Tag Archives: shaping a stem

Rejuvenating another Royal Comoy – a 298 Saddle Stem Lumberman

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is another beautiful Comoy Royal – a Lumberman with a vulcanite saddle stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the top side of the shank and reads Royal [over] Comoy. On the underside it is stamped with the Comoy COM stamp – in this case Made in London in a circle over England [followed by] the shape number 298 next to the bowl shank union. The stamping is clear and readable. It has rich finish with a blend of brown stains that highlight the grain around the bowl and shank that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava on the top and edges. The stem was quite dirty and oxidized. The stem was quite dirty and oxidized. It had a three part C on the left side of the saddle stem. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem.The stamping on the top and underside of the shank are shown in the photos below. It looks very good and is readable. It reads as noted and explained above. I captured the detail in the photos below. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the proportion and look of the pipe. Al Jones, upshallfan has worked on several Royal Comoy pipes in the past and had some write ups on rebornpipes. I have included the link and the pertinent information below.

https://rebornpipes.com/2015/01/28/royal-comoy-603/

I couldn’t find much about the Royal grade and this one was particularly unusual in that it was only stamped “Comoy” versus “Comoys”.  The only reference point I could find was an old Ebay ad from Tony Soderman see below and the accompanying picture.  He describes the grade as below.  I find very few use of the singular “Comoy” stamping.  This pipe doesn’t feel like a Blue Riband quality grade and my selling price definitely didn’t reflect that either.  Tony uses “Comoy” and “Comoys” in his ad titles which makes the designation a little less clear.  At any rate, it is a Comoy not often seen.

Old timers know that the ROYAL COMOY was the predecessor to the fabled “Blue Riband”!!! The name is from the “old” Comoy’s Nomenclature (like “Prima,” “Grand Slam,” “Old Bruyere,” “Lions Head” and so on). Those pre-date the more familiar modern grading (like “Selected Straight Grain,” “Blue Riband,” “Specimen Straight Grain” and so forth). While the Blue Riband was NEVER Comoy’s highest grade, the ROYAL COMOY originally appeared as the absolute top-of-the-line Comoy in the late 1930’s! (ALL pre-World War II Royal Comoy’s were top-of-the-line pipes!) The Royal was “downgraded” only though the addition of higher grades (much like Charatan did indirectly downgrading their top-of-the-line “Supreme” through the addition of higher grades)! Shortly before World War II, Comoy replaced the ROYAL COMOY with the Blue Riband (at the same time as they introduced the Specimen Straight Grain). The ROYAL COMOY reappeared after World War II and was always a HIGH GRADE Comoy – – – either at or near the TOP-OF-THE-LINE!!! From there I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-comoy.html). I have included a screen capture of the listing for Royal Comoy that was there. It is interesting to me in that the Royal Comoy that I am working on is the same shape number as the one shown in the photo. I also have included the side bar information.Three pieces (two black, one white) inlaid “C” logo. This marking/inlay method was canceled in the early 80s.

I thought Pipedia was worth checking on the Royal Comoy and it took some digging but I did find it buried in a list of brands. It was just two lines but had some interesting information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/A_History_Of_Comoy%27s_and_A_Guide_Toward_Dating_the_Pipes). I quote from there below.

Royal. The Royal has always been a high-grade Comoy, and, pre-WW II, it was the highest standard grade after the Prima was dropped. Priced at $7.50 in 1936.

I wanted to know when the line was dropped so I googled (https://vkpipes.com/pipeline/comoys-royal-185/) for further information. I found some helpful information on the vkpipes site. I quote that below.

The Comoy’s Royal grade is both one of the oldest and one of the rarest to date. Royal Comoy pipes appeared in the late 1930s and were then considered the absolute highest grade. However, very soon, the Royal pipes were replaced by the Blue Ribband series. After the Second World War the Royal series reappeared as one of the top lines until it was discontinued in the early 1980s. In any case, all our sources agree that “The Royal has always been a high-grade Comoy.”

From what I can find the brand was displaced as top of the line when the Blue Riband came out in 1936. It seemed to have been dropped shortly after that and then reappeared after WWII as a top line until it was discontinued in the early 1980s. Now it was time to start working on the pipe.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the second and third cutting head. I took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and then sanded the bowl walls with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. The bowl looked very good at this point there were no burn marks and only light checking on the walls. I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners.I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the rim top and inner bevel of the rim. Once it was finished it looked significantly better.I sanded the bowl and shank with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. It was beginning to look very good. 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 sanding pad. The pipe began to take on a rich finish. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the rusticated rim top and the smooth briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite 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. This interestingly stamped Royal Comoy 298 Saddle Stem Lumberman with a vulcanite saddle stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The rich browns and blacks of the contrasting stains came alive with the polishing and waxing. 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 buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Royal Comoy 298 Lumberman is a beauty and fits nicely in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe 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 35 grams/1.20 ounces. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!

Rejuvenating a Royal Comoy 480 Saddle Stem Dublin

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a beautiful Comoy Royal Dublin with a straight vulcanite saddle stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Royal [over] Comoy. On the right side it is stamped with the Comoy COM stamp – in this case Made in London in a circle over England [followed by] the shape number 480 next to the bowl shank union. The stamping is clear and readable. It has rich finish with a blend of brown stains that highlight the grain around the bowl and shank that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava on the top and edges. The stem was quite dirty and oxidized. It had a three part C on the left side of the saddle stem. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem.The stamping on the sides of the shank is shown in the photos below. It looks very good and is readable. It reads as noted and explained above. I captured the detail in the photos below. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the proportion and look of the pipe. Al Jones, upshallfan has worked on several Royal Comoy pipes in the past and had some write ups on rebornpipes. I have included the link and the pertinent information below.

https://rebornpipes.com/2015/01/28/royal-comoy-603/

I couldn’t find much about the Royal grade and this one was particularly unusual in that it was only stamped “Comoy” versus “Comoys”.  The only reference point I could find was an old Ebay ad from Tony Soderman see below and the accompanying picture.  He describes the grade as below.  I find very few use of the singular “Comoy” stamping.  This pipe doesn’t feel like a Blue Riband quality grade and my selling price definitely didn’t reflect that either.  Tony uses “Comoy” and “Comoys” in his ad titles which makes the designation a little less clear.  At any rate, it is a Comoy not often seen.

