Tag Archives: Stem repairs

Restoring a Horn Stemmed Meerschaum Figural

by Steve Laug

In November I received an email from Mario about working on some of his Dad’s pipes. Here is what he wrote to me.

I am desperately seeking help restoring and repairing some of my dad’s smoking pipes. I have tried reaching out to the only two known pipe repair establishments I could find in the entire country but one is not currently taking repair orders and the other said she didn’t want to try to repair these pipes without having even seen them. Would you be willing to take on the repairs or can you recommend anyone? Thank you much!!!—Mario

I wrote him back and asked him to send me photos of the pipes. He sent some single photos of the meerschaum bowl and stem, several of the leather clad Canadian and the photo of the rack and six pipes shown below. I looked through the photos and this is what I saw. There were two leather clad pipes a Canadian and a Pot. Both of them were cracked on the shanks and had been self-repaired with wire to hold the cracked shank together. The leather cladding was torn and the stitching was rotten and broken around the bowl. To me they were both irreparable. There was a lovely older Meerschaum figural with a horn stem that needed a good cleaning and repairs to the horn stem. There were two Knute Freehand pipes with original stems that were dirty but fixable. The plateau on the smooth one had a large chunk of briar missing. There was a Wilshire Dublin with a chewed and misfit stem. Finally, there was a billiard that had been restemmed with a fancy GBD saddle stem on it. They were a messy lot but I told him to send them on to me. They arrived yesterday and the condition of the pipes in the photos was confirmed. They were a mess and needed much work. I have included Mario’s group photo below to show the lot.I have also included three of the photos of the meerschaum that Mario sent to me as well. The first of the photos show the bowl top and what is either a metal cup lining the bowl or at least a metal rim top/cap. The meerschaum shows some great colour/patina as well as some chips and scratches and perhaps some repaired cracks in the surface. The horn stem also shows some wear and tear on the horn surface and some roughening. This afternoon I decided to start working on the fifth of the pipes from Mario – a figural carved freehand. It was a figural with a richly carved bearded man wearing a lion’s head as a cap on his head and a metal rim cap. The stem was made of horn that had lots of tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. The stem is dry and some of the striations are separating at the button end. The tenon has been wrapped with waxed thread to soften the fit of the stem in the mortise of the meerschaum. The bowl had a thick cake on the walls and a heavy lava coat the metal insert or the rim top. Which one is true will become clearer as I work on it. It was internally a mess. The finish was dirty and had grime ground into the sides of the bowl. That in many ways obscured the beauty of the patina on the bowl. There were nicks and deep scratches in the beard and in the smooth parts of the bowl but otherwise it seemed sound. The carving and filigree as well as scratches and nicks. There was no stamping or identifying marks on the meerschaum shank. I took photos of the pipe when I unpacked it to examine it. I have included those below. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of both. You can see the darkening on the metal insert rim top. There was a heavy cake in the bowl. The grooves in the carved meer are very dirty with debris. I also took photos of the stem showing the tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took photos of the carving around the bowl. To me it looks like a mountain man wearing a bear’s head hat. The beard and carving are well done. The eyes even have lots of character. The side profile shows the bear’s head hat or head dress. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts. It is a well-proportioned pipe.I noted the tenon on the horn stem was wrapped with thread and then waxed. It would need to be cleaned up but it was interesting. It certainly was a self repair of the fit of the stem.It was now time to clean up the pipe. II checked the metal rim cap and found it was not a bowl insert but rather just a rim cap. It was dirty but easily removed.I scraped the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to remove the thick cake on the walls. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel to smooth out the bowl walls. The walls were clear of damage and felt smooth to touch. I scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked over the bowl, shank and rim top with the soap and then lightly rinsed it off warm water. The bowl looked extremely good. The grime was gone and the existing patina looked very rich and variegated. It is a beautifully carved pipe. I cleaned the metal rim top with 0000 Steel wool and a tooth brush and reset it in the bowl and rim top. It looked much better and smelled cleaned.I cleaned out the internals of the shank and the airway in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. The shank was quite dirty but the airway in the stem was surprisingly clean. For awhile now I have been using Clapham’s Beeswax Salad bowl finish for waxing meerschaums. It is a combination of Beeswax and Carnauba. I worked it into the grooves with a shoe brush and into the deep grooves with cotton swabs. I let it harden then buffed it with a soft cloth to raise the shine. The patina looked very good. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the horn stem. I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it off between pads with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth to remove the debris of the sanding.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. I put the horn stem back on the Figural Carved Mountain Man Meerschaum pipe and buffed the pipe. I gently buffed waxed bowl with a clean microfibre cloth to raise the shine. I gave the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the stem with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up really nicely and the patina gave depth to the carving. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful Figural Carved Mountain Man Meerschaum – the horn saddle stem and patinaed meer combine to give the pipe a great look. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches wide x 2 inches long, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 3.56 ounces/101 grams. This is the fifth of six pipes that am restoring for Mario from his Dad’s collection. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of this newly restored pipe. One more to go then the lot will go back to him. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it!

Restoring and Repairing a Cracked Bowl on a Knute of Denmark Sandblast Freehand

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by Steve Laug

In November I received an email from Mario about working on some of his Dad’s pipes. Here is what he wrote to me.

