Tag Archives: staining

This One is a Mystery Pipe – Is it a ?Dunhill?

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You will notice from the title of this blog piece that the Dunhill title is framed with question marks. The pipe is a mystery to me all the way around. There is nothing straightforward with it in terms of stamping or composition. It is composed of three distinct pieces (stem, shank and shank/bowl) that have been joined together at some point in the pipe’s history. From the pictures below you can see the junction of the bowl and the shank. The stem on the shank is a white dotted Dunhill stem. How did this pipe come to be and how did it incorporate at least two different pipes? It would be great if this old timer could tell its story because I am sure that it would be an interesting tale. Did the original owner break the shank on his pipe and then have a repair man do the fix? If so, did the repairman use a second pipe shank to add to the bowl for the repair or did the original owner take two of his pipes (both broken) and have them put together in this creative fashion? Did he take the bowl from one and the longer shank and stem from another and join them to form a new third pipe? Was the original of both pipes a Canadian or was the one that the bowl came from a billiard? I don’t think I will ever know the answer to those questions and even others if I took the time to think it out. But I do know that this is part of the pleasure I derive from working on estate pipes. I enjoy trying to put together the story of an old pipe.

I picked this one up from EBay. I was the only one bidding on it. I think the seller had marked it a Dunhill Canadian for sale so it had many viewers but no other bidders. I knew from a quick look at the pictures the seller provided that it was probably not a Dunhill. I could not be certain but the shape of the bowl did not quite measure up to other Dunhill Canadians that I have and the flow of the stem and bowl was different to my eye. Others may be able to point out other inconsistencies that they see but that is what I felt as I looked at the pipe. What caught my eye though and caused me to put in a minimal bid were the shank construction (reconstruction) and the flow of the pipe. I liked the looks of it. I was also curious to see how it was done. It looked like a well done repair, if indeed it was one. I wanted to see it close up and study it. The white spot on the stem was a bonus though I could see from the photos that it was not likely a Dunhill.

When it arrived I took it from the box and did a quick field dress cleaning of the pipe. Reamed the bowl, wiped down the outside with an alcohol damp cloth so that I could see the stamping or remnants of stamping that remained. The bowl portion (the section from the front to the union on the shank) has stamping on the bottom of the shank that looks to be what remains of a Sasieni stamp or at least the last few letters “ieni”. That is a bit mysterious to me in that the other Sasieni Canadian I have has the stamping running in the opposite direction. So my guess is that this one is upside down – not unheard of but interesting nonetheless. The shank and stem portion (from the junction backward to the stem) are definitely from the same pipe. The fit of the stem to the shank is absolutely perfect with no sanding or shaping marks, no gap and no change of profile to the stem. Under a bright light is possible to make out faint stampings on the shank remnant – and I do mean faint. They appear to be the last four letters of Dunhill – “hill” and under that there are the four letters “land” which could be then end of the word England. From that I would conjecture that what I have is a combination of a Sasieni and a Dunhill pipe. The Sasieni contributed the bowl and part of the shank and the Dunhill the rest of the shank and the stem. Whoever did the union of the two old pipes did a superb job as the joint is very well done. The grains of the two parts of the shank are very different and the staining does not match. But other than that it is a flawless union.

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With the mystery still unsolved I went to work on the ?Dunhill?/Sasieni. I gave it a better reaming and also cleaned it. The bowl had been very caked when I initially cleaned it so I did a deeper reaming taking it back to the wood. It had a very heady smell of Lakeland style tobaccos so I wanted to remove the remnant of that in the cake and prepare it for the tobacco that I would smoke in it. The shank and stem were tarry and restricted by the gunk inside them. I used a shank brush and many pipe cleaners to clear out the airway. I also tried to shine a light down the bowl to see if there was any evidence of how the repairman had done the union of the shank pieces. But the light would not shine that far down the shank. From the ease with which the pipe cleaners slid down the shank and the smoothness of the airway it was clear that the job was very well done. I also used a drill bit on my KleenReem reamer and ran it through the shank with no catches.

