Tag Archives: Stem repairs

An Amazing Craggy Briar Freehand Stamped Wathen Reflection

Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff picked up this beautiful craggy rustic briar freehand pipe guy in Maryland. It was very rusticated and craggy. There were rustications on the rim, around the rim, around various parts of the bowl and on the shank top. There was a rusticated bridge from the rim on the back of the bowl all the way to the end of the rusticated and craggy looking shank. The rustication on the exterior was filthy with lots of dust and debris deep in the crevices. There was a thick cake in the bowl and the airway in the twisted saddle, amber coloured stem was filthy with tars and oils. The inside of the shank must have been very dirty as well. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it. I have included them here to give an idea of the rough condition of this pipe when it arrived in Idaho and Jeff started his magic. It is really quite unique with a rustic carving around the rim top and down the bowl part way. It is also rustic around the bottom edge of the bowl. There is a rustic bridge from the bowl to the end of the shank. The back of the bowl and the top of the shank is also rustic. The end of the shank slightly flared and rustic with the mortise drilled in the center. The underside of the shank is stamped Wathen over Reflection over the numbers 80 over #002. I am sure these numbers will help me date the pipe once I figure out who the carver is and where he lived and worked. It is a uniquely carved pipe that has smooth portions on the bowl front, sides and shank. The stem was an amber acrylic saddle with a twist in the saddle. The overall look of the pipe reminds me of a Micoli. Jeff had outdone himself in the cleanup of this worn and weary old pipe. It looked really good when you see where it was when he started. I took some photos to show the condition of the pipe when I brought to the worktable today. Jeff scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean up the rustication around the bowl and rim. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Knife. He cleaned the interior of the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The pipe came to me clean and ready to do some light restoration on it. The briar appeared to be very dry. The stem had a twist in the saddle that spiraled around the top and underside the length of the saddle. The surface was clean but had tooth chatter on the top and underside near the button and on the surface of the button itself. I took close up photos of the rim top and the bridge to the shank end to show the condition of the rustication. There was some darkening on the rim top that would need to be addressed but it was clean. I also took photos of the stem to give a clear picture of what I had when I started.I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping there. It read Wathen in script over Reflection also in script. Under that was stamped the number 80 over #002. It was etched in script into the briar and had been darkened with a black stain to make it legible. Not sure what the numbering means and the brand is unfamiliar to me. I decided to do some research on the brand. It appears that today is my day for digging up information on the freehand pipes that I am restoring. I searched for the brand, Wathen to see if I could figure out any connections. The first link I found took me to Pipedia and the following link, https://pipedia.org/wiki/Wathen. I found a sample of the stamping on the shank similar to the one I am working on and some of the history of the brand. I quote it in full.

Kerry S. Wathen was a pipemaker who worked for a small pipe shop in south Kansas City called “The Briar Patch” in the 1970’s. Tending to larger sized pipes his centerpiece was a huge briar calabash shape. When the Briar Patch closed he probably moved to Iowa where his pipes were available at David’s Briar Shop in Des Moines (ca. 1977 – 1980/81).

Wathen was having some problems with his hands at that time and was finally forced to give up his talented carving. He usually inscribed his pipes with his name and two digits for the year of production like “Wathen ’75”. The best pieces were named “Reflection”. Kerry S. Wathen, Sr. passed away on April 1, 1985 in his hometown of Topeka, Kansas.

The article on Pipedia gave me some interesting information on the pipe and the maker. The maker appears to have been Kerry S. Wathen. He carved pipes for a shop called The Briar Patch in Kansas City in the 1970s. It also said that he move to Iowa and sold his pipes through David’s Briar Shop from 1977-1981. It also helped me understand the stamping. The number 80 was the year in which the pipe was made. The #002 evidently was the second pipe made in that year. The stamping Reflection was how he marked his best pieces. According to the article he died in 1985.

I found another link for the sale of three Wathen Reflections through Cigar and Tabac shop. Here is the link, https://www.cigarandtabacltd.com/kerry-wathen-reflections-pipes-on-sale/. I quote the information from there that confirms the other information and adds some more. The first part of the quote said that the pipe were on sale for $250 each. Then it pretty much quoted the information from Pipedia. The second part of the article gave the following new information.

The last piece I found was from pipes.org and confirmed the Des Moines, Iowa connection that is noted in both of the above articles. Here is the link to the pertinent part of the discussion on the forums, http://pipes.org/forums/messages/23/5570.html?1099700064.

I have ten Wathen pipes that were purchased between 1977 and 1980 from a shop in Des Moines, Iowa. The shop name was David’s Briar Shop and the Wathens were pretty popular there.

Armed with that information I was pretty certain that the pipe I was working on was made by Kerry Wathen and with the 1980 date stamp it pretty well placed as one of the Des Moines, Iowa pipes made just five years before Kerry Wathen died. I turned my attention to restoring the pipe. I started with cleaning up the remnants of cake on the inside of the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife. I sanded out the inside of the bowl with a rolled piece of 220 grit sandpaper until the inside of the bowl was smooth and clean. I scrubbed the rim top rustication with a brass bristle tire brush to remove the carbon and debris in the rustication. I scrubbed it until the surface was clean. The photos below show the progress.I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the smooth briar bowl and worked it into the rusticated portions around the bowl, rim and shank including the bridge. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers, working it into the exterior of the rustication with a horsehair shoe brush. I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth to polish it. The pipe really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the surface to remove the tooth chatter and filled in the deeper tooth marks on both sides of the stem near the button with clear super glue.When the repairs had dried I sanded them with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth and blend it into the rest of the acrylic stem. Once it was sanded smooth the stem looked really good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust on the acrylic. I polished the stem and the smooth parts of the bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a shoe brush. I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the bowl and the stem with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The rustication around the bowl, the rim, the bridge to the shank end, the shank and shank end and the smooth brown finish all work very well with the amber coloured acrylic stem. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I have never worked on a Wathen pipe before and the unique shape and rustication pattern made it a challenge that was fun to tackle. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 6 1/2 inches, Height: 2 1/2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches wide and 2 inches long, Chamber diameter: 3/4 inches. This one will be added to the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection send me an email to slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message on Facebook. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this unique, interesting and challenging Wathen freehand. I still have other freehands that I will be working on in a variety of shapes and sizes in upcoming blogs.