Old timers know that the ROYAL COMOY was the predecessor to the fabled “Blue Riband”!!! The name is from the “old” Comoy’s Nomenclature (like “Prima,” “Grand Slam,” “Old Bruyere,” “Lions Head” and so on). Those pre-date the more familiar modern grading (like “Selected Straight Grain,” “Blue Riband,” “Specimen Straight Grain” and so forth). While the Blue Riband was NEVER Comoy’s highest grade, the ROYAL COMOY originally appeared as the absolute top-of-the-line Comoy in the late 1930’s! (ALL pre-World War II Royal Comoy’s were top-of-the-line pipes!) The Royal was “downgraded” only though the addition of higher grades (much like Charatan did indirectly downgrading their top-of-the-line “Supreme” through the addition of higher grades)! Shortly before World War II, Comoy replaced the ROYAL COMOY with the Blue Riband (at the same time as they introduced the Specimen Straight Grain). The ROYAL COMOY reappeared after World War II and was always a HIGH GRADE Comoy – – – either at or near the TOP-OF-THE-LINE!!! From there I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-comoy.html). I have included a screen capture of the listing for Royal Comoy that was there. It is interesting to me in that I have a second Royal Comoy that is the same shape number. I also have included the side bar information. There are three pieces (two black, one white) inlaid “C” logo. This marking/inlay method was canceled in the early 80s.

I thought Pipedia was worth checking on the Royal Comoy and it took some digging but I did find it buried in a list of brands. It was just two lines but had some interesting information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/A_History_Of_Comoy%27s_and_A_Guide_Toward_Dating_the_Pipes). I quote from there below.

Royal. The Royal has always been a high-grade Comoy, and, pre-WW II, it was the highest standard grade after the Prima was dropped. Priced at $7.50 in 1936.

I wanted to know when the line was dropped so I googled (https://vkpipes.com/pipeline/comoys-royal-185/) for further information. I found some helpful information on the vkpipes site. I quote that below.

The Comoy’s Royal grade is both one of the oldest and one of the rarest to date. Royal Comoy pipes appeared in the late 1930s and were then considered the absolute highest grade. However, very soon, the Royal pipes were replaced by the Blue Ribband series. After the Second World War the Royal series reappeared as one of the top lines until it was discontinued in the early 1980s. In any case, all our sources agree that “The Royal has always been a high-grade Comoy.”

From what I can find the brand was displaced as top of the line when the Blue Riband came out in 1936. It seemed to have been dropped shortly after that and then reappeared after WWII as a top line until it was discontinued in the early 1980s. Now it was time to start working on the pipe.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the second and third cutting head. I took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and then sanded the bowl walls with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. The bowl looked very good at this point there were no burn marks and only light checking on the walls. I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the rim top and inner bevel of the rim. Once it was finished it looked significantly better.I sanded the bowl and shank with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. It was beginning to look very good. 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 sanding pad. The pipe began to take on a rich finish. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the rusticated rim top and the smooth briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite 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. This interestingly stamped Royal Comoy 480 Saddle Stem Dublin with a vulcanite saddle stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The rich browns and blacks of the contrasting stains came alive with the polishing and waxing. 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 buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Royal Comoy 480 Dublin is a beauty and fits nicely in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. 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 the pipe is 29 grams/1.02 ounces. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!

Restemming and Breathing Life into a Dunhill Tanshell 59 Billiard

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a beautiful Dunhill Tanshell Billiard with a straight vulcanite saddle stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads 59 on the heel of the bowl followed by Dunhill [over] Tanshell. Following that it is stamped Made in [over] England with the number 8 underlined and in superscript after the D. Below the 8 there is a superscript underlined 9. The stamping is clear and readable. It has rich finish with a blend of brown stains that highlight the depths of the sandblast around the bowl and shank that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava on the top and edges. The stem was quite dirty and oxidized. It was the wrong stem for the pipe as it was a Charatan Double Comfort Stem rather than a white spot stem. It will need to be replaced with a Dunhill stem. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it.   I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem.The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It looks very good and is readable. It reads as noted and explained above. I captured the detail in the photos below. I need to fit the bowl with a new stem and will take photos then.One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/tanshell1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number 59 is the shape number for a Billiard. The Tanshell stamp refers to the finish which is corroborated the T at the end of the stamping. The size of the pipe 4 in a circle is a Group 4. The 8 following the D of England gives the date the pipe. There is also a 9 down and to the right of the 8. The second number is typically stamped to show the date the pipe sold to a retailer.Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has 8 following the D in England. That is followed by 9.

I followed the link following the “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The third column (suffix 5…9) led me to the section with an 8 after the D in England that a superscript. It is followed by a superscript 9. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1950 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 1958. The superscript 9 is the date it went to the retailers – 1959.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Root Briar to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Tanshell

The first lot was distributed in 1952 (usually made using Sardinian briar). The prototype was called “Root Shell “, produced in 1951. The Tanshell is a light tan sandblast. Sardinian briar was used for this sandblast. There is a distinct contrast in the sandblasts using Sardinian as opposed to Algerian briar. The Sardinian is much denser and much harder. The resulting pattern, when blasted, is far more even and regular both in terms of the surface texture and the finish.

The TanShell was Dunhill’s fourth finish and its first major post-war line addition. Introduced in 1951/1952 the TanShell was a naturally stained sandblasted pipe made exclusively from Sardinian briar through the 1960s. The TanShell apparently was not simply a light stained Shell but rather was also the product of “certain processes [unrevealed] not previously employed.” Initially, it appears that the pipe was to be named the Root Shell and a stamp to that effect was ordered and received by Dunhill in May 1951. Ultimately, however, the name TanShell was settled upon but the stamp for the TanShell name was not received by Dunhill until the beginning of December. Thus while the Tanshell was in production in 1951 it appears that most if not all TanShells made in that year did not enter into retail distribution until 1952 and were given a 1952 date code. Loring, J. C., The Dunhill Briar Pipe, The Patent Years and After (self-published, Chicago, 1998).