I started my work on the pipe by starting the process of cleaning the pipe. I carefully reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe Reamer remove from the bowl leaving bare briar. I cleaned up the remnants of cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and removed the remaining debris. I sanded the bowl walls smooth with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I scraped the lava coat off the rim top – both the rusticated portion and the plateau rim top with the Savinelli Pipe Knife and removed all of it. I cleaned out the internals of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs, shank brushes and 99% isopropyl alcohol. It was very clean and it looked and smelled far better. I also cleaned out the internals in the stem with the same tools and alcohol.I scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked over the bowl, shank and rim top with the soap and then rinsed it off warm water. The bowl looked extremely good. The cracks around the bowl heel and sides were clean. The plateau top had some darkening and burn marks. I worked over the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the rim top. I sanded the rim top high spots in the plateau with a 320 grit sanding pad. The clean high spots would provide a great contrast.Now it was time to address the crack in the bowl running up both sides from the heel. The inside of the bowl is clean and no cracks run through from the outside of the bowl. I am pretty confident that the cracks came when the pipe was dropped on the ground. I used a micro drill bit and drilled small pilot holes at the end of the crack on each side of the bowl. I have circled the drill holes on both sides of the pipe in red for quick reference. I filled in the cracks with clear CA glue and briar dust and used a dental spatula to press the material into the crack.I worked over the repaired areas with a brass bristle wire brush. I followed the flow of the sandblast finish with the brush and was able to clean up the debris from the repairs in the grain of the crack. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the sandblast finish and the plateau rim top. I worked it in with my finger tips on the smooth portions of the finish and with a shoebrush on the plateau and the sandblast. I let the Balm do its magic for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a cotton cloth. The rich colours of the finish on this Knute looked amazing. I painted the walls of the bowl with a mixture of sour cream and activated charcoal powder. The mixture works to provide a bowl coating. I applied it with a folded pipe cleaner. I put a pipe cleaner in the airway to close the entry into the bowl. The bowl coating would give the bowl some initial protection as it is broken in through smoking. The natural buildup of carbon will further protect the bowl. I set the bowl in a pipe rest to let the mixture harden and cure. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the badly oxidized stem. I scrubbed the stem surface with Soft Scrub cleanser to break through the oxidization and calcification. It took a lot of scrubbing and scraping of the grime from the surface but it finally began to show black. There were deep tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. I filled them in with black CA glue strengthened with rubber and carbon. It dries hard but it still is a bit flexible. I flattened the repairs with small flat file. I sanded the repaired areas and the rest of stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth it out and remove remaining oxidation. I wiped the stem down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil cloth. It was beginning to look very good. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I put the stem back on the Knute of Denmark Sandblast Freehand pipe and took the pipe to the buffer. I carefully buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in the vulcanite. 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 really nicely with a great contrasting stain look to the briar. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful Karl Eric Made Knute of Denmark Freehand – the fancy turned stem and plateau rim top give the pipe a great look. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches wide x 2 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.26 ounces/64 grams. This is the fourth of six pipes that am restoring for Mario from his Dad’s collection. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of this newly restored pipe. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it!

Restemming and Restoring a Wilshire Dublin

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by Steve Laug

In November I received an email from Mario about working on some of his Dad’s pipes. Here is what he wrote to me.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe Reamer to take the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the remnants of cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and removed the remaining debris. I sanded the bowl walls smooth with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I scraped the lava coat off the rim top with the Savinelli Pipe Knife and removed all of it. I scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked over the bowl, shank and rim top with the soap and then rinsed it off warm water. The bowl looked extremely good. There were some significant burn marks on the rim top and inner edge but the bowl itself was very clean. I cleaned out the internals of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs, shank brushes and 99% isopropyl alcohol. It was very clean and it looked and smelled far better. I really liked the look of the shank band on the shank end.I lightly topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper. I wanted to remove the dips and burned areas from the rim top and flatten it for the next step in the process. I used a half sphere and some 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the inner bevel on the rim edge and smooth out that part of the bowl. It was far from perfect but it was smooth and it was flat. I used 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the scratches and nicks in the surface of the briar. There were many small scratches and nicks in the briar. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust and debris. It really began to look very good. The grain is quite lovely. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped it down the bowl after each sanding pad. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The Balm did its magic and the grain stood out. I went through my can of stems and found one that was the right taper for the pipe bowl I was working on. It had the right look and would need shaping. I was not sure that the original stem had been bent so I was uncertain about doing that with this new stem. I may just do it because Mario’s Dad had done it to the pipe when he had it! I cleaned out the internals of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. It was surprisingly clean so it was ready to work on it to make a proper fit.I sanded the stem to smooth it out with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil cloth. It was beginning to look very good.I used the lighter to soften the stem enough to bend it the same bend as the other stem had. It looked very good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This restored and restemmed Comoy’s Made Wilshire Dublin with a new vulcanite taper stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful finish really highlights the grain. 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 the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The rim top shows some burns marks that I could not remove as they were very deep. The finished Wilshire Dublin is a beautiful pipe, but it fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 38 grams /1.31 ounces. This is the second of six pipes that I am restemming and restoring for Mario from his Dad’s collection. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of this newly restemmed pipe. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Restemming and Restoring a Lou’s Tobacco Row Billiard

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by Steve Laug

In November I received an email from Mario about working on some of his Dad’s pipes. Here is what he wrote to me.