Another Large and Unique Freehand pipe – a Granhill Signature 1 100

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Blog by Steve Laug

My brother Jeff picked up some amazing freehand pipes lately. When I was in Idaho for my mom’s funeral I packed them to come back to Canada with me. There was a Soren Hand Carved, a Granhill Signature 1 100, a Ben Wade Golden Walnut Hand Made, a Veeja 900 C6 and a Viggo Nielsen Hand Finished Freehand. All of them were hand crafted and had interesting shapes and finishes. Some had full plateau rim tops, some partial plateau rim. I put them in my restoration box and tonight brought them to the work table. The pipe I chose to work on next was the Granhill Signature Freehand. My brother had done all of the cleanup work – reaming, scrubbing the exterior and cleaning the mortise and the airway in the bowl and shank. That left me the finishing work on it. The bowl has a smooth finish and plateau on the rim top and shank end. The shank flares toward the stem which is a swirled freehand style acrylic stem. The bowl is quite small in diameter and is very clean. The finish on the pipe was in excellent condition. The acrylic stem had tooth marks and chatter on both the top and bottom of the stem at the button. Jeff had cleaned the rim top and removed the debris in the plateau. He had scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil soap and removed the dust and grime that had accumulated there. He lightly reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He cleaned the interior of the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The pipe came to me clean and ready to do some light touch ups and polishing. The stem was cleaned but had tooth chatter on the top and underside near the button and on the surface of the button itself. I took close up photos of the rim top and the shank end to show the condition of the plateau. I also took photos of the stem to give a clear picture of what I had when I started. I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping there. It read GRANHILL in an oval shape over Signature. Under that was stamped the number 1 over 100. Not sure what that means and the brand is unfamiliar to me.The Granhill brand was unfamiliar to me. I had never heard of it before so I did some searching on Pipedia to see if I could find any information at all. I found two potential makers of the brand though they separated the name into two parts Gran Hill. The first possible maker was Michael V. Kabik with some of them stamped Made in Denmark. The spelling of the name was noted to come in other versions: Granhill, Gran-Hill. The second possibility comes from Lopes book where he states that the brand also was used by a Fargo Tobacconist, Lonnie Fay, who made freehands bearing this stamp in the 1970s. To me the similarity of the pipe to other Kabik pipes that I have worked on made me go with him as the maker of this particular pipe. I went back to Pipedia and spent time reading about Michael Kabik (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Kabik). Here is a summary of what I found.

Michael Victor Kabik or Michael J. Kabik, now retired artisan and pipe repairman, was born in Annapolis, Maryland in 1950. As a student he was fascinated by science, but finally turned to the arts. In the early 1970s he started working as an artisan and designer for Hollyday Pipes Ltd., and when the company closed he set up in his own right.

Kabik writes as follows:

…In the 1960s, I had helped Jay build Jay’s Smoke Shop and was his first employee. Since that time, he had set up one of the very first freehand pipe-making operations in the U.S. along with his partner, Chuck Holiday, called CHP-X Pipes. The staff consisted of four full-timers actually making the pipes and perhaps another four in sales and office work. Chuck, who did the actual design and carving, had long since had serious disagreements with Jay and split. Chuck’s replacement from the staff was quitting, and Jay was in a bind. Jay offered me the job, and I gladly accepted. The fellow quitting was supposed to train me for two months but left after two weeks, leaving me with an awesome responsibility. I felt as though the future employment of all these people depended on me as the designer and cutter…and it did.

…Sadly, CHP-X closed its doors two years after my arrival, due primarily to distribution, sales force problems, and other issues to which I was not privy…In love with a medium that satisfied my creative impulses while, pretty much, paying the bills, I bought up the essential equipment and produced pipes on my own. I did this from a farm house my wife and I rented in Phoenix, Maryland. I produced pipes under the name KANE, Gran Hill and others I can’t remember as well as a private label line for a store in, I believe, South Dakota.

…In 1973, I was approached by Mel Baker, the owner of a chain in Virginia Beach called Tobak Ltd. Mel was interested in producing a freehand pipe line and was alerted to my product by Al Saxon, one of his managers and a former CHP-X employee. Mel wanted to relocate me to Virginia Beach, give me carte blanche, and recreate the CHP-X studio with, of course, a new name for the product. I’m sure my answer came very quickly.

…We decided on the name Sven-Lar. Why? Well, when I bought out CHP-X, I also got a small drawer full of metal stamps that were created for private-label work. The Sven-Lar name was conceived but never realized. Aside from having the stamp already made, there were other reasons we chose Sven-Lar. First, we were making a line of pipes in the Danish freehand tradition and also, sadly, we knew the difficulty American pipe makers had breaking the foreign market mystique barrier. The latter certainly played a big part in the demise of CHP-X.

Armed with that information I was pretty certain that the pipe I was working on was made by Kabik. I turned my attention to restoring the pipe. I started with the clean bowl, I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the briar bowl and the rim top as well as the briar shank with the exotic insert. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers, working it into the exterior of the pipe. I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth to polish it. The pipe really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks out of both sides of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper. I worked over the surface with sandpaper to remove the tooth chatter, marks and to smooth out the surface.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust on the acrylic. I polished stem and bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple 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 pretty nicely. The plateau on the rim top and shank end and the smooth brown finish work very well with the swirled brown acrylic stem.The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. While I have worked on other Michael Kabik pipes (a CHIP-X) this is the first Granhill pipe of his that I have restored. It is well crafted and is very similar to the CHIP-X that I worked on in the past. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 8 inches, Height: 3 1/2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 ¼ inches wide and 3 1/2 inches long, Chamber diameter: 3/4 inches. This one will be added to the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection send me an email to slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message on Facebook. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this Granhill freehand. I have other freehands that I will be working on in a variety of shapes and sizes in upcoming blogs.

What an interesting Freehand pipe – a Veeja 900 C6

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Blog by Steve Laug

Earlier this year I took some pipes in trade from a fellow in Alabama. He wanted some pipes that I would be adding to the rebornpipes store and wanted to trade me for some of his own. The first of these that I chose to work on today was one that is an interestingly shaped pipe with a wavy rim top, a long shank split by some exotic wood set off on each side with a thin band of dark wood and red wood. The bowl and shank are briar and the insert of exotic wood actually looks good. The shank flares toward the stem which is an amber acrylic saddle stem. The rim has some darkening and a little damage on the back side of the inner edge of the rim. The bowl had a light cake and smelled of aromatic tobacco. The finish on the pipe was in excellent condition. The acrylic stem had some tooth marks on both the top and bottom of the stem at the button. The slot in the button was missing and the button end appeared to be unfinished. It had the round hold drilled in the acrylic but the slot had not been shaped. Jeff had been able to clean up the rim top and remove much of the light lava on the surface. He had scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil soap and removed the dust and grime that had accumulated there. He lightly reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He cleaned the interior of the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The pipe came to me clean and ready to do some light touch ups and polishing. The stem was cleaned but it had minor tooth chatter on the top and underside near the button and on the surface of the button itself. I took close up photos of the rim top and the shank end to show the condition of the plateau. I also took photos of the stem to give a clear picture of what I had when I started.I took a photo of the left side of the shank to show the junction of the exotic wood inserta nd the wood bands on either side of it. It splits the long briar shank and gives the pipe an exotic flair. The photo also shows the stamping on the left side of the shank. It reads Veeja over 900 C6 or Cb.The Veeja brand was unfamiliar to me. I had never heard of it before so I did some searching on Google to see if I could find any information at all. I found a photo of nine Veeja pipes on Worthpoint that were being sold. They have similarities to the one I am working on but were also very different. There was no information on the brand. So other than seeing other pipes by the maker I was no further ahead. Here is the photo and the link to the sale listing on Worthpoint. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/lot-veeja-original-tobacco-pipes-1796762187

I did some further digging and found a listing on Pipedia for the brand. Here is the link to that information https://pipedia.org/wiki/Veeja. Once again it did not include much information. I include the article in full below.

Veeja Pipes were apparently made in New York, but we have been unable to establish any further details about them.

From that I could determine that the pipe was made in New York. No city is mentioned and no information is given about the pipemaker. I wanted to know more about the pipe so I kept looking. I found a discussion on the pipesmagazine forum and include the comment that started the discussion. http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/veeja-and-appia-stanwell-pipes-1. It was posted in 2014 and there was no response to his question. I quote:

I picked up two pipes… One of them is marked ‘Veeja original 1985’ which I bought in New York sometime around the early 2000s. The only online reference I can find is that this a one line reference to Veeja being a NY hand made pipe maker. Does anyone know anything about the person/company who made this?

