Tag Archives: super glue

Tinsky American Long Shank Brandy Reg. No.11/90 over 9 over JBH 502

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

In the last box of pipes Jeff sent me there was an American Smoking Pipe – a Long Shank Brandy. I am a sucker for Mark’s Pipes and Jeff knows it so we pick up every one of them we can find. This particular pipe came to us from a seller in Clarkesville, Virginia, USA on 07/25/2020. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads American in an oval [over] Regd. No. [over] 11/90 MT [over] 9 [over] JBH 502. It was a beautiful pipe but another dirty pipe when we received it. The finish on the bowl and shank were beautiful but the grime and oils were ground into the sides. There was a thick cake in the bowl that overflowed as lava on the bevelled rim top and the inner edge of the bowl. It was hard to evaluate the condition of the edge or top with the thickness of the lava. The acrylic saddle stem was dirty and there were deep tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button and on the button surface itself. It had an inlaid logo on the left of the saddle – a silver star set in clear acrylic with what looks like a briar ring around it. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their general condition. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the thick lava coat on the top of the rim and inner edge of the bowl. The finish on the bowl is very dirty with grime and oils ground into the bowl, but still very stunning. The round saddle stem is dirty and has chatter and deep tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button and on the button surface. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give an idea of the grain around the bowl and shank. It is amazing and I cannot wait to see what it looks like once it is polished and waxed. He took some photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank to capture it for me. It is clear and readable as noted above. He also included a photo of the star logo inlaid in clear acrylic in the left side of the stem.I have collected and smoked Mark Tinsky’s pipes for over 30 years now and thoroughly enjoy them. I cannot speak highly enough about the quality and craftsmanship of his pipes. I have pipes made by Mark and by Curt Rollar in my collection and both are great smokers and pipes that reach for regularly in my choice of pipes. I turned to his website for a quick summary of the history of the brand (http://www.amsmoke.com/Index%20Folder/PipeHist.html). I quote from the site as it is a short, concise history.

The American Smoking Pipe Co. was formed in 1978 by Mark Tinsky and Curt Rollar. Both started making pipes for Jack Weinberger ( JHW Pipes ) while in high school and throughout college. Determined to blaze their own path, they formed their own company- its goal to create unique pipes, lightweight and comfortable, where attention to detail was the rule not the exception. Exulting in their new freedom, they carved out new shapes that were balanced between the radical freehand era of the 70’s and the board pipe look of other conservative companies. Hungry for recognition, they stormed the Eastern and Southern shops looking for markets to sell their pipes. Many hidebound retailers refused to try something new, preferring to sell, well, what has always sold before. However, their pipes did take root in many shops and the business thrived.

They continued expanding their pipe making capabilities, adding employees to help finish the pipes. In 1990, over a disagreement over how much to expand, Curt Rollar left the company. This put a break on expansion and coupled with a U.S. recession and rising anti-smoking fervor served to limit production to supplying existing retailers, thus ending a decade of growth. With pipes sales in decline, we turned to pipe repair as a way to supplement revenues. Finding that we liked fixing things, American concentrated on pipe repair. While working hard at repair and manufacture American is ready once again to expand its markets through its existing network of shops serviced by pipe repair.

The pipe I am working on is stamped with a Reg. No. 11/90 MT9 as noted above. The stamp tells me that the pipe was made in November of 1990. The MT stamp signifies that the pipe was carved by Mark Tinsky. The 9 could be a size or even quality designation. There is also a JBH 502. This make me wonder if the pipe was a shape made for John B. Hayes, tobacconist. 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 the grime. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. The pipe looked very good when it arrived here in Vancouver. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show how clean the bowl and the rim top and inner edges of the bowl. I took photos of the stem surface to show the condition and tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank and the logo on the left side of the stem. It is readable as noted above and though faint is clear. I took a photo of the Silver Star with a black background logo on the stem as well. It is in excellent condition. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts. It is quite a stunning piece.I started my work by polishing the bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth 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 surface of the briar with my fingertips and a shoe brush to get it in the grooves. It works to clean, restore and preserve the briar. I let it do its magic for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a cotton cloth. The pipe looks incredibly good at this point in the process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the deep marks in the acrylic stem with black rubberized CA glue. Once it hardened I flattened the repairs out with a small file. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the rest of the acrylic stem and started the polishing them with 600 wet dry sandpaper. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. 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 finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Oil to preserve and protect the stem. This American Reg. No. 11/90 MT 9 JBH 502 Brandy is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The brown stains really highlight 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 American Mark Tinsky 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 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 77 grams / 2.72 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the American (US) 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.

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.

Putting Grandfather’s Genuine Amber Stemmed Meerschaum Bulldog back together again

