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Repairing and Restemming a Peterson’s Kapruf 264 Canadian

by Steve Laug

Not too long ago I received an email from a Andrew in Greece asking if I could work on some pipes for him. He had some that needed a stem and a couple of pipes with broken stems and a Canadian that had a crack down the back of the bowl and across the right side. We emailed back and forth and he sent me the following photos. I figured they would be some interesting pipes to work on so he sent them to me to work on. I received the box yesterday. When I opened it this morning I was amazed to see what he had sent. The Sandblast Canadian that needed restemming was stamped 264 Peterson’s Kapruf. The rest of the stamping was quite faint. The pipe needed to be restemmed and it had a small divot in the shank end and what looked like a crack. The second, a smooth Canadian was a BBB Ultonia 504 with a gold band. The two Sandblast with broken stems turned out to be Stanwells. The larger on is stamped Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 969-48. It is followed by the shape number 858 [over] Old Briar. The smaller one is stamped Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 969-48 followed by de Luxe followed by the shape number 87. The last of the five with the cracked bowl is an 8 Dot Sasieni [over] London Made [over] Pat. No. 1513428. It was also stamped “Amesbury”. They were going to be an interesting lot to work on.

I chose to deal with the Peterson’s Kapruf 264 Canadian first. It was a worn and tired Canadian. The stamping on the underside of the shank was faint and worn. What was readable I included in the previous sentence. The sandblast was worn and dirty. The bowl had a light cake in it and there was an overflow of lava on the rim top and inner edge. The end of the shank had a divot out on the underside which when examined showed a thin hairline crack. The interior of the shank was quite dirty. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of them bowl. The lava in the sandblast rim top was quite thick and had some darkening. I also took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the faint stamping that was present. It is faint but is still readable.I reamed the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and scraped out the cake that was present to get it back to bare briar. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel to smooth them out. The pipe began to look much better.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scrubbed the sandblast with the brush to clean out the dust and debris in the finish. I used a brass bristle wire brush to work over the rim top and knock off the grime and debris. I rinsed the soap and grime from the finish and it looked much better. I cleaned out the internals of the shank and bowl with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. The pipe is very clean. I like it clean to make a better fit for the band and the new stem.Now it was time to address the crack in the underside of the shank. I found a nice older Sterling Silver Band that would fit the shank well. I worked glue into the crack and the length of the crack. I worked glue around the shank end as well. I pressed the Sterling Silver band on the shank end and wiped off the excess glue. I took photos of the shank with the fitted band. It worked very well. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my finger tips and a shoe brush to work it into the sandblast. The product is incredible and the way it brings the grain to the fore is unique. It works to clean, protect and invigorate the wood. I went through my stems and found one that was the right length and would need some slight adjusting to fit the diameter of the shank and the tenon.I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to shape and rework the stem and tenon to fit the shank end. Once I was finished with the reshaping of the stem I put it in the shank and took photos of the look of the stem. I cleaned out the airway in the stem with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol to remove the sanding debris and dust in the newly fitted stem. I sanded the stem with 320-1500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil Cloth to remove the sanding dust. It began to look very good. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil Cloth. The stem began to take on a rich shine. I am excited to finish this Peterson’s “Kapruf” 264 Sandblast Canadian. I am really happy with how the bowl turned out when I consider the condition of the bowl and the cracked shank on the pipe. I put the pipe back together and buffed it 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. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the colours popping through the sandblast. Added to that the polished Sterling Silver Band and the black vulcanite taper stem was beautiful. This shapely Classic Peterson’s “Kapruf” 264 Canadian is nice 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: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 29grams/1.02oz. It is a beautiful pipe and one that I hold until I have finished working on the other four pipes that Andrew sent me. Once I am finished with the lot they will be heading back to Greece. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Resurrection of a Calich Hand Made 7 Rusticated Billiard

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by Steve Laug

JOHN CALICH

The next pipe on the work table is a pipe I purchased from a seller in Ontario, Canada. Whenever I see a pipe by John Calich I purchase it regardless of the condition. This one is a very damaged, though once beautiful rusticated Billiard. It has rustication around the bowl and shank and a smooth rim top, band around the top edge and band on the shank end. It has a taper vulcanite stem with a single silver dot on the topside. It was stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Calich [over] Hand Made followed by the number 7.