I spent some more time digging to find more information but there was nothing else that I could find. Do any of you who are reading this have further information on the brand or the maker? Do you know where in New York it was made? Thanks for any help that you can give me on this.

I called it quits and moved on to start working on the pipe itself. I started with the damage to the rim. I sanded out the damage on the rim top as well as to the inner edge until I had minimized the damage and reshaped edge and the top of the rim.I polished the sanded rim top and edge with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I polished it until the scratches were removed from the briar. I cleaned out the remnants of the cake with the Savinelli Fitsall Knife. I wanted to remove all the reminders of the previous tobacco and give the pipe a new smell. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the inside of the bowl.I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the briar bowl and the rim top as well as the briar shank with the exotic insert. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers, working it into the exterior of the pipe. I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth to polish it. The pipe really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. I wiped down the rim top so that it was clean. I used an oak coloured stain pen to match the rim top to the rest of the bowl. Once it dried I buffed the piep with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. (I picked a set of these stain pens up at Canadian Tire recently. The assortment of colours really makes them useful as I match them to the colours of the pipes I work on. I included this second photo to show what I am using to stain the pipes.)I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I cleaned up the area around the end of the tenon where it joined the stem. When the tenon had been turned this area had been left a bit rough. I scraped away the excess with a pen knife to leave it smooth. I sanded the tooth marks out of both sides of the stem to smooth out the surface.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust on the acrylic. I decided to finish up the end of the button and cut a slot into the acrylic. I took photos of the process from the original opening to the finished slot. I used needle files, sand paper and sanding sticks to open the slot and polish it.I the polished stem and bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple 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 pretty nicely. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is the first Veeja pipe that I have worked on and judging by the craftsmanship on this one I will keep an eye for more of them in the future. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done and the joints and fitting of the shank band mid stem were flawless. The dimensions are Length: 7 1/4 inches, Height: 2 1/4 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/2 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 inches. This one will be added to the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection send me an email to slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message on Facebook. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this great freehand. I have other free hands that I will be working on in a variety of shapes and sizes in upcoming blogs.

Refreshing a Lattice Work Meerschaum Bent Billiard

Breathing New Life into a B.P. Jum War Club

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Blog by Steve Laug

In one of the boxes of pipes that my brother Jeff sent me was a large, hefty carved pipe that was stamped BP Jum. It had a carved finish very similar to the carving on Custombilt pipes made by Tracy Mincer. The shape is also similar to the CB pipes. It is a large pipe – 5 ½ inches long, 1 ½ inches tall, outside wall diameter 2 inches and the chamber diameter 1 inch. The shank diameter is 7/8 inches. The stem is 2 ¼ inches long. The briar was very dirty with grit and grime in the depths of the carvings. The rim top was also dirty with lava and tars in the carving of the rim. There was cake built up on the walls of the bowl. The briar has a log of putty fills underneath the rustication with a large one on the left side of the shank. The stem was oxidized and dirty and there were tooth marks and chatter on both the top and underside of the stem near the button. The internals of the both the airway in the stem and shank and the mortise were very dirty with tars and oils. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work on it. Jeff took photos of the rim top and inside of the bowl to show the condition. You can see the cake – not terribly thick but still visible and flaking nonetheless. It was not hard but was flaky and soft. He also took photos of the sides and underside of the bowl and shank. I have included those here. There was a smooth portion of briar on the underside of the shank that was stamped BP JUM over IMPORTED BRIAR. There were fills in the shank that are visible in the photo below.He took photos of the stem to show the tooth marks and the oxidation on the stem.I did some research to try to find out information on the BP Jum brand. There was a lot of conjecture as to whether the brand was made by Tracy Mincer of Custombilt fame. There is no definitive proof other than the common shapes, sizes and look of the pipes. Bill Unger, of Custombilt fame and author of a history of the brand, mentions BP Jum but cannot definitively connect the two. So the maker remains a mystery that is still unsolved. Do any of you reading this have information on the brand? Send me a message or an email if you can help. Thanks ahead of time.

Jeff had reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the bowl, rim and shank. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. The lava mess on the rim was thoroughly removed without harming the finish underneath it. Without the grime the finish looked good. The stem would need to be worked on. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. I took close up photos of the rim top that shows the clean bowl and the small nicks and dents in the smooth portion of the finish. The stem was clean and Jeff had used Before & After Deoxidizer to soak and remove much of the oxidation. He rinsed out the inside of the stem and rinsed off the exterior as well. The photos of the stem show the tooth marks and chatter on both sides.The BP JUM stamp is very clean. You can see the putty fills on the left side of the photo as well as on the shank sides and the bowl itself. I used a Mahogany stain pen to touch up all of the fill areas on the pipe and blend them into the texture of the briar.I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to sand out the nicks and damage on the smooth parts of the rim. I polished them with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the rim down after each sanding pad to remove the sanding dust. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the briar and particularly the sanded areas. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers and wiped it off with a soft cloth. I buffed the bowl with a horsehair shoe brush to polish it. 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. I used clear super glue to fill in the large fill on the left side of the shank. I scored it with a knife to match the marks in the rustication. I stained the fill with a mahogany stain pen to match the briar and rubbed the area down with the balm to blend it.I waxed the cleaned and polished bowl with Conservator’s Wax and worked it into the rusticated finish. I buffed it with a shoe brush and a soft cloth. The bowl is finished other than the final buffing that I will do once the stem is finished. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I used a Bic lighter to paint the tooth marks with the flame and try to lift them. I was able to remove the lighter tooth chatter and lift the deep tooth marks partially. I sanded the stem and the surface of the button with 220 grit sand paper to remove the remaining tooth marks and reshape the surface and edges of the button. There were two tooth marks that were too deep and did not lift when heated. I filled them in with clear super glue. Once it had cured I sanded it down with 220 grit sandpaper to blend it into the surface of the vulcanite. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I used the Before & After Pipe Polish to remove the small minute scratches left in the vulcanite. I finished by wiping the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I polished the stem and bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. 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. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is an interesting looking pipe that may have been carved by Tracy Mincer. It certainly bears a lot of resemblance to Custombilt/Custom-Bilt pipes.The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 1/2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store shortly. If you are interested in adding it to your collection email me at slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message on Facebook. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this BP Jum.

Restoring My Grandfather’s Peterson’s System “31” Made in Eire Billiard

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

Over the past few months I have restored quite a few of Paresh’s Grandfather’s pipes. They have been both fun and challenging with the variety of issues each one presented. Throughout the process Paresh and I have corresponded and talked about procedures and methodology of the restorations and I encouraged him to give it a try. His family had passed on a large collection of his Grandfather’s pipes to him so it seemed to be a natural thing in my mind that he does the cleanup work on as many of them as he could. It just seemed fitting that the grandson does the restoration and then enjoy the pipes. He took me up on it and asked that I walk him through the process. We have talked a few times via FaceTime, linking India and Canada, to assess and plan the restoration. I asked Paresh to write some blogs on the work he is doing. Here is the first of those blogs. Welcome to rebornpipes Paresh. It is great to have you here. We look forward to seeing more of your work. — SteveWork had come to a halt on the WDC with the gold band “Bulldog” due to an extended curing time on the repairs to the stem as well as non-availability of Steve till 28 May ’18 to further guide me on the complicated (…by my standards!!) stem restoration. I decided to tackle a relatively straight forward restoration, as it appeared to my untrained eye, of a Pete system “31”, Made in Eire.