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I decided I needed a change of pace in my restoration/clean up work. I went through my pipes waiting in the queue and chose the last one from a group of four pipes that were given to us by a woman in Columbus, Ohio, USA. It had belonged to her Grandfather who lived from 1882 to 1977. There were four pipes that she sent us from his estate – the metal bowled apple, a cased meerschaum Bulldog with a broken amber stem, a Whitehall rusticated apple and a BBB Glokar Fraternity Pipe.The cased Meerschaum Bulldog is the last of the lot and one that should be fixable and clean up well. I could see that it was an old timer and that it had been one of her Grandfather’s favourites like the other three. The pipe was dirty and well used. The finish had deep grime ground into the smooth meerschaum rim cap and the sides of the bowl. The rings around the cap are dirty with grime in the grooves. It had a moderate cake in the bowl that flowed onto the rim edges and rim top as a thick cake. It hard to assess the inner and outer edge of the rim there were thick spots of grime on the cap and bowl sides that should come off with work. The stem was amber and had been cleanly broken in half about mid stem. It was screwed on to a metal threaded tenon in the shank. It had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He started with the black leather case which was in good condition though missing the pin in one of the hinges. He opened the case and took photos of the pipe sitting in the case. He took a photo of the label on the inside of the case. It read Genuine Meerschaum around the outside of the black and gold octagonal label. On the inside of the label it reads Real Amber.He took photos of the condition of the bowl and rim top. You can see the cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top. There are also nicks and scratches around the top and outer edge particular o the front right side of the bowl.He took photos of the broken stem. You can see the break is about halfway down the stem and is clean with no rough edges on the pieces. When the two parts are put together the fit is very clean and smooth. The fit against the shank end is smooth and undamaged. It should clean up well. Jeff also took photos of the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. They are not deep but are very visible in both photos. Even these marks are not flaking or showing too much depth in the damage.He took photos of the bowl sides and heel to give a sense of the condition of the pipe before clean up. I think it will clean up well. Jeff cleaned up the pipe with his usual regimen and when I received it the bowl had been reamed and washed with Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed clean. He was able to remove the lava on the rim and the grime around the bowl. It looked much better. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He carefully cleaned the pieces of the broken stem and the fit together was still smooth. The pipe was ready for the next step in the process. I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the work table. I decided to start my work on this pipe by rejoining the two parts of the stem. I looked at putting a metal tube inside but the amber is brittle and the airway was not big enough to accommodate even the smallest tube I had. I chose inside to glue the parts together with clear rubberized CA glue. I carefully painted the ends of each piece and then pressed them together. They aligned well and I held them until the glue set. I set the stem aside and let the repair cure.I took the family to breakfast and when I returned I put the stem on the shank and took photos of the repaired stem in place. I still needed to sand and smooth out the repairs but you can see the overall look of the pipe.I removed the stem and set it aside. I turned my attention to the bowl. I polished it with micromesh – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove sanding debris. The bowl began to take on a rich shine. You can see the patina around the bow and the shank. Now it was time to wax the bowl. I melted some beeswax on the stove top and painted it onto the meerschaum bowl. I apply the wax quite heavily as I plan on heating the bowl and wiping it off. I worked it into the twin rings around the bowl cap with the pipe cleaner. I took a few photos of the heavily waxed bowl. I set it aside and called it a night. I would heat and polish it in the morning. This morning I used the heat gun to melt the wax on the bowl. I held it by the metal tenon and carefully moved it over the heat gun. The wax dripped back in the bowl and I also wiped it down with a paper towel. The patina really came alive. You can see it nicely developed on the shank and moving up the bowl sides to the cap. It looks very good at this point and will only look better with buffing and with use. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to blend the repairs into the surrounding amber. I wanted it smooth and with no lumps of glue on the crack or tooth mark areas. I started polishing the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I was happy with how the shine was developing.I polished the amber with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit micromesh pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil to further polish and give some teeth to the pads. It came out looking very nice. I polished the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine an Extra Fine. I rubbed them on with my finger tips and polished them off with soft paper towel. I finished by rubbing the stem down with some Obsidian Oil on a soft impregnated cloth. It looked better.I don’t know how many times I have said this but I love it when I come to the end of a restoration and all of the parts come together and the pipe looks better than when we started the cleanup process. I put the stem back on the Genuine Meerschaum Real Amber Cased Bulldog and carefully buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of beeswax as shown above and the stem multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax by hand and buffed it by hand with a soft cloth. I also buffed it again with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is a real stunning example of a classic Meerschaum Bulldog with an Amber Stem. It is beautiful and comfortable in hand. There was developing patina around the bowl and shank and was darker on the shank and the rim top. Give the finish pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .95 ounces/27 grams. This meerschaum pipe is a great piece of pipe history that is in great condition. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be keeping this one in my collection and enjoying it. Thanks for your time.

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

Back to my Grandfather’s Pipes

Leave a reply

by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is a very personal pipe – and one that is staying in my collection. The unusual pipe you see belonged to my late grandfather. It is this pipe’s restoration that I am recounting today. I have blogged here about some of my grandfather’s pipes before, but I haven’t done one in a while. In this case, I do not know where my grandfather acquired it (or under what circumstances), but I suppose it does not ultimately matter. My grandfather was an enthusiastic pipe smoker and he clearly enjoyed this one. I am definitely looking forward to cleaning this one up. It has a value well beyond dollars.The pipe is a pencil-shank Rhodesian, with a long stem made from horn. What a charming and elegant pipe! I do not know the exact date of the pipe, but it seems likely to be from the 1950s or 1960s.On the left-hand side of the shank, the pipe’s markings read simply, Bruyere de Luxe – an utterly unhelpful bit of information. Since that’s all there is, I don’t have any useful information to be provide about the pipe maker. Also, I will apologize in advance for the fact that I don’t have so many photos this time. My brain was obviously in neutral.It’s a nifty pipe – however, it was not without its issues. The stem had some worm holes in the horn (not unusual for this type of stem). There was also some notable tooth wear near the button. The stummel was actually in pretty good shape. It had some minor wear, but nothing too tricky. I suspect that this pipe hadn’t been smoked too much. The wood had a kind of lacquer finish – I must say, I don’t like that look. The stem was first on my list. This stem had a stinger in it – and it was being quite stubborn about coming out of the tenon! I opted to warm the stem and stinger with a heat gun and this provided just enough softening of the internal goo to allow me to pull it out. The stinger then went for a soak in some lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. I let it set for several hours and then cleaned it off and it looked much improved. I wiped down the outside of the stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. Then, I cleaned out the insides with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. I also built up the worm holes on the stem with clear cyanoacrylate adhesive and let it fully cure.I then sanded the stem down with 220- and 400-grit sandpapers to bring down the repairs to the level of the stem. I ensured that the stem kept its shape and looked like it should. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the beautiful horn grain on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. Some of the adhesive ended up having a strange reaction with the horn, but in the end, I think it looks pretty good.On to the stummel, and it was quite clean already. I began with some 220-grit sandpaper inside the chamber to even out the surface and remove any debris. I wanted to take the bowl down to bare briar to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the walls of the bowl. Fortunately, there were none. I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners, and isopropyl alcohol. There was a bit of filth inside this stummel – it took a few pipe cleaners et cetera to clean it out. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes. I then moved on to cleaning the outside of the stummel with Murphy’s Oil Soap and some cotton pads. In order to remove the lacquer finish, I used acetone on some cotton rounds and worked it hard. This worked very effectively.Now, it was time to sand down the stummel. I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to wet/dry sand everything smooth. After that, a light application of Before & After Restoration Balm brought out the best in the stummel’s grain. What a difference that made! There is some beautiful wood there! Then it was off for a trip to the buffer. A dose of White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax were just what this pipe needed. The lovely shine made the wood look absolutely beautiful.This is a quirky and charming pipe that has a very elegant feel to it. I hope the final product is worthy of my beloved grandfather’s memory. Obviously, this is one pipe that I am keeping for myself and adding to my collection. The approximate dimensions of the little Rhodesian are as follows: length 6 in. (150 mm); height 1 in. (25 mm); bowl diameter 1½ in. (38 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is ¾ oz. (24 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much I as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restemming a Lightly Smoked Ropp De Luxe 804 Cherrywood

