Tag Archives: shaping a stem

New Life for a Fischer Imperial Long shank Canadian Stack

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a smooth finished long shank Canadian with a tall bowl and a vulcanite stem. We purchased it from a seller on eBay from Jordan, Minnesota, USA on 01/22/2024. The pipe is stamped on the topside of the shank and reads Fischer. On the underside of the shank it is stamped Imperial. The rim was in good condition other than a lot of lava overflowing from the thick cake in the bowl onto the smooth rim top It is hard to assess the condition of the inner edge of the rim due to the cake and lava overflow. There may be some darkening or damage at the back of the bowl but I cannot be sure. There were oils and grime ground into the bowl sides gives the finish a flat look. The short taper stem is a dirty stem with grime and grit on the surface. There were also tooth marks on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button. It appears that there may be some small pin hole bite through marks on the underside ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. I have included them below. He took photos of the pipe’s bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava coat overflowing onto the top. It is another dirty pipe. He also took photos to capture the tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. You can also see the pinhole tooth punctures on the underside. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the grain around the bowl and the amount of grime ground into the surface of the briar. He took photos of the stamping on the top and undersides of the shank. It is clear and quite readable.I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-f2.html) and looked up the Fischer brand. I found the listing below and have included both a screen capture and the side bar notes. The stamping is the same as the one on the pipe I am working on.
Store closed in 1978. Former address: House of Fischer, 1722 Boston Ridge Road, Orchard Park, NY.

I then turned to the listed for US pipe makers/manufacturers (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Fischer) to see if I could find out more information. I have included the article below.

Gustave Fischer was pipe maker for “The House of Fischer’, which was located in Orchard Park, NY, near Buffalo.  The Fischer family apparently made pipes for six generations, starting in Germany and continuing in the United States until the 1970s. Their literature from 1956 said that all their briars were bench made. They also made meerschaums, but some confusion is caused by the fact that there was also Gustav Fischer, who made meerschaum pipes in Boston during roughly the same period.

The article went on to give information on the Fischer from Orchard Park, NY. I quote from that below.

The following information is gleaned from a thread on PipesMagazine.com

PIPES BY THE HOUSE OF FISCHER, ORCHARD PARK NY
Fischer pipes were made in USA through the 1950’s up to late 1978 when the owner, Paul Fischer retired, sold the store and moved to Florida in 1978. Unfortunately, The House of Fischer did not use a date stamp on their pipes, and therefore it is not possible to determine the exact date of manufacture.

Lee Pattison writes the following:

The Fischer shop in Buffalo closed in the late 1950’s last run by Arthur Fischer who moved shop to his home in Orchard Park. Arthur was the last of the family and retired 1978. Early pipes made in shop in Buffalo were stamped Buffalo in loop below name. Art deleted this from the stamp in early on 1960’s which helps in partial dating. Art did only pipe repair and sales. An unconfirmed report from a pipe maker Milton Kalnitz from the same era stated that the later pipe may have been made by Weber. Paul Fisher was part of the unrelated family in Boston Mass. The Buffalo shop started about 1890’s. Source of info was personal contact with family.

FISCHER PIPE QUALITY GRADE STAMPS
This is a list of various Fischer pipe stampings from my personal collection of over sixty Fischer pipes accumulated over the past forty plus years. It is by no means meant to be all-inclusive, however, if you find more Fischer pipe stampings please email me so I can update my list.

  1. Fischer Supreme
  2. Fischer Royal
  3. Fischer Imperial
  4. Fischer Golden 15
  5. Fischer 15 Grand
  6. Fischer 25 Grand
  7. Fischer Ramsgate
  8. Fischer Deluxe
  9. Fischer Special
  10. Fischer Texan (for which they applied for a patent)
  11. Fischer Seconds

The list of Quality Grade Stamps is very helpful. The pipe I am working on is noted in number 3 above. It is a Fischer Imperial and has some great grain on the bowl and shank. I also learned that is was made after the removal of the Buffalo stamp on the shank in the early 1960s.

Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He cleaned up the inside of the bowl with a PipNet reamer and a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. The bowl walls looked very good. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show how clean it was. The top and the inner edge of the rim show some darkening, nicks and scratches. The stem looks clean of debris and grime. There are tooth marks and chatter on both sides. There are also tooth marks on the underside of the stem.I took photos of the stamping on the top and undersides of the shank. The stamping is clear and readable (though fainter on the underside). I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the damage on the inner edge of the rim. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the roughness. I then used 220 grit sandpaper and a wooden ball to give the inner edge of the bowl a slight bevel. It looked much better at this point in the process. I sanded the briar rim top and the sides of the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. By the time I finished with the 3500 grit pad the briar had taken on a rich glow. I polished the briar bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the debris. The bowl took on a rich glow. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for 10 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth and shoe brush to raise the shine. Mark Hoover’s Balm is a product that I have come to appreciate and one I use on every pipe I have been working on. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem issues. I took photos of the stem surface to show the deep tooth marks on the top and the small holes on the underside of the stem just ahead of the button.I greased a pipe cleaner with Vaseline and inserted it below the bite throughs on the underside of the stem surface to keep the repair out of the airway in the stem. I filled in the deep tooth marks on the topside of the stem and the bite throughs on the underside with Black rubberized CA glue. I set it aside to let the glue cure. Once the repairs cured I used a file to flatten out the repairs and start blending them into the stem. surface. I sanded it with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to flatten it further. I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further blend them in and smooth out the surface of the stem.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I put the stem back on the Fischer Imperial Long Canadian and took it to the buffer. I worked it over with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. I gave the bowl 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 pipe polished up really well and the bevelled rim top looked good. I was happy with the look of the finished pipe. The photos below show what the pipe looks like after the restoration. The long shank tall Canadian is a beautiful and unique take on a classic shape. The polished vulcanite taper stem looks really good with the browns of the briar. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 7 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.90 ounces/54 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the American Pipe Makers Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. The long shank and tall bowl look and feel great in the hand. This one should be a great smoker. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

Restoring a Beautiful Sandblast Stanwell Pipe of the Year 2005 Liverpool

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Blog by Steve Laug

The pipes that I will be posting over the next month from this lot that Jeff and I purchased are fascinating pipes. They were quite stunning but altogether unknown to me. I did not recognize the name of the maker. All the pipes were unsmoked other than the Stanwell Pipe of the Year. We purchased them from a fellow in Kalundborg, Denmark on 02/03/2024. He said that they were all unsmoked and when they arrived they were. They were relatively clean and merely dusty with a little light debris on the stem surfaces. The shapes, sandblasts, shank extensions, and stems were all unique and very well done. The pipes were very beautiful and I could not wait for Jeff to refresh them a bit and get them up to me to do my part. Here are some of the photos of the pipes that we purchased provided by the seller.Here is a photo of the pipe that was sent to us by the seller. It is the one that I chose to work on next. It is a beautiful sandblast Stanwell Liverpool with a black taper acrylic stem. The blast is very well done. The acrylic stem is also well cut and other than dirty is in great condition. The pipe has a silver plaque with the year 2005 engraved on it. There was also silver Crown S on the left side of the stem. The pipe was lightly smoked and there was a light cake and darkening on the bowl walls. I look forward to working on it as it will take very little work and will be a fun break. I turned to the internet to find out information about the Stanwell Pipe of the Year. I came across this interesting article and shape chart on the Blue Room Briars site where they listed a collection of the POYs (https://www.blueroombriars.com/blogs/news/the-stanwell-pipe-of-the-year-collection). I have included the shape chart and part of the article below for the information that it contains..…Recently, Blue Room Briars acquired a complete Stanwell Pipe of the Year (POY) collection spanning from 1980 – 2017. Looking at these pipes in detail reveals some interesting insights into Stanwell’s production, although it should be noted that these findings are not the final say on when a particular pipe was made, but we hope you can use it as a guide when trying to determine the era of manufacture for Stanwell pipes made after 1980. 

The first pipe of note is the 1980 POY. This pipe does not come with the engraved silver plaquette. The pipe also sports a traditional vulcanite mouthpiece.

Between 1981 and 1998, the Stanwell pipes from the POY collection have the addition of silver plaquettes denoting the year, a traditional vulcanite mouthpiece, and also have a Teflon lined mortise. This is an interesting feature that creates a very stable connection between the mortise and tenon, as well as allowing the mortise to be swabbed out easily for maintenance. It wouldn’t be unwarranted to believe that other Stanwell pipes with a Teflon sleeved mortise were probably made between the 1980s to late 1990s. This additional, and costly, feature demonstrates Stanwell’s commitment to quality manufacturing even into the last portion of the 20th century.

The pipe I am working on now is later, after the company moved to Italy. It is not lined with the Teflon sleeve in the mortise. I believe the stem is acrylic.

Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean off the grime off the finish and the overflow of lava on the rim top. The cleaning had removed the grime on the rim top. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove all of the oils and tars in the pipe. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and was able to remove much of the oxidation, calcification. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration. I took photos of the smooth rim top and bowl along with both sides of the vulcanite stem to show the condition of the pipe. It is clearly lightly smoked. The rim top shows some spots of varnish on the surface that gives it a spotty look.I took a photo to try to capture the silver plaque on the side of the shank giving the 2005 date. There is also a silver Crown S on the left side of the taper stem.I started working on the rim top by removing the spotty varnish coat with some acetone on a cotton pad. It was easily removed and certainly looked better afterwards.I polished the rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped down the rim top with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The bowl was in excellent condition so skipped ahead to applying the Balm to the briar. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast 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 polished the short acrylic taper 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 put the stem back on the Stanwell Pipe of the Year 2005 Danish Style Liverpool and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the acrylic. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl multiple 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. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful Stanwell POY 2005 – the acrylic taper stem and smooth rim top and sandblast finish combine to give the pipe a great look. The polished black stem looks really good with the rich browns standing out in the sandblast. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inch, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.34 ounces/38 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the Danish Pipe Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

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 beautiful “Malaga” Algerian Briar Pot

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I have another Malaga Pipe that Jeff sent me to work on. It is a Malaga shape I would call a Pot. Jeff saw it on eBay and purchased it on 07/12/2023 from a seller in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, USA. The grain on this pipe is quite nice. Once again it was obviously someone’s favourite smoker. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and read “MALAGA” and on the right side it is stamped Algerian Briar. The smooth bowl and shank were dirty and there were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. The bowl had a thick cake that flowed over the top of the smooth rim in a thick lava coat. It was hard to clearly assess the condition of the inner edge. The condition of the rim edge and top would become clear in the cleaning process. The outer edge looked very good. The taper stem was vulcanite. There were light tooth marks on the top and the underside of the stem ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work. Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the cake and the lava on the rim top and edges. The inner edge of the rim showed thick cake coming up to the top and flowing over the edge. The outer edge showed some deep damage on the back side of the bowl. It was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. The vulcanite taper stem had light tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show some stunning and unique grain all around the pipe. The oil curing/finish makes the grain really stand out on the bowl and shank.Jeff took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. On the left it read “MALAGA” as noted above. He did not take a photo of the right side but it read Algerian Briar. The stamping was clear and readable.For those of you who are unfamiliar with the brand, I am also including the link to a blog that I wrote that gives some of the history of the Malaga brand and the Malaga Pipe Shop in Royal Oak, Michigan in the USA. Here is the link – https://rebornpipes.com/2013/02/09/george-khoubesser-and-malaga-pipes/. That blog also includes links to a catalogue and the history of the pipemaker George Khoubesser. If you are interested to learn more then I invite you to follow the link to get a feel for the brand and the pipemaker.

I am also am including a link to some printed material on the Malaga brand that came to me from the daughter of George Koch (we purchased George’s pipes from his daughter) to help identify the particular stamping on the pipe. The link takes you to the entire collection of materials that were sent to me (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/02/27/malaga-pipes-catalogue-of-pipes-and-tobaccos/).

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe using his usual procedure. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime from around the bowl sides. It looked much better. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The stem looked much better and the light tooth marks on both sides were still visible and would need a little work. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition. Jeff was able to clean up the cake and the lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. The rim top was clean and looked good. There was some darkening and damage on the rim top and inner and outer edges of the bowl (particularly on the back side of the bowl). The grain on it was quite nice. The stem looked better, though there were deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took photos of the stamping on the shank to show that the clean up had not damaged them at all. It looked good. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of what the pipe looks like. I started my work on the pipe by sanding the rim top and the finish around the bowl with the 2-inch square 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped down the briar after each sanding pad. The bowl began to look very good. I polished the bowl sides and the smooth rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit micromesh pads. I wiped it down after each pad. It really began to be beautiful. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I worked it into the twin rings in the bowl cap with a shoe brush to get deep in the grooves. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. There were several deep tooth marks that I filled with CA glue. Once the glue hardened I recut the button edge and flattened the repairs with a small file. I sanded the stem with the 2 inch square 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped down the stem after each sanding pad. I was able blend in the repairs on both sides with the pads. The stem looked 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 did a final hand polish of the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the “MALAGA” Algerian Briar Pot and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl 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. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is beautiful smooth finished “MALAGA” Algerian Briar Pot and the vulcanite taper stem combine to give the pipe a great look. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.09 ounces/31 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the American Pipe Makers and Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

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.