VISUAL EXAMINATION

The “31” is a beautiful little pipe with a lovely rusticated pattern. At the shank end, it has a nickel ferrule bearing three shields with the inscriptions ‘K ‘&’ ‘P’ respectively over “PETERSON” over “DUBLIN”.The smooth surface on the underside of the shank is stamped with the words “MADE IN EIRE” within a circle; the word “IN” being in the centre. Right of the COM stamp is “PETERSON’S” over “SYSTEM” OVER “31”.The “P” in Peterson’s is the ‘old style’ lettering that used a forked tail. This pipe can easily be dated to the 1938 – 41 period when Peterson’s stamped their pipes with COM stamp “MADE IN EIRE”. Secondly to quote from thepetersonpipeproject.blogspot.in, an authority on the dating of Peterson’s pipes states, “From the beginning of the Patent Era until somewhere in the early 1930’s Peterson used the ‘old style’ lettering that used a forked tail “P” in Peterson.

The bowl was filled with cake and overflowing lava on the rim top, though not very heavily, which was a surprise, since all my grandfather’s pipes restored by Steve and I till date were heavily caked.The rustications were filled with dirt and grime coming from being uncared for and unused in storage since the late 1960’s giving it a very dull and dusty look. The ferrule was oxidized and discoloured and came off of the shank easily, giving rise to fears of hidden surprises underneath on the shank end. However, no such surprises were in store for me this time! The stem was very heavily oxidized, giving it a dirty greenish colour. The stem has a permanently fixed long, protruding rubber tube/nozzle extending well past the draught hole. The edges of the P-lip are perfect, however, there are a few light bite marks on the stem. The only issue I foresee having to deal with is the foul smell! I hope that when the cake is removed, the smell too will disappear.

THE PROCESS OF RESTORATION

As is the un-written understanding between Abha, my wife, and myself, Abha started work on the bowl (……she hates dealing with the stems!!!!) by reaming it with a Kleen Reem tool and a vintage British Buttner pipe reamer. Within no time the cake was reamed out of the bowl and Abha proceeded to sand it down using a 220 grit to bare briar wood. In spite of removing the cake, the foul smell still persisted.While sanding down the chamber with a 220 grit sand paper, the exposed briar revealed the letter ‘P’ stamped on the bottom of the bowl near the draught hole!!I searched the internet for information since I had never read of a Peterson’s to sport such a stamp. Unable to find any related information, I sent pictures of the same to Steve of rebornpipes fame. He too had not seen such stamping before. I request, if any one has any information or knowledge to share, please do so.

Thereafter, I started work on the internals of the pipe. The draught hole was blocked to the extent that a bristled pipe cleaner could not pass through. I tried to blow through the lip of the stem, but air would not pass through. The reservoir was filled with tar, grime and gunk and so was the stem. It is amply evident from this pipe and all other pipes belonging to my grandfather that he did not like to clean his pipes and hence the large collection of Barlings, Charatan’s, WDC’s, GBD’s, Kriswills and other Danish brands.I completely cleaned the reservoir and mortise using alcohol, pipe cleaners, shank brush and qtips. Using a dental spatula, I scraped out all the accumulated tar, oils and gunk out of the reservoir till bare briar was visible under torchlight and all pipe cleaners/cue tips came out clean.To get rid of the foul smell, the bowl was treated with kosher salt and alcohol overnight. After cleaning it thoroughly, the pipe now smelt fresh.Thereafter, I cleaned the bowl with Murphy’s oil soap and a hard bristled toothbrush, thoroughly cleaned the bowl deep into its rustication and rinsed it under running tap water. I dried the pipe bowl completely using a soft cotton cloth and left it to dry completely overnight.Next morning, I rubbed a Before and After Restoration Balm with my fingers and worked it deep into the rustication. After a few minutes I cleaned and polished it using a soft cotton cloth. The briar really began to look good. I further buffed it using a horse hair shoe brush till the bowl began to shine a bit. Finally, I rubbed a tiny amount of HALYCON II WAX on the bowl and waited a few seconds. Thereafter, using a microfiber cloth and plenty of muscle power over a prolonged period of time, I was finally satisfied with the way the bowl looked at this stage (pics).With the bowl finally finished, I turned my attention to the stem. A stated earlier, the stem was clogged to such an extent that air did not pass through it. I cleaned it out using alcohol, bristled and regular pipe cleaners. I used a Bic lighter to raise the light bite marks. Using a 220 grit sand paper, I completely removed the oxidation from the vulcanite surface. Thereafter, I went through the micromesh sand papers, wet sanding it with 1500 to 3200 and dry sanding with 3600 to 12000 grit paper. I rubbed extra virgin olive oil in between each.The stem now has a nice shiny and smooth black surface which looked classy and beautiful with the rusticated bowl. The finished pipe is shown below. This will definitely find a place of pride in my collection and remind me of the memories of my GRAND OLDMAN. I am most grateful to Steve Sir for guiding me through this project and always suggesting alternate and practical methods since I have huge handicap of materials and equipment, being either unavailable or being un-economical as I am just pursuing this as a hobby and restoring the memories of my grandfather whilst smoking these inherited pipes!

I shall be grateful and obliged to be made aware of my mistakes and scope for improvement in both, the write up as well as the procedures and methods adopted during the refurbishing of the pipe.DIMENSIONS OF THE PIPE
Length:                      5 ¾ inches
Bowl height:               1 ½ inches
Bowl depth:              7/8 inch
Bowl inner diameter: 7/8 inch

Recommissioning Another L. J. Peretti of Boston: An Oom Paul Sitter

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Blog by Dal Stanton

After restoring my first two Oom Pauls (see: LINK) from the L. J. Peretti Co., Tobacconist of Boston, this is the next Oom Paul that came to Bulgaria in the Peretti Lot of 10 I acquired off the eBay auction block. I posted the picture of the 10 (below) on my favorite Facebook pipe groups (The Gentlemen’s Pipe Smoking Society, Old Codgers Smoking Pipe, Pipe Smokers of America, and Tobacco Pipe Restorers) letting interested pipe men and women know that except for one, the Oom Pauls would be available for personal collections. All the Perettis restored and placed with new stewards benefit the Daughters of Bulgaria, an effort to help women and girls (and their children!) who have been trafficked and sexually exploited. This L. J. Peretti Oom Paul Sitter from the Lot of 10 has been commissioned by a pipe man in neighboring Romania, just to the north of Bulgaria. After restored, he will have first dibs on this Peretti now on my worktable!Along with the large stummel, what makes this Peretti stand out is the fact that it is a Sitter – a very nice feature when one is at the table enjoying friends and board games or a hand of cards! I wish that the L. J. Peretti Co., had put out a shape chart in the past – if they had, I haven’t been able to find it! This pipe, with another Sitter in the Lot of 10, might be just a bit shy of full bent status which is the technical norm for Oom Pauls according to Bill Burney’s description of the Oom Paul in Pipedia, but it is clear that Peretti used the same tall, long, full stummel with the Sitters, but widened the bend a bit, perhaps to allow the better balance as the Sitter is seated. My call is that it is very close and either way, will serve his new steward well! Here are pictures I took of the Peretti Oom Paul Sitter on my worktable here in Bulgaria. The left side of the shank is stamped with L. J. Peretti with no other markings on the stummel or stem. Along with his brothers and cousins in the Peretti Lot of 10, this Oom Paul Sitter shares the thick carbon cake in the chamber and the rim abuse of incessant lighting over the side of the rim. The extent of the erosion to the briar around the rim due to this scorching I’ll know after the reaming and cleaning of the stummel/rim. The bowl shows normal nicks, scratches and grime that has darkened and obscured the briar. I detect no fills on the surface, but the Sitter’s heel has a large, lightened blotch/fill to be addressed along the way. The stem has moderate oxidation, but the bit is chewed up like all his Peretti brothers and cousins. The former steward liked to chew on his Perettis! The upper/lower bit and button lip have sustained compression dents.