Before I give my assessment on the pipe and started working on it, I did a bit of reading about the brand to refresh what I knew of the maker. I turned to Pipephil’s site first to see his information (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c1.html). I did a screen capture of the information on the site. I did a screen capture of the pertinent information and have included it below. I quote the side bar: Artisan: John Calich († 2008) Early grading: 3 – 14. By the late 1980’s Calich introduced 15,16, and even one 17. In the mid-90’s the grade system changed employing a number of E’s. Last gradings: 3E – 7E (10E was the top level but levels exceeding 7E or 8E never have been used) Production (2005): 200-500 pipes/year.

That information confirmed that the pipe I was working on was an early one as noted by its early grading – Grades 3-14. This pipe was a Grade 7. It was made prior to mid 1990s when a new grading system was introduced

I then turned to Pipedia and read the article on the Calich brand to remind myself of the maker (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Calich). I have included it in full below.

John Calich was one of Canada’s finest carvers. He died in July 2008.

John was a full time pipe maker for the last 40 years. Calich pipes were mostly traditional shapes. His signature style is rustication and smooth on the same pipe along with his unique skill to stain a pipe in contrasting colors. He used only top quality Grecian and Calabrian briar. The mouthpieces are hand finished Vulcanite “A”. Each pipe was entirely made by hand. John Calich was featured in the summer 2005 issue of Pipes & Tobacco.

The pipe was in rough condition. I am including the photos that the seller sent to me before I purchased it. The finish was filthy with a lot of tarry debris worked into the rustication. It had hardened and it would take work to get it our of the finish. The smooth portions were darkened and the grain was not visible under the grime. The rim top was a disaster. It was no long flat and looking at it from various angles. There was a large chunk out of the left outer rim top and edge. The front outer edge was burned and the inner edge was also burned and out of round. The distance from the rim top down the smooth ring around the top of the bowl was completely uneven – tall in spots and very low in other spots. The stem was oxidized and had some light tooth marks in the surface. The silver dot on the stem top was oxidized and blackened as well. The seller included some closer photos of the rim top to show the damage I mentioned above. It was in rough shape. The bowl gives the feeling that is a Dublin however, it is not. It is a well proportioned Billiard. The damage to the rim top is clear in the photo but when it arrived it was worse in some ways and better in others. The stamping on the underside of the shank is clear and readable as noted above.When the pipe arrived I took some better photos to try and capture the damaged rim top and edges as well as the dirty rustication on the heel of the bowl. It was going to take a bunch of work but I think there is still the bones of a beautiful pipe under the dirt and damage. I took a close up photo of the rim top to show the damage. It really is a mess. You can see the burned areas aorund the front and left side outer edge. You can also see the missing chunk on the left back outer edge of the bowl. It is out of round both on the inner and outer edges. It is heavily damaged. The stem is badly oxidized but the tooth marks and chatter are minimal and surface.I took photos of the sides of the bowl to give a sense of the damage to the rim top and the varying heights of the rim top caused by some aggressive sanding. I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of shank on the smooth panel of the rusticated shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. Where to start with this mess? The rim top really bugs me so I decided to start there first. Once that was flattened and shaped then I could do other work. I used my Dremel and sanding drum to flatten out the rim top. It took some work to bring the sides and top down to match. For me the damage was such that it took a lot of sanding with the drum to get it close to flat. To smooth out sanding and flatten the rim top more I used a topping board and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. Once I had it flattened a bit I worked on the inner edge and top with a half wooden sphere and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It began to look much better.I reamed the bowl and tried to smooth out the walls of the bowl. I started with a PipNet pipe reamer and used the second and third cutting head. I scraped out the remaining cake with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. I was able smooth out a lot of the damage on the walls. I cleaned out the inside of the pipe – the shank, airway in the mortise and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. It was quite dirty.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with a tooth brush, a brass bristle wire brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the hard tars and grime in the rusticated finish on the bowl. I scrubbed it and rinse it with warm water and repeated the process. It looked much better. I dried it off with a soft cloth and hand buffed it. The finish definitely looked better. I would need to darken the stain on the rusticated portion to match the look of the similar pipe I saw on Pipephil’s site, but it was definitely and improvement. The rim top was smooth and symmetrical and the rustication was very clean. With it clean it was ready to restain the rusticated portion of the bowl and shank. I used a dark brown stain and applied t with a dauber. I flamed it with a Bic lighter to set it in the grain. It certainly looked much better. I wiped the bowl down with alcohol on cotton pads to make the stain coat more transparent. The smooth portions revealed the grain and the rustication showed depth and colour. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the oxidation on the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. The stem began to take on a shine.I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. It was in great condition after the cleanup so I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it 1500-12000 pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian after each pad to remove the dust and polishing debris. I polished it with Before After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil. This restored Calich Hand Made 7 Rusticated Billiard turned out to be a nice looking pipe. The rich medium brown stain on the pipe worked really well with the polished vulcanite fancy stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel keeping a light touch on the buffing wheel for the bowl. I 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 Calich Hand Made 7 Billiard is shaped to sit comfortably in the hand. 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 1.38 ounces/39 grams. Now that it is cleaned up it is time to load it up and enjoy a bowl. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next generation.