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

Two of my daughters and I enjoy visiting our local Flea Market. They look for a lot of different things and I keep an eye out for pipes. Not long ago we were there and the girls found their things and I found these two Cherrywood Pipes – one is marked Royal Cherry [over] Made in France (top pipe in the photo below) and the other is marked Ropp in an oval [over] Deluxe [over] France [over] 804. Both are in good condition and both are without their stems. Here is what the pipes looked like when I brought them home. After finishing the Royal Cherry Cherrywood I turned my attention to the Ropp bowl. The octagonal bowl had strips of bark on four of the panels and smooth cherry stripped of the bark on the other four panels. The rim top and the heel of the bowl were stripped of bark and were smooth cherry wood. The shank is a cherry wood branch that has been threaded and screwed into the back side of the bowl. The bark on the shank is undamaged and looks good. The bowl and shank have been given a coat of varnish or shellac as it is smooth and shiny. The bowl has been smoked and there is a light cake in the bowl with some darkening and light lava on the bevelled inner edge of the bowl. The heel of the bowl is also smooth. It is stamped Ropp in an oval [over] De Luxe [over] France [over] 804. There was no stem that came with the pipe so one would need to be fit to the shank. I took a photo of the rim top to show the darkening and lava on the bevel and the light cake in the bowl. The shape of the bowl is well done and looks very good.I took a photo of the stamping on the heel of the bowl. It is clear and readable as noted above.I found a stem in my collection that would fit the shank but it would need to be bent to follow the flow of the shank and bowl. It was used and had some tooth marks in both sides of the stem ahead of the button.I reamed the bowl to take the cake back to bare walls. I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and scraped it clean. I sanded the walls of the bowl smooth with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The walls of the bowl were smooth and undamaged.I cleaned out the shank airway and mortise with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I did the same with the airway in the new stem. The pipe was clean when I was finished.I cleaned up the bevelled rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the light lava and the darkening. It came off very well and looked much better.I polished the smooth portions of the cherry with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I dry sanded the wood and then wiped it down with a damp cloth. The polishing work progressively brought a shine to the pipe. It looked really amazing – the combination of bark and smooth portions of the cherrywood. It is a beauty! I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the finish with my fingertips. The product works to clean, preserve and protect the wood. I let it sit and absorb for 10 minutes. I buffed it off with a soft cloth and then gave it a rigorous buff to raise the shine. It looks good at this point. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem. I heated the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to soften the vulcanite and bend it to match the curves of the bowl and shank. Once it was soft I bent it and it looks much better. I took photos of the stem surface to show the deep tooth marks on the surface of the stem. I painted the surface of the tooth marks with a lighter flame. I was able to lift them considerably. I filled in what remained with black CA glue. I set it aside to allow them to cure. Once the repair had cured I flattened out the repair with small file to blend it into the stem surface. I sanded it smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing on the stem with a piece of 600 grit sandpaper. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil and set it aside. I polished the stem with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads – I dry sanded the chatter on the stem surfaces on both sides and the diameter of the saddle portion of the stem. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil on a cloth after the sanding pads. Once finished it looked very good. I finished the hand polishing of the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian oil and set it aside to dry. I am really happy with the way that this restemmed Ropp De Luxe 804 Cherrywood Pipe turned out. It is a nice looking pipe with a great shape and finished with bark on the bowl sides and shank and the rim top and heel of the bowl are smooth. The vulcanite saddle stem turned out very nice. The polished stem works well with the Cherrywood finish. The wood really came alive with the buffing. The bark finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. 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 wood. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Ropp De Luxe 804 Bent Cherrywood really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 64 grams/ 2.26 ounces. I will be putting the pipe on the rebornpipes store in the French Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

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.

A Second Pipe from the Old Gentleman’s Estate – A Cracked Shank Whitehall 1B Rustic Apple

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

I decided I needed a change of pace in my restoration/clean up work. I went through my pipes waiting in the queue and chose pone from a group of four pipes that were given to us by a woman in Columbus, Ohio, USA. It had belonged to her Grandfather who lived from 1882 to 1977. There were four pipes that she sent us from his estate – the metal bowled apple, a cased meerschaum with a broken shank and an amber stem, a Whitehall rusticated apple and a BBB Glokar Fraternity Pipe.Even though I generally pass on Whitehall pipes I decided to work on this one because it came with a great back story. The older pipe man who had used it obviously had enjoyed it beyond measure. Since he passed away in 1977 I knew that the pipe was much earlier than that. It was well smoked, reamed with a knife. And it had continued to be smoked even after the shank crack. I am guessing from the marks on the stem that the crack happened when he tried to remove the stem with a pair of pliers. The stamp on the left side of the shank read Whitehall 1B [over] Imported Briar. The pipe was dirty and well used. The finish had deep grime ground into the rustication around the bowl. The bowl had tobacco debris in it and a very thick cake overflowing as lava onto the rim top. The rim top looked to be in rough condition with damage from reaming and burns particularly on the back side of the edge and top. The stem was vulcanite and fit the cracked shank well. It had oxidation, calcification and deep gouges from pliers just behind the saddle. There were light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work.Jeff took photos of the rim top and bowl to show the condition. You can see the thick cake int eh bowl and the lava coat on the top of the rim. The inner edge of the bowl is a mess and very out of round. It was obviously her grandfather’s favourite pipe even though some of his others were nicer. The vulcanite saddle stem was oxidized, calcified and had deep nicks at the saddle end from what appeared to be pliers. It too was going to take some work. Jeff took photos of the cracked shank to show the condition of the crack. He also took photos of the damage to the stem surface just behind the saddle on both sides where it looks like the stem was twisted with pliers. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the composition of the pipe. The combination of smooth and rustication is quite nice. There are Custom-bilt like channels from top to bottom of the bowl and horizontal rustication around the bowl between the channels. The rim top and top half of the bowl are smooth. The shank has horizontal rustication all around leaving a smooth panel on the left side for the stamping. It is quite nice looking. He took a photo of the stamping on the smooth panel on the left side of the shank. You can see that it is readable as noted above.I knew that there was a connection between Block Brothers Tobacco and Whitehall as I have had pipe coupons in boxes of Kentucky Club tobacco but I wanted to verify that and get the details. I turned to the listing on Pipedia for Whitehall and read it (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Whitehall). I quote from the site below.

Whitehall pipes are frequently misunderstood to be a model rather than an actual pipe company, which has led collectors to mistakenly ascribe their manufacture to Civic and Ben Wade (Who Made That Pipe; Wilczak & Colwell, 1997).  In fact, Whitehall refers to the pipe company (not a model), which itself produced models such as the Hialeah, Jumbos, London Hall, and Thermofilter.  The history of the Whitehall Pipe Co., Inc. (Richmond Hill, NY), is a complicated one, involving several parent companies and subsidiaries including Whitehall Products, Inc. (Helmetta, NJ), The Bloch Bros. Tobacco Co. (Wheeling, WV), Helme Products, Inc., apparently all subsidiaries of Culbro Corp. (owner also of General Cigar).  The “Imported Briar” stamp on many of the pipes, and the unmistakable Whitehall logo bearing resemblance to the American-made tobaccos of that brand strongly suggest that these are products made for the Whitehall Pipe Co., Inc., an American company.  There is furthermore no evidence that Civic or Ben Wade outsourced any manufactory of pipes to Italy; nor did Ben Wade manufacture pipes with aluminum screw tenons, paper filter inserts and molded acrylic stems.  For irrefutable proof that the American company Whitehall Pipe Co., Ltd., was, in fact, responsible for these brands, one need only consult the University of California, San Francisco “Truth Tobacco Archives” which clearly links these brands to the company (see image below) [on the Pipedia site]…