I have also included a chart from the site from Dunhill spelling out the Standard Pipe Finishes and giving short information and a timeline.Before I started working on the bowl I decided to see if I could restem it with an original Dunhill stem. I went through the boxes of pipes Jeff sent me and low and behold there was a Sasieni London Made 17 Billiard and it had a Dunhill White Spot taper stem. It looked like it would fit quite well. I removed the stem and checked it on the Tanshell. The tenon was a little large for the shank. I used a flat file and 220 grit sandpaper to reduce the diameter of the tenon to fit the shank.With that finished I inserted it in the shank and took photos of the fit. The diameter of the stem was very slightly wider than the shank. The flat bottom on the stem matched the flat portion of the shank. There were also some tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. I filled in the tooth marks with black CA glue and set the stem aside to let the repairs cure on the surface. It took about 20 minutes to harden. Once it hardened I flattened it with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to blend it into the vulcanite. I also worked on the diameter of the stem to reduce it to match diameter of the shank. I used the Dremel and sanding drum to further reduce the diameter of the stem. I worked it over further with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the scratches and blend in the marks to the surface of the vulcanite. I also wanted to really adjust the fit to the shank.I sanded the stem further with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads and wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It started to look very 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 set the stem aside and turned to work on the bowl. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the second and third cutting head. I took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and then sanded the bowl walls with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. The bowl looked very good at this point there were no burn marks and only light checking on the walls. I worked over the sandblast rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the debris in the valleys of the blast. It looked better.I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I continued scrubbing the bowl and rim top with Before & After Extra Strong Briar Cleaner. I scrubbed it with a brass bristle wire brush to clean out the rim top and the darkening on the backside of the bowl. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the rusticated rim top and the smooth briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I put the stem back on the bowl of this 1958 Dunhill Tanshell 59 Group 4 Billiard with a newly fitted Dunhill Taper Stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that was deep and craggy and crisp. The Tanshell finish highlights a classic Dunhill rugged sandblast around the bowl and shank. The polished black vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished lightweight Dunhill Tanshell 59 Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. 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 the pipe is 1.09 ounces/32 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I appreciate you taking time to read the writeup.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the 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.

Breathing Life into a GDB International London Made 357 Prince

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a beautiful GBD Prince with a slight bend to the vulcanite taper stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads GBD in an oval [over] International [over] London Made. On the right side it is stamped London. England [over] the shape number 357. The stamping is clear and readable. It has rich finish with a blend of black and brown stains that highlight the grain around the bowl and shank that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The International rusticated rim top had a thick lava coat on the top and edges. The stem was quite dirty and oxidized. It has a GBD brass logo on the left side and light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the lava coat on the rim top. There was some tobacco debris in the bottom of the bowl. The stem photos show the condition of the taper stem ahead of the button.The stamping on the sides of the shank is clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is a real beauty. I looked on Pipephil’s site for information on the particular International Line and found the following screen capture listed (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-gbd.html). It is interesting in that the second pipe pictured below is the same as the one I am working on. I also went to the GBD article on Pipedia and found nothing in the great historical article that was pertinent. I did follow a link to the GBD Model Information article to see if there was some help there (https://pipedia.org/wiki/GBD_Model_Information). The article listed the following information on the line.

International — France, unknown if also made in England: medium brown smooth, carved top rim, rim stained black. -TH: Matte take off finish “with just a hint of surface waxing” – catalog (1976)

That article gave me some helpful information. I knew that the pipe line often had a carved rim top stained black. The one I was working on was smooth and stained the same at the rest of the pipe. I also knew that the 357 shape number tied back to a classic GBD Prince. Now to work on the pipe.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I worked over the sandblast rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the debris in the valleys of the blast. It looked better.I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I restained the black rusticated/carved rim top with a black stain pen. I wanted it to match the original International Line stain. The rim top was originally black. Once stained it looked very good once the stain was complete.I sanded the bowl and shank with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. It was beginning to look very good. 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 sanding pad. The pipe began to take on a rich finish. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the rusticated rim top and the smooth briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite 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. This interestingly stamped GBD International London Made 357 Prince with a carved, rustic rim top and a vulcanite taper stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The rich browns and blacks of the contrasting stains came alive with the polishing and waxing. 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 buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished GBD International 357 Prince is a beauty and fits nicely in the hand and looks very good. 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 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 33 grams/1.16 ounces. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!

Reconditioning and Restoring a 1975 Republic Era Peterson’s Centenary 4S Bent Billiard

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a Peterson’s Deluxe Style pipe with a silver band and a saddle stem. I would call the shape a Bent Billiard but others may have other ideas. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Peterson’s in script [over] a block printed Centenary. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in the Republic of Ireland in three lines and underneath it is stamped with the shape number 4S. On the underside of the shank it is stamped 0/20. The stamping is clear and readable. The silver ferrule/band is stamped Sterling Silver arched over a circle that bears the stamping 1875 [over] Peterson [over] 1975. Underneath it is stamped with three silver hallmarks. The first was Hibernia seated, arm on a harp for the country of manufacture. The second was a Crowned Harp designating sterling quality. The third mark was a date stamp and, in this case, a lower-case cursive “h” which dated the pipe as a 1975. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava coat on the top and inner and back edges. The stem was quite dirty and lightly oxidized. It has light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show their general condition. You can see the tars on the bevelled inner edge of thick lava coated rim top. The cake in the bowl is quite thick and there is tobacco debris on the walls of the bowl. The finish on the bowl is very dirty with grime and oils ground into the bowl, but still very stunning. This pipe has a classic Peterson’s P-lip stem that has some light oxidation, calcification on the surface of the vulcanite. There is chatter and tooth marks on the top and underside.The stamping on the sides of the shank is faint in spots but readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. You can also see the aluminum chimney in the tenon end. The pipe is a real beauty. I did a bit of work on Google to gather background on the Centenary line of pipes. The first information I found was on the Peterson’sPipenotes.org website that gave a general base of information (https://petersonpipenotes.org/preserving-a-peterson-centenary-commemorative-xl339/). I quote from the description of the line below. I have highlighted several key portions in bold black for emphasis.

On my first visit to the Peterson factory in 2009, I fell into a conversation about the stand-out pipes in Peterson’s long history with then-factory manager Tony Whelan, Sr. and silversmith David Blake, since retired. They began a back-and-forth litany of the pipes they felt were truly important in the time they’d been working there. Their list began with the 1975 Centenary pipes.

1975 was an incredible year for Peterson, a high-water mark not seen since the 1910s: pipe sales were going through the roof, the company had a new factory out in what was then the countryside of Dún Laoghaire (the workers played football in the field behind it for many years), and they were celebrating what they thought of as their 100th Anniversary. As part of that celebration, the company released the first of its true commemorative pipes—the 1875 – 1975 Centenary issues. Unsmoked and with their original boxes and certificates, these will become among the most highly sought-after collectibles in the Peterson world, and they deserve to be for a number of reasons:

  • they were the first true commemoratives of the company;
  • they were among the first forays into the “collectible mindset” that would signal a sea change in the pipe-collecting world at the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s;
  • the bowls were high grades;
  • they were individually, serially stamped by bowl shape – that is, “x” out of so many—it could be 1/11 or 22/83, depending on the bowls Peterson was able to source in that particular shape;
  • they all featured the complete P-Lip: button, graduated bore, aluminum tenon;
  • the bent shapes featured a System reservoir.