New Life for a Peterson’s Dublin & London Made in the republic of Ireland 80S

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another Peterson’s Pipe. We recently purchased it from an antique shop in Ilwaco, Washington, USA on 05/30/2025. It is a nicely grained Bent Bulldog with mixed grain on the sides and birdseye on the front and the back of the bowl. The capped rim top also had mixed grain across the top. It is stamped on the left side of the diamond shank and reads Peterson’s [over] Dublin & London and on the right side it is stamped Made in the Republic of Ireland (three lines) followed by the shape number 80S. There was a moderate cake in the bowl and some burn damage and darkening around the inner edge and light lava spots on the rim top. The stem was stamped with the Peterson’s P on the left topside of the saddle. It was faint but should be workable for whitening. The stem was oxidized and had some grime and calcification ahead of the edge of the P-lip. There were some light tooth marks or chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the promise that we see in this pipe. He took photos of the rim top and bowl to show the current condition. The inner edge and the rim top showed damage on the briar and top with some light lava. The photos of the bowl walls show the moderate cake on the walls. The stem photos show the oxidation, calcification and light marks on both sides ahead of the button. It may have had a Softee Bit on the stem. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give a sense of the condition of the bowl and the grain around the bowl. It is a beauty. He took photos of the shank sides to capture the stamping on the shank. It was clear and readable as noted above. I am including the link to the 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 turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Peterson’s Dublin & London line. On page 298 it had the following information.

“Dublin & London” (1940-97; 2016-) First mentioned in a 1940 brochure, but probably not widely distributed until ’45, Dublin & London was the highest quality line (aside from the Supreme, introduced in ’53) until about ’86. P-lip or fishtail mouthpiece, polished finish, although sandblast described in ’70 Iwan Ries & Co. catalogue, COMs include Made In Ireland (c. 1940-80) and Made In The (over) Republic (over) Of Ireland (c. 1980-97).

The line name was reinstated in 2016 as a high grade with 17 shapes in a caramel finish similar to the earlier Dublin & London line, but with sterling band and acrylic caramel and black swirl fishtail mouthpiece with embedded aluminum P.