I start the restoration process by addressing the oxidation of the stem. Previously, along with several other stems of pipes in the queue, the Sitter’s stem went into a soak using ‘Before and After Deoxidizer’ to remove the oxidation from the vulcanite stem. I first had cleaned the internals of the stem with isopropyl 95% and pipe cleaners. The stem stayed in the soak for several hours and after removing it from the Deoxidizer, I wiped it down with cotton pads and mineral spirits (in Bulgaria, light paraffin oil). The oxidation wipes off as a nasty brown on the cotton pads. I continue to wipe with cotton pads and paraffin oil until it cleans and is buffing up. The Before and After Deoxidizer does a good job. To continue the Before and After process, I now apply first the Fine Polish by putting some on my finger tips and working it into the vulcanite. The polish starts off thick and gritty, but liquifies as I work it around and absorbs into the vulcanite. After a while, I buff off the polish with a cotton pad and then, in the same manner, apply the Extra Fine Polish. I take a picture of the stem after I worked this polish in but before buffing it off. You can make out the texture of the polish on the surface. I then buff it off with a cotton pad. The stem looks clear of oxidation and has a deep black hue.I look now to the stummel. I begin by reaming the heavily caked Oom Paul chamber. I also work on the rim surface with very thick, crusted lava flow. There is no way to determine the condition of the chamber wall or the rim until the cake is removed. This is a consistent characteristic of all the L. J. Peretti Lot of 10. I use the Pipnet Reaming kit to begin the job starting with the smallest blade over a paper towel to minimize clean up! I use 3 of the 4 blades available. I then use the Savinelli Fitsall Tool to continue to remove carbon from the chamber walls by scraping the chamber wall and reaching the difficult areas. When I detect the walls are scraped smoothly – no more crunching of carbon, I sand the chamber using 240 grit paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen. Finally, after sanding I wipe the chamber with cotton pads wetted with isopropyl 95% to remove the carbon dust. Looking into the chamber, I see no cracks or crevices. It looks good! I take pictures along the way. Now, to attack the thick gunk on the rim, I use undiluted Murphy’s Oil also to clean the entire stummel which is darkened by the grime. I use a cotton pad and Murphy’s and the grime is coming off. I’m pleasantly surprised to see what I thought was a fill on the heel of the stummel disappear! It too was simply gunk on the briar surface. The rim put up some resistance! I first use the cotton pad but quickly utilized a brass brush to scrub the lava over the rim. I also used my pen knife to scrape gently the rim surface. To complete the cleanup, I rinse the stummel and rim with cool tap water. The stummel surface looks good – it cleaned up well and I can see some impressive grain patterns lurking underneath. As with the other Peretti Oom Pauls I’ve restored, the plane of the rim is dropping a bit to the left of perpendicular with the shank, but I’ll leave it as is. I also note that the left side of the rim has eroded somewhat because of the practice of lighting the tobacco over the edge. The result is that there is an inconsistent rim width around the circumference. I’ll seek to correct this, or at least help it along by creating an internal rim bevel. Since I like working on clean pipes, I turn to the internal cleaning of the stummel using a shank brush, pipe cleaners and cotton buds dipped in isopropyl 95%. I also utilize a dental spatula to scrape the sides of the mortise to remove old tars and oils. After the frontal assault on the gunk, I decide to employ the stealthier approach – a kosher salt and alcohol soak. This approach helps to freshen the internals as well as remove more latent tars and oils. I fill the stummel with kosher salt, cup the chamber with my palm and give the stummel a shake to displace the salt. I then create a wick with a cotton ball by pulling and twisting it. I stuff the wick down the mortise and through the draft way. Then I place the stummel in an egg carton to stabilize it and fill the bowl with isopropyl 95% until it surfaces over the salt. I wait a few minutes and top it off again. The day is late, and I set the stummel aside to let it soak through the night.The next morning, I discover that the salt had not discolored much but the wick had been successful drawing out the oils. I clean out the stummel getting rid of the expended salt and wiping the chamber with a paper towel. I run a long shank brush through the mortise and draft hole to clear the remnants of salt. Now, a clean stummel!Now, to the rim. I take a closer look and take a couple close ups to mark the starting point. The damage is not as extensive as I’ve seen on some of his Peretti brothers. Cleaning the scorched briar on the rim and creating an internal bevel in order to remove the damaged wood is the goal – fresh, healthier briar to form the rim. Starting, I gently top the stummel with 240 sanding paper on a chopping board only removing what is necessary. Rotating the inverted stummel on the board I discover that I don’t need to take off much. I then switch to 600 grade paper and smooth the rim – lightly topping it more. The pictures show the progress. The topping went well. Now, to cut the internal bevel, I roll a piece of 120 grade paper tightly around a hard wood disk to provide a flat, firm backing to help with a crisper b. I then work the paper around the internal rim circumference edge to cut the initial bevel. In the same way, I sand with 240 grade paper and finish it off with 320 and 600 grade papers. I think the rim looks great. I’m enjoying how this Peretti in cooperating. The stummel surface has normal nicks and minor dents which this Peretti has received over the years. To remove these, using sanding sponges on the surface is my usual approach. I start by employing a rougher grade sponge, middle grade and then finish going over the surface with a light grade sanding sponge. I am careful to protect the L. J. Peretti nomenclature on the shank as I sand. After the sanding sponges I transition to using micromesh pads to sand out the briar surface more using finer sanding surfaces. I begin by wet sanding with pads 1500 to 2400 then dry sanding from 32000 to 4000 and then 6000 to 12000. I enjoy watching the grain start to show through the micromesh pad cycles. The L. J. Peretti is looking good as I look at it now. The pictures show the progress. Turning now to the stem, I take another look at the bit showing tooth chatter and dents. I first use a flame from a Bic lighter to paint the area expanding the vulcanite. As the vulcanite expands as the natural result of heating it, I’m hopeful that the dents and chatter might rise and make for less sanding. I believe the process helped but did not fully remove the dents. I took before and after pictures first with the upper bit comparison, then the lower bit. To address the dents, after wiping the area with alcohol to clean the surface, I apply drops of Black Medium KE-150 CA glue to the dents. I start on the upper bit. I put CA glue on the 2 main dents and run more glue along the button to fill in the chatter there. I then wait for an hour or so for the CA glue to set, so that I can flip the stem and apply glue on the lower bit. After the Black CA glue has cured, I start the process of filing and sanding the patch down to the vulcanite surface and sanding out the chatter. Starting with the flat needle file and 240 sanding paper I do the initial sanding and refreshing the buttons of both the upper and lower bit with the file. I follow by sanding with finer grades, 470 then 600. I finish this phase by buffing the entire stem with 0000 grade steel wool. The pictures show the progress finishing out the bit repairs. With this initial stem repair and sanding completed, I now use micromesh pads to continue sanding the stem with even finer sanding grades. I begin wet sanding with pads 1500 to 2400, then dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 followed by pads 6000 to 12000. After each set of 3 pads I apply Obsidian oil to revitalize the vulcanite. I love to see the vulcanite’s glassy pop! The pictures show the progression. Now, I take another look at the Peretti Oom Paul Sitter seated on my worktable! I like that characteristic of this large stummel. I study the attractive grain patterns that have started to emerge through the sanding process. To enhance the grain further, I mount a felt buffing wheel on the Dremel and I apply the coarser Tripoli compound with the lowest speed setting. Before I start the sanding process, I purge the wheel with the Dremel’s metal tightening wrench. I apply the compounds by rotating the wheel over the surface of the briar. I don’t apply too much lateral pressure on the buffing wheel, but I allow the speed, wheel and compound to do the work. After asking nicely, my wife takes a picture of me applying the Tripoli compound with the Dremel. After the Tripoli compound, I apply the less coarse compound Blue Diamond. I apply it in the same manner as Tripoli but with a cotton cloth buffing wheel instead of a felt wheel. When completed, I wipe the stummel with a cotton cloth to remove residue compound dust. The next step is to apply Before and After Restoration Balm to the Peretti’s briar surface. With the other restorations I’ve done with the Peretti Lot of 10, I have been very pleased with the results of applying the Restoration Balm. I very much like the natural briar look and the original Peretti motif has the lighter, natural patina. The Balm seems to take the natural briar grain and deepen and enrich it. I take a before and after picture of the stummel to show the difference. I’m afraid the lighting of the pictures does not show the subtle deepening that I perceive with the naked eye. To apply the Balm, I squeeze a little Balm on my fingers and work it into the briar surface. As I do this, the Balm progressively thickens to almost a wax-like consistency. I take a picture of the Balm on the stummel as I allow it to sit for a few minutes to give an idea of its consistency. I then use a cotton cloth rag to wiping it off at first, and then buffing it as the surface is exposed. I then use a micromesh cloth to give the stummel a hand buffing. The pictures show to process comparing each side in succession. I remember that I forgot to apply Blue Diamond compound to the stem. So, I attach the stem to the stummel and apply Blue Diamond compound to the stem and then wipe the entire pipe with a felt cloth to remove excess compound dust. Now, applying the carnauba wax, I mount a cotton cloth wheel to the Dremel, increase the speed to about 40% full power and apply the carnauba to the stem and stummel. After applying a few coats, I use a micromesh cloth to give the pipe a rigorous hand buffing to raise the shine even more.

