Tag Archives: stem work

An Interesting Clean up of a French Made Swiss Dry-Smoker Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on my table was part of threesome sent to for work from a fellow in Eastern Canada. This one is a pot shaped one that on first glance I thought was a Peterson’s Shamrock. This morning when I brought it to the table and examined it I found that it was not a Shamrock or a Peterson Product at all. Rather, it is stamped on the left side and read Swiss [over] Dry-Smoker. On the right side it reads Algerian Briar [over] Made in France. The bowl had a light cake and there was some darkening on the back rim top and edge of the bowl. There was some peeling varnish on the exterior of the bowl and shank. There were also burn marks on the left side of the bowl toward the front and on the left underside of the shank. The bowl had several grey putty fills on the heel of the bowl and on the right side at the shank bowl junction. They do not look deep but they are present in the finish. The shank end has a nickel ferrule. Looking inside the shank and the bowl were two airway entries at the bottom of the bowl and twin aluminum tubes in the end of the mortise. The stem is vulcanite and has a faux P-lip with the exit of the airway at the end of the button rather than on top. There were tooth marks and tooth chatter on both side of the stem ahead of the button and on the surface. It is stamped with an S on the left side of the taper stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before I started my clean up. I also took some of the stem to show the condition of both sides. The stamping on the sides of the shank are shown in the photos below. They are clear and readable as noted above.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of them to show the perspective on the pipe. You can see the burn marks on the bowl and shank and the scratches and fills in the briar.I turned to Pipephil’s site to see what I could learn about the French made Algerian Briar, Swiss Dry-Smoker brand (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s14.html). I found the listing there but little background information on it.I followed a link at the bottom of the listing to a section on the shape and design of the stem (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/infos/p-lip-en.html). It is noted as a Swiss brand but is clearly stamped Made in France. I have included a screen capture of the section below.I googled the brand and found a discussion on Pipesmagazine.com about the Swiss Dry- Smoker (https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/swiss-brand-pipes.1986/). In a thread there I found this information as well as a link to a Patent file.

Jun 27, 2014  I recently obtained a SWISS Dry Smoker myself. Its construction is along the line of the Peterson, however the “Well” is not like a Peterson nor the WDC Well System or the Kaywoodie/Yello Bole Chesterfield’s. It has what appears to be a brass tube with a slot that allows the moisture to be collected into it. This tube is aprox 1/8 diameter and seems to be about 3/4″ deep. The stem tip looks on the exterior like a P-Lip but the hole comes out straight and not towards the roof of the mouth.

More on this later with pics. I did find this Patent which may be related.
DRY SMOKING PIPE

I followed the Patent information link and found the application for a similar looking pipe from 1909. I am including that information and drawing below. (https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/54/b4/bd/6175f3f8539de1/US914498.pdf). I don’t believe the pipe I am working on is related to this one in other than the similar two air holes entering the bowl and the single brass line in the stem. The rest of the apparatus is not present in this pipe. Armed with the information that I found online I turned my attention to the clean up of the pipe itself. I reamed out the remaining cake in the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the remnants in the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished the interior of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped in 220 grit sandpaper. The bowl looked very good with no damage or checking on the walls. I scrubbed the externals of the bowl with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I worked over the bowl and the rim top. I rinsed with warm water to remove the debris and the soap. Once I dried it off you can see that there were still remnants of varnish on the briar that I would need to remove. I wiped the briar down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish coat and clean off the briar. With the varnish removed you can see the burn marks on the right side of the bowl and the shank. I used some 220 grit sandpaper to sand out the dark burn spots on the bowl and shank. I was able to significantly reduce them with the process. I sanded the darkening on the inner edge and the rim top to remove that damage. The photos of the bowl and shank to show the bowl at this point. I cleaned the airway and mortise in the shank and the tube airway in the stem until they were very clean. I filled in the shrunken fills on the bowl and shank with clear super glue. I set it aside for the fills to cure. Once it hardened I sanded them with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each  pad to remove the grit. The bowl began to take on a rich shine. The briar took on a newer, richer look.   I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes and the Balm did its magic. It enlivens, cleans and preserves the briar. It certainly brought this bowl back to life. I buffed it off with a clean cloth and took the following photos. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks and some scratches in the stem sides with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing process with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 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 Made in France Algerian Briar Swiss Dry-Smoker Pot is a good looking pipe now that it has been restored. The finish both highlights the grain and hides the fills. 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 Swiss Dry-Smoker Pot 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 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 50 grams/1.76 ounces. I have two more pipes for this Eastern Canada Pipeman to work on. Once I have finished all three I will be sending them back to him to enjoy. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Restoring a Karl Erik Classic Diamond Shank Brandy

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Blog by Steve Laug

This cool Saturday afternoon I decided to work on was another one that was purchased on 11/14/2022 in a lot of pipes that came to us from Copenhagen, Denmark  It is an interesting pipe with a shape that combines both a classic Brandy bowl with a diamond shank. The grain around both  is an interesting mixture. The pipe is stamped on the left underside of the shank and reads Karl [arched over] Erik. The pipe was a well used pipe when Jeff received it. There was dust and grime ground into the finish. The mixture of brown and black stains highlights some beautiful grain under the dirt. The bowl was heavily caked and there was an overflow of lava on the rim top. The inner edge was hard to see clearly and the lava could easily be hiding damage. The stem is vulcanite and was oxidized and dirty with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. It has an interesting flair to the saddle portion of the stem that is characteristically Danish. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before his clean up. He also took some of the stem to show the condition of both sides. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the uniquely stained grain around the bowl and shank. The mixture of black and brown stains adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on the left side the shank is shown in the photos below. It is clear and readable as noted above.Before I started my work on the pipe I wanted to see if I could find any information that would help me date this pipe and get a sense of the line. I turned to Pipephil to get a quick review of the brand (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-k1.html). The stamp on the stem shown in the photo below is different than the one I am working on. It includeds a K and an E while this one is just an E stamp. I have included a screen capture of the brand info there as well as a note in the side bar about Karl Erik Ottendahl along with a small picture.Brand created in 1965-66 by Karl Erik Ottendahl (1942 – 2004 †). In the best years he employed up to 15 craftsmen among which Bent Nielsen (see Benner) and Peder Christian Jeppesen. Former grading (ascending): from 4 to 1, and “Ekstravagant” (entirely hand made)