Obviously this was a favourite pipe for the previous owner. It was well cared for, repaired and put together and well smoked. I cleaned it with Isopropyl 99% and then sanded out the tooth chatter on the mouth piece. I wiped down the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and scrubbed it with a tooth brush. It removed the grime from the bowl and the rim. Once dry I cleaned off the remaining lava on the rim with 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. Once the bowl and shank were clean I wiped the entirety down with acetone. I wanted to get as much of the stain out so that I could try to get a bit better match on the two parts. I re-stained it with a cherry stain I have in the shop as it seemed likely that it was that colour from what was under the grime. The union of the two is still very visible even with a re-stain. The two parts took the stain very differently. I finished by buffing it with Tripoli and White Diamond before giving it multiple coats of Carnuba wax. I am happy with the results. I have smoked it quite often since the refurbishing and find that it is a great smoker. It is lightweight and comfortable in the mouth and the hand. The only thing that would make it even better in my opinion is to have the whole story behind this pipe. Ah well… I am going to go and fire up a bowl of good Virginia and enjoy adding my story to this pipe.

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One of my favourite refurbs – 1919 BBB Bent Calabash

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I was going through some old pictures on my hard drive the other day and found this one that I bought on EBay for a very reasonable price early in 2008. I finished refurbishing it in March of 2008. It was and is one of my favourites. You can see from the picture below what kind of shape it was in when I got it. In the pictures on EBay it looked worse than it does in the picture below. I opened the box when it arrive expecting far worse. I bid on it because I liked the shape of the pipe and I figured it would be a challenge.

The stem was oxidized to the brown white coloration that appears below. It almost appeared to be a horn stem – but it was not. When I removed it from the shank – which took a bit as it was stuck by the goop in the shank and the oxidation that portion was black. I put it in the freezer for a short period of time to cause some expansion and contraction in the stem that would loosen it from the shank. When I took it out of the freezer it was easily removed. I went to work on the inside of the stem with shank brushes and pipe cleaners, both bristle and fluffy dipped in alcohol. I worked on the stem until the cleaners came out white and clean.

I then mixed a batch Oxyclean and soaked it in the solution overnight to soften the oxidation. I find that the Oxyclean solution (warm water and a half scoop of Oxy in a pint jar) works wonders in softening the oxidation. It does not remove it but it made it easier to remove. Once I took it out of the solution the next morning to work on it I used 240 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation. It worked well to take off the brownish white coating on the stem. Once that was finished it was a dull brown and I continued to work on it with the 400 grit wet dry sandpaper until it was a dull black. I then progressed to 600 grit wet dry sandpaper to further remove the grime. I used both of these sandpapers with water as I find it gives the grit more bite on the stem. I had not discovered micromesh at this time so I used 800 and 1000 grit sand paper and continued to sand the stem clean. By the time I used the 1200 grit wet dry sandpaper the stem was looking like new. I took it to my buffer and used the Tripoli and White Diamond to finish the job.

While the stem was soaking in the oxy I reamed and cleaned the pipe bowl and shank. I worked on it until the pipe cleaners came out clean. It took many bristle cleaners and many fluffy one to get it clean. I also used cotton swabs in the shank to remove the tars and build up there. I scrubbed the outside of the bowl and rim with Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the grime and deep seated dirt on the bowl. After I finished the scrub and clean I put the bowl in a bath of Isopropyl alcohol to remove any remaining dirt and grime and the badly damaged finish on the bowl. That was the first night of my working on the pipe. I went to bed that evening with both the bowl and the stem soaking in their separate baths.

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The next morning I finished up the stem and set it aside as I described above. I turned my attention to the pipe bowl. I removed it from the alcohol bath and dried it off. I used a wet cloth and a butter knife heated over a flame to raise the dents in the outer rim of the pipe and the sides of the bowl. The process is quite simple. You wet a cloth, wring it out so it is not dripping wet yet still wet. Then fold it and put it over a dent. Heat the knife (I use our gas stove to do it but have also used an alcohol lamp). I then lay the flat blade of the knife on the dent. You will hear a hiss as the heat causes steam to rise from around the blade. The steam causes the dent to rise. I applied the blade repeatedly until the dents were minimized. Then I took it to my work table and used a flat board and a piece of sandpaper to top the pipe just enough to remove the remaining dents and damage. I do that on a flat surface to maintain the flatness of the rim without changing the angle. When that was finished I wiped down both the bowl and rim with an alcohol damp cloth to remove any residual sanding dust.