Judging from the description above, the pipe I am working on is stamped with the stamp noted in red above. The Dublin & London stamp fits with the dating information above. The appears to have been originally a high grade line. That makes sense of the grain around the bowl. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. It was such a wreck that I wondered what it would look like after his work. He reamed the heavy 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, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. The scratches in the briar stood out once clean. There were some on the heel of the bowl. The rim top was clean but badly damaged on the inner edge. He scrubbed the dirty stem with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. Once it had soaked he 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. Overall the pipe looked better but would be a challenge to bring back to life. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. You can see the clean bowl. The bowl is in excellent condition and the rim top shows the heavy burn damage on the inner edge and top of the bowl on the right side with damage at the back and front inner edge as well. The stem came out looking quite good and the tooth marks and chatter were visible on the surface ahead of the button.I took photos of the sides of the shank to show the stamping. The photo clearly shows the stamping – faint in spots though more readable in person. The stem is also faintly stamped with a Peterson’s P logo. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It really does have some beautiful grain on the bowl and shank. It was time to work on the pipe. I cleaned up the inner edge bevel with a various wooden spheres I have here along with 220 grit sandpaper to try to rescue the rim edge and bevel. Once finished it definitely looked better. I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to remove the scratching and marks on the bowl surface and top and underside of the shank. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth and by the end the bowl really began to show some promise. I carefully avoided the stamping on the shank sides. I used a Cherry stain pen to restain the inner edge and rim top to match the rest of the briar before I started sanding it. Once it had been sanded the match should be perfect.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. By the final pads the briar really had a shine. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. 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 really comes alive with the balm. I touched up the P stamp on the left side of the taper stem with some white acrylic fingernail polish. Once it cured I scraped off the excess and worked over the surface with a 400 grit sanding pad to clean up the stamping. It is clear and readable.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. Each successive pad brought smoother shape and definition to the stem. I wiped it down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad and by the end it was starting to look very good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped them down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil and set aside for the product to absorb into the vulcanite. It was great to finish this Republic Era Peterson’s Dublin & London 80S Bulldog. It was a question if it could be reborn but I think it looks good. I put the bowl and the stem together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with deep sandblast all around it. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem was beautiful. This Peterson’s Dublin & London 80S Bulldog 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 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is36 grams/1.27 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will soon be on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers Section. If you want to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

What a Wreck of a Pipe this Peterson’s of Dublin Kildare 408 Apple

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by Steve Laug

This is another pipe we picked up from a seller in Macon, Georgia, USA on 03/08/2025. It was a classic Peterson’s Apple shaped pipe. It was stamped Peterson’s [arched over] Dublin [over] Kildare. Mid shank on the right side it was stamped 408. It was truly a wreck of a pipe at the worst and at the best it was someone’s favourite. It was very dirty and was covered with tars and oils all around what must have been a natural coloured pipe when it started. The bowl had a thick cake that overflowed in lava onto the rim edge and top of the bowl. The inner edge of the bowl appears to have been poorly, if not infrequently reamed with a sharp knife. It was notched and damaged all the way around and was even visible with the lava coat. The stem was a vulcanite fishtail one that was very dirty, discoloured and there were deep tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. The fit of the stem to the shank showed that the internals of the shank were as dirty as the externals of the pipe. All in all, it was truly a mess that I was unsure would clean up well. Jeff took photos of the pipe so I could have a sense of what it looked like before he started his work on it. Jeff took photos of the stem and the bowl and rim to give a sense of the horrible condition of the pipe. You can see the thick cake in bowl and the lava overflow on the edges and rim top of the bowl. The damage on the inner edge of the rim is visible even under the lava. The stem surface is very dirty and you can see the tooth marks and damage. This will be a challenge! He also took photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel to show the beautiful grain that could not be totally hidden by the heave filth on the bowl sides. You can see the oils and debris ground into the finish and built up on the surface of the bowl and shank. He took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. It is faint but still is readable as noted above.I reread 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 am quoting nothing specifically from that article but recommend you take time to read it.

I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Peterson’s Kildare Line. It has become my go to any time I want information on Peterson’s lines. Page 314 had the following information on the Kildare Line.

Kildare (1965-) First issue of line with matte-finish in Classic Range shapes, P-Lip and fishtail mouthpiece. Second issue C.1979 as Kildare Patch, with rusticated patches on pipe surface. Third issue 2010, matte-brown, P-Lip or fishtail mouthpiece, no band. Fourth issue 2011-, burgundy sandblast finish, nickel army mount, fishtail mouthpiece, exclusive to smokingpipes.com.

The information given above identifies the pipe as a First Issue of the line with a matte-finish. It would have been issued between 1965 and 1979. This line was issued in a brown finish with either a P-lip or a fishtail mouthpiece. This means that the pipe is an older issue Kildare. The 408 shape number is attached to a ¼ bent Apple.

Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. It was such a wreck that I wondered what it would look like after his work. He reamed the heavy 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, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. The scratches in the briar stood out once clean. There were some on the heel of the bowl. The rim top was clean but badly damaged on the inner edge. He scrubbed the dirty stem with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. Once it had soaked he 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. Overall the pipe looked better but would be a challenge to bring back to life. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. You can see the clean bowl. The bowl is in excellent condition and the rim top shows the heavy damage on the inner edge of the bowl. The stem came out looking quite good and the tooth marks and chatter were visible on the surface ahead of the button.I took photos of the sides of the shank to show the stamping. The photo clearly shows the faint stamping though it is actually more readable in person. The stem is also faintly stamped with a Peterson’s P logo. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It really does have some beautiful grain on the bowl and shank. It was time to work on the pipe. I started by trying to clean up the inner edge bevel with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It was too far gone for that to work. I changed course to use various wooden spheres I have here along with 220 grit sandpaper to try to rescue the rim edge and bevel. Once finished it definitely looked better. I filled in the deep road rash on the heel of the bowl with clear CA glue, working it into the deep pits with a tooth pick. Once it cured I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and blend it in.I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to remove the scratching and marks on the bowl surface and top and underside of the shank. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth and by the end the bowl really began to show some promise. I carefully avoided the stamping on the shank sides. I used a Cherry stain pen to restain the inner edge and rim top to match the rest of the briar before I started sanding it. Once it had been sanded the match should be perfect. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. By the final pads the briar really had a shine. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. 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 really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the tooth marks on the stem. I “painted” them with the flame of a lighter to lift them. They came up a bit and I filled in what remained with the extra strength rubberized Black CA glue. Once the repairs cured I flattened them out and redefined the button edge with small flat files. I sanded them smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I touched up the P stamp on the left side of the taper stem with some white acrylic fingernail polish. Once it cured I scraped off the excess and worked over the surface with a 400 grit sanding pad to clean up the stamping. It is clear and readable.I sanded the stem and tenon with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. Each successive pad brought smoother shape and definition to the stem. I wiped it down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad and by the end it was starting to look very good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped them down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil and set aside for the product to absorb into the vulcanite. It was great to finish this older (1965-79) Republic Era Peterson’s 408 Apple. It was a question if it could be reborn but I think it looks good. I put the bowl and the stem together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with deep sandblast all around it. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem was beautiful. This Peterson’s Kildare 408 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 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 58 grams/2.05 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will soon be on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers Section. If you want to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

New Life for an Israel Made Long Canadian

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a great looking long Canadian that Jeff picked up on 12/17/2020 from an auction in Cramerton, North Carolina, USA. The finish is smooth around the bowl and shank with some leaves carved into the finish. There is one on the left side of the shank and there are three on the right side with one of them on bottom right and front. The bowl had been coated with a varnish coat that was spotty in places and would need to be removed. It is a great looking pipe. It is stamped on the underside at the shank/stem junction it reads Israel. The finish was dirty and had a lot of grime and grit ground into the rustication and the smooth portions. The rim top and inner edge of the bowl is dirty with a heavy lava flow on the edge and the top. There is a thick cake in the bowl. The taper stem has an X logo on the top. It is lightly oxidized and there were tooth marks and chatter on the surface. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. It showed a lot of promise.He took close up photos of the bowl and rim top from different angles to show the condition of the bowl and the rim top. You can see the lava on the rim top and on the inner edge of a caked bowl flowing onto the top. He took photos surface of the vulcanite stem which is lightly oxidized and dirty. It has tooth marks on both sides as well as chatter. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the rich reddish finish and the carved leaves around the right side and shank. There is great grain peeking through the grime on the shank and the sides of the bowl. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank to capture it. It was clear and readable as noted above. He also took a photo of the X logo on the stem top. I turned to both Pipephil and Pipedia to see if I could find any information on the stamping on the pipe. There was nothing stamped with both Israel on the shank and X on the stem top. I am pretty convinced that the pipe was made by the Shalom Pipe Company in Israel and the makers of Alpha pipes. The shape and the conformation of the pipe remind me of other Shalom pipes. While I will never know the maker for certain I am fairly confident it as noted above. It is a neat looking pipe.

