Once it cured I went back to polishing with the micromesh. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl, rim top and shank with my fingertips and a shoe brush to get it in to the crevices and valleys. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The bowl really looks good at this point. I polished the nickel ferrule on the shank end with a jeweller’s cloth. It works to polish and protect the metal from further oxidation. It is a great looking addition to the pipe. With the bowl and the stem finished I put the Borlum KB&B Italian Briar Bent Billiard with an unbreakable stem back together and buffed it on the wheel using Blue Diamond to give it a shine. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the wheel. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It really is a great looking pipe. The dimensions of the pipe are – Length: 4 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of this large pipe is 1.20 ounces /33 grams. This Borlum KB&B Italian Briar Bent Billiard is another great looking pipe. It is much more beautiful in person than these photos can capture. I will be putting it in my older American Pipe Collection to enjoy in the future.  This is another pipe that has the possibility of transporting the pipe man or woman back to a slower paced time in history where you can enjoy a respite. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me.

Restoring a Danish Made Barling Make International 911 Brandy

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is a pipe that we picked up from an eBay seller in Jordan, Minnesota, USA on 01/22/2024. This one was a nice looking sandblast Brandy that has a classic Barling look. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads Barling in script [over] Make [over] International [over] Made in Denmark. On the shank end at the joint of the stem it is stamped with the shape number 911. On the top of the saddle stem it is stamped with the Barling cross logo. It has some smooth panels mid bowl on the left and right side. The sandblast around the bowl shows some nice grain patterns. There was lot of grime and oils ground into the finish around the bowl and the shank. The pipe was dirty but the contrasting dark and medium brown stains highlighted the grain of the briar. There was a thick cake in the bowl. The rim top had a thick coat of lava overflowing from the bowl. The edges looked good but a clean up would tell the story. The rim top was crowned. The stem is a vulcanite saddle shape that has the Barling cross on the top of the saddle. It was oxidized, calcified and had some tooth chatter and tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. The pipe showed a lot of promise but it was a mess. Jeff took pictures of the pipe before he did his clean up work. He took photos of the rim top and bowl as well as the stem surfaces to show the condition of the well smoked pipe. You can see the cake in the bowl and the lava on the inner edge and rim top. The outer edge of the bowl is in good condition. It appears to have a nicely rounded crown on the rim top. The stem was lightly oxidized, calcified and had scratches, tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give a sense of the sandblast finish and the grain around the bowl. It should clean up very well. He captured the stamping on the sides of the shank and stem. It reads as noted above and is clear and readable. He also took photos of the Barling cross on the top of the saddle stem. The stem also has a white acrylic spacer that fits between the shank end and the stem face. I like to do background research on the pipes I am working on. I did a quick search on the rebornpipes blog and found a blog written by Paresh that gives some great background information (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/09/16/a-fresh-lease-on-life-for-a-barling-t-v-f-911-made-in-denmark/). I quote from it below:

I had previously worked on a couple of Barling pipes from my inherited pipe collection; here are the links to both the write up,  https://rebornpipes.com/2019/03/26/a-simple-restoration-of-an-early-transition-era-barling-2639/, https://rebornpipes.com/2018/12/10/decking-out-my-grandfathers-battered-pre-transition-barling-1354/   and had researched this brand then. To refresh my memory, I revisited the write ups and also pipedia.org. Here is an interesting excerpt from pipedia.org (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Barling)

In the late 1970’s production of Barling pipes was shifted to Denmark where Eric Nording manufactured Barling pipes for Imperial. There may have been other factories, but as of this writing, none has been identified. Nording stated that he made approximately 100.000 pipes for Imperial.

Despite these attempts to diversify the line, Barling lost its market. These pipes just weren’t equivalent to the family era pipes. Finally, Imperial decided to close down the Barling operations entirely by 1980.

Paresh discerned from the above information that the pipe currently on his work table is from the period between late 1970’s to 1980 and most likely carved by master craftsman Eric Nording!! For me the fascinating thing is that the pipe I am working on is from the same master and the same carver.