When the pipe arrived in Vancouver it was very clean. The briar and stem were spotless. The vulcanite stem looked much better and you can see the gouges in the top and underside behind the saddle. The crack in the shank was also very clean and ready to repair. Jeff had reamed the bowl with a Pipenet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the bowl walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the airway in the stem and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with Murphy’s Oil Soap (undiluted) and a tooth brush. He rinsed the exterior with warm running water and dried. He polished the briar and stem with a small drop of olive oil. The pipe really looked very good. It was going to be a fun one to work on for my part.  I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the table for my work. This is what I saw. I took photos of the bowl and the rim top to show the condition. It is clean and the damage is quite extensive. The bowl is very clean and there were nicks, burn damage and cuts all around the inner edge and top. The bowl was out of round due to the damage. The crack on the top left of the shank is also visible in the photo below. The vulcanite stem is clean and the damage visible at the blade where it joins the saddle portion. The button and stem surface ahead of the button is clean and undamaged. I took a photo of the left shank side to capture the stamping on the briar. It is faint but it is still readable. I took a photo of the bowl and shank separated to show the condition of the pipe. It really is a great looking pipe.I started my work on the pipe by addressing the cracked shank. I smoothed out the end of the shank so that the band would fit smoothly and not be hampered by the rustication. I used the Dremel and a sanding drum to get it prepared for the band. I heated the band and pressed it onto the shank end. It fit well and bound the crack tightly together. With the shank repair complete I turned to address the issues with the rim top and edge. I started by smoothing out some of the damage with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to flatten on the damage on the rim top. I used a wooden ball and a piece of sandpaper to give the rim edge an inward bevel and smooth out the top. It looked much better! I filled in the damaged back inner edge of the bowl with clear CA glue and briar dust. The edge was damaged but it did not go deeply into the bowl. I sanded out the inside of the edge with a piece of 220 sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. I smoothed out the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and bevelled the rim a bit more with the sandpaper. I stained the rim top with a Maple Stain Pen to match the smooth portions of the bowl. It was looking good. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I dry sanded the briar and then progressively brought a shine to the pipe. It looked really amazing – the combination of rustic and smooth portions of the briar. It is a beauty! I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the finish with my fingertips and a shoe brush. The product works to clean, preserve and protect the briar. I let it sit and absorb for 10 minutes. I buffed it off with a soft cloth and then gave it a rigorous buff to raise the shine. It looks good at this point. I filled in the gouges in the stem surface on both sides by the saddle with black CA rubberized glue. Once it cured I sanded it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing it with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished out the scratches left behind by the sandpaper on the stem surface with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil on a cloth after the sanding pads. I finished the hand polishing of the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian oil and set it aside to dry. I am really happy with the way that this Whitehall Rusticated Imported Briar 1B Apple turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a great shape and smooth finished on the upper half of the bowl and rusticated on the lower portion of the bowl and shank. The vulcanite saddle stem turned out very nice. The polished stem works well with the briar both the smooth and rusticated finish. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. 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 multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Whitehall Rusticated Saddle Stem Apple really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. 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 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 27 grams/ .95 ounces. I will be putting the pipe on the rebornpipes store in the American Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

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.

Replacing a broken tenon and restoring a Stanwell de Luxe

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

Earlier in July I received an email from Peter, a fellow in California regarding a pipe repair he needed. He wrote as follows.

Hi, I’m just wondering if you can repair a Stanwell pipe for me? The stem broke off inside the pipe. Thanks for your time, Peter.

I wrote him back asking for photos so I could have a look at it. I figured he meant that the tenon snapped off inside the shank but I wanted to be certain. He replied

Thanks so much for your very fast response. Pictures are below. Best wishes, Peter We chatted back and forth a bit and Peter decided to send the pipe to me. I received it yesterday and here is what I saw once I unwrapped it. The photos tell the story but here is my review of it. The finish was dirty and worn. The bowl had a thick cake and there was lava buildup flowing along the inner edge and into the plateau on the rim top. The stem was snapped off leaving the tenon in the shank. Fortunately, there was no damage to the shank itself. It did not have any cracks in the sides. The shank end showed a lot of tar buildup. The tenon was still in the shank. The snap at the stem was fairly clean and would just need to be flattened. The stem itself showed a lot of oxidation, calcification and light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The pipe was stamped on the left side and read Stanwell [over] de Luxe. I could not see any other stamping on the shank. There was a gold crown S on the left side of the saddle stem. This was going to be fun to bring back to life. I decided to begin working on the pipe by trying to pull the broken tenon with my usual methods. I put the bowl in the freezer for 30 minutes, then inserted a screw into the airway in the shank. I wiggled the screw and tried to break it free. It was no use. I used a qtip to dribble alcohol around the edges of the broken tenon in the shank. I repeated that several times and let it sit. I was still unable to remove the broken tenon in the shank. It was stuck and nothing seemed to loosen it. With the tenon being stuck in the shank I stepped up the process and drilled it out. I started with a drill bit slightly larger than the airway. I have had good success in drilling and in the process having the tenon come out on the drill bit. In this case I worked through four drill bits until I used one that was slightly small than the mortise. I then scraped out the remainder of the bits of vulcanite in the shank with a small pen knife until the walls were clear. I took a photo of the pipe at this point in the process – the tenon drilled out, a replacement tenon and the stem. Now it is ready for the next part of my work. I set the stem and tenon aside so that I could work on the bowl and shank. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer. I took the cake back to bare walls so I could check out the walls for damage or checking. It looked very good. I scraped out the remnants of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and then sanded it with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel to smooth out the walls of the bowl. I worked on the buildup in the plateau surface of the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush. I was able to remove the heaviest part of the lava in the grooves of the plateau surface. It looked better but would need to be scrubbed. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scoured the surface of the briar and rinsed and repeated the process until the bowl was clean and the rim top looking very good. I cleaned up the darkening on the smooth bevelled portion of the inner rim edge next. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage and also smooth it out. I touched up the deep grooves in the plateau with a black Sharpie pen. The rim top and edge look very good.I polished the smooth rim top portions and the exterior of the pipe with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust and debris. By the last pad it was looking very good with a shine in the briar that highlights the grain. I cleaned out the shank and mortise with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I wanted to remove the oils and tars so that I would have a clean surface for the new tenon that I was fitting in the shank. It cleaned up and certainly smelled better once cleaned.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to get into the plateau top. The product works to clean, preserve and protect the briar. I let it sit and work into the briar for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a cotton cloth. I buffed the briar with a clean cloth. The bowl is starting to look beautiful and there is a shine developing. At this point the bowl was finished until I finished with the new tenon insertion. I set the bowl aside and took a photo of the new tenon and the tools for reducing the diameter to fit in the shank. I used the Dremel and a sanding drum to reduce the diameter. I cleaned up the work with a file and then 220 grit sandpaper to get it to a point where the tenon fit in the shank.I put the stem in a bath of Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and set it aside while I worked on the tenon fit. I left it in the bath for three hours and then removed it and rubbed off the bath with a paper towel. The surface of the stem looked significantly better at this point. The oxidation was greatly reduced, the calcification was gone and the stem showed improvement. The tooth marks would still need to be worked on but there was progress.I cleaned out the airway in the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol the drilled the airway to match the diameter of the new tenon insertion. I started with a drill bit the same size as the airway and gradually increased the bit size until it matched the outside diameter of the tenon. I took a photo of the newly drilled end of the stem. I cleaned up the airway once again in preparation for gluing the new tenon in place. I wiped the tenon end down with black CA glue and then aligned the tenon and the mortise. I pressed the tenon in place in the stem and set it aside to cure. Once it cured I took a photo of the stem and new tenon with the bowl before putting them back together. Once the glue cured I fit the stem in the shank. As seems to be very usual when I do this kind of thing the fit against the shank was not perfect. I would need to shape the stem and shank to make the fit and flow perfect. I took photos of the pipe at this point. The fit is not far off but just enough to be noticeable in the photos on the top and underside and slightly on the right and left sides. I sanded the shank and the stem to match and make the transition smooth all the way around the junction. I used 220 grit sandpaper and sanded it in place on the shank. I had to remove briar and vulcanite on the sides of the shank according to the transition. When finished it looked much better. I polished the sanded areas with micromesh sanding pads to make them smooth. I used an Oak stain pen to touch up the sanded areas and blend them into the rest of the bowl and shank. It blends in very well.I rubbed it down once again with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar and let it sit for 10 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. I polished the bowl with a cotton cloth and set it aside. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to finishing the work on the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them significantly. I filled in what remained with black CA glue. Once the repair cured I used files to smooth out the surface of the repair. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the stem. I started the polishing of the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. 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 finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – Fine and Extra Fine. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and buffed it off with a cloth and buffed it to a shine. I am really happy with the way that this Stanwell Danish Made de Luxe Freehand turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a great shape and smooth finished bowl and plateau on the rim top. The original vulcanite saddle stem is cleaned up nicely. The polished black of the stem works well with the briar and the plateau portions. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. 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. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Stanwell de Luxe really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 56 grams/1.98 oz. The pipe will be going back to Peter very soon. I look forward to hearing what he thinks about it. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