Issued in smooth bowls, they were uniformly given a deep undercoat of black – you’ll notice the striking black grain pattern popping through – followed by a rich dark mahogany top coat. The sterling bands were stamped with the 1875 – 1975 Centenary logo, hallmarked “h.”

I turned to Pipedia to see what I could find. Buried in a paragraph in the Republic Era section was a note on the Centennial Limited Edition (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson). I quote below:

In 1975 Peterson issued the Centennial Limited Edition 1875 – 1975. The Peterson Centennial pipes, were released in celebration of 100 years of the company’s pipe making. Two pipes were issued, 100 of each shape, a sterling silver banded straight and a bent shape 69, both were offered for sale individually.

The quote above spells out something that is a bit different from the pipe I have in hand. The above talks about two pipes in lots of 100 pipes – a sterling silver banded straight and bent 69. However, the pipe I have is a Deluxe 4S shape.

From that information I knew how the DeLuxe fit in the hierarchy of Peterson’s pipes. It was always the highest tier of the System pipes. It also was made with the gap in the fit of the stem to the shank on purpose with the idea that the distance would decrease over time with prolonged use. The attachment of a aluminum chimney at the end of the tenon to maximize System performance.

From there I also turned to Pipedia to read an article by Jim Lilley – take time to read it at the link below. (https://pipedia.org/wiki/A_Closer_Look_at_The_Peterson_Deluxe_System_Pipe).

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I scraped the rim top and bevel with the edge of the pipe knife to remove the buildup of lava. I sanded it carefully with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to further remove the lava. I cleaned out the inside of the shank, the airway in the stem as well as the inside of the chimney and the seat in the tenon with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I sanded out the scratches in the bowl with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I worked on the Sterling Band to remove the dark scratches at the same time. I carefully used the pads on it. I wiped the bowl and band down between sanding pads with a damp cloth to remove the debris from the sanding. I started my polishing regimen on the bowl. I used nine micromesh sanding pads and dry sanded the bowl with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. The bowl really shines by the final three pads. I polished the Sterling Silver ferrule with a jewellers polishing cloth to remove the tarnish and protect it from further tarnishing. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. Once finished I put the chimney back in the tenon. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite 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 don’t know how many times I have said this but I love it when I come to the end of a restoration and all of the parts come together and the pipe looks better than when we started the cleanup process. I put the stem back on the Peterson’s 1875-1975 Centenary 4S System Bent Billiard and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I carefully avoided the stamping on the shank sides during the process. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad on the buffer. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is a real stunning example of a Republic Era Peterson’s Centenary 4S Bent Billiard. Once again, the grain and the way the shape follows the grain is amazing. Give the finish pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.80 ounces/59 grams. This Peterson’s Centenary 4S is a great piece of pipe history that is in exceptional condition. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be putting this one on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipemakers Section. Let me know if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for your time.

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

Restoring a Quirky Kaywoodie 179R Bent Billiard

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by Kenneth Lieblich

It’s been a while since I worked on a Kaywoodie and the time has come again. This is an interesting pipe and a type that I haven’t seen before. It is a craggy Kaywoodie 179R sandblast and it is a fully-bent billiard, with a crown as a rim. It’s almost an Oom Paul – almost, but not quite. I could only find one other example of this same pipe online, so I suppose it’s a little unusual. This pipe’s logo is a black cloverleaf in a white circle. On the underside of the stummel, we can see this pipe’s markings. First, we see Kaywoodie [over] Relief Grain. Then, to the right, is the shape number: 179R. The R, of course, refers to relief grain. Three-digit shape numbers seem to date from the 1970s and 80s, so it’s safe to assume that this pipe is from that time period. It’s also worth noting that the ‘Drinkless Filter’ (i.e. the stinger) on this pipe is fully intact and has three holes (not four).Kaywoodie is a venerable institution in the United States, and has a long and interesting history. I encourage you to read the Pipedia article here and the Pipephil article here.Let’s look at this particular pipe’s condition. The stem is dirty and quite heavily chewed. It is made from acrylic, so there is no issue with oxidation. The tenon screws into the mortise in the stummel and is also quite dirty. The stummel looks to be in decent shape. It’s been well loved, so it’s quite dirty – inside and outside. The craggy blast on the briar has a few flecks of white paint, but that should be easily removed. On with the work! I started by using isopropyl alcohol on a few cotton rounds and wiped down the stem to provide an initial cleaning of filth before moving on to the next steps. The primary cleaning came next. I disinfected the inside of the stem with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly to make sure the interior was very clean.Even thought the stinger was now clean, it still looked a bit drab. So I sanded it with some 0000-grit steel wool – not to make it shine, but to make it look decent again.As the stem was now clean and dry, I set about fixing the marks and dents in the acrylic. This was done by filling those divots with black cyanoacrylate adhesive, impregnated with carbon and rubber. I left this to cure and then sanded. I used all nine of the micromesh sanding pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand out flaws, even out the acrylic, and provide gentle polishing of the finished surface. I also applied pipe-stem oil while using the last five micromesh pads. There was a wonderful, deep black shine to the stem when I was done.As the stem was (nearly) complete, I moved on to the stummel. The first step was to ream out the bowl – that is to say, remove all the cake inside the bowl. This accomplished a couple of things. First (and most obviously), it cleaned the bowl and provided a refurbished chamber for future smoking. Second, when the old cake was removed, I could inspect the interior walls of the bowl and determine if there was damage or not. I used a reamer, a pipe knife, and a piece of sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel. Collectively, these ensured that all the debris was removed.Similar to the stem, I then cleaned the stummel with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. With a pipe this dirty, it took quite a while and much cotton to clean.I then decided to ‘de-ghost’ the pipe – that is to say, exorcize the remaining filth from the briar. I filled the bowl and the shank with cotton balls, then saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused the remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton.To tidy up the briar, I wiped down the outside, using a solution of a pH-neutral detergent and some distilled water, with cotton rounds. I also used a toothbrush in the crevices. This did a good job of cleaning any latent dirt on the surface of the briar. The last step of the cleaning process was to scour the inside of the stummel with the same mild detergent and tube brushes. This was the culmination of a lot of hard work in getting the pipe clean.I rubbed some LBE Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. The balm moisturizes the wood and gives a beautiful depth to the briar. I then buffed the stummel with a microfibre cloth. For the final step, I took the pipe to my bench polisher and carefully buffed it – first with a blue diamond compound, then with three coats of carnauba wax. This procedure makes the pipe look its best – the stummel sings and the stem glows.