This Peretti Oom Paul Sitter cleaned up very well – I’m pleased with the results. After restoring several Peretti pipes and I’ve concluded that not only have I found them to be good smokers, but the briar used for the production of these pipes seems to be of a higher quality and very pleasing to the eye on the whole. The grain on this Peretti has not disappointed. The large stummel showcases well the lateral grain on the lower regions and then bird’s eye grain dominates the opposite side of the bowl. Codruț, a pipe man in neighboring Romania, saw this Peretti when I posted several Peretti Oom Pauls that were to be restored and made available. He commissioned this Peretti and he will have first dibs on it when it goes into The Pipe Steward Pipe Store. This Peretti Oom Paul Sitter benefits the Daughters of Bulgaria, our work here in Bulgaria helping women and girls (and their children) who have been trafficked and sexually exploited to find a new life. Thanks Codruț(!), and thank you for joining me in this restoration!

New Life for an Italian Made Harvey Futura Bent Sitter

My First Pipe Restoration – My Grandfather’s Royal Falcon

4 Replies

Blog by David Lasher

I was traveling this past week for work and received an email from David regarding this pipe. He sent me photos of the pipe and the write up that follows. I was glad to hear from him and see his work. The pipe is a beauty and I think you will agree with me that he did a great job on the restoration. Welcome to rebornpipes David. We look forward to hearing more from you. –Steve

My grandfather was a New England hat maker. As a chemist, he made the dyes used to color the fur and felt of Stetson hats. He collected many things, including tobacco pipes like the ones he used. I recently grabbed one from my parents’ basement. After stumbling onto your website, I jumped in with both feet and attempted to restore my first pipe, a Royal Falcon 214. The following photos document the before and after of this pipe. From the start, your website was instrumental. You even helped me determine that Royal Falcons were produced as the seconds of Comoy’s.

Beautiful color of the Briar wood bowl. Note the teeth chatter and oxidation on the stem. Also, the Falcon engraving (with missing paint).Below, the bowl after being stripped with Murphy’s Oil Soap.Substantial Teeth Chatter and oxidation on the stem.Following guidance found on rebornpipes.com, the final product is—I think—fairly decent, especially for my first pipe restoration. It isn’t perfect, but thankfully I have nine more to work on and practice with.

The stem after soaking in Oxy-Clean and scrubbing, sanding, and polishing it. Who knew that 12000 grit sandpaper even existed?The imprints on both sides of the pipe. The right side of the bowl before refinishing the wood. Before and After: The Final Result

The pipe as it sat in a basement for the last three decades. Below, the pipe today with the oxidation removed from the stem and the stem polished. The bowl was stripped, re-stained, polished, and waxed. The wood is beautiful…and complimented with the restored deep black stem featured the painted falcon.Below, the final touch…the restored (repainted) Royal Falcon imprint on the stem.This was possible only through the guidance I received from rebornpipes.com. Thank you very much!