Now it was time to look at it up close and personal. Jeff had removed the cake and the lava on the rim top. He had reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He took the cake back to bare briar so we could check the walls for damage. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime on the bowl and rim and was able to remove the lava and dirt. He cleaned out the interior of the bowl and shank with shank brushes, pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until they came out clean. He cleaned the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the grime on the exterior. He cleaned out the airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my work on it today. I took a close up photo of the cleaned up rim top. The rim top and the inner edge look good. The bowl is clean and the walls are undamaged. The stem looks good with some tooth chatter and marks along the top and underside ahead of the button. The Barling Cross is faded with the cleaning.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank side. It is clear and readable as noted above. I took the stem off the pipe and took a photo. The thick shank billiard is an attractive looking pipe with nice lines. The taper stem shows tooth damage on the top and undersides of the stem. I started my work on the pipe by working over the rim top and the bowl and shank with a 320 grit sanding pad. I wiped the bowl down after sanding pad. The rim top began to take on a shine.I polished the rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the rim top down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. It really took on a shine. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips where it works to clean, restore and preserve the briar. I let it do its magic for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a cotton cloth. The pipe looks incredibly good at this point in the process. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. I touched up the stamping on the topside of the saddle stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I pointed it on with the applicator and scraped off the excess and lightly sanded it with a 1500 grit micromesh pad.I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a lighter. I was able to raise all of the tooth marks. I sanded out the light remnants that remained with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. Once finished I wiped it down with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It looked much better. I continued to polish the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it further with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to absorb the oil. I am excited to finish this Made in Denmark Barling Make International 911 Brandy made by Eric Nording. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and then by hand with a microfibre cloth to deepen it. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful sandblast grain all around the bowl and shank and the smooth well grained crowned rim top. The polished grain on the pipe looks great with the black hard rubber stem. This Danish Barling Make International 911 Brandy is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 44 grams/1.55 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will soon be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipemakers Section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Remember we are the next in a long line of pipe men and women who will carry on the trust of our pipes until we pass them on to the next trustee. Thanks for your time reading this blog.

Reworking another newly acquired trade, a Pipe by Lee Limited Edition Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

A month or so ago I received an email from a fellow in Japan who had some pipes he wanted to sell. He sent me a few and one of them was this interesting smooth finish Dublin. The pipe was clearly stamped on the left side and read Pipes by Lee [over] Limited Edition. On the right side it was stamped An Authentic [over] Imported Briar. The stamping was clear and readable. The bowl has been reamed and the pipe cleaned. The shank is very clean inside and the pipe smelled very clean. It was so clean that I don’t think the pipe had been smoked since the fellow in Japan picked it up. The rim top was clean though there was some scratches on the rim top and the inside edge of the rim showed damage on the right side. There was no damage to the outer edges. The pipe had been given a shiny top coat. The stem looked good. It was polished and there appeared to be a repair on the underside ahead of the button. There was probably a bite through that had been repaired and it was very well done. Overall, I am happy with it but I will need to remove the shiny varnish coat. I will need to polish the repair on the underside of the stem to bring the shine out. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it.   I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition of the bowl and the top. You can see clean bowl and marks on the rim top. The inner edge is slightly out of round. The stem looks very good with no tooth damage and no oxidation on the surface of the vulcanite. The repair on the underside of the stem is visible but is solid and very hard. It looks like an epoxy putty repair.I took photos to show the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the stinger apparatus in the stem and the three gold stars on the top of the taper. I took the stem off and took a photo of the pipe to show its condition. I remembered that Aaron Henson had written about the restoration of a Pipes By Lee 3 Star Rhodesian he had restored in the past so I turned there first to read about it. I am including the link to the blog if you wish to check it out on your own. (https://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=37004&action=edit&classic-editor).

Aaron had included pic of the flyer to the left that gives a sense of the hierarchy of the brand. I know that even though the flyer says it goes up to 5 stars I have seen 7 star pipes in the past.

I reread Aaron’s blog and when I finished I turned to Pipedia for any additional information but did not find anything new. I have included the link in case some of you might want to check it out (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Lee).

I checked also on Pipephil’s site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-l3.html). I have included a screen capture of the material below. I also included the information from the sidebar below the screen capture. It is helpful information.This brand was distributed by Stewart-Allen Co, Inc. NY. Grading (ascending): 1 to 5 stars. Early pipes have seven pointed brass stars, middle run have five points and later pipes are stamped with coloured gold stars. Lee seconds: Briar Lee , Gold Coast.