I then used an aniline stain, in this case medium brown as I had researched and found that the colour matched the colour of the pipe when it was new. I used the dauber that came with the stain and applied it to the rim and the body of the pipe. I started at the bottom of the bowl and worked my way up to the rim. The rim always the last part I do. Once it was completely covered with stain I ignited it with my lighter to set the stain. The process is called flaming the stain (at least that is what I call it.) I let it dry while I put a coat of wax on the stem.

When the stain was dry I took the bowl to my buffer and gave it a buff with Tripoli and White Diamond to remove the top coat of the stain and the opacity of the stain. The result can be seen in the picture below. I also used some silver polishing compound applied with a soft cloth to remove the tarnish on the end cap. I finished that process with a silver polishing cloth to give it a good shine. When that was completed I gave the bowl and cap a good buff with carnauba wax then reinserted the stem and gave the entire pipe an extra coat of wax for a finish.

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I still smoke it today and it delivers proudly! The last two pictures below show what the pipe looks like today after 4 years of use. It has developed a deep patina to the bowl and the warmth of the medium brown stain has mellowed into a richness that is really nice. Repeated waxings over the years have helped mellow the finish and also deepen the black of the vulcanite stem. This is one of my favourite old pipes. It truly is a reborn pipe. In 7 years it will be 100 years old. Some days I wish it could talk because I can’t even begin to imagine the stories it could tell.

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Refurb on an old AD pipe from 1909

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Blog by Steve Laug

I finished refurbishing this old timer. I love the looks of it and wanted to share it with you all. It is a bit of a mystery in that it has no stamping on the bowl. The only marking is a hallmark that dates it to 1909 and the letters stamped in the silver of the band AD. The pipe is a cased little thing – just 4 inches long. The stem has a bone tenon but a slotted button instead of the orific hole on most pipes of that era. The ivory band is part of the stem and it inserts into the metal band. The bowl is stained an oxblood red. I reamed and cleaned bowl and shank. I cleaned the threads and the inside of the stem with a shank brush, bristle pipe cleaners and fluffy cleaners. The silver band was polished with tarnish cleaner and a silver cloth. The stem was sanded to remove chatter and then I used Micromesh pads 1500,1800, 2400,3200 4000 and buffed with Tripoli and White Diamond. I rubbed down the case with some leather renewer and it definitely looks better.

The book, Who Made that Pipe attributes the AD stamping to Alfred Dunhill. The Silver Hallmarks site dates it as Birmingham Silver 1909 and the Makers Marks identify the work as being done by Arthur Downing Ltd. That sounds correct to me. The final attachment photo is the clip from the Hallmarks Site. So the mystery remains – is it a Dunhill or is it a nice older pipe banded by Arthur Downing Ltd? Who knows but it smokes great.

Here are the pictures of the pipe before I worked on it
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Here are some pictures of the finished pipe.
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And here is a picture of the logo on the silver band as found on the British Hallmarks site. It matches the stamping on the silver band exactly.
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Refurbed Piece of pipe smoking history – A Brittish Buttner Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

I picked this pipe up on Ebay awhile back solely for my historical interest in this kind of pipe. I am drawn to creative pipe manufacturers and the search for a drier and cooler smoke. It is that interest that attracted me to the gadgetry of the British Buttner pipes. This is the second one that I have purchased on Ebay. The first one is older (patent is earlier)and has a yellow Bakelite stem and is a pot in terms of shape. I have also collected a Bakelite canister that holds an extra clay insert bowl. I saw this one and added it to the collection. It looks like a briar billiard but is not. It is a Bakelite bowl and Vulcanite stem. The tenon is long and extends to the air hole in the bowl. There is a clay insert that sits in the bottom of the Bakelite bowl. This one has a few chips out of it but is still workable. The rim unscrews and holds clay bowl (much like a gourd calabash. It is mounted on the rim and screws into the bowl. I cleaned the inside of all three parts and cleaned the stem and shank. I have polished it with wax and since have smoked it several times. It is a very different smoke – very similar to a calabash smoke; very cool and dry.

Here are some pictures of it taken apart before cleaning:

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Here it is cleaned and polished.