All done! This handsome Kaywoodie 179R Relief Grain looks fantastic again and is ready to be enjoyed by its next owner. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘American’ section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 4¼ in. (108 mm); height 5½ in. (141 mm); bowl diameter 1⅓ in. (34 mm); chamber diameter ⅞ in. (21 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1½ oz. (44 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Repairing and Restoring a Charatan’s Make Executive Extra Large Dublin

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a large Dublin bowl with a lip on the front. There is a large scar on the left side of the bowl. I would need to examine it and see the details of the problem. It is in dirty but in good condition other than that as can be seen in the photos below. The sides of the shank are clearly stamped and readable. The left side is stamped Charatan’s Make [over] London.England [over] Executive. To the left of the stamping it had a cursive L in a circle that tells me that the pipe is a Lane era pipe. On the right side it is stamped Extra Large in script [over] Made by Hand. That helps to date this to the time after the patent was filed in 1970.The stamping is clear and readable. It has rugged rusticated finish that is very tactile on both the shank and the bowl. The shape works very well with the grain. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime deep in the finish but grain really stands out. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a lava coat on the rim top and edges. The Double Comfort vulcanite stem is lightly oxidized and has tooth marks and dents on the top and underside of the stem. There is a faint CP stamping on the left side of the stem and on the right is stamped REG.NO. 203573. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took a closer photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of the bowl and rim. You can see the light cake in the bowl and the darkening and lava on the top and damage to the inner edge.The stamping on the sides of the shank is clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. Even with the deep gouge in the left side of the bowl it is a real beauty. To try and figure out the era of the Charatan’s pipe I was working on I turned to the pipephil website on Logos and Stampings. There is some really helpful information on each of the lines of Charatan’s Make pipes that entered the market. Here is the link to the section of the site that I turned to, http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-charatan.html. There is an alphabetical listing of the lines including the Executive. The site did give a short history of the brand. I quote the portion that is most pertinent.The brand was founded in 1863 by Frederik Charatan. When his father retired in 1910, Reuben Charatan took over the family business. All the pipes were handmade until 1973. The brand name has been overtaken by Dunhill in 1978 and sold in 1988 to James B. Russell Inc. (NJ, USA). During the period 1988-2002 Charatans were crafted by Butz Choquin in St Claude (France). Dunhill re-purchased Charatan brand name in 2002 and Colin Fromm (Invicta Briars, Castleford) followed up on freehand production.

I turned to Pipedia to see if I could find more information on the brand and possibly a link to the Executive line (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Charatan) but once again in the general article it was not listed.  It did give a little more historical information and is worth reading. I am including a few sections from the site.

In 1863 Frederick Charatan, a Russian/Jewish immigrant, opened a shop in Mansell Street, located in the borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, where he began to carve Meerschaum pipes. These pipes got very popular soon, and thus Charatan moved to a bigger workshop in Prescot Street, just around the corner. Here he began to make briar pipes which should make the name famous the world over. Charatan was the first brand to make entirely hand-made briars from the rough block to the finished pipe including the stems. The nomenclature “Charatan’s Make” refers to this method of production and was meant to differ Charatan from other brands who “assembled” pipes from pre-drilled bowls and delivered mouthpieces.

Being the undisputed No. 1 in English pipemaking, Charatan was approached by Alfred Dunhill who was unsatisfied with the quality of the pipes he imported from France. During 1908 – 1910 Dunhill bought pipes from Charatan paying exorbitant prices to ensure he had some of the very best pipes for sale in England. In 1910 he lured away Joel Sasieni, one of Charatan’s best carvers, and opened his own small pipe workshop on 28 Duke Street. On the retirement of his father in 1910 Reuben Charatan took over the family business…

…The pre-Lane period (prior to 1955) and the Lane era pipes (1955 to until sometime between 1979 – 1984) are of primary interest the collector. The Lane era is often quoted as beginning about 1950… Charatan records are almost non-existent before Lane due to a factory fire, making it difficult to date pre-Lane pipes. Charatan used 4 basic grades prior to 1950: Supreme, Selected, Executive, and Belvedere. After 1950 Herman Lane’s influence began, and the grades started to expand. In 1955 Lane took over sole distributorship of Charatan in the US. In 1957 he introduced the Supreme S. Most of his other introductions were from the 60’s and early 70’s…

The section called Miscellaneous Notes had some interesting information.

Charatan records indicate the DC (Double Comfort) bit was introduced in the 50’s, but some report seeing them in earlier production. Still others indicate they were introduced by Lane in 1960. Regardless, the DC bit is not an accurate way to date a pipe because many Charatan’s were made with regular and saddle type bits throughout the “Lane Era”…

…The Lane Trademark serif and circled L indicates the pipe is from the “Lane Era” (approx. 1955 to 1979 -1984?), however it appears that both the English factory or Lane themselves sometimes, or perhaps even often forget to stamp the L on a pipe. The Charatan factory was known for inconsistencies, especially in stampings. Therefore, although an L on the pipe definitely defines it as a Lane Era pipe, the lack of it could simply mean the pipe missed receiving the stamp from the factory. The lack of the trademark could also mean the pipe was destined for the European market.

…Generally, when the pipe is stamped with the BLOCK letters “MADE BY HAND” it means the pipe was probably made between 1958 and 1965”

…Generally, block letters “MADE BY HAND” and some of the other nomenclature in script (i.e. City of London or Extra Large next to the MADE BY HAND) means the pipe was made sometime between 1965 and the mid 1970’s. The total script nomenclature “Made by Hand in City of London” evolved over this period of time, so many pipes had variants, such as Made By Hand in block letters and City of London in script, or some other variation of the terms or stampings. The Charatan Logo (CP) on the pipe bit was changed over the years.

From all of the historical data I could work through this Charatan’s Make Executive was one of the higher grade pipe from the mid 1970’s Lane era. I continued digging further into the dating of the pipe, but what I had found was a good start for me. If some of you would like to try your hand at dating it more accurately as to the time period it came out you might want to check out the article on Pipedia on Dating Charatans (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dating_of_Charatans). I had enough for me to start working on the pipe itself and see what lay beneath the heavy tars and oils.