Now I had a pretty good idea of how the pipe was stamped and made. With that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. I started my work on the pipe by cleaning up the inner edge of the rim. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage on the front left side. I gave the edge a slight bevel to minimize the damage. It looked much better when finished. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads to remove the uneven coat of varnish or shellac on the briar. I used 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl, rim top and shank with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. The contrasts in the layers of stain really made the grain stand out. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The bowl really looks good at this point. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. The stem looked quite good but as I noted above there was a rather large repair on the underside of the stem near the button. My guess is that there was a bite through that was repaired. The repair looked quite good and was solid. It looks like a two-part epoxy repair. It is solid and slightly lighter in colour than the stem. I sanded the repaired with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to polish that area. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad. I applied some black CA glue to the top of the repair to darken it and in doing so found another repair on the topside – a hairline crack in the surface of the stem ahead of the button. I covered that with black CA glue at the same time. Once that cured I sanded it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads -dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished this stage in the polishing with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine Polishing Compound to protect and deepen the shine. The repairs were less visible but still present. With the bowl and the stem finished I put the Lee Limited Edition 3 Star Dublin back together and buffed it on the wheel using Blue Diamond to give it a shine. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the wheel. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It really is a great looking pipe. 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. The weight of this pipe is 1.02 ounces /29 grams. This Pipes by Lee Limited Edition 3 Star Dublin is another great looking pipe. It is much more beautiful in person than these photos can capture. The repairs on the stem are solid and the pipe will be a great deal for someone. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the American (US) Pipemakers Section soon. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. This is another pipe that has the possibility of transporting the pipe man or woman back to a slower paced time in history where you can enjoy a respite. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me.

Restoring a Beautiful Imperial Old Bruyere 188 Chunky Billiard

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By Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is another pipe is another pipe that we picked up from the estate in Oregon City, Oregon, USA on 03/21/2024. This one was a nice looking thick shanked Billard that reminds me of Dunhill LB pipes. It has some nice grain patterns. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Imperial in script [over] Old Bruyere [over] Made in England. To the right of that is stamped the  which is the symbol for a Registered Trademark. On the right side of the shank it is stamped next to the bowl with the shape number 188. The smooth finish had some very nice grain but there was a lot of grime and oils ground into the finish around the bowl and the shank. The pipe was dirty but is quite nice natural tones of the briar. There was a moderate cake in the lower portion of the bowl. The inner edge looked quite good. The outer edge was rounded and damaged giving the rim top a crowned look. The stem seems to be hard rubber rather than vulcanite that leads me to think it is an older pipe. It has a stamp on the left side of the taper that reads Imperial with the tail of the “l” curving under the rest of the stamp in the same script as the stamp on the shank. It had some light oxidized and had some tooth chatter and tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. The pipe showed a lot of promise but it was a mess. Jeff took pictures of the pipe before he did his clean up work. He took photos of the rim top and bowl as well as the stem surfaces to show the condition of the well smoked pipe. You can see the light cake in the bowl and the light lava on the inner edge and rim top. There is also some roughening on the outer edge at the front and back of the bowl. It appears to have been rounded over giving the rim top a bit of an artificial crown. The stem was lightly oxidized, calcified and had scratches, tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give a sense of the grain and the shiny varnish or shellac coat on the exterior of the bowl. It is definitely an addition that will need to be removed. He captured the stamping on the sides of the shank and stem. On the left side it reads as noted above. On the right side it is stamped with the shape number 188. To capture the stamping on the left side Jeff had to take a few extra photos. I turned to Pipephil to get a quick overview of the background information on the Imperial brand (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-i.html). There was no background information on the site this time but the photos below are helpful in terms of the stamping on the shank and the stem.I turned to Pipedia for more information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Tobacco_Co.). I quote the article below.

From Pipes, Artisans and Trademarks, by Jose Manuel Lopés’

The Imperial Tobacco Co. (Imperial Tobacco Ltd.) was founded in 1901 through the merger of several British tobacco companies. In 1902 it went into partnership with the American Tobacco Company to found the British American Tobacco Company.