When I received it from Jeff it did not look like the same pipe. It was clean and the finish had life. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and got rid of the cake. He cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife so that we could see the walls of the bowl and assess for damage. It was in good condition. He cleaned the internals of the shank and stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He rinsed the pipe under warm water. He dried it off with a cloth and then let it air dry. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and soaked it in Briarville’s Stem Deoxidizer. He rinsed it with warm water and dried it off with a soft cloth. It came out looking very good. The finish on the bowl and the rim top cleaned up nicely. I took pictures of the pipe to show how it looked when I unpacked it. I took some photos of the rim top and stem to show the condition of them both when the pipe arrived. Overall it looked good. There is some damage and darkening to the inner edge of the bowl. The stem looked good even with the tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank and reads Israel. It is clear and readable and in great condition. The X stamp on the topside of the stem is faded but readable. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe to show the look of the pipe.I cleaned up the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. To remove the damage on the inner bevelled edge I used a wooden sphere and 220 grit sandpaper. It looked much better. I touched up the stain on the rim top and inner edge of the bowl with a Maple stain pen to match the rest of the briar.I sanded the sides of the rim top and bowl with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads to remove the varnish coat. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth. It really began to have a more natural shine. I polished the bowl and the high points on the plateau with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the briar down after each pad with a damp cloth. The bowl is starting to look very good. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and into leaf patterns with a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the deep tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button with a rubberized/carbon extra strength Black CA glue. Once it cured I used some small flat files to blend the repairs into the surface of the vulcanite. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to finish blending it into the stem surface. I touched up the X stamp on the topside of the stem with some white acrylic fingernail polish. I let it harden and then scraped off the excess and went over it with a 1000 grit sanding pad. It looked very good at this point.I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem with 2 x 2 inch sanding pads – dry sanding with 320-3500 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil cloth.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. This beautiful mixed finish Israel Long Shank Canadian with carved leaves, probably made by the Shalom Pipe Company with a slightly bent vulcanite stem has a great look and feel. I polished the stem and the bowl with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The rich combination of browns and blacks in the smooth and carved leaves took on life with the buffing. The rich colour of the briar works well with the polished vulcanite stem. I like the grain and finished look of this Israel Long Shank Canadian. Have a look at it in the photos below. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 7 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 52 grams/ 1.83 ounces. This Israel Long Canadian is a real beauty. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store in the Pipes from Various Makers Section shortly if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for your time.