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.

Restoring a large Savinelli Autograph 5 Freehand Sitter

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

A few weeks ago I was contacted from a fellow in Montana who was selling his pipes as they had not been used for quite a few years. I asked him for a picture and he sent me the one to the left. It included the following brands (from the top to the bottom of the photo): Savinelli Autograph 5 Freehand, Mastro de Paja Ciocco 0C Bulldog, Mastro de Paja Media 1B Bent Billiard, Ser Jacopo Delecta Octagonal Bent Billiard, Caminetto Business KS 118 Canadian, Radici Rind Rhodesian, Dunhill Bruyere ODA 836 Panel Billiard, Barontini Straight Grain B3 Freehand and a Ben Wade Martinique Hand Made in Denmark Freehand.

Almost all of them were higher end pipes and all were hand made pipes. They were a mix of finishes – smooth, sandblast and also rusticated. They were a mix of shapes as well and the majority of them were Italian Made other than the Dunhill and the Ben Wade Martinique. They were beautiful pipes and after exchanging quite a few photos of the pipes from various angles to get a sense of what was there we struck a deal. We sent him the payment and the pipes arrived in Idaho a few days after I left for Vancouver.

Jeff cleaned them all and this week I received them in Vancouver. I am impressed with the way they cleaned up and the beauty of the brands. They truly are some beautiful pipes. I just need to put the final touches on each of them and address minor issues on the bowl rims and the stems and they should be good to go. I am really looking forward to working on each of them in the days ahead.

This afternoon after work I decided to continue working on the lot. I chose to work on the sandblast Savinelli Autograph Freehand. To me Savinelli Autographs have an easily recognizable look to them. This one had a great sandblast finish and a smooth rim top and bowl base so it functioned as a sitter. The pipe is stamped on heel of the bowl. It was clear and readable and says Savinelli [over] Autograph [over] 5. There is an autograph on the left side of the stem. The stamping is clear and readable. The medium brown stained finish was very dirty with grime ground into the valleys of the sandblast briar. The bowl had a thick cake and the rim top/inner edge had thick lava flowing up from the bowl. It was heavier on the back side of the bowl and rim than the rest. The inner edge of the bowl was covered enough with lava that it was hard to know its condition with certainty. The taper stem is black vulcanite and was dirty, oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before the clean up. You can see the thick cake in the bowl overflowing as lava on the inner edge and rim top. He also took some photos of the stem to show the condition of both sides. You can see the tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside next to the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the beautiful sandblast finish around the bowl and shank. The stain adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on the heel of the bowl is shown in the photos below. It is clear and readable as noted above. The second photo shows the autograph on the side of the stem. I wanted to remind myself a bit about the Autograph line from Savinelli so I reread a blog I had written on a previous Autograph restoration (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/01/05/restoring-a-savinelli-autograph-3-rhodesian-dublin-long-shank/). I quote a portion of the blog now:

I turned first to the Pipephil website (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-savinelli1.html) to get a brief overview of the Autograph line. There I found out that the Autographs were hand made and unique. The Autograph Grading system is ascending: 3, 4, … 8, 0, 00, 000.

I turned then to Pipedia to get a more background on the Autograph line. I had the outline I needed from pipephil for the pipe but wanted more (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Savinelli). I quote in part from the article on that site.

While Savinelli’s serially produced pipes account for around 98% of annual production, the marque also creates a number of artisanal, handmade pieces as well. The Autographs, the Creativity line, and the Mr. A. line are all the result of Savinelli’s unique handmade process, with the Autographs reflecting the larger Freehand aesthetic, the Creativity line delving into more complex hand carving, and the Mr. A. line sidestepping the standard shape chart for remarkable and unusual pipes.

All of the briar for Savinelli’s Autographs and other freehand pipes is sourced specifically for those pieces. While the majority of the marque’s serial production is made from extra grade ebauchon blocks, Savinelli keeps a separate supply of Extra Extra plateau blocks for Freehands. This variety of briar is much larger, and of a higher quality, which explains why so many Autographs and Savinelli handmades are naturally larger designs.

These handmade pieces are shaped much like traditional Danish Freehands: they are shaped first and drilled second. Using this method, Savinelli’s team of artisans is able to showcase their own creativity, as it maximizes flexibility and facilitates a more grain-centric approach to shaping. The resulting Freehand designs are at once both a departure from the marque’s classical standard shapes, yet very much still “Savinelli” in their nature—i.e. proportioned so that the bowl is the visual focus when viewed from the profile, juxtaposed by the comparatively trim lines of the shank and stem. To provide a little more insight into the differences between Savinelli’s standard production and freehand lines, Luisa Bozzetti comments:

“When we choose to make Freehand pipes we must stop production on the standard shapes. The process for Freehands is much more involved and takes much more time. Finding the best people from the production line and pulling them to make Freehands is challenging since it’s not an assembly line, but rather a one or two man operation.