I decided to addressed the cracks on the right underside of the shank first. I took a photo of the cracks on the underside of the shank. There seems to be several cracks in the briar. The crack extended a depth of over ¾ inches on the shank. I went through my bands to find one that had the depth to pull together the cracks up the depth of the shank. I found a nice Sterling Silver Band that was the right depth to pull together the damage on the shank. It was a snug fit. I heated it with a lighter to soften the silver and pressed it on to the shank end to bind the breaks together. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe Reamer to take the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and removed the remaining debris. I sanded the bowl walls smooth with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I scraped the lava coat off the rim top with the Savinelli Pipe Knife and removed all of it. I cleaned out the internals of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs, shank brushes and 99% isopropyl alcohol. It was very clean and it looked and smelled far better. I really liked the look of the shank band on the shank end.I scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked over the bowl, shank and rim top with the soap and then rinsed it off warm water. The bowl looked extremely good. There was one spot near the top left side of the bowl that would need to have a fill repaired. The briar looked very good with the sterling silver band on the shank. I cleaned up the inner edge of the bowl and the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It took a bit of work but I was able to remove the darkening on the edge, the nicks and damage and also some of the marks on the rim top.I applied some clear CA glue in the damaged fill on the left side of the bowl. I worked it into the space on the briar with a tooth pick. I pressed some briar dust into the fresh glue repair. Once it cured I sanded it smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I used 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the scratches and nicks in the surface of the briar. There were many small scratches and nicks in the briar. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust and debris. It really began to llok very good. The grain is quite lovely. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped it down the bowl after each sanding pad. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The Balm did its magic and the grain stood out. I went through my can of stems and found one that was the right taper for the pipe bowl I was working on. It had the right look and would need a little adjustment to the bottom half of the stem to make the fit against band end equal all the way around the shank end.I cleaned out the internals of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. It was surprisingly clean so it was ready to work on it to make a proper fit.I worked over the diameter of the stem at the band junction to reduce it to fit against the shank end. I used the Dremel and sanding drum to start the process and then finished the fit with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the sanding marks on the vulcanite. I also sanded over the tooth marks in the stem on both sides ahead of the button.
There were some small tooth marks on each side of the stem that remained after my sanding. I filled them in with clear super glue and used a tooth pick to flatten them out (I forgot to take a photo of the stem at this point). Once the repairs cured I flattened them with a small file. I sanded them smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the stem to smooth it out with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil cloth. It was beginning to look very good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This first of Mario’s Dad’s pipes, a banded, restored and restemmed Lou’s Tobacco Row Billiard with a new vulcanite taper stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful finish really highlights the grain and the polished finish is stunning with the Sterling Silver Band. 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 the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Lou’s Tobacco Row Billiard is a large pipe, but it fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 52 grams /1.87 ounces. This is the first of six pipes that I am restemming and restoring for Mario from his Dad’s collection. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of this newly banded and stemmed pipe. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Fresh Life for a Savinelli Extra 802 Italy Canadian

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table came to us from a group of pipes we purchased on 03/21/2024 from a seller in Oregon City, Oregon, USA. It is a nice looking natural Canadian shaped pipe with a taper stem. The bowl has a natural or light colour stain that highlights grain. It has an interesting mix of grain around the bowl and long shank. The pipe is stamped Savinelli in an oval [over] Extra. On the underside of the shank it is stamped with a Savinelli S Shield logo followed by the shape number 802 [over] Italy. The bowl had a thick cake with some lava overflow on the top and bevelled inner edge of the rim top. The stem is black vulcanite and was lightly oxidized with some tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. The pipe looks to be in good condition under the grime. This is a nice looking pipe and in a well-loved shape. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup. He took photos of the rim top and bowl to give a clear picture of the thickness of the cake and tobacco debris as well as the lava on the top and the bevelled inner edge of the rim. There was also some burn damage on the right outer edge toward the front. He also took photos of the top and underside of the stem to show its overall condition. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give a picture of what the briar looked like. It truly has some nice grain – birdseye, swirls and cross grain around the bowl and shank. The stamping on the top and underside of the shank is clear and readable as noted above. I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-savinelli2.html) to get a quick view of the Extra Line. I did a screen capture of the site’s information and have included that below. I am also including a screen capture of the Shape and code chart introduction that is link in the above capture. The 802 is in the bottom left corner.
I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Savinelli) for a quick read. The site is worth reading the history of the Savinelli brand and it philosophy of pipemaking. There was a photo of a brochure that included the Extra (https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:Sav_Extra.jpg) that came from Doug Vliatchka.Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual methods. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in a Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer bath and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration work. The rim top cleaned up really well. The rim top, inner and outer edge of the bowl is in excellent condition there is darkening on both. The stem surface looked very good with a few tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. The stamping on the shank top and underside is clear and readable. It is stamped as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to show the proportion of the stem and shank. It is a beauty. I removed the stem started working on the darkening on the rim top and edges. I worked them over with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. Once it was finished it looked better. I sanded the rim top and bowl sides with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to remove the scratching and shiny spots on the finish. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the debris from sanding. I polished the rim top and bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad to remove the debris and dust. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The grain came alive and the pipe looked great. I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a lighter and was able to lift out all of the marks on both sides. I used 220 grit sandpaper to blend it into the surface of the vulcanite and the stem looked better.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the marks and it is looking quite good at this point in the process.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This Savinelli Extra 802 Canadian is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The smooth finish gives the shape an elegant look. The flow of the bowl, shank and short stem make for a great looking pipe. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Savinelli Extra 802 Canadian fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 40 grams/1.41ounces. It is a great looking and light weight pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Italian Pipe Makers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding the pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Breathing Life into a Jobey Sterling Square Shank Panel 460 Billiard

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by Steve Laug

I picked some older pipes to work on next. The next of these is a Jobey Panel Billiard. We purchased this one on 01/22/2024 from an online seller in Jordan, Minnesota, USA. This square shank Panel Bent Billiard is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Jobey in script [over] Sterling and on the right side it is stamped Imported Briar [over} the shape number 460. The Sterling Silver Band is also stamped and reads STERLING with three hallmarks – an anchor (Birmingham, England) a letter T (date) and a rampant lion (signifying the .925 Sterling quality). The pipe was well used. The finish was dirty with dust and debris ground into the finish. There were some dark marks on the sides of the bowl that looked to be on the surface. The bowl had a thick cake in it and some lava on the rim top and the inner edge. There was some roughening to the inner edge and darkening on the top of the bowl. The Sterling Silver band was oxidized. The vulcanite stem was oxidized, calcified and had some tooth marks on the surface ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took some closer photos of the rim top and bowl to show the condition. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top and inner edge. It is hard to know for certain but it looks like there is some roughening and damage to the right side of the inner edge. He also took photos of the stem to show its condition. You can see the oxidation, calcification and tooth marks and chatter on the stem at the button. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the smooth finish and the grain around the bowl and shank. He captured the stamping on the left and right sides of the shank. It is clear and faint in spots and reads a noted above. The brass inset Jobey oval logo on the top side of the saddle stem is clear and undamaged. On the right side of the stem it appears to be stamped English Para. He took a photo of the stamping on the sterling silver band. As noted above it is stamped and reads STERLING with three hallmarks – an anchor (Birmingham, England) a letter T (date) and a rampant lion (signifying the .925 Sterling quality). The anchor is easily identifiable as the assay mark and giving the location of the silver maker. In this case the location signifies Birmingham, England. The rampant lion at the end of the three hallmarks is knows the indicator of the quality of the silver. In this case it is .925 which is the normal amount for Sterling Silver. That leaves us with the T hallmark in the centre of the threesome.To figure out the date of the stamp I turned to several silver Hallmarks lists for Birmingham. I have included the link below to the chart that I regularly use to help identify the date on pipes with this(https://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Dates/Birmingham/Date%20Letters%20T.html). The helpful thing about this chart is that it is organized by letter and you can click on a letter and get all of the hallmarks with that letter – in this case T. This where it gets a bit tricky to me. If you look at the hallmark in the photo above the “T” stamp clean and straight with no tail on the base or the cross bar of the “T”. It is similar to a non-italic T in 1968. None of the other ones (1943 or 1993) with the capital T work so that is the mystery to me. So the date is not clearly identifiable from the charts.I reread several of the blogs I have written on the brand in the past restorations of Jobey pipes and decided to include the material on the brand before I write about the cleanup of the pipe. I wanted to spell out the link from the hallmarks above to British made Jobeys. Here is the link to the blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/04/03/restoring-jennifers-dads-jobey-asti-245-pot/). I quote:

I turned to Pipephil’s site for a quick review of the brand (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-j3.html). I quote a section of the post on the Jobey brand: These pipes are made in St Claude (France) by Butz-Choquin (Berrod-Regad group) since 1987. Before this date some were manufactured in England and Denmark (Jobey Dansk).

I turned then to Pipedia to gather further information regarding the brand and quote the first part of the article (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Jobey).

English – American – Danish – French… Sadly, solid information about Jobey is scant…

Probably established in England around 1920(?) the brand hiked into the USA later. In the course of time owner, distributor and manufacturer changed repeatedly. As far as is known the following companies have been involved with the brand:

George Yale Pipes & Tobacco, New York (1942), Norwalk Pipe Co., New York (1949), Arlington Briar Pipes Corp., Brooklyn (when?), Hollco International, New York (1969), Weber Pipe Co., Jersey City, NJ (1970’s), The Tinder Box, (1970’s – 80’s).

Throughout decades Jobey pipes were mainly sold in the USA, Canada and England but remained almost unknown in continental Europe. The bulk of Jobeys was predominantly made according to classical patterns and mainly in the lower to middle price range. The predominant judgment of the pipe smokers reads: “A well-made pipe for the price.” So, there is hardly anything very special or exciting about Jobey pipes although a flyer from ca. 1970 assures: “The briar root Jobey insists upon for its peer of pipes is left untouched to grow, harden and sweeten for 100 years. […] Jobey uses only the heart of this century old briar and only one out of 500 bowls turned measures up to the rigid Jobey specifications.” 99.80% of cull… that makes the layman marveling!

Now to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had cleaned up the pipe and it looked very good. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. It removes the oxidation, grime on the stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration work. The rim top and outer edge of the bowl look good. The inner edge and spots on the top have some darkening and light damage. The stem surface was still lightly oxidized and there were tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.The stamping on sides of the shank is faint in spots but readable. It is stamped as noted above. The stamping on the stem side is pretty clear and reads English Para. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole. The panel saddle stem is nice and the photo shows the step down tenon. I cleaned up the top and the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage to the edge and the darkening on the rim top. I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the nicks and marks in the briar around the sides of the bowl. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It was looking pretty good once I finished. I polished the bowl and the rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. By the final pad it was starting to real take on a great shine. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips. It works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The grain came alive. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks with the flame of a lighter to lift them. The heat did a great job lifting most of them. The marks and chatter that remained I filled in with black CA glue strengthened with carbon and rubber. Once cured I flattened them and redefined the button edge with a file and blended them into the surface by sanding with 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the sanding and scratch marks and smoothed the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It removes the dust and also gives the sanding pads some bite. By the final pad it was looking quite good.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I rubbed it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. This English Made Jobey Sterling 460 Panel Billiard is a real beauty. I buffed the bowl and the vulcanite saddle stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and was amazed at how the grain popped and the stem began to shine. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed them with a clean buffing pad. I finished by hand buffing the pipe with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I think you will agree that it is a great example of a Jobey Sterling. The grain and the stem work really well together. The finished Jobey Sterling 460 Panel Billiard fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 38 grams/1.34 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. I appreciate your support and time!

Restoring a Well Loved GBD Prestige London England 508 Bent Billiard

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by Steve Laug

I picked some older pipes to work on next. The next of these is a GBD Bent Billiard. We purchased this one on 03/21/2024 from a seller in Oregon City, Oregon, USA. Jeff regularly visits shops along the coast hunting for pipes and though there are less of them there are still a lot available. The is a Bent Billiard that is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads GBD in an oval [over] Prestige and on the right side it is stamped London, England over the shape number 508. The pipe was well used. The finish was dirty with dust and debris ground into the finish. There were some dark marks on the sides of the bowl that looked to be on the surface. The bowl had a thick cake in it and some lava on the inwardly bevelled rim top and the inner edge. There was also some roughening to the inner edge and darkening on the top of the bowl. The vulcanite stem was oxidized, calcified and had some tooth marks on the surface ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took some closer photos of the rim top and bowl to show the condition. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top and inner edge. It is hard to know for certain but it looks like there is some roughening on the back inner edge. He also took photos of the stem to show its condition. You can see the oxidation, calcification and tooth marks and chatter on the stem at the button. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the smooth finish and the grain around the bowl and shank. He captured the stamping on the left and right sides of the shank. It is clear and faint in spots and reads a noted above. The brass inset GBD oval logo on the left side of the saddle stem is clear and undamaged. I looked on the Pipephil logos site for information on the Prestige line and found nothing there. I turned to Pipedia’s general article on the GBD brand looking for any information on the Prestige line and once again found nothing. The history article is a great read. Be sure to have a look at it.