Renewing and Repairing a Cracked Shank on a GBD New Standard 357CC Prince

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by Steve Laug

About a week ago or so I was chatting with Chris about a pipe I had shipped him, a lovely GBD International Prince and he was enjoying it he loves GBD Princes and had a New Standard with a cracked shank that he had picked up from a seller on eBay. He wasn’t clear if it was cracked when he picked it up or if it had happened since. He had tried to repair it and it had not worked. It extended about ¼ inch midshank on the right side. It had some remnants of glue on the shank in the sandblast. I told him to send it up and I would have a look at it for him. It arrived last evening. Here is what I saw when I opened the package. It is a great looking sandblast Prince that is stamped on the underside on a smooth panel on the shank and read GBD in an oval [over] New Standard in script. That is followed by London England and then a little below the London stamp with the Shape number 357CC. The crack was on the left side of the shank and there was some darkening on the inwardly beveled rim top and inner edge of the bowl. The stem was lightly oxidized and had some light tooth marks near the button edge. I took photos of the pipe before I started working on it. I took photos of the rim top and bowl as well as the stem showing the condition of both sides and the tooth marks against the button. The bowl was quite clean other than darkening on the inner edge and the top of the bowl. It also showed what looked like a line on the surface for a rubber bite guard.I took a photo of the underside of the shank. It shows the stamping on the shank and though it is faint in spots it is readable. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo the looks of this GBD Prince.I took a photo of the crack on the right side of the shank. You can see the glue residue in the sandblast finish.Now it was time to address the crack. I decided to clean up the repair with a brass bristle wire brush. I knocked off the glue and damaged areas on the shank side with the wire brush. The crack is clear and visible in the photo below.The first step in the repair is to clean out the shank and the airway in the stem with pipe cleaners – both bristle and smooth as well as qtips and alcohol. I always want to clean up the oils and tars in the shank before regluing and banding it.I used a tooth pick and all purpose white glue to fill in the crack on the shank side and to put a bead around the shank end. I pressed the brass band onto the shank end and wiped off the excess blue.I took photos of the newly banded shank and repair on the right side. It looked very good at this point. I stained the repaired shank end with a Mahogany stain pen to blend it into the rest of the bowl and shank. It looked very good to my eye and the match of the colour was perfect.I polished the brass band and the smooth inward bevelled rim top with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. The brass took on a rich shine and the rim top looked much better. I took a photo of the pipe at this point. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm and worked it into the sandblast briar and the repaired areas. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar and give it a rich lustre. The briar came alive and the blast really pops. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem surface with 320 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation on the stem and the tooth marks on the surface ahead of the button on both sides.I sanded the stem surface with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad to remove the debris. It really began to take on a shine.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 interestingly stamped GBD New Standard 357CC London England Prince with a vulcanite taper stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been repaired with a thin brass band. The rich browns and blacks of the contrasting stains on the sandblast came alive 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 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 GBD New Standard 357 CC Prince is a beauty and fits nicely 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: 1 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 33 grams/1.16 ounces. I will be sending it back to Chris early this week. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!

Breathing New Life into a Stanwell Dorado 175 Stack

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by Steve Laug

It is a beautiful chilly day in Vancouver without rain so I decided to go to the basement and work on another pipe that was purchased on 02/16/2023 in a lot of pipes that came to us from a seller in Copenhagen, Denmark. It included a group of Danish Made Stanwell pipes that are quite beautiful. The grain around the bowl and shank of this Stack has a mix of birdseye, straight and flame grain. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads STANWELL [over] Made in Denmark [over] Dorado. On the right side of the shank it is stamped with the shape number 175. The pipe was dirty when Jeff received it. There was dust and grime ground into the finish. It is finished in the warm stain that highlights some nice grain around the bowl and shank. The bowl was heavily caked and there was some darkening and lava on the rim top. The inner edge shows some damage and darkening around the bowl. There was a ferrule on the end of the shank with two think black lines around the band. The stem is acrylic and is dirty with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. There is no logo on the sides or top of the taper stem. 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 and the darkening and lava on the inner edge and top of the rim. The acrylic stem was in decent condition with tooth marks that are visible in the photos below. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the grain 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 sides of the shank are shown in the photos below. It is clear and readable as noted above. I turned to Pipephil’s site to see if I could find any information on the Diplomat line of Stanwell pipes (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-stanwell.html). There was nothing specific on the line but the summary of Stanwell History is quite helpful. I quote it below.

Brand & factory were established in 1942 by Poul Nielsen. The company has been owned since 2000 by Nordisk Tobaks Kompagni A/S.

The factory in Borup crafted all Stanwell pipes from 1965 until 2009. From 2010 on the pipes are crafted by Barontini (Italy) exept for the limited editions.