Finishing Touches for a Lovely Gourd Calabash

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

I recently came upon this calabash pipe and thought it was terrific. There is an elegance to the lines of this pipe, with its swan-like curves. Really nice looking, and in good shape. This one had obviously been seldom smoked – maybe a couple of times only. And maybe this is the pipe for you! Let’s take a closer look at it. The bowl is beautifully-shaped meerschaum. It has some minor signs of wear, but nothing serious. Similarly, the gourd is in lovely condition. No wear to speak of and the cork gasket is perfect. The gourd also has a wood shank extension in nice shape. Finally, the stem is also great. It has some notable oxidation and some small signs of wear, but nothing to worry about. The stem was first on my list. I wiped down the outside of the stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. Then, I cleaned out the insides of the stem with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. Once this process was done, I used SoftScrub and cotton pads to wipe down the stem before throwing it in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. The following day, I cleaned all of the de-oxidizing mess and again scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation. This worked well.Before I moved on to the Micromesh pads, I built up the dents on the stem with cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure.I sanded the adhesive down with 220- and 400-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. 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 very well. I sanded down the entire piece of meerschaum with my Micromesh pads. One of the frustrations of cleaning meerschaum is that once smoked, the stains never go away. However, I did what I could and it definitely improved. I also rubbed some Clapham’s Beeswax 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!

I cleaned the exterior of the gourd with some Murphy’s Oil Soap on a few cotton rounds. I cleaned inside the gourd gently by scraping with my reaming knife and some tube brushes. I was pleased with the results. I sanded down the wooden shank extension (but not the gourd) with my Micromesh pads. I also cleaned out the inside with cotton swabs and alcohol. It wasn’t very dirty. I then coated the gourd and shank extension with Restoration Balm and let it sit for 20 minutes. After that, I buffed it with the microfibre cloth. Finally, I applied some Vaseline to the cork gasket. Even though the gasket was in perfect shape, it’s a good idea to lubricate it in this way in order to maintain its elasticity. I set it aside to absorb and moved on.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 delight 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 6¼ in. (160 mm); height 4½ in. (115 mm); bowl diameter 2¾ in. (70 mm); chamber diameter 1⅛ in. (28 mm). The weight of the pipe is 3 oz. (88 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this 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.

Cleaning up a Trade – a BBB *** Three Star 602 Billiard with a Fancy Vulcanite Stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is another one that I took in on a trade from a fellow in the Netherlands. It is a great looking smooth Billiard. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and read BBB in a Diamond [over] *** [over] Three Star. On the right side it is stamped London England [over] the shape number 602. The pipe is shaped to highlight the grain around the bowl. The finish is quite clean with just a bit of grime and oil in bowl sides. The smooth rim top is worn and shows scratches and lava on the top and the inner edge. The inner edge shows some damage and roughening from previous reaming. The bowl has a moderate cake that I will ream out but otherwise looks very good. The vulcanite taper stem has two turned rings against the shank end. There is the BBB in a diamond logo on the topside of stem. There is light oxidation and calcification on the stem surface and there are tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took photos of the rim top and the stem surfaces to give a sense of the condition of the pipe. You can see the light lava on the rim top and other than that top is in good condition. There is a light cake in the bowl that I will ream to make sure the walls are in good condition. The stem photos show the oxidation, calcification, tooth marks and the chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank, both the left and the right sides. It is faint in spots but still readable. It reads as noted above. There is also a faint BBB diamond logo on the top of the stem. I removed the stem and took a photo to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe.I knew that the pipe was probably a newer one as it did not have the brass logo on the stem and the fancy turned stem was used much later. I am fairly certain that the pipe is a Cadogan made one.

Now, on to the restoration of this pretty BBB *** Three Star Billiard. I began the work by reaming the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. I scraped out what remained with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth the out. The walls looked to be in excellent condition with no checking or heat damage. I scrubbed the inside of the mortise and shank along with the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The pipe was looking better than when it arrived. I scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. I worked on the rim top and edge to try to remove the grime and was able to remove it. I worked on the finish on the bowl and the rim top removing scratches in the sides of the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each pad. It is beginning to look very good. I polished the smooth briar rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl surface down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. Once I finished the exterior of the briar looked much better and had taken 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 to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. Mark Hoover’s Balm is a product that I have come to appreciate and one I use on every pipe I have been working on. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I wiped the stem down with Soft Scrub cleanser to remove the oxidation and the calcification on the stem. It really did a great job removing the oxidation and the stem is starting to look very good.I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift some of them and filled in the rest with clear CA glue. I set it side to let the repairs cure. I sanded the repairs flat with a small file to begin to blend them into the surface. I used the sanding pads I purchased recently – 320-3500 grit regular pads to smooth out the finish and remove the light tooth and chatter marks in the stem. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil to finish the preliminary work after the 3500 grit pad. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of oil and set it aside to dry.As usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the BBB *** Three Star London England 602 Billiard 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 grain really pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the reddish, browns of the bowl. This BBB *** Three Star 602 Billiard was a great pipe to spruce up. It is a very comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown 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 27 grams/.95 ounces. This pipe will be going on the British Pipe Maker Section of the rebornpipes store if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