I then turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Erik) for more information. I am including just the opening remarks but would encourage you to give the link a read for a very interesting history of the brand. I quote:

Karl Erik Ottendahl (1942 – 2004) was born in Aalborg (Jutland), just a few miles from the very northernmost tip of Denmark. He began smoking a pipe when he was 14 and upon leaving school he started an apprenticeship in the craft as a lithographer at the age of 16.

While working as an apprentice he began hand carving pipes as a hobby. Many were given as gifts to his more senior colleagues. Upon completion of his apprenticeship he moved to Nairobi, Kenya to work as a lithographer during the 1962 war. While in that war torn country, he was unable to procure pipes for himself. In the face of such a predicament, he chose to continue to make pipes for his own use rather than go without.

Returning to Denmark after three years he couldn’t find a well paid occupation in his job, and so he began making a few pipes on the side to boost his income choosing his prenames “Karl Erik” – logo “KE” – for his label. When he managed to find some major Copenhagen pipe stores willing to sell his pieces his reputation grew little by little and he was finally able to purchase more and better machinery and began working full time as a pipe maker.

With that information in hand I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping and the age of this pipe. I knew from the information that the pipe was made sometime between 1965 and 2004. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants 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 and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove as much of the oxidation and calcification as possible. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim and the stem. You can see how clean the bowl and rim top and edges are. The stem is in good condition with light tooth marks and some chatter as noted above. I took photo of the stamping on the left underside of the shank. It is readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe.I started my work on the pipe working on the damage to the inner edge and the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to bring the edge back into round. I then used a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and a wooden ball to clean up the bevel on the rim top and edges and it looked much better. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each  pad to remove the grit. The bowl began to take on a rich shine. It is a beauty.   I stained the rim top with a Cherry Stain Pen to match the rest of the bowl and shank. The rim looks significantly better than when I started the process.I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes and the Balm did its magic. It enlivens, cleans and preserves the briar. It certainly brought this bowl back to life. I buffed it off with a clean cloth and took the following photos. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks and some scratches in the stem sides with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing process with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper.I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I was able to polish out the tooth marks and chatter 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 Karl Erik Ottendahl Classic Brandy with a Diamond shank vulcanite saddle 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. 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 Karl Erik Bent Brandy 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 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 44 grams / 1.55 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the Danish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in purchasing this pipe send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Restoring a Great Looking Briar Workshop Mixed Finish Elliott Nachwalter & Jorge Jemelka 28 Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

This next pipe was purchased from an online auction on 08/06/22 in Manorville, New York, USA. He sent some photos of the pipe. It was a beautiful shaped The Briar Workshop creation, hand made by Elliott Nachwalter. I have come to appreciated pipes made by Elliott and have several nice ones in my collection. They are uniformly great smokers. I have also restored my fair share of them over the years. The stamping on the left side of the shank is in an oval. Arched at the top of the oval it read The Briar Workshop. In the center it is stamped Coral Spgs[over] FLA. USA. On the bottom of the oval it is stamped Designers/Pipe Makers. Below the left side of the oval it is stamped with a number 3. On the right side it bears Elliot Nachwalter’s signature [over] Jorg Jemelka’s signature. Below that and toward the bowl it is stamped 28. The pipe has an interesting mixture of finishes – on the left side there is a wire like rustication on the rim top, down over the side to the heel and on a portion of the shank. The rest of the finish on the bowl and shank is smooth and has some beautiful grain. On the right side of the rim top was a section of plateau. The bowl had a thick cake in it and the rim top has lava and debris in the plateau, the rustication and on the inner edge of the bowl. The finish on the pipe was dirty with debris ground into the grooves of the rustication and on the smooth finish as well. The stem was oxidized and had some tooth marks on the top and underside just ahead of the button. There was a Fleur-de-lis cut in copper inlaid into the topside of the tapered stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started to work on it.He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before his clean up. He also took some of the stem to show the condition of both sides. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the unique combination of finishes around the bowl and shank. The stains adds depth to the finish and highlights the beautiful grain. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on the left side the shank is shown in the first photo below. It is clear and readable as noted above. The second and third photos show the signatures on the right side of the shank and read as noted. I turned to Pipephil’s site to look up information on the brand to identify the period of time when Nachwalter made the pipe. I turned first to the section on Elliot Nachwalter’s name (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-e2.html#elliotnachwalter) to see what it said. It is interesting in that I shows a pipe made in Vermont whereas the one I have says Coral Springs, Florida USA.I turned then to the section of the site on Pipeworks as that is also stamped on the pipe I am working on (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-p3.html#pipeworks). Sure enough the site showed a pipe that was stamped the same way as the one I have. It is shown in the screen capture below. The stem logo on the one I am working on is a Fleur-de-Li rather than a snowflake. From there I turned to Pipedia for a bit more information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Nachwalter). The site quoted from both Lopes book and from Nachwalter’s website and had a lot of great historical information. I quote portions of it below.

From Pipes, Artisans and Trademarks, by Jose Manuel Lopés’

Elliott Nachwalter studied the History of Art and Photography, but passionate about pipes, decided to go into pipe making. With a few tools and some machinery, he started his workshop some 25 years ago (that would be 35 years ago now, as of 2015), in Stowe, Vermont, where he shared a warehouse with Andrew Marks. He later created Briar Workshop with Jorg Jemelka, and was joined by the Danish designer Finn Meyan Andersen. They also collaborated with various artisans, such as Brad Pohlmann, J.T. Cooke, and Carol Burns.