An Unexpected Find in Athens – A Savinelli Oscar Aged Briar 614

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Blog by Dal Stanton

When I first laid my eyes on this Savinelli, I didn’t realize it was a Savinelli. I was in Athens, Greece, tooling through the Monastiraki market area at the foot of the Acropolis, next door to the Forum. As I explored I found one shop nestled on a tree-covered side street with a table set on the front sidewalk with all kinds of paraphernalia. It drew me like a bee to pollen! Two congenial men were sitting behind the table conversing in Greek. I assumed they chatted about all manner of life, family, politics…, and what is usually the case, as I drew near, their conversation stopped, and the English began. As I perused the table with strategic disinterest, I saw one pipe on the table that did not grab me too much. The shop owner asked me if I was interested in pipes? I said yes, and he said that he had many more that he didn’t know what to do with…. “Oh, my…” – my heart skipped a beat! In his wonderfully, friendly, thick Greek accent and manner of hospitality, he said, ‘Come with me.” As he pulled a chain out of this pocket a full ring of keys followed. He led me down a narrow, alley walkway along the side of the shop. We stopped and he unlocked a side door that led immediately up the stairs to an ‘upper room’ where, as he explained with a subdued, secretive flourish, he seldom brought customers. When we entered the room, I saw why. It was his special place – family pictures were arrayed everywhere, icons of the Greek Orthodox Church were given special deference as they hung from places of honor. Many shelves full of his collections. He pulled my attention away from the array to a slew of pipes displayed in a case hanging on the wall and arranged beneath on a cluttered table. I took it all in. He explained that his good friend, from Armenia, asked him to sell off his collection of pipes and he gave me a price for everything, including the wall-hanging display case. With gratitude to him for his generous offer, I had to decline as I was flying back to Sofia and would have no room in my luggage for all of it. I suggested to him that his friend could possibly make more money if he sold the pipes and case separately and he confided that he knew little about pricing pipes individually. As we talked, I discovered that he was a board member of a foundation that assisted orphaned children Armenia – the home of his friend. That opened the door for me to share that I too, was a board member of the Daughters of Bulgaria Foundation and I shared with him why I collected pipes – to restore and sell them to benefit the Daughters and their children. He encouraged me to go through the collection and pull out pipes that interested me and make him an offer. In Mediterranean culture, very much like Bulgarian culture – relationship is supreme, and we had talked of things near and dear to our hearts. Pipes became the doorway to a deeper fellowship that we both understood and appreciated. I left the shop owner with a firm handshake, a parting picture, and an appreciation for him and his journey. I also left his shop with some special pipes and friendly prices 😊: Lorenzo Carnevale Sanremo of Italy (on top in picture below), a Savinelli Roley Pocket Pipe (bottom, below), and a sorry looking ¾ Bent Billiard (center below) that appeared to have no name – at least in the dim light of the upper room, I could not see any. It appeared the pipe had been left out in a sun-drenched field through a few seasons – showcasing a terribly oxidized stem and a bleached-out bowl, but the old boy had nice form and I liked him. It struck me that this pipe reminded me of a Southern US epithet, ‘Bless his heart, he can’t help how ugly he is!’ The ‘Bless his/her heart’ is the softener or honey before the hard news! The pipes were unwrapped when I returned home to Sofia. I was anxious to look at them, take some pictures, and to do my normal ‘information intake’ for each pipe I collect so that I can remember later when they emerge from the ‘Help Me! Basket’ heading to The Pipe Steward worktable. With a magnifying glass in hand, I discovered that the ‘Bless his heart’ charity pipe was a hidden prince with great potential – a Savinelli Oscar Aged Briar 614 of Italy. The Oscar is a popular line of the well-known Italian pipe family, Savinelli. I was surprised and happy to see what I could do to help him out! On the left side of the shank was stamped in cursive script, ‘Oscar’ over ‘AGED BRIAR’. The right side of the shank was stamped the Savinelli ‘S’ logo on the left, and to its right was shape number ‘614’ over ‘ITALY’. I took some other pictures of the Savinelli Oscar on my worktable to catalog his condition when he arrived from Athens. Fast forward now nearly a year. Many of my restoration projects start because a pipe is commissioned, and it is plucked from the ‘Help Me!’ Basket. This often happens when a pipe listed in the “For Pipe Dreamers Only!” on The Pipe Steward site attracts someone. Or, here in Bulgaria, when folks are in our home and know about my pipe restoration work, they often will pour through the many pipes in the ‘Help Me!’ Basket (and boxes 😊) in search of just the right one! That was the case with the Savinelli Oscar. Taylor, a colleague and blooming pipe man, wanted a couple of pipes for himself and one for a friend in the US. The favorite he chose, or did the pipe choose him 😊(?), was the Savinelli Oscar which is now on my worktable.

To learn more about the Savinelli Oscar Aged Briar, I look at the Savinelli Pipe Shape guide to identify shape 614. I locate it in the chart and it looks to be a 3/4 Bent Billiard. I circle the 314 in the chart and it’s interesting to see the other Bent Billiards nearby to compare. I’m thinking that the Oscar is a 3/4 Bent but I am surprised to see, that comparing it to all the other Savinelli bent shapes, it seems to be the most fully bent shape that Savinelli offers – at least from this chart.Then, with a simple search on Google using the name and the shape number, 614, I’m hoping for an Oscar 614 in pristine condition to guide the restoration of this sad boy. I find this example of an Oscar Aged Briar 614 formerly on the AntiqueAuctionsNow website – a nice looking classic bent stem Billiard.Ah ha! As I look closely at the picture above, it cues me into the possibility of the Savinelli Shooting Star stem stamp on the Oscar – impossible now to see with the heavy oxidation. I look to another regular place, PipePhil.eu, which gives me more information and understanding. The Savinelli Oscar line, along with three others, is marked with the Shooting Star stamp.Looking at the overall condition of the pipe, I have already noted the oxidation and a hope that the Shooting Star stamping can be salvaged. The bit also has very minor tooth chatter with a single dent on the upper button. The bowl almost appears like it has been bleached by the sun and the nomenclature stampings on the sides of the shank are thin and will take some care not to diminish more. The rim has some scorching over the left quadrant and has minor cake build up in the chamber. The internal rim has a smart bevel that I will refresh. I’ll ream the chamber to get down to the briar for a fresh start. A few small fills are detected on the lower shank and a significant divot is evident on the shank end, just below to the left of the Savinelli ‘S’ logo.