See also: Civic. Brands involved: Comoy’s, Bewlay, Nording, Ogden’s, Salmon & Gluckstein, and Steel’s

There was a great older advertisement on the link as well that highlighted the age of the brand. I have included that below.Now it was time to look at it up close and personal. Jeff had removed the cake and the lava on the rim top. He had reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He took the cake back to bare briar so we could check the walls for damage. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime on the bowl and rim and was able to remove the lava and dirt. He cleaned out the interior of the bowl and shank with shank brushes, pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until they came out clean. He cleaned the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the grime on the exterior. He cleaned out the airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my work on it today. I took a close up photo of the cleaned up rim top. The rim top and the inner edge look good. The damage on the outer edge of the bowl shows up as rounding on the front and the back of the bowl. The bowl is clean and the walls are undamaged. The stem looks good with some tooth chatter and marks along the top and underside ahead of the button. The stem is hard rubber which makes the work more difficult on the tooth marks.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank side. It is clear and readable as noted above. I took the stem off the pipe and took a photo. The thick shank billiard is an attractive looking pipe with nice lines. The taper stem shows tooth damage on the top and undersides of the stem. I started my work on the pipe by working over the rim top and the bowl and shank with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad. The bowl began to take on a shine. I used a Cherry stain pen to restain the rim top and edges to match the colour of the rest of the bowl. The match will be perfect once I finish the next stage of polishing.I polished the smooth rim top and areas on the bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. After each pad I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. It really took on a shine and the fills were less noticeable by the last three sanding pads. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips where it works to clean, restore and preserve the briar. I let it do its magic for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a cotton cloth. The pipe looks incredibly good at this point in the process. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter. I was able to lift all of them to the point where sanding the stem with 220 grit sandpaper should smooth the rest of them out.I touched up the faint stamping on the left side of the taper stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I pointed it on with the applicator and scraped off the excess and lightly sanded it with a 1500 grit micromesh pad. I sanded out the remnants of the tooth marks with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and was able to remove all of the remaining marks. Once finished the stem looked very good.I sanded the stem surface with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped down the stem after each pad using a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. It started looking better as each step took it closer to the finished look.I continued to polish the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it further with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to cure. I am excited to finish this Imperial Old Bruyere  Made in England 188 Billiard. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and then by hand with a microfibre cloth to deepen it. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful straight grain all around it. The polished grain on the pipe looks great with the black hard rubber stem. This Imperial Old Bruyere Billiard is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 53 grams/1.87 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will soon be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Remember we are the next in a long line of pipe men and women who will carry on the trust of our pipes until we pass them on to the next trustee. Thanks for your time reading this blog.

Restoring a tired and worn Dunhill Shell 41111 Lovat

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Blog by Steve Laug

I took a second Dunhill to the work table. It was I picked up while I was in Idaho. It was one that we had purchased from a friend in Denmark on May 22, 2024. It is a petite and worn Dunhill Shell Lovat. The stamping on the underside of the shank read 41111 on the heel of the bowl. That is followed by Dunhill Shell [over] Made in England followed by a number 18 to the right of the D in England that will help me date the pipe. The bowl had been reamed not long ago. There was some dust and debris in the light sandblast on the rim and the inner edge had some darkening. The outer edge looked very good. The sandblast finish was worn and dirty but it could not hide the lovely blast around the bowl and shank. There were some very worn areas on the left side of the shank. The oxidized and tarnished silver band on the shank appears to be cosmetic as there are no visible cracks in the shank. The band is stamped with AD in a diamond which is the Alfred Dunhill stamp. It also reads .925 which is the quality of sterling silver. The stem was clean and there were light tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. There also appeared to be a hairline crack in the middle of the button on the topside. The classic Dunhill White Spot was on top of the saddle stem. I took a few photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I sent the photos to Paul and he is excited about it. I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. The bowl itself had been recently reamed. The rim top showed a coat of lava and some darkening around the edge. The inner edge looked rough but a cleaning would make that clear. The outer edge looked very good. The photos of the stem show light oxidation and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The first photo shows a tiny hairline crack mid button and just over the edge.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The photos are blurry but you can see the shadow of the stamping. In person it is very readable. The stamp on the silver band is also very readable once the oxidation has been removed. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe. As is my regular practice, before I started my work on the pipe, I turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Shell Pipes to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Shell

A deep craggy sandblast with a black stain finish (usually made using Algerian briar) – the color of the stain used has varied over the years. Although there is some doubt as to them being the first to sandblast pipes, Dunhill’s Shell pipes, and the sandblasting techniques developed to create them are considered one of Dunhill’s greatest and most lasting contributions to the art of pipe making.