Between 1980 and 1983, Elliot had a shop in New York where he would make and sell his pipes There then followed an interregnum — “For three years I was away from my craft, not knowing if I would ever make pipes again” –, after which he returned to Vermont and built Pipestudio. Aim: “to create sensual pipes, beautifully grained that are pleasing to the eye” and which would be “the creation of sculpted smoking instruments that are functional pieces of art”.

He uses Briar from Italy and Greece; and vulcanite, acrylic, or Cumberland stems. Symbol: a kind of six-pointed star…

…In 1980 I opened a store in New York City and designed and made pipes in the back of the store for pipe smokers that visited me from around the world. I worked late into the night. There came a time when I felt the need to stop making pipes. For three years I was away from my craft, not knowing if I would ever make pipes again. Something was missing. Perhaps I was missing the struggle of the creative process and the pure joy that one feels when you make something turn out exactly as imagined in your mind’s eye. I suppose I needed to make pipes; I needed to work late into the night.

In the autumn of ’96 as the falling leaves mixed with the early snowfall, I built a small studio overlooking the Battenkill and surrounded by the Taconic and Green mountains.

It is my desire to create sensual pipes, beautifully grained that are pleasing to the eye. I work with only the rarest of briar burls that are seasoned in a manner that allows for a minimal break in period and a very smooth smoking pipe. The briar grows in the wild and there is a remarkable difference in grain between each block . This variance of grain together with the myriad of designs in my mind and the nature of the work, makes for truly one of a kind pipes. The essence of my work is in the creation of sculpted smoking instruments that are functional pieces of art.

I turned to the section on Pipedia on the Briar Workshop to gather more information on this particular pipe (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Briar_Workshop). I quote below:

Elliott Nachwalter started the Briar Workshop in Vermont together with Jorg Jemelka. They were joined by Danish designer pipemaker Finn Meyan Andersen.

Through the years they had several talented crafts people working with them including Brad Pohlmann, Jim Cooke (J.T. Cooke), and Carole Burns. They made many pipes that were sold by fine tobacconists around the country. At some point, the Briar Workshop moved to Florida, and the nature of the work changed, along with the pipe makers involved.

While The Briar Workshop was in Vermont, it acquired turn of the century pipemaking equipment as part of a collaborative arrangement with Ehrlich’s of Boston. Jemelka modified this machinery to enable the production of true copies of handmade pipes. This methodology distinguishes Briar Workshop Florida from Briar Workshop Vermont.

Nachwalter and Brad Pohlmann continued in providing designs for batch production as well as hand-made ‘one-offs’ for sale.

It would seem the Briar Workshop and the pipemakers involved played a significant part in laying the groundwork that launching the American hand made pipe making tradition, which has since exploded.

The site also had a photo of the stamp on the left side of the shank that is identical to the one I am working on.Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants 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 sump in the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove as much of the oxidation and calcification as possible. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim and the stem. You can see how clean the bowl and rim top and edges are. The stem is in good condition with deep tooth marks and some chatter as noted above.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. All are clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe.I started my work on the pipe by cleaning up the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 20 grit sandpaper to minimize and remove as much damage as possible.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each  pad to remove the grit. The bowl began to take on a rich shine. It is a beauty.   I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I worked it into the rustication and the plateau rim top with a shoe brush. I let it sit for 10 minutes and the Balm did its magic. It enlivens, cleans and preserves the briar. It brought this bowl back to life. I buffed it off with a clean cloth and took the following photos. I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks. They came up considerably but not enough. I filled in the marks that remained with clear CA glue and set it aside to cure. Once cured I used a small file to recut the button and flatten out the repairs. I sanded them with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing process with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I was able to polish out the tooth marks and chatter 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 Briar Workshop Coral Springs, Florida Mixed Finish Elliott Nachwalter & Jorge Jemelka Dublin is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful finish really highlights the grain and the polished finish is stunning. 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 Nachwalter Briar Workshop Dublin fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 59 grams / 2.08 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the American Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in purchasing this pipe send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Restoring a Beautiful Karl Erik Made in Denmark Bent Egg Freehand Filter Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

After work today I decided to work on the another one of the pipes that I have still to work on from a variety of places. This pipe was another one that was purchased on 10/03/2022 in a lot of pipes that came to us from Copenhagen, Denmark  It is an interesting pipe with a bowl that combines beautiful straight and flame grain with a Plateau rim top and an egg shape. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads Karl [arched over] Erik [over] Hand Made in Denmark. The latter portion of the stamping is faint but readable. The pipe was a well used pipe when Jeff received it. There was dust and grime ground into the finish. The mixture of brown and black stains highlights some beautiful grain under the dirt. The bowl was heavily caked and there was an overflow of lava on the plateau rim top. The inner edge appeared to be in good condition. The filter stem was made for a 6MM filter is vulcanite and was not oxidized. It was dirty with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. I wonder if the stem is not one made at a later time for the pipe, however the fit to the shank is like and original fit. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it.He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before his clean up. He also took some of the stem to show the condition of both sides. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the uniquely stained grain around the bowl and shank. The mixture of black and brown stains adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photos below. It is faint but is still clear and readable as noted above.Before I started my work on the pipe I wanted to see if I could find any information that would help me date this pipe and get a sense of the line. I turned to Pipephil to get a quick review of the brand (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-k1.html). The stamp on the stem shown in the photo below is different than the one I am working on. It includes a K and an E while this one is just an E stamp. I have included a screen capture of the brand info there as well as a note in the side bar about Karl Erik Ottendahl along with a small picture.Brand created in 1965-66 by Karl Erik Ottendahl (1942 – 2004 †). In the best years he employed up to 15 craftsmen among which Bent Nielsen (see Benner) and Peder Christian Jeppesen. Former grading (ascending): from 4 to 1, and “Ekstravagant” (entirely hand made)

I then turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Erik) for more information. I am including just the opening remarks but would encourage you to give the link a read for a very interesting history of the brand. I quote:

Karl Erik Ottendahl (1942 – 2004) was born in Aalborg (Jutland), just a few miles from the very northernmost tip of Denmark. He began smoking a pipe when he was 14 and upon leaving school he started an apprenticeship in the craft as a lithographer at the age of 16.