After the rough shaping of the stummel, we must get together and brainstorm which style of stem will be paired before the pipe can be finished since we do not use pre-shaped stems. All accents and stems for the Freehands are cut from rod here in the factory. A lot of care goes into the few pieces lucky enough to make the cut; to end up with a certain number of Autographs, for instance, means that many, many more will be made, and only the few will be selected.”

The quality control process for Savinelli handmades is even more rigorous than that employed in the standard lineup. Many blocks are started and later discarded because of pits or defects. While Savinelli’s briar sourcing is a constant process, working with some of Italy’s top cutters to ensure only the finest and most suitable blocks make their way to the factory, it’s impossible to source plateau briar that’s completely free from flaws. That’s just nature. Savinelli creates the standard for quality by working through the rough (a very high-quality rough, mind you) to find that shining diamond with the potential to become a Savinelli handmade.

It looks like the Autograph 5 I am working is pretty high in the hierarchy of the line. Like other autographs I have worked on in the past this one has a signature on the left side of the vulcanite stem. Jeff once again did an amazing job cleaning the pipe. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the bowl walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He got rid of the cake so that we could see the walls of the bowl and assess for damage. He cleaned the internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to get into the grooves and valleys of the rustication. He rinsed the pipe under warm water. He dried it off with a cloth and then let it air dry. The stem was scrubbed with Soft Scrub and then soaked in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. It came out looking pretty good with a light coat of oxidation still present. The finish on the bowl and the rim top cleaned up pretty good. I took pictures of the pipe to show how it looked when I unpacked it.    I took close up photos of both the rim top and the stem. Jeff had been able to get the grime and lava off of the rim top and it looked very clean. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were predominantly near the button. The stamping on the sides of the shank was readable as noted above. I took photos of the stamping on the heel of the bowl to show the condition and readability. I also took a photo of the autograph on the left side of the stem. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give an idea of the perspective and design of the pipe. I polished the smooth heel of the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads using 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiping it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust and debris. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl and shank with my fingers and a horsehair shoe brush. I want the product to go deep into the finish because it works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. Once I was confident that it was deeply worked into the finish I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth to polish it. The pipe really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. The grain really stands out on the pipe in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I painted the surface of the vulcanite with the flame of a lighter to lift the bite marks. I was able to lift them significantly. What remained I filled in with black CA glue. Once the repairs cured I flattened the repairs with a small file. I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with a folded piece of 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I touched up the autograph stamp on the left side of the stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick and cleaned off the excess with a worn 1500 micromesh sanding pad.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry.I put the Savinelli Autograph 5 bowl and stem back together. I polished the smooth part of the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the sandblasted bowl and shank several coats of Conservator’s Wax 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. The medium brown stains and the smooth and sandblast finish worked amazingly well with the polished black vulcanite stem. The sandblast was deep and craggy on the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. This is truly a beautiful Freehand pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.89 ounces/82 grams. I have restored quite a few Autographs over the years and this estate is another rare beauty. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the Italian Pipemakers Section. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

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.

New Life for a “Giant” Maestro de Paja Pesaro Ciocco Gigante Bent Bulldog Rusticated

1 Reply

Blog Steve Laug

A few weeks ago I was contacted from a fellow in Montana who was selling his pipes as they had not been used for quite a few years. I asked him for a picture and he sent me the one to the left. It included the following brands (from the top to the bottom of the photo): Savinelli Autograph 5 Freehand, Mastro de Paja Ciocco 0C Bulldog, Mastro de Paja Media 1B Bent Billiard, Ser Jacopo Delecta Octagonal Bent Billiard, Caminetto Business KS 118 Canadian, Radici Rind Rhodesian, Dunhill Bruyere ODA 836 Panel Billiard, Barontini Straight Grain B3 Freehand and a Ben Wade Martinique Hand Made in Denmark Freehand.

Almost all of them were higher end pipes and all were hand made pipes. They were a mix of finishes – smooth, sandblast and also rusticated. They were a mix of shapes as well and the majority of them were Italian Made other than the Dunhill and the Ben Wade Martinique. They were beautiful pipes and after exchanging quite a few photos of the pipes from various angles to get a sense of what was there we struck a deal. We sent him the payment and the pipes arrived in Idaho a few days after I left for Vancouver.

Jeff cleaned them all and this week I received them in Vancouver. I am impressed with the way they cleaned up and the beauty of the brands. They truly are some beautiful pipes. I just need to put the final touches on each of them and address minor issues on the bowl rims and the stems and they should be good to go. I am really looking forward to working on each of them in the days ahead.

This evening after work I decided to continue working on the lot. I chose to work on the rusticated Mastro de Paja Pesaro Ciocco Gigante 0C Large Bulldog. It has a classic Large Bent Bulldog shape with an Italian twist. The rustication is extremely rugged and tactile. The crowned rim top, the briar around the twin rings on the cap are smooth.  There is also a smooth band around the shank end just ahead of a silver ferrule. The pipe is stamped on a smooth panel on the left underside of the diamond shank. It has a sun logo that is followed by Mastro de Paja [over] Fatta A Mano (made by hand). Under that it is Persaro [over] Ciocco. Next that just in front of the ferrule is stamped with a 0C in a circle [over] Gigante. The silver ferrule is stamped on the top left side and reads Mastro [over] De Paja [over] Ciocco. There is a Mastro de Paja metal circular disc logo is on top left side of the stem and on the left underside it is stamped with the sun logo. The stamping is clear and readable. The finish was very dirty with grime ground into the grooves of the rustication. The bowl had a thick cake and the crowned rim top/inner edge had a thick coat of lava flowing up from the bowl. The inner edge of the bowl was covered with a thick cake so it was hard to know its condition with certainty. The stem is black acrylic fancy saddle stem and was dirty with tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before the clean up. You can see the thick cake in the bowl overflowing on the inner edge/crowned rim top. He also took some photos of the stem to show the condition of both sides. You can see the tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside next to the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the deep rusticated finish around the bowl and shank. The stain adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty.The stamping on the underside of the shank and on the silver ferrule is shown in the photos below. It is clear and readable as noted above. There is also a stamping reading Italia on the lower right side on the smooth band on the shank end ahead of the silver. Before moving on to the clean up I wanted to build my knowledge of background on the brand. I have looked at them quite often and perhaps worked on a few in past years but I have no memory of the brand. I turned first to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-m3.html). I have included a screen capture of the information on the site as well as some side bars notes below the photo. The last pipe pictured shows the circle 1B stamp as well as the one Sun logo which is noted as the grading stamp. That was information it did not have before.Brand founded in 1972 by Giancarlo Guidi. He left it for Ser Jacopo in 1982. Alberto Montini became the owner of the brand in 1995. Production (2010): ~ 5000 pipes/year. Seconds: Calibano, Montini,

That led me to the Mastro de Paja website (https://www.mastrodepaja.it/en/pipes-and-accessories.html). There was a lot of information on the brand and the quality of the briar and craftsmanship of the pipes. I quote below:

Mastro de Paja are formed by the expert and highly capable hands of craftsmen – famous pipes with the unmistakable sun brand, known and appreciated by connoisseurs throughout the world. Unique and inimitable because they are unrepeatable encounter of precious Mediterranean briars, with the sensitivity of the craftsman who, using art and inspiration, models them individually. And, in the modelling process, brings to light the most concealed and valuable qualities of the briar. Varied designs, original lines and a deriberately (sic) limited productions make Mastro de Paja pipes objects destined for the most demanding and refined collectionists. Beautiful and loved, they are also excellent pipes because they are worked with care by those who know them: a successful synthesis of formal beauty and functionality. Rigorous controls and selections give Mastro de Paja pipes, right from the first smoke, that rounded taste which is then maintained intact for the whole of its long and extraordinary life.