The article included link to other articles on Pipedia and one of those was to an article on the GBD Model Information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/GBD_Model_Information). I turned there and found what I was looking for. There was a short description of the line and I have included it below:

Prestige — England, unknown if also made in France: Matt natural finish, Perspex mouthpiece.

That was helpful in terms of the finish which matches the pipe in my hand other than it has a vulcanite mouthpiece. I read further and in a short note from GL Pease I found the information below. I quote:

…In a circa 1973 chart which I have, here are the descriptions of the higher grades:

Virgin — “Only the finest of closely grained briar is utilized for this exceptional pipe. Natural finish”
Century — “A golden finish created to celebrate over a century of manufacturing the finest briar pipes.”
New Era — “The beauty of this pipe’s perfect briar is accentuated by the richness of the ‘take-off’ dual finish.”
Prestige — “This pipe features a black handcut perspex mouthpiece which precludes discoloration and ‘bad taste’ after continual smoking. Only the finest of the fine-grained bowls are selected for this handsome matt virgin finished briar.”
Prehistoric Perspex — “The deep sandblasting silhouettes the grain in bold relief. The crystal clear mouthpiece creates an attractive contrast to the deep dark finish.”

From that I now knew that the pipe was a higher grade GBD that is described as having a black handcut Perspex mouthpiece and a matte finished, fine grained virgin briar. The pipe I have on the table has a bent vulcanite stem rather than the Perspex otherwise the description is perfect.

I turned to another link on the site to look at shape numbers and see if I could identify further information regarding the shape (https://pipedia.org/wiki/GBD_Shapes/Numbers). I quote what I found below:Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe and it looked very good. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. While it does nothing for the finish on the stem as it is Perspex it is worth the effort in that it removes the grime on the stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration work. The inwardly bevelled rim top cleaned up really well. The rim top and outer edge of the bowl look very good. The inner edge and spots on the top have some darkening and light damage. The stem surface was still lightly oxidized and there were tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.The stamping on sides of the shank is faint but readable. It is stamped as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole. The thin taper stem is nice and the photo shows the step down tenon. I cleaned up the top and the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage to the edge and the darkening on the rim top. I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the nicks and marks in the briar around the sides of the bowl. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It was looking pretty good once I finished. I polished the bowl and the rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. By the final pad it was starting to real take on a great shine. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips. It works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The grain came alive. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks with the flame of a lighter to lift them. The heat did a great job lifting most of them. The marks and chatter that remained I filled in with black CA glue strengthened with carbon and rubber. Once cured I flattened them and redefined the button edge with a file and blended them into the surface by sanding with 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the sanding and scratch marks and smoothed the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It removes the dust and also gives the sanding pads some bite. By the final pad it was looking quite good.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I rubbed it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. This GBD Prestige 508 Bent Billiard is a real beauty. I buffed the bowl and the Perspex saddle stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and was amazed at how the grain popped and the stem began to shine. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed them with a clean buffing pad. I finished by hand buffing the pipe with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. While there are some small brown stains in the button area it is clean. I think you will agree that it is a stunning example of a GBD Prestige. The grain and the stem work really well together. The finished GBD Prestige 508 Bent Billiard fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 3/4 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 3/4 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 39 grams/1.38 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. I appreciate your support and time!

Restoring a Conway Aristocrat Made in England Bulldog

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by Steve Laug

I picked some older pipes to work on next. The next of these is a Classic, Smooth Straight Bulldog with a Saddle Stem. We purchased this one on 09/20/2023 from a seller in Portland, Oregon, USA. The is a large straight Bulldog that is stamped on the top left side of the shank and reads Conway [over] Aristocrat. On the left side it is stamped Made in England. On the top left side of the saddle stem the Circle C logo of Conway was stamped. The pipe was well used. The finish was dirty with dust and debris in the smooth briar and in the twin rings around the rim cap. The bowl had a thick cake in it and heavy lava on the rim top and the inner edge. There was some damage on the left back of the rim top and om the bevelled inner edge of the bowl. The vulcanite stem was oxidized, calcified and had some tooth marks on the surface ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took some closer photos of the rim top and bowl to show the condition. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top and inner edge. You can see the chip on the outer edge at the back of the rim top. It is hard to know for certain but it looks like there is some roughening on the back inner edge. He also took photos of the stem to show its condition. You can see the oxidation, calcification and tooth marks and chatter. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish on the bowl. The twin rings and bowl cap are quite well done and you can see the nicks and damage in the briar. He captured the stamping on the left top and right top side of the diamond shank. It is faint in spots but reads as noted above. It is interesting to note the nicks on the shank. The circle C logo stamped on the left side of the saddle stem is faded but the stamp is quite deep. I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c6.html) to see what I could find out on the brand. I did a screen capture of the section on the site on the Conway label. It is a pipe that bears the same stamping as the one in hand here other than the shape number. I also copied the sidebar information below the screen capture.Conway pipes were most probably made by Singleton & Cole. If the pipe is stamped with a shape number this probability almost becomes a certitude. According to Wilczak & Colwell (op. cit.) Loewe had a line named Conway.