While working as an apprentice he began hand carving pipes as a hobby. Many were given as gifts to his more senior colleagues. Upon completion of his apprenticeship he moved to Nairobi, Kenya to work as a lithographer during the 1962 war. While in that war torn country, he was unable to procure pipes for himself. In the face of such a predicament, he chose to continue to make pipes for his own use rather than go without.

Returning to Denmark after three years he couldn’t find a well paid occupation in his job, and so he began making a few pipes on the side to boost his income choosing his prenames “Karl Erik” – logo “KE” – for his label. When he managed to find some major Copenhagen pipe stores willing to sell his pieces his reputation grew little by little and he was finally able to purchase more and better machinery and began working full time as a pipe maker.

With that information in hand I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping and the age of this pipe. I knew from the information that the pipe was made sometime between 1965 and 2004. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants 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 sump in the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove as much of the oxidation and calcification as possible. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. (I only remembered to take these photos after I had restained the plateau and polished the bowl.) I took close up photos of the bowl, rim and the stem. You can see how clean the bowl and rim top and edges are. The stem is in good condition with light tooth marks and some chatter as noted above.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe.I started my work on the pipe by touching up the valleys and crevices in the plateau rim top with a black stain pen. It looked much better.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each  pad to remove the grit. The bowl began to take on a rich shine. It is a beauty.   I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes and the Balm did its magic. It enlivens, cleans and preserves the briar. It certainly brought this bowl back to life. I buffed it off with a clean cloth and took the following photos.  I sanded out the tooth marks and some scratches in the stem sides with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing process with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper.I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I was able to polish out the tooth marks and chatter 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 fit the filter stem with a 6MM Medico Paper Filter. It fit well in the shank and the draw on the stem was clear and easy.This Karl Erik Ottendahl Made in Denmark Freehand Egg with a 6mm filter 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. 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 Karl Erik Freehand fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 60 grams / 2.12 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the Danish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in purchasing this pipe send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Restoring a Beautiful Karl Erik Freehand “Rhodesianish” Short Churchwarden

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Blog by Steve Laug

This afternoon I decided to work on a pipe from the lot that I have still to work on from a variety of places. This pipe was purchased from a friend on 06/05/21 in Brazil, Indiana, USA. It is an interesting pipe with a bowl that combines the twin rings of a Bulldog or Rhodesian with a Plateau rim top and a Freehand Flair. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Karl [arched over] Erik. The pipe was a well used pipe when Jeff received it. There was dust and grime ground into the finish. The mixture of brown stains highlights some beautiful grain under the dirt. The bowl was heavily caked and there was an overflow of lava on the plateau rim top. The inner edge appeared to be in good condition. The stem is acrylic and therefore was not oxidized. It was dirty with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. There is a fancy E stamp in the top of the stem that is in good condition. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before his clean up. He also took some of the stem to show the condition of both sides. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the uniquely stained grain around the bowl and shank. The mixture of black and brown stains adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on the left side the shank is shown in the photos below. It is clear and readable as noted above. He also took a photo of the fancy E logo on the top of the acrylic stem.Before I started my work on the pipe I wanted to see if I could find any information that would help me date this pipe and get a sense of the line. I turned to Pipephil to get a quick review of the brand (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-k1.html). The stamp on the stem shown in the photo below is different than the one I am working on. It includeds a K and an E while this one is just an E stamp. I have included a screen capture of the brand info there as well as a note in the side bar about Karl Erik Ottendahl along with a small picture.Brand created in 1965-66 by Karl Erik Ottendahl (1942 – 2004 †). In the best years he employed up to 15 craftsmen among which Bent Nielsen (see Benner) and Peder Christian Jeppesen. Former grading (ascending): from 4 to 1, and “Ekstravagant” (entirely hand made)

I then turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Erik) for more information. I am including just the opening remarks but would encourage you to give the link a read for a very interesting history of the brand. I quote:

Karl Erik Ottendahl (1942 – 2004) was born in Aalborg (Jutland), just a few miles from the very northernmost tip of Denmark. He began smoking a pipe when he was 14 and upon leaving school he started an apprenticeship in the craft as a lithographer at the age of 16.

While working as an apprentice he began hand carving pipes as a hobby. Many were given as gifts to his more senior colleagues. Upon completion of his apprenticeship he moved to Nairobi, Kenya to work as a lithographer during the 1962 war. While in that war torn country, he was unable to procure pipes for himself. In the face of such a predicament, he chose to continue to make pipes for his own use rather than go without.

Returning to Denmark after three years he couldn’t find a well paid occupation in his job, and so he began making a few pipes on the side to boost his income choosing his prenames “Karl Erik” – logo “KE” – for his label. When he managed to find some major Copenhagen pipe stores willing to sell his pieces his reputation grew little by little and he was finally able to purchase more and better machinery and began working full time as a pipe maker.