Dunhill Shell Briar R, Made in England5 4S Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from a group of pipes that Jeff and I purchased from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on 02/02/2024. It is another Dunhill’s Shell Pot that is in good condition. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. On the heel of the it is stamped with the shape letter R followed by Dunhill [over] Shell Briar [followed by] Made in [over] England. The date number 5 is after D and is the same size. The stamping ends with 4 in a circle followed by S which tells us it is Shell Briar in a Group 4 size. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has a mix of black, cordovan and brown stains on a sandblast finish and is browner than the newer Shell finish pipes. There is some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty around the nooks and crannies of the sandblast but otherwise fairly clean. The bowl had a heavy cake, tobacco debris and there was thick lava on the sandblasted rim top or edges. The vulcanite taper stem was oxidized, dirty and had tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button on both sides. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. He 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. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the heavy overflow of lava on the sandblast rim top. It is hard to know the condition of the inner edge of the bowl at this point because of the lava. The stem shows heavy oxidation with scratches and tooth marks on both sides. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the deep sandblast grain on the pipe. You can also see the browner colour of this older Shell Briar in comparison to the newer ones of the 80s and 90s. It is a beauty. The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It looks very good and faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. Jeff captured the detail in the photos below. I turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Shell Briar 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.

I have also included a chart from the site from Dunhill spelling out the Standard Pipe Finishes and giving short information and a timeline.I turned to Pipephil to establish a date for a Dunhill with the stamping that was on this pipe. The date stamp 5 (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1b.html) I have marked the box below with a red box around the part of the date key that is applicable. The date can be established using the chart below. It has a date suffix after the D that is the same size so that dates it to the 1960s. Adding the suffix 5 to that makes this a 1965 Dunhill Shell Briar.Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took photos of the bowl and the rim top and edge of the bowl. It looks very good with a little damage on the front inner edge that is minimal. The photos the stem to show its condition at this point. It is clean and has light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The pipe looked remarkably good for its age.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. The photo of the stamping is clear and readable. I also removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the pipe.The bowl was in such good condition that I had to do some minimal work with it. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast 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 pipe 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 Bic to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them all significantly, I sanded the marks that remained on the surface of the stem smooth with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. They worked well to smooth things out and remove the tooth marks. When finished the stem looked much better. 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 1965 Dunhill Shell Briar R Pot has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is deep and craggy. The rich brown/black finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great sandblast that Dunhill developed and specialized in making. The polished vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. It is critical to avoid buffing the stamping and to have a lighter touch on the sandblast briar. 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 Dunhill Shell Briar R Pot is quite stunning and feels great in my hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.27 ounces/36 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I am going to add it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for your time.

Dunhill Shell 4106 Pot Made in England 34

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from a group of pipes that Jeff and I purchased from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on 02/11/2024. It is a Dunhill’s Shell Pot that is in good condition. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. On the heel of the it is stamped with the shape number 4106 followed by Dunhill Shell [over] Made in England with a superscript 34 after D. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has a mix of black, cordovan and brown stains on a sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty around the nooks and crannies of the sandblast but otherwise fairly clean. The bowl had a light cake, tobacco debris and there was some lava on the sandblasted rim top or edges. The vulcanite taper stem was lightly oxidized, dirty and had light tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. He 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 photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the deep sandblast grain on the pipe. It is a beauty. The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It looks very good and faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. Jeff captured the detail in the photos below. I turned to the dating key on Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html) to establish a date for the pipe. I drew a red box around the pertinent information below. It fits the criteria of a Sandblast with a year suffix and a Non possessive form Dunhill. The suffix is the number 34 which puts in the section below which notes 1960 + suffix to establish a date. In this case it is 1960 + 34 making the pipe a 1994.From there I turned to the Dunhill shape chart to unpack the shape number stamp 4106 on the heel of the bowl (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shapes.html). This gave me the information I needed to interpret the 4106 shape stamp. The first digit 4 is the size of the pipe – a Group 4. The second digit is the style of the stem which in this case is a 1 telling me that the stem is a tapered stem. The last two digits the 06 tell me that the pipe is a Pot. I have included the shape below and encircled it with a red box.Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took photos of the bowl and the rim top as well as both sides of the stem to show the condition of the pipe before I started my work. It really looked remarkably good.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. The photo of the stamping is clear and readable. I also removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the pipe. The bowl was in such good condition that I had to do some minimal work with it. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast 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 pipe really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem smooth with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It worked well to smooth things out and remove the tooth marks and the remnants of oxidation. When finished the stem looked much better.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 polished the aluminum inner tube with the micromesh sanding pads. Once finished I inserted it in the tenon in the stem.This 1994 Dunhill Shell 4106 Pot has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The rich brown/black finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great rugged sandblast that Dunhill developed and specialized in making. The polished vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. It is critical to avoid buffing the stamping and to have a lighter touch on the sandblast briar. 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 Dunhill Shell 4106 Pot is quite stunning and feels great in my hand. Give the finished pipe a look 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: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.41 ounces/40 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I am going to add it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Patent Era Dunhill’s “Shell Briar” 24 Petite Prince