I turned to a link on Pipedia hoping for more information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Conway). Sadly the only information was a mention of the information on Pipephil’s site. There were some amazing photos of the brand on the site. There was one that included an unsmoked Apple with a box and pipe sock as well as a brochure. The interesting point is that it was also an Aristocrat.Armed with that information that pipe was probably made by Singleton & Cole in London, England. I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had cleaned up the pipe and it looked very good. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration work. The rim top cleaned up really well. The rim top had some damage on the back left side of the top. The outer edge of the bowl look very good. The inner bevelled edge was clean but had some darkening all around the bowl. The stem surface was clean but the oxidation was still visible and calcification was gone. Overall it looked very good with a few tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.The stamping on top left side of the shank and the top right side is clear and readable. It is stamped as noted above. It is faint in spots but still clear. The logo on the left topside of the saddle is also clear. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole. The wide taper stem is nice and the photo shows the proportions of the pipe. I used a wooden half sphere and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the rim top and the bevel on the bowl. Once finished the inner edge looked better. I then topped the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage to the left side of the rim top. I took a photo of the top after this part of the work as well.I washed the bowl with cotton pads and acetone to remove some of the opaqueness of the stain. Once I washed it down it looked much better. The grain really stood out and I was able to add a bit of colour to the sanded rim top. I touched up the stain on the rim top with a Walnut stain pen to match the rest of the bowl colour. It matched well and once it was polished and buffed it would be perfect.I sanded the bowl and shank with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad to remove the debris. The pipe was beginning to look much better. I polished the smooth briar around outside of the bowl and the rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to get it into the rings and rustication. It works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The grain and the rustication came alive. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks with the flame of a lighter to lift them (forgot to take photos). The heat did a great job lifting all of them. The marks and chatter that remained I filled in with black CA glue strengthened with carbon and rubber. Once cured I flattened them with a file and blended them into the surface by sanding with 220 grit sandpaper. I touched up the Circle C logo on the left side of the stem with white acrylic nail polish. Once it cured I scraped off the excess and polished the stem.I polished the roughness, scratch marks and smoothed the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It removes the dust and also gives the sanding pads some bite. By the final pad it was looking quite good.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I rubbed it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. This Conway Aristocrat Straight Bulldog is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The style of rustication that is used around the bowl is quite beautiful and works well with both the shape and the polished vulcanite taper stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the wheel and followed by buffing the pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Conway Aristocrat Bulldog fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 47 grams/1.66 ounces. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. I appreciate your support and time!

An Unusual and Beautiful Peterson 221 Sterling Silver Prince

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by Kenneth Lieblich

This pipe came to me in a collection of pipes that gave new meaning to the phrase, ‘trash and treasure’. Everything from the sublime to the ridiculous was in here, but when I saw this Pete, I was immediately enchanted. It is a Peterson 221 prince. This is a stunning pipe. It’s an older one and it’s a real veteran, with a few mild battle scars which are part of its history. I can’t help but think that this pipe should be in someone’s Peterson collection – it’s lightweight and breathtaking. This was one of the more difficult restorations I’ve ever undertaken. You might read through this blog post and think that it doesn’t seem particularly unusual. And, superficially, you’re right. Most of the steps in this restoration are run-of-the-mill, but, in many cases, these steps had to be done and redone so many times that I nearly launched the pipe across the room. So, settle in for a wild ride. The pipe is marked as follows: on the left side of the shank, it says K&P [over] Dublin. On the left side, it says Made in Ireland in the form of a circle and, next to that, the shape number 221. The circular Made in Ireland suggests that this is an older pipe, possibly (but not definitely) pre-republic. On the sterling silver band is displayed three shields each containing the three marks K&P [over] Sterling [over] Silver. The stem is the traditional Peterson P-lip, but it has no logo.This is an unusual Peterson, by shape and number. There are Pete princes and there are Pete 221s (bent billiards), but I hadn’t seen a 221 prince. I searched extensively for this very pipe and came up empty. I looked at Pipedia and Pipephil – nothing. Many more searches also came up with nothing. Steve kindly referred me to a couple of his articles (from 2016 and 2020) that gave a good clue:

https://rebornpipes.com/2016/09/13/petersons-pipes-brochure-from-genin-trudeau-co-montreal-quebec/

and

https://rebornpipes.com/2020/03/13/final-pipe-from-the-19-pipe-eastern-canada-lot-a-republic-era-peterson-1312-system/

The key information is on the old Peterson brochure shown in the blog post. In previous times, Petersons were imported into Canada through a company called Genin Trudeau & Co. (nowadays just Trudeau – the kitchen wares company). Genin Trudeau had the Peterson firm stamp their own shape numbers on the pipes they imported. This brochure supposedly dates from around 1974 and includes a silhouette of a 221, as you can see here in a cropped photo:However, there’s a problem: the 221 in the brochure is close – but not identical – to the 221 I’ve got here. Mine has a gentle bend; the one in the brochure does not. Clearly, my 221 was from a different time. Steve suggested that I contact Mark Irwin at Peterson Pipe Notes, as he is a great repository of Peterson knowledge. Mark was his usual obliging self and directed me to a page from his blog:

https://petersonpipenotes.org/280-canadian-shape-numbers-from-a-gtc-pipe-box-brochure/

In this post, he shows an older brochure, also from Genin Trudeau & Co. and dated to approximately 1955, which also shows a 221 prince. This time, however, it is the correct pipe!Although the brochure shows a rusticated pipe and mine is smooth, it is clear that the shape is identical. I suspect that this pipes dates from well before 1955, but I cannot prove this. Nonetheless, it is an exciting tidbit of information – thank you to Steve and Mark for their help.