With that information in hand I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping and the age of this pipe. I knew from the information that the pipe was made sometime between 1965 and 2004. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants 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 sump in the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove as much of the oxidation and calcification as possible. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim and the stem. You can see how clean the bowl and rim top and edges are. The stem is in good condition with light tooth marks and some chatter as noted above.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. All are clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each  pad to remove the grit. The bowl began to take on a rich shine. It is a beauty.   I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I worked it into the twin rings and the plateau rim top with a shoe brush. I let it sit for 10 minutes and the Balm did its magic. It enlivens, cleans and preserves the briar. It certainly brought this bowl back to life. I buffed it off with a clean cloth and took the following photos.  I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I was able to polish out the tooth marks and chatter 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 Karl Erik Ottendahl Rhodesian/Bulldog/Freehand with a long acrylic 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. 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 Karl Erik Freehand 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: 8 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 72 grams/ 2.54 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the Danish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in purchasing this pipe send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Restoring a Beautiful Republic Era Peterson’s De Luxe Silver Band 4S Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

This afternoon I decided to work on the another one of the Peterson’s Pipes that I have still to work on from a variety of places. This pipe was also purchased as part of an estate on 03/30/2022 from Plano, Texas, USA. It is a larger bent pipe that is stamped on the sides of the shank. On the left side it read Peterson’s [over] De Luxe. On the right side it is stamped Made in the Republic of Ireland (three lines) [over] the shape number 4S. There is a very tarnished Sterling Silver band on the shank. It is stamped Peterson’s [over]Dublin on the top of the shank band. Next to that it is stamped Sterling [over] Silver followed by three hallmarks. The first mark is the seated woman Hibernia, the second is a Harp, and the final one, the date stamp is buffed off and illegible. The pipe was a well used pipe when Jeff received it. There was dust and grime ground into the finish. The mixture of brown stains highlights some beautiful grain under the dirt. The bowl was heavily caked and there was an overflow of lava on the rim top. It is hard to know what the edges looked like at this point but time would tell. The vulcanite stem was oxidized and dirty with tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. There is a faint “P” stamp in the vulcanite on the left side of the saddle P-lip stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before his clean up. He also took some of the stem to show the condition of both sides. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the amazing grain around the bowl and shank. The mixture of brown stains adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on the sides of the shank are shown in the photos below. The are clear and readable as noted above. He also took a photo of the very tarnish shank band/ferrule. Jeff captured the detail in the photo below. I am including the information from Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson). I have included a bit of the pertinent history here.

1950 – 1989 The Republic Era – From 1950 to the present time, the stamp for this era is “Made in the Republic of Ireland” in a block format generally in three lines but two lines have been used with or without Republic being abbreviated.

During the 1950’s and 60’s the Kapp & Peterson company was still in the ownership of the Kapp family. However 1964 saw the retiral of the company Managing Director Frederick Henry(Harry) Kapp.

I then turned to The Peterson Pipe – The Story of Kapp & Peterson to look up information on the DeLuxe line. There on page 297 I found this information:

De Luxe (1915-) Introduced in newspaper advertising in 1916, production of this high grade smooth finish model may have been stalled by the Great War and domestic disturbances. It will not appear in Peterson’s catalogs until ’37. Specimens documented from 1915 to the 30s are extremely rare and confined to extra-large house pipes and occasionally medium sized pipes with unconventional shapes. Specimens from 1930-50 in a wide selection of Classic Range shapes, often as Canadians. Catalogs from 1937-50 list it as “the finest possible quality obtainable.” After ’50 the Supreme would supplant the De Luxe as the top of the line model, and to this day the De Luxe is a high quality pipe but not the highest. Early models often have no COM. Models from the twenties until the sixties will be stamped Irish over Free State, Eire, London Made over England, Made in over Ireland (forming a circle) or Made in the over Republic over Ireland. The last three COM stamps, used from’38 through ’68 when no hallmarks were stamped on the Peterson mountings can never be precisely dated. If a De Luxe was made in ’69 or later it will be hallmarked with the date designator and always have a Republic COM.

With that information in hand I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping and the age of this pipe. I knew from the information that the pipe was made during the Republic Era between 1950 and the present day. The COM stamp on the shank and the hallmarks (even though unreadable in terms of the date stamp) help me to know that the pipe came out after 1969. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants 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 sump in the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove as much of the oxidation and calcification as possible. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim and the stem. You can see how clean the bowl and rim top and edges are. There is some slight damage on the inner edge and scratches on the rim top. The stem is in good condition with tooth marks and some chatter as noted above.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. All are clear and readable as noted above. You can see the faint P stamp on the left side of the stem in the first photo below.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. The chunky shank and stem together make for a classic Peterson’s Pipe.I decided to work on the damage on the top and the inner beveled edge of the bowl first. I started the work with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the rim top and the inner edge of the rim. Once I had finished I think that it looked much better. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each  pad to remove the grit. The bowl began to take on a rich shine. It is going to be a beauty.   I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes and the Balm did its magic. It enlivens, cleans and preserves the briar. It certainly brought this bowl back to life. I buffed it off with a clean cloth and took the following photos.  I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I worked on the deep oxidation with Soft Scrub and cotton pads to remove more of the deep oxidation. It worked very well.I “painted” the tooth marks on the stem with the flame of a Bic Lighter to lift them. I was able to lift them all to some degree. I filled in those that remained with clear CA glue. I used a small file to flatten the repairs. I sanded stem surface repairs smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I soaked it again in Briarville’s Deoxidizer for several hours to further remove the deep oxidation. I removed it, rinsed it and dried it with a coarse cloth. I polished the vulcanite 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 Republic Era Peterson’s De Luxe 4S Bent Billiard and a vulcanite, saddle P-lip 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. 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 Peterson’s De Luxe 4S 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: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 57 grams/2.01 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the Irish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in purchasing this pipe send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Restoring a Beautiful Rusticated Peterson Republic Era War Club