I began working on the pipe by addressing the deep gouge in the left side of the bowl. The first picture shows the gouge in the bowl side. It is quite deep and could easily be hiding a crack in the bowl side. I wiped the damaged area down with alcohol on a cotton pad. I filled in the gouge with clear CA glue. I pressed briar dust into the super glue and let it dry. I used a wooden sphere and 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the inner edge of the bowl and the rim top. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the darkening on the inner edge of the bowl. I sanded the repaired side of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repair. I used a Cherry Stain Pen to restain the sanded area of the bowl side. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer. I used the third and fourth cutting heads to clean out the cake. I cleaned up what remained in the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and scraped it back to bare briar. I finished by sanding the inside of the bowl with a dowel wrapped in sandpaper. The inside walls are free of burn damage or checking so the gouge does not go all the way through. I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners.I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I sanded the bowl with 320 – 3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads and wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. I polished the bowl with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris. The pipe began to look very good. The gouge in the bowl was repaired and looked better. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I ‘painted’ the surface of the stem with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift almost all of them. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the oxidation and tooth chatter on both sides. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads to further adjust the fit of the stem to the shank. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite 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. With the stem polished I put it back on the Charatan’s Make Executive Extra Large Made by Hand Lane Era Dublin and lightly buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond. I buffed the stem with a more aggressive buff of Blue Diamond. I gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and 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 repaired gouge looked better but now looks like a fine line across the bowl side. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This Charatan’s Make Executive Extra Large Dublin will soon be on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section if you want to add it to your rack. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this Charatan’s Make.

Cracking the Mystery of an Alluring Gourd Calabash

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by Kenneth Lieblich

This is a wonderful gourd calabash with a long history, and I hope that one of you will fall in love with it. There is an elegance to the lines of this pipe, with its swan-like curves. It is a classic, and looks (and feels) satisfying in one’s hand. It had been well-loved by its previous owner, and understandably so. This calabash hid a big secret and it was my job to uncover and repair it. Sometimes I bite off more than I can chew and this might be one of those times. Maybe this should have been called Kenneth’s Krazy Kalabash Kure. No markings at all on this pipe, but no matter. Let’s take a closer look at it. The gourd has a deep, rich colour that I really like. The size is really pleasing too. It is more modestly sized than most calabashes – and that’s a positive. I bought this pipe in an auction and, because the auction was away from my home, I didn’t get to inspect the pipe closely beforehand. Boy, was I in for a surprise! The pipe was in dirty but decent condition. The vulcanite stem had quite a bit of wear: lots of tooth marks, oxidation, calcification, etc. The acrylic shank extension was dirty, but otherwise fine. The gourd, similarly, was dirty, but in good shape. BUT, as soon as I removed the meerschaum bowl from the gourd, I saw the problem. At some point in the past, the bowl had cracked in half: northern and southern hemispheres, if you like. That’s a big deal! This was a tough repair, but I am pleased with the results and the pipe is good to go now.As the photo above shows, the bottom part of the bowl was embedded into the gourd. I gave a preliminary and somewhat half-hearted attempt to pry it out with a dental tool. That didn’t work and it’s probably just as well. In attempting to pry it out, I was quite concerned about either cracking the gourd or cracking the bowl further – or both. I ended up heating the gourd and bowl with my heat gun – hoping that ancient tars were holding it in place. And that did the trick: I was able to extract the bottom bowl chunk (plus a few fragments) safely from the gourd without causing further damage to either. You can see the results below.At this point, I figured that I would restore the stem while I thought about what to do with the bowl. I used a disposable lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame. The gentle heat of the flame can cause the dents in the vulcanite of the stem to expand back into shape. In this case, some improvement occurred – but not a lot. The stem’s calcification was quite substantial. I used an old butter knife and gently scraped some of the thicker accretion off. Doing this now helps later in removing the oxidation. I used isopropyl alcohol on a few cotton rounds and wiped down the stem to provide an initial cleaning of filth before moving on to the next steps. The primary cleaning came next. I disinfected the inside of the stem with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly to make sure the interior was very clean. The goal of the next step is the removal (or minimization) of oxidation. Going to my sink, I used cream cleanser, cotton rounds, and a toothbrush, and scoured the stem to remove as much surface oxidation as possible. As the photos show, the result was a hideous, ochre-coloured mess – but better off the stem than on it.Once the stem was reasonably clean, I soaked it overnight in some Briarville Stem Oxidation Remover. This solution works to draw oxidation in the stem to the surface of the vulcanite. This is a major aid and an important step in ensuring a clean stem. The following day, I drew out the stem from its bath and scrubbed the lingering fluid with a toothbrush. Due to the severity of the oxidation, I then repeated the scrubbing with the cream cleanser for maximum effect.While the stem was soaking, I also cleaned the acrylic shank extension. I followed the same cleaning procedure as with the stem. It took a while, but I got it clean.As the stem was now clean and dry, I set about fixing the marks and dents in the vulcanite. This was done by filling those divots with black cyanoacrylate adhesive, impregnated with carbon and rubber. I left this to cure and moved on.The penultimate step for the stem is sanding. First, with my set of needle files, I reduced the bulk of the cyanoacrylate repairs. I removed the excess adhesive as near to the surface as possible, without cutting into the vulcanite. Following that, I used all nine of the micromesh sanding pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand out flaws, even out the vulcanite, and provide gentle polishing of the finished surface. I also applied pipe-stem oil while using the last five micromesh pads. There was a wonderful, deep black shine to the stem when I was done. I did the same with the shank extension. I moved on to the gourd. I cleaned the exterior of the gourd with some pH-neutral detergent and some distilled water, on a few cotton rounds. I cleaned inside of the gourd gently by scraping with my reaming knife, tube brushes, and some other tools. I was pleased with the results. I gave the gourd a thorough going-over with some beeswax polish and let that sit. I buffed it with a microfibre cloth and then, much later, I rubbed some LBE Before & After Restoration Balm into the gourd and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. I then buffed the gourd again with a microfibre cloth. On to the bowl. Meerschaum is too fragile for a proper reamer, so I used 220-grit sandpaper on the end of a wooden dowel to clean out the bowl and it turned out well. One of the frustrations of cleaning meerschaum is that once smoked, the stains never go away – and this pipe was heavily smoked. However, I did what I could and it definitely improved.Now with the stem, shank extension, gourd, and meerschaum cleaning done, it was time to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Before repairing the separated chunks of the bowl, I needed to secure the two hemispheres together. This was not intended to be the critical attachment point, but just a solid method of marrying the two pieces. I used an adhesive for ceramics and clay – not because meerschaum is ceramic or clay (it isn’t) – but it does mimic certain characteristics of those insofar as it is very porous. This adhesive worked perfectly – it did exactly what I wanted it to. I was also able to attach the small shards of meerschaum that were left over (as seen in photos above).Now to go ‘all in’ on the repair of those missing chunks. I taped off the areas of the bowl that I didn’t want affected by the repair medium. This was a long and challenging repair and went through several failed attempts (which I won’t bore you with). Some failures included plaster of Paris, amalgams involving primarily calcium carbonate, and other ingredients (like leather dye). In the end, I came up with a good solution that maintains the integrity of the bowl shape, gives an incredibly resilient (and hard) repair, is resistant to high temperatures, and is completely inert when cured. After much trial and error, I settled on a particular type of epoxy mixed with a combination of the aforementioned calcium carbonate and briar dust. You might reasonably ask, ‘Why calcium carbonate?’ Good question. It is a material that best acts as a repair medium for meerschaum and I encourage you to read an important article I wrote about the issue here. You may also ask, ‘Why briar dust?’ Also a good question. This provided a slight brownish tint to the epoxy and CaCO3 mixture. Matching the surrounding colour was always going to be an impossibility, but I wanted to do the best I could.