The site also had a video entitled “How to make a Smoking Pipe by Hand – Mastro de Paja”. I have included the youtube link as well as the code for embedding.

https://youtu.be/xx24a-NpljM

I turned to Pipedia for more information on the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Mastro_de_Paja). The site is full of information on the brand and the philosophy behind the carving of the hand made pipes. I am including the information on the site listed as the Elite Collection that listed the stamping information. I have highlighted pertinent information on this particular pipe in red in the list below.

Mastro de Paja “ELITE COLLECTION”

It is the production of pipes made entirely by hand, even they are unique but of regular production.

On all “Mastro de Paja” pipes you can see fire stamped all the information for tracing the value of each creation.

RUSTICATED

  • 0B: Completely rusticated
  • 0B Unica: Completely rusticated with some smooth sections

SANDBLASTED

  • 1B: Dark brown or black sandblasted
  • 1B + 1 Sun: Light brown sandblasted

PARTIALLY RUSTICATED

  • 2D: Smooth with small sections rusticated
  • 2D + 1 Sun: Smooth straight grain with small sections rusticated

SMOOTH WITH COLORED FINISH

  • Ruber: Smooth with red stain
  • Castanea: Smooth with brown stain
  • 3A: Smooth with brown-orange stain
  • 3A + 1 Sun: Smooth good grain with brown-orange stain
  • 3A + 2 Sun: Smooth straight grain with brown-orange stain

SMOOTH WITH NATURAL FINISH

  • 3B: Smooth with a good grain and a natural finish
  • 3B + 1 Sun: Smooth excellent grain with natural finish
  • 3B + 2 Sun: Perfect grain
  • 3C: Good grain
  • 3C + 1 Sun: Excellent grain
  • 3C + 2 Sun: Perfect grain
  • F: Straight grain
  • F + 1 Sun: Good straight grain
  • F + 2 Sun: Excellent straight grain
  • F + 3 Sun: Perfect straight grain

Sometimes “Mastro de Paja Pipes” are enhanched with sterling silver, gold, precious stones and/or fine wood and are further classified and fire stamped on each pipe.

  • Stamp “P” : “Personal” with fine ornamentation.
  • Stamp “N” : “Normal” with basic sterling silver.
  • Stamp “L” : “Lavorata” with more complex sterling silver.
  • Stamp “S” : “Special” with elaborate sterling silver and specially worked.
  • Stamp “G” : “Gold” with special gold ornamentation.
  • Media : Medium size pipe
  • Gigante: Giant pipe

From that information I knew that the pipe I was working on was a Rusticated Pipe and a  Sun which made it a completely rusticated. It also is stamped Gigante which makes it a Giant pipe. It is a beauty and now it is time to look at it up close and personal.

Jeff had done an amazing job in removing all of the cake and the lava on the rim top. He had reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He took the cake back to bare briar so we could check the walls for damage. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime on the bowl and rim and was able to remove the lava and dirt. He cleaned out the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until they came out clean. He cleaned the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the grime on the exterior and cleaned out the airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration. I took close up photos of both the rim top and the stem. Jeff had been able to get the grime and lava off of the rim top and it looked good. There was some burn damage and darkening on the right front of the crowned rim top and beveled inner edge. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were predominantly near the button. They should be easy to remove. The stamping on the left underside of the diamond shank was readable as noted above. The stamping on the silver ferrule is also very readable as noted. I also took a photo with the stem removed to give an idea of the perspective and design of the pipe. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the burn damage and darkening on the right front of the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. Fortunately the burn damage was not deep but mainly surface. I was ale to remove and minimize it without changing the shape of the rim top. I also worked on the darkening on the inner bevel and removed it as well. I polished it with 1200-3200 micromesh sanding pads and then restained the rim top and edge with a Oak Stain Pen to match the rest of the bowl. Over all the rim top and edges looked much better. The bowl and shank were very clean and the rim top finished. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl and shank with my fingers and a horsehair shoe brush. I want the product to go deep into the finish because it works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. Once I was confident that it was deeply worked into the finish I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth to polish it. The pipe really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. The rusticated finish on the pipe is beautiful and shows depth in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I filled in the deep tooth marks with black CA glue and set it aside to cure. Once cured I flattened them out with a small file and then sanded the smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. I started polishing it with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I touched up the Sun logo on the left underside of the diamond shaped stem with some Rub’n Buff Antique Gold. It picks up the Sun shaped stamp very well. I polished the acrylic stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad because I find that the oil provides a great surface for polishing with the micromesh pads. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. This Mastro de Paja Pesaro Ciocco Gigante Rusticated 0C Bent Bulldog is a real beauty with a deep and tactile rustication and a silver ferrule. I put the bowl and stem back together again and buffed the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I used a soft touch on the bowl so as not to fill it in with the polishing product. I gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax. I carefully buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I polished the silver ferrule with a jewelers cloth to protect and shine. I finished buffing with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe looks very good. It is comfortable and light weight. The finished Mastro de Paja Ciocco Gigante Bent Bulldog is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 78 grams/2.75 ounces. This great looking rusticated Bulldog turned out very well. It should be a great pipe. It will be going on the rebornpipes store in the Italian Pipemakers Section shortly if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Email me at slaug@uniserve.com

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.

Restoring a ¾ Bent Bari Pearl 7075 with a Bamboo Shank

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

When I visited my Father a few weeks ago I also visited with Jeff and his wife. I went through the pipes that we had boxed there and pulled out several Bamboo shank pipes. I have worked on quite a few over the past week and this is another one. It was a ¾ Bent Apple with a patinaed Bamboo shank. It had a vulcanite spacer between the briar and the one knuckle piece of bamboo and another one at the shank end. It was a nice Apple shaped pipe with some great grain around the sides and shank. I had a thick coat of varnish on the bowl that made it very shiny. The bowl was dirty and the top had some darkening and slight damage on the thin top and inner edge. The bowl had a moderate cake in it and the pipe smelled dirty. There was some grime and grit ground into the sides and bottom of the bowl. It was hard to know whether it was over or under the varnish coat. Under light the shininess had some dull spots in it. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank and read BARI [over] PEARL. On the right side it was stamped Made In [over] Denmark and on the under side it was stamped with the shape number 7075. The bamboo had a nice patina to it that showed that it had been someone’s favourite and had been well smoked. The shank end was smooth and had a tight fit. The stem had some oxidation, calcification and some light tooth chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the work table. I took a photo of the rim top and edges to show the condition. You can see that it is darkening on thin top and edges. You can also see the shiny cake in the bowl. The stem looks good with light chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It read as noted above. It is clear and readable under the varnish coat. I also removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the flow of the pipe. It is truly a unique pipe and the grain shows well in the photo. I turned to Pipephil to see if I could find information on the Pearl model but there was nothing there on the model (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b1.html). I quote from the sidebar below and also have included a screen capture of the information.