The photos show that this pipe’s former owner must have loved this pipe – it was smoked to the Nth degree. Although it must be a fantastic smoker, it has clearly never seen a pipe cleaner or reamer! The stem is filthy beyond words and it has scratches, bites, oxidation, and calcification. Most unfortunately, the stem also has a significant bite-through on the underside.The stummel is also quite rough. There are a few minor nicks in the wood, but nothing serious. The main issue here is the cake in the bowl. Wow. The bowl is literally completely blocked. The cake is rock hard and its lava has erupted all over the rim. This is going to take some work!I used a disposable lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame. The gentle heat of the flame can often cause the dents in vulcanite of the stem to expand back into shape. In this case, the dents were alleviated somewhat, but not enough. Better than nothing.The calcification was quite substantial. I used an old butter knife and gently scraped some of the thicker accretion off. Taking the opportunity to do this now helps later in removing the oxidation.I used oil soap on a few cotton rounds and wiped the stem down. This provides a preliminary cleaning of filth off the stem before moving on to the next steps.The primary cleaning comes next. I cleaned the inside of the stem with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 99% lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly and made sure the interior was clean. I used a lot of pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. This was a very dirty pipe.The goal of the next step is the removal (or minimization) of oxidation. Going to my sink, I used cream cleanser, cotton rounds, and a toothbrush, and scoured the stem to remove as much surface oxidation as possible. As the photos show, the result is a hideous brownish mess – but better off the stem than on it. This particular stem was so dirty that I also applied the cleanser to the inside with some tube brushes.Once the stem was reasonably clean, I soaked it overnight in some de-oxidation fluid. This solution works to draw oxidation in the stem to the surface. This is a major aid and an important step in ensuring a clean stem. The following day, I drew out the stem from its bath and scrubbed the lingering de-oxidation fluid with a toothbrush. Once clean and dry, I set about fixing the bite marks in the vulcanite. This is done by filling those divots with black cyanoacrylate adhesive, impregnated with carbon and rubber. I left this to cure and moved on.My next task was repairing the large hole on the underside of the stem. There are several methods of doing this and individual circumstances will dictate how to proceed. In this case, I used a straightforward method of employing the same black cyanoacrylate adhesive mentioned above. Before applying the adhesive, some preparatory work is required. With such a large gap in the vulcanite, any applied adhesive will simply run through the aperture and fill the airway. To prevent this, I coated the end of a pipe cleaner with petroleum jelly and lodged it in the airway. This provides a platform for the adhesive to sit on while curing and prevent it from entering the airway. The petroleum jelly is used to prohibit the adhesive from attaching to the pipe cleaner. This repair was much more labour intensive than normal. The adhesive patch I created failed three times before I finally made it work. The precarious nature of the repair impelled me to lay the patch much thicker than I might otherwise have. I am pleased with the final result, but I am not utterly convinced of the patch’s long-term structural integrity.The penultimate step for the stem is sanding. I first used my set of needle files to reduce the bulk of the cyanoacrylate repairs. I do not want to cut into the vulcanite, but I want to lower the height of the adhesive to as close as possible above the surface. Following that, I used all nine of the micromesh sanding pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand out flaws, even out the vulcanite, and provide gentle polishing of the finished surface. I also apply pipe-stem oil while using the last five micromesh pads. There is a wonderful, deep-black shine to the stem when I am done.Now that the stem is (nearly) complete, I can move on to the stummel. The first step for me is to ream out the bowl – that is to say, remove all the cake inside the bowl. This accomplishes a couple of things. First (and most obviously), it cleans the bowl and provides a refurbished chamber for future smoking. Second, when the old cake is removed, it allows me to inspect the interior walls of the bowl and determine if there is damage or not. More about that later. In the meantime, I used a reamer, a pipe knife, and a piece of sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel. Collectively, these ensure that all the debris is removed. However, this pipe needed a jackhammer to deal with the rock-hard cake in the bowl. Since I don’t have a jackhammer, I used a ½” rotary burr on my Dremel. This is a tricky procedure and I would not normally use this burr except as a last resort. The cake was so hard, that I had no other option at my disposal. Working with great care, I managed to clean out the bulk of the material and then returned to my normal tools to finish the work. As you can imagine, there was an extraordinary amount of debris in the bowl.My next step was to remove the lava on the rim. For this, I took a piece of machine steel and gently scraped the lava away. The metal provides an edge that is sharp enough to remove what I need, but not so sharp that it damages the rim. This work revealed a lot of damage underneath: burning, scratches, gouges, etc. This would have to be addressed later.The inside of the stummel needs to be cleaned thoroughly. However, this pipe’s shank was so clogged, that I first needed to open the horribly occluded airway. So, I took a long drill bit, held in a drill chuck, and hand-cranked it to dislodge the dreadful detritus inside. Similar to the stem, I then cleaned the stummel with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 99% lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. With a pipe this dirty, it took quite a while and much cotton to get clean.I then decided to ‘de-ghost’ the pipe – that is to say, exorcize the remaining filth from the briar. I filled the bowl and the shank with cotton balls, then saturated them with plain 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton.To tidy up the briar, I also wiped down the outside with some oil soap on cotton rounds (and a toothbrush). This does a good job of cleaning any latent dirt on the surface of the briar.The last step of the cleaning process is to wash the inside of the stummel with some liquid cleanser and tube brushes. This is the culmination to a lot of hard work in getting the pipe clean. As you can see, this pipe still has some visible wounds. The damage to the rim is significant. In order to minimize the burns and nicks on the rim, I ‘topped’ the pipe – that is to say, I gently, slightly, and evenly sanded the rim on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. This effectively takes down the damage, without altering the look of the pipe.A notable burn remained on the rim, so I took some crystalized oxalic acid and dissolved it in warm water. I then took some cotton swaps, dipped in the solution, and rubbed the burned spot vigorously. The acid works well to alleviate superficial burns (burns where the integrity of the wood is still good).All the cleaning I did revealed an important problem. The photos do not show it well, but the previous owner reamed this pipe overzealously. The heel of the bowl was gouged out through reaming and is now very thin. I had to fill this. To fill a gap like this, I use an epoxy adhesive that is extremely hard, resistant to high temperatures, and completely inert when cured. It works superbly. I filled the affected area with the epoxy and let it cure for a full 24 hours. The next day, I roughened up the epoxy’s surface for the next step. I thinly coated the inside of the bowl with a mixture of my wife’s homemade yogurt and activated charcoal. Once hardened, this provided a good, slightly rough surface for a new cake to build.I used all nine micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) on the outside of the stummel to finish it off. This sanding minimizes flaws in the briar and provides a beautiful smoothness to the wood surface. I rubbed some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and left it to sit for 20 minutes or so. The balm moisturizes the wood and gives a beautiful depth to the briar. I then buffed it with a microfibre cloth. The final step is buffing. I took the pipe to my bench buffer and carefully polished it – first with a white diamond compound, then with three coats of carnauba wax. Naturally, these finishing touches make the pipe look its best – the stummel sings and the stem glows.

