by Steve Laug

This particular Stanwell sandblast pipe was purchased on 01/20/2026 from a Facebook seller in Quaker Town, Pennsylvania, USA. It really is another beautiful smaller Bent Billiard with a gentle curve to the shank and stem. The bowl is sandblasted and stained with a contrast of browns. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank and reads Golden [over] Danish [followed by] 139 [over] Stanwell [over] Made In Denmark. The bowl had a moderate cake and some spots of lava overflow in the sandblast rim top and inner edge of the bowl. There was grime ground into the finish and dust and debris the sandblast. The vulcanite taper stem has the Stanwell Crown S logo on the left side. It was oxidized, calcified and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl, rim top and the stem to show the condition of the pipe when we received it. You can see the cake in the bowl and the spotty lava on the sandblast rim top and inner edge. He also captured the condition of the stem showing the tooth chatter and oxidation. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the grain in the sandblast and the smooth portions. It is a beautiful bowl. It is nice looking bent billiard and one is eye catching. Have a look. The next photos Jeff took show the stamping on a smooth portion on the underside of the shank. The stamping is faint in places but still readable as noted above.I read the history of the brand on Pipedia and would recommend that you have a look at it. It is a great read (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell).

I then turned to an article on Pipedia on the shape numbers and designers by the late Bas Stevens to see if I could find any info on the shape number and the designer of the pipe bearing the number 139 (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell_Shape_Numbers_and_Designers). I found the shape number there.

139. 1 Billiard, slightly bent, conical bowl, by Jess Chonowitsch

The pipe is a sandblast slightly bent Billiard that was designed by Jess Chonowitsch. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe following his normal cleaning process. In short, he reamed the bowl and then cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He worked over the lava and debris on the rim top and shank end and was able to remove it. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and cotton pads to remove the debris and oils on the stem. He soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to remove the remaining oxidation. He rinsed it with warm water and dried it off. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. It really looked good. I took close up photos of the stem and the rim top to show both how clean they were. The rim top and bowl look good. There is some slight damage in the blasted rim top on the back of the bowl.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. You can see from the photo that it is faint but readable. I took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the beauty of the pipe.The bowl was in such good condition after the clean up that I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my finger tips and a horse hair shoe brush to get into the crevices of the plateau and sandblast portions. The product is incredible and the way it brings the grain to the fore is unique. It works to clean, protect and invigorate the wood. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it 1500-12000 pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian after each pad to remove the dust and polishing debris. I polished it with Before After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil. This Jess Chonowitsch designed Stanwell Golden Danish 139 Bent Billiard with a vulcanite taper stem turned out very nice. The mix of brown stains highlights the grain around the bowl sides and bottom. The rim top and edges look very good. The finish on the pipe is in `excellent condition. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and 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 Stanwell Golden Danish 139 is very nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. It is a nice pipe whose dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 36 grams/1.27 ounces. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store, in the Danish Pipe Makers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know by message or by email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for your time.

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