The documented history of Dunhill’s inception of the Shell is largely limited to patent applications — there are no catalog pages or advertisements promoting blasted pipes at the time. The preliminary work on the English patent (No. 1484/17) was submitted on October 13, 1917. The patent submission was completed half a year later, on April 12, 1918, followed by the granting of the English patent on October 14, 1918. This was less than a month before the end of The Great War on November 11th.

In 1986 Dunhill released a line of premium Shell finish pipes – “RING GRAIN”. These are high-quality straight grain pipes which are sandblasted. Initially only Ring Grain, but now in two different finishes. In 1995 the “Shilling” was introduced with Cumberland finish – it is an extremely rare series. These pipes exhibit a deeper blast characteristic of that of the 1930’s – mid-1960’s (and the limited ‘deep blast’ pipes of the early 1980s) and show a fine graining pattern. These are considered the best new Dunhills by many enthusiasts today and are very rare. The finish is sometimes described as tasting like vanilla at first, with the taste becoming more normal or good as the pipe breaks in.

There was also a link to a catalogue page that gave examples and dates that the various finishes were introduced (https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:Dunnypipescatalog-1.png).I turned to Pipephil’s dating guide to show how I arrived at the date of manufacture for this pipe (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). I am including the chart that is provided there for the dating a pipe. I have drawn a red box around the section. Since the pipe I am working on has a superscript suffix 18 after the D in England it points to the 1960 line on the chart below. To date it just add 1960 +18 for a date of 1978. I have drawn a red box around the pertinent section in the chart.I now knew that I was working on a Shell that came out in 1978 as far as I could tell by the date stamp. The shape of the pipe is 41111. From the shape chart on the site I could know that I was dealing with a Lovat (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shapes.html). I quote below for the interpretation

Dunhill pipes are stamped with a four digit code.
Digit 1: (from 1 to 6) denotes the size of the pipe (the group).
Digit 2: denotes the style of the mouthpiece (0,1=tapered, 2=saddle)
Digit 3 and 4: denote the generic pipe shape (in yellow in the chart on top) 

Example: 5102
(5 = size | 1 = tapered stem | 02 = Bent)

When 5 digits occur, the meaning of the 4 first remain the same

The pipe in hand is stamped 41111 which is a size/group 4 pipe, the 1 is for taper but on a Lovat it is a saddle as noted in the chart on the link above, the 111 is the shape of a Lovat.

Now it was time to work on the pipe. I cleaned up the oxidized silver band with a jeweller’s cloth to remove the tarnish and protect it from further tarnish. There was more work to do but at least at this point I could read the stamping on it clearly. I used a brass bristle wire brush to knock off some of the debris and lava on the rim top. I did this in preparation for scrubbing it with Murphy’s Oil Soap.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the grime and debris in the finish. I scrubbed out the mortise and tenon with small tube brushes and soap to remove the oils and tars in the shank area. I rinsed it with warm water to remove the grime and oils in the finish and shank. I dried it off with a soft cotton cloth. One of the benefits of doing this is that the briar in the nicks and dents on the bowl sides swell and virtually disappear. The pipe has a fresh look that really highlights the depths of the sandblast on the briar. I used a Walnut and a Mahogany stain pen to touch up the fading on the bowl sides. There were spots where the stain had faded and it added to the worn look. I restained it with these two stain pens and then used a black stain pen to touch up the spaces. The combination of the stains is very close to the colour on the Shell Briar. I let it dry and once it did it looked much better. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. The first photo shows the hairline crack on the top side of the button forward about 1/8 of an inch. I filled in the cracked area on the stem with rubberized black CA glue. I set the stem aside to let the repair cure.Once the repair had cured I sanded it smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to blend in the repair on the top of the stem. It looked much better and the repair was solid.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look good.When I finished polishing the stem with the sanding pads it dawned on me that I had not cleaned the internals of the shank and stem. My routine had been broken as this restoration was spread over the better part of a week. No excuse but that is what happened. So I paused the polishing and scrubbed out the inside of the shank, mortise and the airway in both the stem and the shank. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It cleaned up very well.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.  I put the 1978 Dunhill Shell 41111 Lovat bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl multiple 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 Shell Briar stains worked amazingly well with the polished vulcanite saddle stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. This is truly a beautiful Dunhill Shell 41111 Lovat. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.16 ounces/33 grams. I will be adding this to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section soon. It will be a definite good deal is you have been looking for a Dunhill. Let me know if you wish to add it to your rack. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