All done! This Peterson 221 sterling silver prince was a lot of work, but it looks fantastic and is ready to be enjoyed again by its next owner. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘Irish’ section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 6⅛ in. (155 mm); height 1⅛ in. (30 mm); bowl diameter 1½ in. (36 mm); chamber diameter ⅔ in. (17 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1 oz. (29 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring a Republic Era Peterson’s “Shannon” 6 Billiard

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by Steve Laug

A couple of weeks ago I received a message on Facebook from Shannon about cleaning up a pipe for him. It was one of his favourite pipes so he wanted it spiffed up. I have included several of his messages below along with photos of the pipe in question.

Hello! I saw the beautiful work you did on a Peterson Shannon 80S recently and not only would I like to purchase that but I would also like to see if you could give my Shannon Billiard a glow-up. I purchased it with some minor wear and teeth marks but it has been faithful for a good while. would like to get it a sibling and pair them together as fresh if possible. Please let me know…

…I’ve only been smoking for a little over a year so when I saw that Peterson had a whole line in my own name, I’ve kinda been drawn to it. They’re just not that common and usually in a sad state when I see them.

…Here’s the pipe in question. I covered the teeth marks with a pipe bit but as you can see, it’s still in pretty good shape overall.Probably THE best smoking pipe I own, especially for when I don’t feel like fully rubbing out flakes. It handles folded tobacco better than the rest of the ones I have. Here’s a couple more photos I just took of the minor issues… We chatted back and forth a bit about his pipe and I agreed to work on it for him. He boxed it up and sent it to me to work on. It arrived this week thanks to UPS and I opened the box and took the pipe out. I examined it and took photos of the pipe. It was well smoked and well cared for. The bowl has a light cake on the top 2/3rds and the bottom 1/3 is raw briar – not darkened by smoking. The rim top had some darkening in spots and the inner edge also had some darkening. The finish was shiny like it had a light varnish coat. There were some oils and grime in the finish. The stem was in good condition other than the tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The brass spacer on the stem was lightly oxidized. The Peterson’s P logo stamped on the left side of the stem was faint but had remnants of gold in it. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank and read Peterson’s [over] Shannon. On the right side it bore the number 6 next to the bowl/shank junction which is the shape number for a Peterson’s Billiard. That is followed by Made in The [over] Republic [over] of Ireland in three lines. This tells me that the pipe was a Republic Era pipe which dates it between 1948 and present date. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. It really is a beautiful piece of briar. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition. You can see that my assessment in the above photos is correct. The rim top shows some darkening toward the back and around the inner edge of the rim. The cake is the bowl is quite light. The photos of the stem show the tooth chatter and marks (which are light but still present) from the previous owner Shannon bought the pipe from. Otherwise the stem looks very good.I took photos of the stamping on the shank sides. It is clear and readable as noted above. The P logo on the stem side is deep but the colour in it is faint. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to show the proportions of the stem to the bowl. The stem is a classic Peterson style taper stem.Before I started working on the pipe I turned to “The Peterson’s Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to see what it had to say on the “Kildare” line. On page 313 it says:

Shannon (19695-c.1987) First offered as entry-grade walnut or black sandblast, P-lip mouthpiece and a nickel band. In 1969-c.1970 offered through Iwan Ries as Shannon Meerschaum lined, middle grade black sandblast and higher-grade brown sandblast finish, P-lip mouthpiece. From 2005 as polished tan and black stain, unmounted, P-lip or fishtail mouthpiece with stamped gold P on the vulcanite mouthpiece.

I believe that the pipe I am working on is from the 2005 line. It has a polished tan and black stain and a fishtail mouthpiece. It has a classic shape and the information would make the pipe one issued after 2005. It has a bit of age on it and it is in excellent condition. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

I started my work on the pipe by dealing with the shiny top coat on the bowl. I wanted to remove that and clean up the finish. I wiped down the bowl with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the varnish (possibly shellac). It worked very well to get rid of the top coat without harming the stain coat on the bowl. It also looked much better after the wash with the acetone. I used a dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the thin cake in the bowl. It was a bit rough and uneven before I sanded it. Once finished it was smooth to touch from the top to the bottom of the bowl. I cleaned out the internals of the pipe with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It was quite clean which is a tribute to Shannon’s care of his pipes. I cleaned out the remnants of tars and oils in the shank and the pipe is clean. There is a smoky smell of tobacco but it is clean.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the dust. The rim top, edges and bowl were really shining by the final pad. I paused the polishing to clean up the top of the rim a bit. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the darkening on the rim top. It looked better at this point. Afterwards, I repeated the 1500-2400 grit pads and then continued to work through the rest of the pads. It looked much better. I rubbed the bowl and rim down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I really like watching the Balm do its magic and bring the briar alive. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the vulcanite surface with the flame of a lighter – constantly moving the flame over the tooth marks and was able to lift many of them. I was able to lift them significantly enough that sanding them with 320-3500 grit sanding pads.I sanded the stem with the 2 inch square 320-3500 grit sanding pads and easily removed the tooth marks and chatter. I wiped down the stem after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished out the scratch marks left behind by the sandpaper. The stem looked very good.The stem was in such good condition that I decided to just do some preliminary work on it before polishing it. I touched up the “P” logo on the left side of the stem with Rub’n Buff Antique Gold. I let it dry then polished off the excess with a worn 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad. Once the excess was removed the stamp looked much better. There were some weak spots on the curve of the “P” stamp but overall it looked very good. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine, I rubbed it on with my finger and buffed it off with a cloth. I gave the stem a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to let the oil be absorbed. Once again at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when the Peterson’s “Shannon” 6 Billiard with a fishtail stem is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I lightly polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely and the beautiful grain really popped with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and thick shank. This Republic Era Peterson’s “Shannon” 6 Straight Billiard was another fun pipe to work on. It really is a quite stunning piece of briar whose shape follows the flow of the briar. The pipe feels great in the hand will be better when warmed up while smoking. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.48 ounces/42 grams. I will be sending it back to Shannon shortly. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

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.