I mixed my concoction and applied it liberally to the affected areas. During this process, the epoxy mix was much less viscous than I had hoped it to be. This was a big problem as it was oozing in ways that I didn’t want it to! However, like the trooper I am, I fiddled and fixed and floundered until I got it just right. It needed a full 24-hour cure and I was only too happy to leave the frustrating thing alone for a while!In the meantime, I glued the shank extension back into place in the gourd. Looks great.On the morrow – no surprise – the bowl was pretty darn ugly, but I can fix ugly. I donned a tight-fitting dust mask and went to work. My goal, of course, was to sand down excess epoxy and bring it to the level of the surrounding meerschaum, while simultaneously not reducing the bulk of the meerschaum. This took a lot of hard and careful work (plus a few touch ups), but we got there in the end. I am satisfied with the results, since the repair was never going to look invisible. The benefit of this pipe is that the repair is hidden from view, below the rim of the gourd. I then sanded down the entire piece of meerschaum with my Micromesh pads. I also rubbed two different beeswax polishes into the meerschaum. Then I let it sit for 20 minutes, buffed it with a microfiber cloth and then repeated the beeswax process. Worked like a charm! Before I went off to the buffer, I gave the meer and the gourd another going over with Clapham’s beeswax rub. This really worked well. I only took the stem to the buffer, as meerschaum and gourds don’t tolerate those high speeds very well!

This gourd calabash was a delightful can of worms right from the start and its beauty only increased through the restoration process. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘Calabash’ pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 6½ in. (165 mm); height 4½ in. (115 mm); bowl diameter 2⅛ in. (54 mm); chamber diameter ⅞ in. (21 mm). The weight of the pipe is 2⅜ oz. (68 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring an Old and Rare C.P.F. Egg and Claw Beauty

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by Kenneth Lieblich

It isn’t often that I get to work on pipes that are more than a century old. It does happen from time-to-time, but – regardless – it is a delight when it does happen. This pipe came to me from an auction and it immediately caught my eye. First, I saw the initials, C.P.F., and I knew that meant the pipe was very old. Second, the shape of the pipe was unusual: an egg and claw. This is something that one sees in meerschaum pipes occasionally, but less so in briar pipes. Third, I could tell that the rim cap was lost to time and that the stem seemed … odd – but I couldn’t (yet) put my finger on why. A special thanks is due to Steve for his help on this restoration. The pipe is absolutely charming and a wonderful example of the pipe-making of a different era. As mentioned, the markings of the pipe included the initials C.P.F. on the left side of the shank. No other markings were in the briar. However, the brass (or nickel) band also had some markings. First, there were a set of faux hallmarks (anchor, star, bird?) above another engraving of C.P.F.C.P.F. stands for Colossus Pipe Factory and is one of those 19th century pipe firms that is shrouded in mystery. Perhaps the mystery is simply a paucity of documentary records. There are entries for Colossus at both Pipedia and Pipephil, but the information is scant. Here’s a quotation from the Pipedia article:

There is not much known about the Colossus Pipe Factory. By the mid 1890’s it was owned by Kaufmann Bros. & Bondy. Bill Feuerbach has an old invoice from KB&B dated 1898 that has “C.P.F.” in the upper corner, with Trademark underneath. So they owned the brand by then. It could have been a company that was acquired by KB&B or possibly even founded by them. Bill Feuerbach is a VP at S. M. Frank & Co. (Kaywoodie) and has also provided the evidence to the name Colossus below. I have always been under the impression that the initials C.P.F. stood for Consolidated Pipe Factory. Many pipe collectors that I know believe the same thing. However only this week I had that cleared up. A pipe collector friend in Seattle emailed a scan of a page from a trade magazine called “The Jeweler’s Circular”, dated August 23, 1899. A reader wrote in the following question, “Please inform us who manufactures briar pipes with trademark, C.P.F.?” The answer was, “These letters stand for Colossus Pipe Factory, the business being conducted by Kaufmann Bros. & Bondy, 129 Grand Street, New York.” I have seen pipes with both the C.P.F. logo and KB&B logo on them that date to pre-1900. This may have been a way to let the public now that the companies were affiliated. As far as I can tell, the C.P.F. brand was discontinued sometime in the 1910-1920 range.