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

New Life for a Czechoslovakian Gold Spot Rusticated Pot Sitter with a Horn Stem

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By Steve Laug

A few weeks ago, I visited my Dad and family in Idaho Falls, Idaho. I stayed with Jeff and we went through pipes he had in boxes that needed clean up. I pulled a few of them out that caught my eye and brought them home with me. The next pipe on the table is one of those. We purchased it on 05/20/24 from an estate in Long Island, New York, USA. It is a rusticated pot with a smooth crowned rim cap. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank and read Gold Spot [over] Made in Czechoslovakia. The stamping of the Gold Spot brand had been done multiple times and was a bit hard to read. The finish was heavily rusticated with a finish even rougher than the Sea Rock finish. It was very dirty with a lot of grime built up in the valleys and ridges of the rustication. The bowl had a moderate cake in it and the rim top had a thick coat of lava built up. The inner edge of the bowl had lava on it and it appeared to have some damage. The horn stem had a push tenon. The tenon was metal/aluminum and had a stinger apparatus in the end. The stem was in rough condition with a lot of worm holes around the left side where it met the shank. There were also a lot of worm holes on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. There was also a worm hole on the underside of the stem mid stem. I took a few photos of the pipe in the car on the way home and have included them below. I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. The bowl had a thick cake and lava build up on the rim top. The inner edge was coated in lava but also appeared to be rough from previous reaming. The photos of the horn stem show the worm holes on the top at the stem/shank junction and on the underside mid stem. There were deep worm holes and tooth damage on both sides just ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping, though double stamped was readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe.I decided to do a bit of digging on the brand of the pipe. The rustication on the bowl and the stamping Made in Czechoslovakia is the same style as a pipe I did back in April of 2016. That one was an Old River is a stylized signature and this one is a Gold Spot in the same style of signature. I am including the information I gather on the blog I wrote on the Old River pipe. I had asked for information on the brand and was able to gather a lot of help. Here is the link to the blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/04/28/restoring-an-old-sea-slug-or-an-old-river-chubby-bent-apple/).

I received some responses on the blog. One of the most helpful ones was from a fellow named Tomas. Here is what he wrote to me:

Hello Rebornpipes, I am your big fan from Czech Republic in Europe. Old River pipes comes from Czechoslovakia, made in factory in “Prosec u Skutce”. This factory still works under name BPK.

Having that information was a great boost on identifying this pipe maker. I checked on Pipedia and found a link to BPK (https://pipedia.org/wiki/BPK). I quote:

A long tradition of producing pipes. BPK company exports pipes to more than 40 countries. The production of pipes has been traditionally connected with small town Prosec u Skutce since 1842. Prosec is situated in the heart of Czech Republic, approximately 150 km (93 miles) far from Prague. Since the change of political situation in 1989 the company BPK, Ltd has been continuing in the traditional production.

I Googled BPK pipes and found this link (https://www.pipeshop-saintclaude.com/bpk-343). I quote what it told me about the brand below:

Located in the town of Proseč, Czech Republic, the BPK workshop makes pipes since 1842. The firm succeeded at a time when pipe market was growing. At first, BPK pipes were actually not made with briar, but with other types of wood: alder, maple or pear tree. M. Zabor Bernard Kopperle (officer of the company) will only begin to use briar in 1910 for his pipes. The result is stunning because of the briar properties, particularly for tobaccos combustion: more heatproof and better for smokers when it comes to the taste. The BPK pipes success was immediate, and pipes were therefore exported in numerous neighbor countries. In the late 30s, more than 600 craftspeople worked for the production of BPK pipes! Nowadays, these pipes are still liked by smokers thanks to their classical design. Their silhouettes are simple and without any flourishes. Last criterion, and an important one: BPK pipes are proposed at an affordable price!

That gave me history on the brand and some connection to present pipes that are made by BPK but I still wanted to find a connection to the older company before the 1992 separation of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. That gave me a possible end date for the pipe. Though I cannot definitively prove it I am fairly certain that the pipe was made by BPK. I cannot find any listings for Gold Spot Made in Czechoslovakia pipes. The similarities to the finish on this one and the rustication on the various Old River pipes made by BPK lead to make the connection.

Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. I decided to do some work on the stem first. There were a significant number of worm holes in the material as visible in the pictures below. There were also some worm holes and tooth marks on the top and the underside of the stem ahead of the button. I wiped down the stem surface with alcohol on a cotton swab to remove any oils or debris from the worm holes or tooth damage areas. Once they were clean I filled them in with several layers of clear CA glue and set the stem aside to let the repairs cure.While the stem repairs cured I turned my attention to the bowl. I used a PipNet Pipe reamer first to take out the majority of the cake. It was a deep bowl so I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to clean up the remaining cake in the bowl and to scrape off the lava on the rim top. I used a dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the walls of the bowl. I checked for damage on the bowl walls and it was in good condition. I scraped the rim top with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I cleaned up the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 sandpaper. I scrubbed out the inside of the shank, mortise and the airway in both the stem and the bowl. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It cleaned up very well.I scrubbed the exterior of the briar with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the build up on the surface of the briar and clean off the lava on the rim top. I scrubbed it and then carefully rinsed the bowl with warm water. I dried it with a soft cotton cloth. It certainly looked significantly better and the patina remained in the wood. I polished the smooth briar with micromesh sanding pads to minimize the scratches in the briar. I dry sanded with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. By the end of the nine pads the briar took on a rich shine and the rim top looked very good. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips o make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. The repairs to the stem surface had cured. I used several files to flatten the repaired areas ahead of the mouthpiece and around the shank end. I cleaned up the file areas with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the stem surface. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.  I put the Gold Spot Made in Czechoslovakia Rusticated Pot bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the repaired horn stem. I gave the bowl multiple 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 reddish/brown stains worked amazingly well with the polished horn taper stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. This is truly a beautiful BPK Gold Spot Rusticated Pot. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.98 ounces/55 grams. For now, this one will join the Old River Pipe in my collection and be enjoyed with some good Virginia very soon. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

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

Restoring a Mystery Campaign Calabash Pipe with a White Star Logo

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by Steve Laug

Last week I received a package of pipes to work on for a friend, Scott. I had no idea what was coming but when it arrived I was surprised with the interesting and amazing pieces he included for me to work on. These included a nice looking large Dunhill 841 ODA Lovat, a Campaign pipe with a Calabash style bowl and a start on the stem, a Sasieni 2 Dot London Made Canadian with a Lovat style saddle stem, and finally an older GBD MR&Co silver banded 5 Lovat. All of them are quite lovely and also interesting for me to be able to work on. I took a photo of the box when I unpacked the pipes.The final pipe I chose to work on from this lot was the Campaign style pipe with buffed out logos and stamping on the shank sides. The pipe has a smooth, rich brown finish. The stamping has been either buffed out or was absent. The bowl had a moderate cake in it and the rim top and inner edges had a heavy lava built up. When the bowl is unscrewed from the base the inside of the calabash is dirty and has a thick tar coat in it. The finish on the bowl and shank were worn and dirty with grime and darkening ground into the surface all around the bowl and shank. Under the tars the rim top and inner and outer edges of the bowl appeared to be in ok condition but cleaning would tell the story. The saddle stem was calcified and oxidized and there were tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. There was also a bite through on the underside of the stem against the button. There is a inlaid white star on the topside of the saddle portion of the stem. I took a few photos of the pipe before I started working on the pipe and have included them below. I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. The briar calabash bowl itself had a thick cake on the walls and bowl bottom. The rim top showed a heavy coat of lava and the inner edge was heavily caked and its condition would be revealed with cleaning. The outer edge looks good. The photos of the stem show the oxidation, calcification and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There is a large bite through on the underside of the stem ahead of the button.I unscrewed the calabash bowl from the base and took photos of the parts. You can see from the photos that the inside of the base is very dirty with tars and oils. There is a lot of debris in the bottom of the base as well. I checked on Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-f4.html) to see if I could find something with a similar star on the stem. I found a pipe made by Frank that had the same five-point white star as the stem I am working on. It could very well have been made for Frank.I went back and read over the blogs I have written on previous Campaign pipes that I restored. I am attaching the link to one of the blogs and some of the information that I found in researching the brand at that time. (https://rebornpipes.com/tag/wdc-campaign-calabash-pipe/). The information is all on the WDC made Campaign pipe but the information is helpful.