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from a group of pipes that Jeff and I purchased from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on 02/11/2024. It is a Dunhill’s “Shell Briar” Petite Prince that is in good condition. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. On the heel of the it is stamped with the shape number 24 followed by Dunhill’s “Shell Briar” [over] Pat. Nos. 119708/17. 116989/17 followed by a superscript 8. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has a mix of black, cordovan and brown stains on a sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty around the nooks and crannies of the sandblast but otherwise fairly clean. The bowl had a moderate cake, tobacco debris and there was some lava on the sandblasted rim top or edges. The vulcanite taper stem was oxidized, dirty and had tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. He 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 photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the deep sandblast grain on the pipe. It is a beauty. The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It looks very good and faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. Jeff captured the detail in the photos below. 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 and specifically the section on Patent era pipes to help with the date (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/patent1.html). I have included a screen capture of one that is stamped much the same as the one I am working on. Please note the message under the photo in the photo below.It reads: From 1921 through 1931 (inclusive) Shells were stamped DUNHILL’S “SHELL” if there was a MADE IN ENGLAND line. When the MADE IN ENGLAND was missing they were stamped DUNHILL’S “SHELL BRIAR”: this pipe hasn’t any MADE IN ENGLAND line.

I turned to another page on the pipephil site that would help me define the two patent numbers that are on this pipe. (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-guide.html?1926pat-shellbriar-1926z.jpg&18#). The two Patent Numbers: Pat. Nos. 119708/17. 116989/17. The patent numbers point to the patent for the “SHELL BRIAR” finish. I used the chart to locate the two numbers on the chart below. I have drawn a red box around those two numbers and the upward line point to the date mark for 1928 on the chart.Now it was time to verify the 1928 date for this pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1c.html). The pipe has a year suffix, a different patent no. and a sandblast finish so it fits the criteria for this Dating Key. It has the possessive form Dunhill’s. I have drawn a red box around the pertinent section on the Dating Guide. There the directions point to section on 1920 + the Suffix. With that information I added 1920 + the suffix 8 (8) giving the date of the manufacture of this pipe as 1928.

Now I had the data I needed for this pipe. The stamping DUNHILL’S “SHELL BRIAR” was used between 1917-1931 inclusive. The patent numbers point to the patent for “SHELL BRIAR” that Dunhill used from 1927-1931. The date code 8 identifies the date as 1928 which fits perfectly in the time period noted. The shape is that of a Petite Prince.

Now it was my turn to work on this old timer – a 1928 Shell Briar Prince. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it.

I took photos of the bowl and the rim top as well as both sides of the stem to show the condition of the pipe before I started my work. The rim top and edges look quite good. The stem shows some light tooth marks on both sides and the button edge looks very good.

I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. The photo of the stamping is clear, though worn in some spot but it is still readable. I also removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the Petite Prince.The pipe looked quite amazing. I stared by rubbing the briar down with some Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush. 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 on both sides with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks on the surface. I was able to lift them significantly. I filled in those that remained with clear CA glue and set the stem aside for the repairs to cure. Once it cured I used a small file to flatten out the repairs and start blending them into the surface. I sanded the surface of the stem to blend in the file marks and the rest of the repairs smooth with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It worked well to smooth things out and remove remnants of oxidation. When finished the stem looked much better.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 1928 Dunhill “Shell Briar” 24 Prince Pat. Nos. 119708/17. 116989/17 has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is know for its craggy depths. The rich brown/black finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. The polished vulcanite saddle stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. It is critical to avoid buffing the stamping and to have a lighter touch on the sandblast briar. 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 Dunhill “Shell Briar” 24 Petite Prince is quite stunning and feels great in my hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 inch, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: 5/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .60 ounces/16 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I am going to add this 1928 Petite Prince to my own collection of Dunhill Patent Era pipes. It is a real beauty that I will certainly enjoy. Thanks for your time.