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Blog by Steve Laug

This afternoon I decided to work on the first of a few Peterson’s Pipes that I have still to work on from a variety of places. This rather large rusticated pipe was purchased from an antique store on 10/20/2022 in Vancouver, Washington, USA. It is a large pipe that is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. It read Peterson’s [arched over] Dublin. Underneath that it is stamped Made in the Republic of Ireland (three lines). The pipe was quite dirty when Jeff found it with dust and debris in the rustication. The mixture of brown stains give depth and texture to the rustication. The bowl was moderately caked and there was dust and lava in the rustication on the rim top. The edges were quite clean and undamaged. The vulcanite stem was oxidized and dirty with tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The “P” stamped on the left side of the taper P-lip stem and appeared to have remnants of gold stamped in the letter. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the rugged rustication on the bowl and shank. The mixture of brown stains adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on the underside of the shank are shown in the photos below. The are clear and readable as noted above. Jeff captured the detail in the photo below. I am including the information from Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson). I have included a bit of the pertinent history here.

1950 – 1989 The Republic Era – From 1950 to the present time, the stamp for this era is “Made in the Republic of Ireland” in a block format generally in three lines but two lines have been used with or without Republic being abbreviated.

During the 1950’s and 60’s the Kapp & Peterson company was still in the ownership of the Kapp family. However 1964 saw the retiral of the company Managing Director Frederick Henry(Harry) Kapp.

With that information in hand I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping and the age of this pipe. I knew from the information that the pipe was made during the Republic Era between 1950 and the present day. Personally I think this is probably a 60s-70s pipe. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants 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 sump in the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove as much of the oxidation and calcification as possible. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim and the stem. You can see how clean the bowl and rim top and edges are. It is almost like new in the overall appearance. The stem is in good condition with just a few tooth marks and some chatter.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. All are clear and readable as noted above. I also took a photo of the P stamp on the left side of the stem.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is really quite nice looking.The finish was in such great condition that I only needed to polish it. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a horse hair shoe brush. I let it sit for 10 minutes and the Balm did its magic. It enlivens, cleans and preserves the briar. It certainly brought this bowl back to life. I buffed it off with a clean cloth and took the following photos. I touched up the “P” stamp on the left side of the stem with some Rub’n Buff Antique Gold. I rubbed it into the stamp with a tooth pick. I buffed it off with a cotton pad and it looked very good.I polished the vulcanite 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 Republic Era Ireland Peterson’s Dublin Large Rusticated Billiard and a vulcanite P-lip stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful rustication really highlights briar and the polished finish is stunning. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Peterson’s Rusticated 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: 7 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 80 grams/2.82 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the Irish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in purchasing this pipe send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Cleaning up a Patent No. Dunhill Root Briar London 53 Made in England 0 3R Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from a group of pipes that Jeff and I purchased on 11/10/2022 from Copenhagen, Denmark. It is another Dunhill smooth finish pipe that is in rough but workable condition. On the left side it is stamped with the shape number 4R followed by Dunhill [over] London. On the right side it is stamped Made in [over] England followed by the date number superscript 0 after the D in England. Underneath that it reads Pat. No. 417574/34. After that it is stamped with a 3 in a circle [followed by] R for Root Briar.  The stamping is faint but readable as noted above. The pipe has an brown coloured stain with some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish extremely was dirty. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was an overflow lava and darkening and damage on the rim top and both the inner and outer edges. The taper stem was in decent condition and was oxidized, calcified and had tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. The stem was also missing a white spot so it is a replacement stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show beautiful cross and birdseye grain and the Root Briar coloured finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on the sides of the shank are shown in the photos below. It is faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. Jeff captured the detail in the photos below. One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil’s helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/bruyere1.html). There was no pipe with the same Dunhill [over] London stamping on the Root Briar page but I can still work with the stamping. It can be interpreted as follows: The 53 stamp is the shape for a Billiard. The London stamp appears at times under Dunhill on older Root Briar and Bruyere pipes. The 0 following the D of England gives the date the pipe. The Circle 3 R refers to the size of the pipe being a Group 3 and the R is for the Root Briar designation.

Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has a 0 following the D in England. It is a superscript above the D so that took me to the section on the chart below (column one) which instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being “crafted between 1921 and 1954 Narrow down your dating”. I followed the link following the “Your Dunhill pipe has been crafted between 1921 and 1954”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1b.html). The first column (suffix 0) led me to the section with a 0 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe to 1950.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Root Briar to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I have highlighted the section below where the Dunhill [over] London stamp is explained. I quote:

Root Briar – Introduced in 1931 and highly prized because the grain is more pronounced in this finish (usually made using Corsican briar – was made exclusively from that briar into the 60s). The Root Briar finish requires a perfectly clean bowl with excellent graining. Therefore, it is the most expensive of the Dunhill pipes. Corsican briar was most often used for the Root finish since it was generally more finely grained. This is a rare finish, due to the scarcity of briar suitable to achieve it. These pipes are normally only available at Company stores, or at Principle Pipe Dealers. Straight grained pipes were formerly graded A through H, but are now only “Dr’s” and graded with one to six stars, with the letters G and H still used for the very finest pieces.

Dunhill introduced its third major finish, the Root finish, in 1931. Corsican mountain briar is characteristically beautifully grained and the Root was made exclusively from that briar into the 1960s. The pipe was finished with a light natural stain to allow the beauty of the graining to show through. Although always available with a traditional black vulcanite bit, the Root was introduced in either 1930 or more likely 1931 and fitted with a marble brown dark and light grained vulcanite bit that has since become known as the ‘bowling ball’ bit because of the similarity in appearance between the bit’s finish and that of some bowling balls of the time. With the war, however, the bowling ball bit was dropped from production. Through 1954 (and after) the Root pipe nomenclature (including shape numbers) was identical to that of the Bruyere except that instead of the “A” of the Bruyere, the Root was stamped with an “R”. In 1952 when the finish rather then LONDON was placed under DUNHILL, ROOT BRIAR rather then BRUYERE was used for the Root. Loring, J. C., The Dunhill Briar Pipe, The Patent Years and After (self-published, Chicago, 1998).