Brand founded by Viggo Nielsen in 1950 and sold to Van Eicken Tobaccos in 1978. At this time Age Bogelund managed Bari’s production. The company has been bought in 1993 by Helmer Thomsen. Bari’s second: Don, Proctus.  I then turned to Pipedia for some history of the brand and also to see if there as information on the Pearl model (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Bari). I have included the history below. There was also a photo that was done by Smoking Pipes.com and had a copyright so I did not include it. It did help me determine the kind of stem to use on the pipe.

Bari Piber was founded by Viggo Nielsen in Kolding around the turn of 1950/51. Viggo’s sons Kai Nielsen and Jørgen Nielsen both grew into their father’s business from a very young age and worked there till 1975.

Bari had very successfully adapted the new Danish Design that had been started mainly by Stanwell for it’s own models. When Viggo Nielsen sold Bari in 1978 to Joh. Wilh. von Eicken GmbH in Hamburg Bari counted 33 employees.

From 1978 to 1993 Åge Bogelund and Helmer Thomsen headed Bari’s pipe production. Thomson bought the company in 1993 re-naming it to Bari Piber Helmer Thomsen. The workshop moved to more convenient buildings in Vejen. Bogelund, who created very respectable freehands of his own during the time at Bari got lost somehow after 1993.

Bari’s basic conception fundamentally stayed the same for decades: series pipes pre-worked by machines and carefully finished by hand. Thus no spectacular highgrades but solid, reliable every day’s companions.

The most famous series are the smooth “Classic Diamond” and the blasted “Wiking”.

With that information reviewed, it was time to work on the pipe. I decided to remove the shiny finish from the bowl with acetone and cotton pads. I wanted to remove the surface coat and also the grim that was both under and over the varnish coat.  I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to scrape the cake out of the bowl. I took it back to bare briar. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel.I cleaned out the internals of the pipe – the airway in the shank, the mortise and the airway in the stem. The shank was quite dirty and many pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and 99% isopropyl alcohol removed the dirt and oils and left the pipe smelling clean and fresh.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. After each pad I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. It really took on a shine by the last three sanding pads. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar where it works to clean, restore and preserve the briar. I let it do its magic for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a cotton cloth. The pipe looks incredibly good at this point in the process. I set the bowl aside at this point and turned my attention to the stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. I know that many say Obsidian Oil does nothing for acrylic stems, but I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from buildup and second it gives the sanding pads bite in the polishing process.I have found that Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish works well to remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection. I am excited to finish restoration of this Bari Pearl 7075 Bamboo Shank ¾ Bent Apple. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful mixed grain all around it. The polished grain on the pipe looks great with the black vulcanite stem. This smooth Bari Pearl Bamboo Shank Bent Apple is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 39 grams/ 1.38 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipemakers Section soon. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know by email or message. Thanks for your time reading this blog  and as usual feel free to ask any questions in the comments below.

Restoring a Carved Bamboo Lovat stamped UNX UNT Quality Pipe

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on my work table is an interesting Bamboo style Lovat. It is a single piece rather than one joined with a shank extension. The stamping on the heel of the bowl reads UNX UNT over Quality Pipe. The pipe has some unique and interesting grain around the bowl and shank that makes we wonder what the wood is. Is it possible that it is Bamboo? The bottom of the bowl and a portion of the two knuckle bamboo style shank are rusticated with a great pattern and are stained with a dark brown stain. The stem is fit in the shank end snugly and there is no gap. The airway in the shank is the same diameter from the shank end to its entry into the bowl. The draught on the pipe is open and unhindered. The design is definitely made to create a very cool smoke. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was lava and darkening on the rim top and inner edge toward the back of the bowl.  The airway and mortise are full of tars and oils both in the shank and stem. It was dirty. The stem is oxidized, calcified and has some deep tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. I am including photos of the pipe to show what it looked like when I brought it to the work table. I took photos of the rim top and stem. You can see the cake in the bowl and the darkening on the rim top and on the back inner edge of the bowl. The stem had some tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It was oxidized and there was some calcification on the surface. I took a photo of the stamping on the heel of the bowl. It is clear and readable as noted above. I also removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the part to give a sense of the flow of the pipe. It is truly a unique pipe and the grain shows well in the photo.The bowl is quite small so I scraped it out with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to remove the cake. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around my finger. I took the cake back to smooth bowl walls. I cleaned out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. It was quite dirty but once cleaned smelled better.I worked on the darkening on the back inner edge of the rim top and on the top itself. I was able to sand it out with 220 grit sandpaper and give it a slight inward bevel. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I rinsed it off with warm running water to remove the grime and debris in the finish of the rustication and on the smooth portions. I worked over the sanded rim top at the same time. I polished the smooth portions of the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. The bowl began to take on a rich glow. I rubbed down the bowl and shank with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the bowl and shank. The product works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the wood. I worked it into the surface with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The bowl really began to have a deep shine and the grain shines through. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe. I took photos of the grain on the rim top and around the bowl and shank to get a clear picture of the wood that was used. The small straight birdseye style pattern on the rim top reminds me of the pattern in Bamboo. The flow of the grain around the bowl sides and the shank sides looks also a lot like Bamboo. The shank end also shows the same birdseye pattern as the rim top. I set the bowl aside at this point and turned my attention to the stem. I cleaned up the deep tooth marks and filled them in with black CA glue. I used a small file to flatten the repairs to the stem. I sanded repairs on the button surface and on both sides of the stem ahead of the button with 220 grit sandpaper. I also sanded the rest of the stem to remove the oxidation that was present. I started polishing the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. I know that many say Obsidian Oil does nothing for acrylic stems, but I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from buildup and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. I have found that Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish works well to remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection. The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the light scratches in the wood and the remaining surface oxidation in the stem. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It turned out to be a nice pipe. The interesting tight grain around the bowl sides and shank looks great. The vulcanite saddle stem polished very well and looks good with the bowl. The UNX UNT Quality Pipe Bamboo Lovat feels great in my hand. It is a well-balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: 5/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .74 ounces/21 grams. It is a very unique pipe and no information can be found on the stamping. Once again can any of you help me out with some identification advice on this one? It would be much appreciated. Thank you.

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.