 

 

 

 

Fixing a Cracked Peterson Emerald

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

This is the fourth and final pipe I repaired for the gentleman in Washington. All four pipes have been great to work on, but I think I like this one best. It’s a portly and handsome Peterson Emerald XL02 Bent Apple. The pipe is smooth and has a P-lip stem. It is an elegant pipe with beautiful lines – and it feels so comfortable! Can’t wait to get this one done. Let’s take a closer look at the pipe. On the left side of the shank, it reads Peterson’s [over] Emerald. On the right side of the shank, it reads Made in the [over] Republic [over] of Ireland. To the right of that is the shape number, XL02. On the stem was the normal, stylized P of the Peterson firm. Interestingly, this P was in bas relief, rather than engraved. In an effort to learn more about the Emerald line of pipes, I went to Pipedia’s Peterson page – and learned precisely nothing. Pipephil provided just as much. Even the Peterson website itself had nothing on the historical Emeralds except to discuss the current crop of heavily rusticated pipes. So, naturally, my reliable source for all things Peterson is Mark Irwin from Peterson Pipe Notes. He has a blog post on the Emeralds – specifically the rusticated ones, but he does reference the smooth ones too. Have a look at the article here.Irwin and Gary Malmberg’s book, The Peterson Pipe: The Story of Kapp & Peterson, also made mention of the Emerald line:

Emerald (1987-) Moderate-priced line in Bordeaux and black rustic finish with a shank band of green acrylic between brass rings, P-lip mouthpiece; smooth walnut version added in ’91. Fishtail mouthpiece added in ’97. Identical line and finishes named Jade from early eighties until ’87.Putting all the bits and pieces together, I think we can safely say that this pipe dates from between 1991 and 1997.On to the stem. As usual, I cleaned the insides with lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol and some pipe cleaners. Fortunately, it wasn’t too dirty inside. Then I wiped down the outside of the stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton rounds – that removed some exterior dirt. Then, of course, I stuck it in the deoxidizing solution overnight. The next day, I scrubbed it down with some SoftScrub on cotton rounds. I built up the tooth marks on the stem with black cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure. I had tried the BIC lighter trick, but it didn’t work. I then sanded the adhesive down – first with a small file, then with 400-grit sandpaper to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing (from 3,600 on). Moving on to the stummel, I used the PipNet Reamer to remove the built-up cake and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as I could. I took the chamber down to bare briar. For now, I proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. There was quite a bit of filth inside this stummel and it took a fair amount of cotton to get it clean. I already knew there were going to be some big, bad problems inside, so no sense in delaying the inevitable work. As the photos show, there were many heat fissures in the briar and the major crack on the outside of the bowl was made to look even more dramatic once I cleaned the stummel. I used a dental pick to remove extra debris lodged inside this crack. Before moving to pipe surgery, I decided to de-ghost the pipe in order to remove any lingering smells of the past. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this.Repairing the crack first involves drilling a tiny hole at the end of the crack to stop it from elongating any further. I took my micro drill bit (see how tiny!) and delicately drilled a hole through the briar. I then administered a dose of CA glue (mixed with briar dust) along the crack and let it cure. This was done on the side of the bowl, as well as on the rim, of course. This crack was simply too severe to plug with pipe mortar. Instead, I prepared some J.B. Weld epoxy and filled the cracks and gouges, ensuring that the epoxy was evenly spread throughout the bowl. Of course, I did plug the draught hole with a folded pipe cleaner (coated in Vaseline) to make sure none of the epoxy made its way up there. Once done, a good 24 hours was needed to ensure that the epoxy was properly set.Once cured, I gently sanded the inside of the bowl to provide a surface for what was to come next. I coated the entire inside of the bowl with a mixture of activated charcoal and my wife’s homemade yogourt. Once hardened, this provided a good, slightly abrasive surface for a new cake to build.After all of that, I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) all over the stummel to make it lovely and smooth. I then used my restoration balm and rubbed that into the wood to have its nourishing properties work on the wood. I let it set for 20 minutes or so. Afterwards, I rubbed down the stummel with a microfibre cloth. At long last, I was off to my bench buffer to put the final touches on this pipe. I first gave it a thorough going-over with White Diamond compound. Following that, several coats of carnauba wax created a beautiful, glossy seal on the pipe and provided some closure to this involved repair.This Peterson Emerald XL02 Bent Apple is such a good-looking pipe. I’m thrilled to have completed all of my customers pipes and I trust that he will enjoy this one (and the others) for many years. I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much I as I did in restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restemming a Stemless Sandblast Larsen Super Canadian