I have also included a chart from the site from Dunhill spelling out the Standard Pipe Finishes and giving short information and a timeline. I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. You can see the clean bowl and the damage on the rim top and inner and outer edges. The replacement stem came out looking quite good. There are some scratches, tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.   I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is faint in spots but still very readable. It reads as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe. I worked on both the inside and outside edge and top of the rim with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the damage. It would take some work but it looked much better.I polished the cleaned up rim top and edges with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the dust. The rim top came out looking very good. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem issues. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter. The heat lifted the tooth marks significantly. I filled in the small remaining marks with clear CA glue. I flattened them out with a small file once they cured. I sanded them with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the stem. I started the polishing with a 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This 1950 Dunhill London Root Briar 53 Bent Billiard with a replacement taper stem has a smooth Dunhill finish that has some great grain. The polished mix of brown stains highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. The polished replacement vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished 1950 Dunhill London 3R 53 Bent Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. 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 1/8 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.45 ounces/41 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. If you are interested in adding it to your collection I will be adding it to the British Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. Thanks for your time.

Cleaning up a Patent No. Dunhill Bruyere 113 F/T Made in England 2 2A Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from a group of pipes that Jeff and I purchased on 11/10/2022 from Copenhagen, Denmark. It is another Dunhill smooth finish pipe that is in rough but workable condition. On the left side it is stamped with the shape number 113 F/T followed by Dunhill [over] Bruyere. On the right side it is stamped Made in [over] England followed by the date number superscript 2 after the D in England. Underneath that it reads Pat. No. 417574/34. After that it is stamped with a 2 in a circle [followed by] A for Bruyere.  The stamping is faint but readable as noted above. The pipe has an oxblood coloured stain with some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish extremely was dirty. The bowl had a thin cake and there was a light overflow lava and darkening and scratches on the rim top and both the inner and outer edges. The fishtail, taper stem was in decent condition and was oxidized, calcified and had tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show beautiful cross and birdseye grain and the Bruyere coloured finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on the sides of the shank are shown in the photos below. It is faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. Jeff captured the detail in the photos below. One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil’s helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/bruyere1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The 113 stamp is the shape for a Billiard. The F/T stamp refers to the fishtail stem. The Bruyere stamp refers to the finish. The 2 following the D of England gives the date the pipe. The Circle 2 A refers to the size of the pipe being a Group 2 and the A confirms the Bruyere designation.Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has a 2 following the D in England. It is a superscript above the D so that took me to the section on the chart below (column one) which instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being “crafted between 1921 and 1954 Narrow down your dating”. I followed the link following the “Your Dunhill pipe has been crafted between 1921 and 1954”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1b.html).   The first column (suffix 1…4) led me to the section with a 2 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1950 + suffix which dates the pipe to 1952.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Root Briar to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Bruyère – The original finish produced (usually made using Calabrian briar), and a big part of developing and marketing the brand. It was the only finish from 1910 until 1917. A dark reddish-brown stain. Before the 1950s, there were three possible finishes for Dunhill pipes. The Bruyere was a smooth finish with a deep red stain, obtained through two coats, a brown understain followed by a deep red.

See more about here: Dunhill Bruyere

I clicked on the “See more about here:” link above (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Bruyere) and it took me to more specific information on the brand.

Initially, made from over century-old briar burls, classified by a “B” (denoted highest quality pipe); “DR” (denoted straight-grained) and an “A” (denoted first quality), until early 1915. After that, they became a high-end subset to the Dunhill ‘Bruyere’. The DR and B pipes, a limited production, they should be distinguished as hand-cut in London from burls as opposed to the Bruyere line which was generally finished from French turned bowls until 1917, when the Calabrian briar started to be used, but not completely. Only in 1920 Dunhill took the final step in its pipe making operation and began sourcing and cutting all of its own bowls, proudly announcing thereafter that “no French briar was employed”.

Bruyere pipes were usually made using Calabrian briar, a very dense and hardy briar that has a modest grain but does very well with the deep red stain.

“Before the 1950s, there were three possible finishes for Dunhill pipes. The Bruyere was a smooth finish with a deep red stain, obtained through two coats, a brown understain followed by a deep red. The Shell finish was the original sandblast with a near-black stain (though the degree to which it is truly black has varied over the years). Lastly, the Root finish was smooth also but with a light brown finish. Early Dunhill used different briars with different stains, resulting in more distinct and identifiable creations… Over the years, to these traditional styles were added four new finishes: Cumberland, Dress, Chestnut and Amber Root, plus some now-defunct finishes, such as County, Russet and Red Bark.”[1]

I have also included a chart from the site from Dunhill spelling out the Standard Pipe Finishes and giving short information and a timeline. I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. You can see the clean bowl and the damage on the rim top and inner edge. The stem came out looking quite good. There are some scratches, tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.   I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is faint in spots but still very readable. It reads as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe. I worked on both the inside and outside edge and top of the rim with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the damage. It would take some work but it looked much better.I polished the cleaned up rim top and edges with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the dust. The rim top came out looking very good. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem issues. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter. The heat lifted the tooth marks significantly. I filled in the small remaining marks with clear CA glue. I flattened them out with a small file once they cured. I sanded them with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the stem. I started the polishing with a 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This 1952 Dunhill Bruyere 113 F/T Billiard with a Taper Stem has a smooth Dunhill finish that has some great grain. The polished oxblood reddish stain highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. The polished black vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Bruyere 113 F/T Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .99 ounces/28 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. If you are interested in adding it to your collection I will be adding it to the British Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. Thanks for your time.