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Here are some pictures of the older British Buttner

 

Refurbed Breezewood Acorn

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I picked this old timer up in the ebay purchase that included the Bertrams author. It was almost black it was so dirty. It is incredibly light weight. Once I got the grime off I could see a wee bit of the stamping left and it read Breezewood. I reamed and cleaned the inside. The stem is a screw mount like the old Kaywoodies. It has been clipped of stinger contraption but it is a good open draw. I cleaned the stem and used the micromesh sanding disks on it. The bowl was soaked in an alcohol bath to remove the finish and grime and then sanded with 220, 400, 600 sand paper and then micromesh 1800, 2400, and 4000 grit pads. Here are the before and after shots. Below the pictures I have posted a write up of the history of Breezewood pipes by the late Mike Leverette (a friend and historian of things pipe).

The pipe is pictured in the top photo below of the two pipes.

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Here is a series of photos of the refurbished pipe.

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Here are some informational ads on Breezewood pipes

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I wanted to include this brief article by Mike Leverette as it gives background history that is not commonly known or available regarding these early alternatives to briar that came out during the war years.

“There were at least three pipe brands made from the Mountain Laurel; Trapwell, Breezewood and Custombilt. Trapwell pipes were made by D & P Pipe Works beginning on or before 1943. D & P Pipe Works, owned by D. P. Levitas (Ross 2005), began making pipes in 1938 (Wilczak and Colwell 1997) probably in New York City but relocated to Sparta, Alleghany County, North Carolina in 1943 (Sparta/Alleghany CoC 2006), in order to be closer to the huge population of Mountain Laurel in the area. Later, this company changed their name to Sparta Pipe Works and still later to Sparta Industries. I have one Trapwell World’s Best Briar pipe in my collection, a small billiard, and here again; it is a great little smoker. World’s Best Briar was their marketing ploy for Mountain Laurel. Trapwell’s ‘trap’ is a highly complicated condensing system when compared to most regular metal condensers. After the war, Trapwell pipes were made from regular briar wood, or “imported briar” until their demise.

According to a 1942 Life magazine advertisement, Breezewood pipes were made by The Breezewood Pipe Company, located at 630 Fifth Avenue, New York City, though Wilczak and Colwell state the Breezewood pipes were made by Kaufmann Brothers & Bondy (KB&B) beginning in 1941 (Wilczak and Colwell 1997). The Breezewood Pipe Company may have been a subsidiary of KB&B. To quote the 1942 Life magazine advertisement; “There, deep in the Great Smoky Mountains, they found it – found an uncharted virgin forest of burls, great old burls that had been growing there uncounted years. And from these old burls, pipes of astonishing lightness of weight are made – their name: Breezewood.”

At the present time, this is all I have been able to find on the history of Breezewood pipes. Here again, the one Breezewood pipe, a small billiard, I have in my collection is a great little smoker. I am not overly fond of metal condensers and this Breezewood pipe has a simple tube condenser similar to Dunhill’s “inner tube”.

 

Refurbed Social by Comoy’s

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This afternoon late the postie delivered the Social pipe made by Comoy’s that I picked up off Ebay a few weeks ago. I took it apart and went to work. The bowl was pretty caked and broken up inside… cake falling off the walls. The The top was tarred. I reamed and cleaned it. Interestingly this is an old timer. It has the old orific button as I show in one of the before shots of the stem. It has some kind of reservoir between then end of the stepped tenon and the the airway into the bowl. It is below the airway and the tenon is drilled with the airway high to match up.

I put the bowl in an alcohol bath and cleaned it up. The mess came off really well. I then sanded the bowl with 600, 1800, 2400 and 4000 grit and then restained it with a medium brown stain. The Stem was soaking in Oxyclean and when I removed it I cleaned the grime off of it. It was a bit oxidized so that came off no problem. I then buffed the entirety with white diamond and then Carnuba. Here are the before shots:

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You will note there are some pretty deep dents in the side of the bowl. These came out a bit but they remain as character marks. There were some on the underside of the shank as well. They too remain.

After refurbishing:

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Refurbed and old timer – WDC Bakelite

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I finished up a pipe that is stamped WDC in a triangle and Bakelite on the shank. The bowl is briar and by the way the stem is put together it is clear that it is an old timer. It has a screw mount stem with a bone tenon and the red Bakelite stem has an orific button.