The first thing to address is the stem’s oxidation. I add the Oscar’s deeply oxidized stem with a batch of other stems into a bath of Before and After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the stem. Aligned with each stummel, the stems are put into the solution for a few hours. The Savinelli Oscar is on the left. I’m hopeful that the Before and After Deoxidizer might uncover the Shooting Star stem stamp – hopeful, but doubtful.After a few hours, using a toothpick, I fish out the Oscar’s stem and allow it to drip-drain the Before and After Deoxidizer. I then wipe the stem with cotton pads and mineral spirits (light paraffin oil here in Bulgaria) which removes layers of raised oxidation off the surface. Miraculously, the Savinelli shooting star stamp appears out from underneath the oxidation! It is very thin and I’m not sure there’s enough depth left of the stamp for acrylic paint to find purchase. Continuing with the stem, I use Before and After Fine Polish then Extra Fine Polish to further condition the stem. With both, I place some polish on my finger and work it in on the vulcanite surface until it is absorbed. After each, I buff it further with cotton pads. The stem looks great – though the Shooting Star stamp doesn’t look like there’s much I can do with it but save what’s left of it!Turning to the stummel, I use undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to scrub the surface and rim with a cotton pad. Whoops! Usually, I do the reaming before this – I’ll need to back track. I rinse the stummel with cool tap water and it cleaned up very well – the rim gunk is gone. I decide to apply a coat of light paraffin oil (mineral oil) to the surface to rehydrate the briar. I set it aside for a while for the paraffin oil to absorb fully. The grain looks good. Now, back to the chamber cleaning that I missed. I use the Pipnet Reaming Kit to ream the light cake out of the chamber. I use only the two smaller blades. I then fine tune the reaming with the Savinelli Fitsall Tool. Finally, I wrap 240 grade paper around a Sharpie Pen and sand the chamber down to the fresh briar. I finish the chamber cleaning by wiping it with a cotton pad wetted with isopropyl 95%. The pictures show the progress. To the internal cleaning – using cotton buds, pipe cleaners and a shank brush I clean the mortise. I also use a dental spatula to scrape the mortise walls to remove gunk. With my day ending, to give a more thorough cleaning, I use a kosher salt and alcohol soak to penetrate the tars and oils left in the bowl and mortise overnight. I fill the bowl with kosher salt – not iodized that leaves a taste. I give the bowl a shake with my hand covering the top to disperse the salt. I then form a wick to stuff down the mortise to draw out the oils and tars. I stretch and twist a cotton ball to do this. With the cotton wick in place, I place the stummel in an egg crate to keep it steady. I then use a large eyedropper to fill the chamber with isopropyl 95%. I wait a few minutes and top it again. Time to call it a day. The next morning, the soak has done the job of pulling even more oils and tar out of the internals. I dump the used salt in the waste and use a paper towel and shank brush to wipe out the expended salt left in the bowl and mortise. I also blow through the stummel to make sure there’s no old salt left.While I’m inspecting the stummel after removing the salt, looking at the scratch by the nomenclature and small chip on the shank end, I notice what I didn’t see before. A stamp on the lower side of the shank that is nearly invisible. I can make out only some of the stamping with a magnifying glass – Sav… over Produ…. I look again at the examples of the Oscar from Pipephil.eu (above) and sure enough, it shows a lower stamp as well – Savinelli over Product. I take a picture to show what I found.I take a few shots of some problem areas – a cut or possibly a hairline crack, just above the shape number, the internal bevel of the rim is worn from lighting practices. I want to refresh the bevel and rim, which is already in good shape. I begin with the divot on the shank. I decide to apply a drop of regular, clear super at the divot to build it out. I’ll let it cure a few hours before sanding and blending it. After a couple of hours, the shank end divot has set up enough for me to work on the cut/crack. I’m not convinced it is a crack – a cut is more likely I think. I decide to lay a very small line of regular super glue over the cut using a toothpick to guide the glue. It will be close quarters with the shape number when I sand it down, but I think it will look better.After the glue cures, I first use 240 grit paper to sand both the divot and the cut down to the briar. I stay on top of the glue mound as much as possible to not impact the briar surface. I then use 600 grit paper to smooth and blend. These were small issues, but I feel better for addressing them – the Savinelli Oscar will look good. Now, I turn to the rim. It’s in good condition but there are some nicks and dents on the edge of the rim. There is also a darkened area from minor scorching from lighting the tobacco. (11 o’clock in the first picture). In this area, the internal bevel has also eroded. I decide to give the stummel a very light topping using 600 grade paper to reestablish the lines of the rim and bevel. After this, I wrap first a 120 grade paper around a tapered wooden disk to provide a hard surface behind the paper to cut a more distinct bevel. I work the 120 paper around the damaged bevel area to shape the bevel. I then follow in the same manner with the wooden disk, 240 then 600 paper to finish the rim and bevel repair. The rim now looks fresher – I like it. I put the stummel aside for a time to address the stem. After deoxidizing the stem, discovering the Shooting Star stamp hanging on by threads, I look closely at the stem and the bit is in good shape. There are only shadows of tooth chatter and one small dent on the upper button lip. To bring up the button dent, I try painting it with a flame from a Bic lighter to expand the vulcanite enabling me to sand out the dent. After several attempts, I was still left with a dent. I decide to apply a drop of Black Medium KE-150 CA glue to the dent. I put the stem aside to let the patch cure. While I wait for the stem patch to cure, I pick up the stummel and start the external finishing process by first using a light grade sanding sponge to work the surface – addressing minor nicks. I then wet sand the stummel using micromesh pads 1500 to 2400. I follow this by dry sanding using pads 3200 to 4000, then 6000 to 12000. I take pictures after each set of 3 to show the progress. I enjoy this part of the restoration process! With each cycle of micromesh pads, the beauty of the grain emerges. This Oscar has attractive grain. I am drawn to the knot pattern on the heel as it gravitates outwardly and up the stummel with lateral grain having a feathered texture – bird’s eye grain as well on the upper bowl. Very nice! With the black CA glue cured, I now return to the stem. Using a flat, needle file, I remove the patch area above the vulcanite and redefine the button. I follow with 240 grade paper to erase the tracks left by the file. I then use 320 grade paper followed by 600 grade to smooth the area further. I flip the stem and sand the lower bit with 600 grade paper to remove the light tooth chatter. Finally, I buff the entire stem, watchful of the Shooting Star stamp, using 0000 steel wool. The pictures show the progress. Following the steel wool buff, I now wet sand the stem with micromesh pads 1500 to 2400. After finishing with this first wet sand cycle, I was bushwhacked by oxidation resurfacing on the Oscar’s stem! Ugh!! After all the sanding and roughing up the surface, sometimes it’s difficult to see the oxidation left behind until the fine tuning with the micromesh pads. The first picture below doesn’t show what I can see with the eye – a deep shadow of oxidation. I take another picture adjusting the aperture, so you can see the source of my frustrations! I send a note to Steve with questions and his response was good news and bad. The good news was that it wasn’t my process but that Savinelli stems are notoriously difficult to exorcise oxidation. The bad news is that I simply will go back to work, sanding with 240 grit, 320, 600, then again steel wool buff and application of Before and After polishes…. I did all these, including a few times going through the first set of 1500 to 2400 micromesh pads, so that I am finally satisfied with the Savinelli Oscar’s stem. Yet, I haven’t rid the oxidation 100%, but time to move on!Again, at the end of the first cycle of 3, wet sanding with micromesh pads, 1500 to 2400, I then dry sand with pads 3200 to 4000, then 6000 to 12000. After each cycle I apply Obsidian Oil to the (almost!) exorcised vulcanite. When I look at the stem now, it looks pretty good! With the Savinelli Oscar’s bowl back in front of me, I begin the final sanding and waxing process. I first mount the felt buffing wheel on the Dremel and apply Tripoli compound to the briar’s surface. I first set the speed at the slowest speed, purge the wheel with the Dremel’s tightening wrench’s sharp edge, and I apply the compound. I apply compounds, which are abrasives, not waxes, in a methodical, circular motion, not applying too much downward pressure on the wheel but allowing the compound, speed and the wheel to do the work. Following the Tripoli, I apply Blue Diamond compound in the same manner, with a cotton cloth buffing wheel mounted on the Dremel, set at about 40% speed. During the application of the compounds, I love to watch the natural shine of the briar start reflecting like glass. The beauty of this Savinelli’s grain is popping. With the help of my wife, the picture below shows the application of Tripoli compound. You can see how I use the sheen of the lamp to ‘steer’ the compound around the briar surface allowing the action to buff out the microscopic lines and nicks. With the compounds finished, I buff the stummel with a clean felt cloth to remove the compound dust left behind. The last restoration I did of the L. J. Peretti Oom Paul (see LINK) which I added to my own collection, I utilized for the first time the Before and After Restoration Balm. I liked the results a lot. The Restoration Balm maintains the lighter hues of the natural grain but enriches the patina. I use the Balm with the Savinelli Oscar as well. I reunite the stem and stummel and I put some Balm on my fingertips and I work it into the briar surface as well as the stem. As I rub, the Balm thickens until it has almost a stickiness. After application, I lay it aside for a while to allow the Balm to do its thing – while it’s doing its thing, I take a picture. I then wipe it down and buff it with a cotton cloth pad. I like the rich luster that the balm brings up from the briar. The vulcanite stem also responds very well.I follow the Restoration Balm by applying carnauba wax to the stem and stubble. I mount the Dremel with a cotton cloth buffing wheel dedicated to applying wax. With the Dremel speed still at 40% I apply several coats to the pipe and follow the wax with a hearty hand buffing using a micromesh cloth that bring up the shine even more.

This surprising Savinelli Oscar find in Athens turned out better than I expected. The grain is eye-catching, with plentiful bird’s eye captured around the bowl. The knot on the heel though, grabs my attention. The deep briar that I see now is a far cry from the sun-bleached conditioned that I found it in. This Savinelli Oscar will go into the Pipe Steward Store and since Taylor commissioned this pipe as his first pipe, he will have first dibs. The restoration of this Italian Savinelli Oscar Aged Grain 614 will benefit the Daughters of Bulgaria – helping women, girls, and their children, who have been trafficked and sexually exploited. The first picture is a reminder of before and after. Thanks for joining me!