Steve has restored a few C.P.F. pipes and, quite frankly, this article he wrote about their history is probably the best place to look. You can also see some of his restorations of C.P.F. pipes here and here and here. From everything I can gather, this pipe is well in excess of 100 years old and might be much older than that. How about the condition of this pipe? Let’s talk about the stummel first. It was dirty – very dirty. The briar was in good shape, but more than a century’s worth of dust and debris have been ground into the pipe’s crevasses. I was pleased to see how few scratches were in the wood and that made me hopeful. The inside of the bowl, however, was full of cake and seemed heavily smoked. As I mentioned earlier, the rim cap was missing. Meanwhile, the stem was the thing that made me pause. I asked Steve about it and, after a thorough chat with him about this pipe, he was of the view that this stem was not the original. It didn’t fit quite right and looked a bit too long. That made a lot of sense because this stem seemed cheap and unusually brittle. There was a bone tenon connecting stem and stummel and, although it seemed sound, I wasn’t sure it was original either. The first item on my agenda was to extricate the tenon from the stummel – it was stuck. I opted to warm the area with my heat gun and this provided just enough softening of the internal goo to allow me to extract it.Since the stem was both not-the-original and badly damaged, I elected to set it aside for now and figure out what to do with it later. For now, I decided to remove all the cake inside the bowl. This accomplished a couple of things. First (and most obviously), it cleaned the bowl and provided a refurbished chamber for future smoking. Second, when the old cake was removed, I could inspect the interior walls of the bowl and determine if there was damage or not. I used a reamer, a pipe knife, and a piece of sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel. Collectively, these ensured that all the debris was removed. However, it was clear that the walls of the bowl had been heavily smoked, excessively reamed, and showed signs of char and craze lines. I would have to address that later.My next step was to remove the lava on the rim. For this, I took a piece of machine steel and gently scraped the lava away. The metal’s edge is sharp enough to remove what I need, but not so sharp that it damages the rim.I then cleaned the stummel with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. With a pipe this dirty, it took quite a while and much cotton to clean.I then decided to ‘de-ghost’ the pipe – that is to say, exorcize the remaining filth from the briar. I filled the bowl and the shank with cotton balls, then saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused the remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton.To tidy up the briar, I wiped down the outside, using a solution of a pH-neutral detergent and some distilled water, with cotton rounds. I also used a toothbrush in the crevices. This did a good job of cleaning any latent dirt on the surface of the briar. The last step of the cleaning process was to scour the inside of the stummel with the same mild detergent and tube brushes. This was the culmination of a lot of hard work in getting the pipe clean.Back to the damaged interior of the bowl. To repair the craze lines, etc., I used an epoxy adhesive that is extremely hard, resistant to high temperatures, and completely inert when cured. It worked superbly. I lined the affected area with the epoxy and let it cure for a full 24 hours. I forgot to take photos of this step, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. The next day, I roughened up the epoxy’s surface with 220-grit sandpaper for the next step. I thinly coated the inside of the bowl with a mixture of my wife’s homemade yogurt and activated charcoal. Once hardened, this provided a good, faintly rough surface for a new cake to build. I used all nine micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand the outside of the stummel and finish it off. This sanding minimizes flaws in the briar and provides a beautiful smoothness to the wood.Steve and I both have a few very old rim caps, specifically for C.P.F. pipes. We scoured both of our piles and found a perfect one in his collection. It fits correctly and is just the sort of piece that a C.P.F. pipe of that era would have had. I gave it a quick buffing with some old MicroMesh pads.Now to address the stem issue. Similar to the rim cap, I went to my collection of stems and found an ideal replacement, based on Steve’s recommendation. I have several, very old, Bakelite stems that would be just right. The one I selected dates from the same time period as the pipe and, best of all, was unused – never smoked. The stem was marked Germany, the place of manufacture. I married the stem and stummel, and both Steve and I agreed that it looked perfect. I also had to hunt in my stores for an old bone tenon. This took a long time, but I finally found one that fit both the new stem’s mortise and the existing shank’s mortise. I quickly cleaned and polished up the stem (didn’t take long, as it was new) and put it aside.Next, I polished the brass (or nickel) band with a few grey sanding pads. This made it shine beautifully. I took the band and the rim top and glued them in place with pH-neutral adhesive. I was very pleased with the results.I rubbed some LBE Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. The balm moisturizes the wood and gives a beautiful depth to the briar. I then buffed the stummel with a microfibre cloth. For the final step, I took the stem (only) to my bench polisher and carefully buffed it – first with a blue diamond compound, then with carnauba wax. I chose not to buff the stummel on the bench polisher, as there were too many points for the wheel to catch on the stummel. Instead, I polished it by hand with conservator’s wax.All done! This C.P.F. Egg and Claw looks fantastic again and is ready to be enjoyed by its next owner. It was a tough restoration, but this pipe is a trophy and worth having in your collection. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘American’ section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5⅓ in. (135 mm); height 2 in. (52 mm); bowl diameter 1⅝ in. (41 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (18 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅜ oz. (42 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

New Life for a 1975 Dunhill Root Briar147 Diamond Shank Bulldog with a Taper Stem

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a Dunhill Root Briar Small Straight Bulldog with a vulcanite taper stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads 147 [followed by] Dunhill [over] Root Briar. On the right side it is stamped Made in [over] England15. That is followed by a stamping Circle 4R. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has rich Root Briar Finish with a blend of brown stains on a richly grained smooth finish that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and lightly dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava coat on the rim top and edges. The original white spot taper stem is dirty and oxidized with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the lava coat on the rim top. There was some tobacco debris in the bottom of the bowl. The stem photos show the condition of the saddle stem ahead of the button.The stamping on the sides of the shank are clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is a real beauty. One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil’s helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The 147 is the shape of the pipe which I assume is a Bulldog. The Dunhill Root Briar is the finish. Following the Made In England15 gives the year that the pipe was made.  The circle 4R is the stamp for a Group 4 in a Root Briar finish.

From there I wanted to pin down the date stamp 15. I have included Page 2 of the Dunhill Dating Key (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). Following that it takes me to the box with 1960+suffix. That tells me that the pipe is a 1975 pipe.    I wanted to know more about the Root Briar finish and when it was introduced by Dunhill. I turned to a listing on Pipedia that gave me the information I was looking for (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill).

Root Briar

Dunhill introduced its third major pipe finish, the Root Briar, in 1931. The new line was developed specifically to showcase briar with a particularly beautiful and pronounced grain. To this end, it was made exclusively from Corsican mountain briar, a wood characteristically prized for its fine grain, a practice that continued into the 1960s.

The pipe was finished with a light, natural stain to allow the beauty of the wood to show through. A particularly distinctive feature of the early Root Briar was its unique mouthpiece — a marble-grained, brown vulcanite bit — that became known to collectors as the ‘bowling ball’ bit. This style, however, was discontinued with the onset of the Second World War.

Because the Root Briar finish requires a perfectly clean bowl with exceptional graining, it has always been one of Dunhill’s rarer and more expensive lines, typically available only at the company’s own stores or through its principal dealers. Its nomenclature was identical to that of the Bruyère, except for the use of an ‘R’ stamp instead of an ‘A’. Straight-grained versions were graded on various scales over the years, evolving into the modern ‘DR’ one-to-six-star system.[122][123]

Now I knew that I was working on a Dunhill Root Briar 147 Bulldog with a Taper Stem that was made in 1975.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I scraped the rim top with the Fitsall Pipe Knife to remove as much of the lava coat as I could. I followed that up with a 320 grit sanding pad. It was beginning to look much better.I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I sanded the exterior of the bowl with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads to remove the scratching in the finish. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It really began to look much better. I polished the briar with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads to develop the shine. It began to look very good. It had a rich shine in the finish. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite 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 the polished vulcanite saddle stem and the 1975 Dunhill Root Briar 147 Taper Stem Bulldog bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches and raise the shine. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax then 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. This turned out to be a beautiful Dunhill Root Briar147 Bulldog with a Taper Stem. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions 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 the pipe is 1.16 ounces/33 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked this beautiful little Dunhill Root Briar. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for looking.