The bowl was caked and had cob webs! (no kidding). The bowl and shank were cleaned and reamed as usual. The stem had bite marks and needed to be sanded and then finished with micro-mesh pads and finally a trip to the buffer and Tripoli and White Diamond. The bowl was re-stained with cherry and then buffed and polished. The stem was over turned a bit so heated the tenon water and it seemed to expand (?) a bit and loosen so I was able to straighten it out on the shank and it fit perfectly. I wonder if on these old bone tenons that the hot water may actually expand them a bit – not sure how that works but it certainly worked with both of the ones I did today.

Thanks for looking and all of your comments. It made for a great day and it is good to look back and see the work completed today!

Before:

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After:

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Refurb on a Irwin (GBD Second) Saddle stem Billiard

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The 1976 GBD Catalogue says this about the Irwin pipes: “The warm dual-tone brown finish deepens with repeated smoking. Finest Rum is used in the special process of maturing these fine pipes. Its smooth flavour complements the natural taste of fine tobacco.” Knowing that when I came across this old timer I put in the pile to recondition while I was off this week. It is stamped Irwin over London England on the left shank. On the right side is the shape number 1207. It was caked a bit so I reamed the bowl and wiped it down with alcohol. The shank was dusty and dirty so it was cleaned as well. The bowl then went into the alcohol bath and sat for a half hour while I worked on the stem. It was in pretty good shape with a minimum of teeth chatter. I sanded out the tooth marks and sanded the residual oxidation on the stem. I then buffed the stem and polished it.

Once I was finished I took the bowl out of the bath and wiped it down. It was clean and once it dried was ready for sanding in preparation for a new coat of stain. I wiped it down with clean alcohol to remove any dust and then stained it with a cherry stain to bring out the brown highlights in the finish. I then buffed the entirety and waxed it with carnauba. I am very happy with the results. Thanks for looking. Here are the before shots:

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Here are the pictures after refurbishing

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Refurb on a 3 part horn

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Just finished up this unique piece. It is three part horn. The bowl screws off the shank and has a briar thread connection. The stem is also a screw on with a metal connection into briar. The stem is also an orific button. There is no stamping on this old timer. I really like the uniqueness of it.

I reamed and clean the bowl. I took apart the three parts and cleaned each on separately. The outside was wiped down with alcohol to get off the grime. The insides were scrubbed with a bristle pipe brush and pipe cleaners and alcohol. The stem was oxidized so it was sanded with 400, 600, wet dry sandpaper and 1800, 2400, 4000 micromesh pads and then hit with red tripoli and white diamond before being given a coat of carnuba. I sanded and restained the bowl with a cherry stain and then buffed and waxed it as well. This one will be a fun one to smoke!

Before shots:

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and after shots:

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An Interesting Wellington Straight Billiard

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Just finished researching a bit on WDC Wellington Pipes. Yet in all of the research I cannot find the one that I picked up. It is a straight billiard. It is chunky and 5 1/2 inches long. It is a system pipe like the Wellington Bent pictured below but it is a standard P-lip stem with a regular tenon. The band is sterling silver and has the WDC triangle and hallmarks stamped in it – an anchor, a five point star, and an eagle. The shank is also stamped WDC in a triangle under a script Wellington. The stem is stamped the same way. The bowl is U shaped with draft hole at the shank side as usual. From there it drops down into the shank where there is a chamber – a bit different than the well in the picture below. It is more of a wide open chamber that tapers a bit to receive the end of the tenon. Very interesting design.

It was rough so I reamed and cleaned the bowl. Cleared out the reservoir and the shank with pipe cleaners folded in half and then gave the bowl an alcohol bath. I left it in for about a 1/2 hour and then took it out and cleaned it again. It did not need to be re-stained as it retained its colour. I buffed it with White Diamond and then gave it a coat of carnauba wax. The stem needed a buff as well. It was a bit oxidized. The stem is unique as well in that the tenon end is very open and tapering back to the whole in the Plip. Here are the after pics.

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I have also included a couple of adverts that I came on that are interesting bits of history of the brand.

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