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the worktable is a Danish made pipe from the workshop W.O. Larsen. It is a sandblast Canadian with silver band on the shank end. The bowl is a classic Danish looking Canadian with almost a Brandy shaped bowl. It came without a stem. The pipe came to us from eBay on 01/22/2024 from a seller in Jordan, Minnesota, USA.  The pipe is very dirty with a thick cake in the bowl and heavy lava on the rim top. The rim edge looks to be okay but it was hard to know what was under the lava coat on the top and edges. It is stamped on the underside of the bowl and shank on a smooth panel. It reads * followed by Larsen [over] Copenhagen. That is followed by Handmade [over] Made in Denmark. That is followed by the stamping Super. The finish was dusty and there were oils and grime ground into the sandblast finish around the sides of the bowl. The silver band was in good condition and was faintly stamped Sterling Silver arched on the top back of the band. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. Jeff took a photo of the rim top to show the thick build up of lava in the sandblast of the rim top. It is also built up on the inner edge of the bowl. The thick cake in the bowl is very visible.He took photos of the sides and the heel of the bowl to show the blast finish on the pipe. It is a unique blast that really shows the birdseye and other grain around the bowl sides. He took a series of photos to capture the stamping on the heel of the bowl and the underside of the shank. The first photo shows the * on the heel of the bowl. Each one moves down the shank to the band on the shank end. It is clear and readable as noted above. He also took photos of he band on the end of the shank. It is well fit and it is cosmetic rather than a repair band. There is no crack in the shank end.The shape and stamping on this one reminded me of another Larsen Super Canadian I had worked on in the past. I remembered the shape and look of the pipe. I looked up the link and have included it below (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/10/25/restoring-a-sandblast-canadian-hand-made-designed-by-w-o-larsen-super-tan-65/). I also quoted the information on  the brand that I had researched at that time.

I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-l2.html) to get a quick view of the brand once again. I did a screen capture of the site’s information and have included that below. The pipe I am working on is a W.O. Larsen as it is stamped similarly to the ones in the photos. It is interestingly stamped with a lot more detail than any of the ones shown in the screen capture below. I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/W.%C3%98._Larsen) for a quick read. The site is worth reading the history of the shop and the brand and its influence on Danish pipe carving. There was no additional information on this pipe.

What I learned from the research is that the pipe is a W.O. Larsen made pipe that was probably esigned by W.O Larsen himself or at least one of the shop carvers. It is a beauty though.

With that information I moved forward to work on the pipe itself and see what I had to do with it. Jeff had done an amazing job in removing all of the cake and the lava on the sand blast 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. The finish on the bowl and rim top looked very good showing a unique and beautiful sandblast. He cleaned out the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until they came out clean. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank to show the condition after the cleanup. This stamping is clearer than the photo shows. The Sterling Silver stamp on the band is scratched with wear but still readable. I went through my collection of stems looking for one that would match the previous Larsen Super that I referred to above (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/10/25/restoring-a-sandblast-canadian-hand-made-designed-by-w-o-larsen-super-tan-65/). I found one that was the right shape and length. It was a little wider so it would take some work to fit it to the shank size. The tenon was very close so a little sandpaper would remember that and make the fit proper. Here is a photo of the stem. NB: This is the reason I am always picking up stems where ever I can find them. I just know that one day I will need one and it might just be the one!I decided to start my work this time following Kenneth’s pattern of working on the stem first. This something I rarely ever do, but there is always room for change. I started with the stem fitting. I marked the stem width with a pencil, ran some sandpaper over the tenon for a fit and took off the excess width on the stem on the top and each side with a rasp. With a bit of careful fiddling and fussing I was able to get a proper fit on the stem. I put it on the shank and took the photos below. Now I needed to sand it to clean up the file marks and fine tune the shape.I started polishing the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I worked on the file marks and fine shaping of the stem fit against the shank. The pads worked to polish out the marks and the fit to the shank was very good. The stem began to take on a rich shine in the vulcanite by the time I sanded it with the 3500 grit pad.I set the bowl aside and polished it with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a cloth containing some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth.  I set the finished stem aside and turned my attention to the bowl. I worked over the sandblast surface on the rim top and bowl sides with a brass bristle brush to remove any residual debris from the valleys in the finish. I wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove anything that remained. It was a nice sandblast finish. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the sandblast briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for about ten minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I polished the silver band with a jeweller’s cloth to raise the shine and protect it from oxidation. The scratches have been lessened, though still remaining. It looks much better at this point. This Larsen Hand Made Larsen Super Canadian is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The shape is elegant and flowing with a thin turned vulcanite stem. I put the new stem 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 multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax 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 Larsen Super Canadian 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: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.69 ounces/49 grams. I will be putting it on the Danish Pipe Maker Section of the rebornpipes store shortly. 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!