In my online research I found a brief interchange on a Google group. I include the link if you would like to read it in context and its entirety. It gives some helpful information regarding this particular pipe. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.smokers.pipes/kpkpd3zXoiwExcerpt from pipedia.org

To a request for information regarding the WDC Campaign pipe on the Google Group there was quite a long string of answers. I am quoting two of those in full…

Respondent 1: While I can’t say anything about this pipe specifically, I have a hazy memory of that shape listed in a book about pipes; (I may be totally misremembering this, but here goes) the shape being called the “Dawes”, named after Harding’s Vice President?  Anyone else remember this? Sounds like an interesting pipe, whatever it’s called…

Respondent 2: From Weber’s Guide to Pipes: “The Dawes Pipe (more correctly named the Lyons, after its inventor, Charles Herbert Lyons) happened to be the favorite pipe of General Charles G. Dawes, Vice-President of the USA from 1925 to 1929. General Dawes smoked the curious pipe incessantly and it became popularly known as the Dawes Underslung, because the shank joined the bowl near its rim.”

I looked on Pipedia, (https://pipedia.org/wiki/William_Demuth_Company) and I quote in part from the article on the William Demuth Company.

The Demuth Company is probably well known for the famous trademark, WDC in an inverted equilateral triangle. William commissioned the figurative meerschaum Presidential series, 29 precision-carved likenesses of John Adams, the second president of the United States (1797-1801) to Herbert Hoover, the 30th president (1929-1933), and “Columbus Landing in America,” a 32-inch-long centennial meerschaum masterpiece that took two years to complete and was exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

The Presidential series was the result of Demuth’s friendship with President James A. Garfield, a connoisseur of meerschaum pipes. Demuth presented two pipes to Garfield at his inauguration in 1881, one in his likeness, the other in the likeness of the President’s wife. Later, Demuth arranged for another figurative matching the others to be added to the collection as each new president acceded to the White House, terminating with President Hoover.

From the above information I learned some significant details about the Campaign pipe. It was invented by Charles Herbert Lyons and was the favourite pipe of General Charles G. Dawes who was the Vice President of the USA under President Harding from 1925-1929. It fits nicely into that period when WDC was having Presidential Pipes commissioned ending in 1933. That places this old pipe in the time period between the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Now it was time to work on the pipe. I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to clean up the cake in the bowl. I used a dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the walls of the bowl. I checked for damage on the bowl walls and it was in good condition. I also sanded the inside of the base with the dowel and sandpaper. I scraped the rim top with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I cleaned up the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 sandpaper. I scrubbed the exterior of the briar with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the build up on the surface of the briar and clean off the lava on the rim top. I scrubbed it and then carefully rinsed the bowl with warm water. I dried it with a soft cotton cloth. It certainly looked significantly better and the patina remained in the wood. I scrubbed out the inside of the shank, mortise and the airway in both the stem and the bowl. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It cleaned up very well. I also wiped down the inside of the base with alcohol and paper towels.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads to minimise the scratches in the briar. I dry sanded with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. By the end of the nine pads the briar took on a rich shine and the rim top looked very good. I paused the polishing to stain the rim top with a Cherry stain pen to match the rest of the bowl and shank. The stain is a bit spotty in the photo but once it is buffed out and further polished the blend is perfect. I went back to polishing the stem with the remaining sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris and dust. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. The stem had a metal tube in the tenon to strengthen the connection. I needed to deal with was the bite through on the underside just ahead of the button before I did much else with the stem. I rubbed some Vaseline onto a folded pipe cleaner and pushed it into the airway underneath the hole. The Vaseline would keep the CA glue repair from sticking to the pipe cleaner. I filled in the hole with Black CA glue that was extra strength and had rubber in the mix. I sprayed it with an accelerator to harden the glue so I could pull the pipe cleaner out. Once the surface hardened I was able to remove the pipe cleaner. I set the stem aside for the repair to cure overnight. This morning I used a small file to flatten the repair and to remove the tooth marks on the topside of the stem.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation and smooth out the repair to the stem surface. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.  I put the Bowl and the Base of the Campaign Pipe bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. 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 reddish/brown stains worked amazingly well with the polished vulcanite taper stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. This is truly a beautiful Campaign Underslung Calabash Style Pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.45 ounces/41 grams. With this one finished I can pack up Scott’s pipes and send them back to him in the week ahead. I am sure he will soon add them into his rotation and enjoy some great smokes. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

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