Preparing a 1962 Dunhill Bamboo “Whangee” Tanshell W60 Lovat  so that I can enjoy it!

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Blog by Steve Laug

Back in 2020 I met with a friend here in Vancouver, Alex, whose pipes I often worked on to enjoy a visit and some good tobacco. He showed me this pipe and I immediately was taken with it. I told him that if he ever wanted to part with it he should call me first. This week I received an email from him that he was ready to part with it. We talked about it for awhile and arrived at a price and I paid him online. Yesterday (Thursday) I picked it up from Alex. It was exactly as I remembered it. I have included a few photos of the pipe to show what it looked like when I gave it back to Alex. It still had the unique beauty that I remembered and now looked forward to enjoying myself. It had some great patina on the Bamboo and a darkened Tanshell finish that had only become richer with Alex’s use. This morning I went back to the original blog describing the restoration of the pipe. I am including the link to the blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/01/08/refreshing-a-dunhill-tanshell-w60-t-1962bamboo-lovat-for-alex/). Give it a read. I am quoting my introductory comments in that blog below because they capture well the feelings I had when I first saw the pipe and the information that I could gather on it.

I carefully took it in my hands and examined it. While I have several Stanwell Bamboo pipes and older KBB Yello Bole Bamboos this is the first Dunhill that I had seen up close and personal. Alex told me that these bamboo-adorned pieces were referred to as “Whangee” pipes. I learned later that the term comes from the Mandarin word for bamboo, huáng lí and was used to describe canes and umbrellas with bamboo handles throughout the early to mid-1900s before being attributed to pipes — Dunhill’s in particular. I learned from reading on line that bamboo came to into use in pipemaking during the briar shortage that accompanied and followed WWII. As a means of saving on briar, pipemakers would extend the shank with bamboo.

The pipe was stamped on the heel of the bowl with the following nomenclature: W60 over a circle with a T next to it. T is the designation for Tanshell pipes. I assume that the circle with what looked like a 4 faintly in the center which was the size designation. Next to that is a superscript underlined 2 which I believe designates the year of manufacture – 1962. So now I knew the date on this interesting Bamboo.

Alex had reamed the pipe and cleaned it up very well. He had already enjoyed smoking it and was hooked on it. I even offered to buy it from him and he gently declined! He asked if I could take it home with me and see what I could do about the finish on the bowl. I told him I would take it home and have a go at it…

When I got home yesterday afternoon I laid it aside and this took it up to work on it. I enjoyed going over it carefully to see what I had purchased from Alex. You can see from the four photos below that the dark spots on the left side of the bowl had blended in better and were looking better. They seemed to be stains from the bowl coming in contact with some substance. It was deep in the finish. The right side of the bowl had some darkening toward the top of the bowl and the rim top was clean but still had a bit of darkening. The vulcanite spacer between the bowl and the bamboo shank was cleaned. The patina on the Bamboo shank had darkened and the crackling in the finish looked very good. It was quite stunning. The stem was in good condition other than a few small tooth marks and chatter on both sides just ahead of the button. The pipe had a light cake and smelled of good tobacco. Overall the pipe was in good condition. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem. Alex had taken great care of this old pipe.The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show beautiful sandblasted grain around the bowl and the patterns in the briar. The Tanshell finish had darkened a lot on the pipe and I really debate whether to let it darken naturally or stain it with a Shell Briar style of stain. It is a nice looking pipe. I took the stem off the bamboo shank and took a photo. It really is a beautiful Bamboo shank Lovat in my opinion.One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil’s helpful site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shapes-l.html). The stamping on the shank heel is interpreted as follows: W stamp is the shape code for a Bamboo followed by the number 60 which is a number for a Billiard, however I would call the elongated shank and bowl combination a Lovat. The 2 following the W60 gives the date the pipe. The Circle 4 T refers to the size of the pipe being a Group 4 and the T is the stamp for a Tanshell designation.

Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has a 2  following the W60 number. That took me to the section on the chart below (column one) which instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being made posterior to 1954. I followed the link following the “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The second column (suffix [1…4] or [11…39]) led me to the section with a 2 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 1962.I googled Dunhill Bamboo Wanghee to get a bit of background on the that brand and found a link on Smoking Pipes that had some helpful information that I will quote below the link (https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/estate/england/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=235695).

It’s not everyday you come across a Dunhill Whangee, the marque’s classic bamboo-shanked pipe. Though originally incorporated into Dunhill’s lineup several decades back, when briar was in short supply, these eccentric designs caught on, and many collectors have even built entire rotations around them. You will occasionally find one on the estate market, as we do here, but they tend to sell quickly, especially if it is an older example like this ’62 edition — in part due to their general rarity, but also because of their overall unique aesthetic. You can’t find classic English designs fitted with oversized bamboo extensions everywhere, after all…

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the light cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and sanded the walls of the bowl with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The walls of the bowl are smooth. I scrubbed the inside of the bamboo shank and the mortise with alcohol and pipe cleaners. I also cleaned out the airway in the stem the same way. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the tooth marks and chatter in the stem surface. I sanded them with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the stem. I wet sanded the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. Once I finished with the Dunhill Bamboo W60 I put the stem back on the shank and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond polish using a lightly loaded pad and a soft touch. I wanted the shine but not the grit filling in the crevices of the sandblast bowl. I used even a gentler touch on the bamboo. I gave the stem a vigorous polish being careful around the white spot. I gave the bowl and bamboo several coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a great piece of pipe history and looks better than when I began the process. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 7/8 inches, Outer Bowl Diameter: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber Diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .95 ounces/ 26grams. I am glad to say that I plan on loading a bowl of Friedman & Pease Fool’s Cap later today and enjoying my “new” addition. Thanks Alex for calling me on this one.