Production (2007): 115 000 Pipes/year – Denmark

I turned to Pipedia to an article that originally was posted here on rebornpipes and written by my late friend Bas Stevens (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell_Shape_Numbers_and_Designers). The list did not clarify who designed the shape so that was still a bit of a mystery. Whoever did so, created a beauty. I now knew that the shape 175 was a Tall Billiard or Chimney with tapered stem. There was no other information. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness. 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 soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. It came in Stanwell Box with Pipe Sock. I removed it from the sock and took photos of the pipe once I received 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 pretty incredible. Even the darkening and marks on the rim top on the right side and the back of the bowl are very obvious now that it is clean. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were minimal and should be easy to remove.The stamping on the shank side was readable as noted above. 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 damage on the inner edge of the bowl with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and a sphere to remove the damage. I then used a half sphere to further shape the rim top to bring the edge back into round and it looked much better. Over all the rim top and edges looked much better.I sanded the outside of the bowl and rim with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to remove the scratching and marks on the briar. I wiped the bowl down between pads with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. I stained the sanded and polished rim top with a Maple stain pen and it matched the colour of the rest of the pipe. I polished the smooth 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. 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 my attention to the acrylic stem. I tried to raise the tooth marks on the acrylic stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter and was not able to lift any of the marks. I filled in the tooth marks with black CA glue (I forgot to take photos of the repairs once I glued them). Once the repairs cured, I used a small flat file to smooth out the repairs. I then sanded the areas with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them out and blend them in. I wiped it down with an Obsidian cloth to remove the debris. I sanded the stem with 320-1500 grit sanding pads to further blend the sanding marks into the surface of the acrylic. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian cloth to remove the debris from the sanding.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. 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. This Stanwell Made in Denmark Dorado 175 Stack with an acrylic taper stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful finish really highlights the straight 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 Stanwell Dorado 175 Stack fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 38 grams /1.34 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.

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.

What an Elegant Charatan’s Make London England Authentic 373X Acorn

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It has an Acorn shaped smooth bowl. It is in dirty but in good condition other than that as can be seen in the photos below. The sides of the shank are clearly stamped, faint in spots but still readable. The left side is stamped Charatan’s Make [over] London.England [over] Authentic. To the left of the stamping it had a cursive L in a circle that tells me that the pipe is a Lane era pipe. On the right side it is stamped with the shape number 373X. That helps to date this to the time after the patent was filed in 1970. The shape works very well with the great grain around the bowl. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime deep in the finish but grain really stands out. The bowl had a thick cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a thick lava coat on the rim top and edges. The fish tail vulcanite stem is calcified, oxidized and has tooth marks and dents on the top and underside of the stem and button. There is no stamping on the stem. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took a closer photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of the bowl and rim. You can see the cake in the bowl and the darkening and lava on the top and inner edge. The stamping on the sides of the shank is faint in spots but still readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. To try and figure out the era of the Charatan’s pipe I was working on I turned to the pipephil website on Logos and Stampings. There is some really helpful information on each of the lines of Charatan’s Make pipes that entered the market. Here is the link to the section of the site that I turned to, http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-charatan.html. The Authentic line is not shown on the site but it does give a short history of the brand. I quote the portion that is most pertinent. The brand was founded in 1863 by Frederik Charatan. When his father retired in 1910, Reuben Charatan took over the family business. All the pipes were handmade until 1973. The brand name has been overtaken by Dunhill in 1978 and sold in 1988 to James B. Russell Inc. (NJ, USA). During the period 1988-2002 Charatans were crafted by Butz Choquin in St Claude (France). Dunhill re-purchased Charatan brand name in 2002 and Colin Fromm (Invicta Briars, Castleford) followed up on freehand production.

I turned to Pipedia to see if I could find more information on the brand and possibly a link to the Executive line (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Charatan) but once again in the general article it was not listed. It did give a little more historical information and is worth reading. I am including a few sections from the site.

In 1863 Frederick Charatan, a Russian/Jewish immigrant, opened a shop in Mansell Street, located in the borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, where he began to carve Meerschaum pipes. These pipes got very popular soon, and thus Charatan moved to a bigger workshop in Prescot Street, just around the corner. Here he began to make briar pipes which should make the name famous the world over. Charatan was the first brand to make entirely hand-made briars from the rough block to the finished pipe including the stems. The nomenclature “Charatan’s Make” refers to this method of production and was meant to differ Charatan from other brands who “assembled” pipes from pre-drilled bowls and delivered mouthpieces.

Being the undisputed No. 1 in English pipemaking, Charatan was approached by Alfred Dunhill who was unsatisfied with the quality of the pipes he imported from France. During 1908 – 1910 Dunhill bought pipes from Charatan paying exorbitant prices to ensure he had some of the very best pipes for sale in England. In 1910 he lured away Joel Sasieni, one of Charatan’s best carvers, and opened his own small pipe workshop on 28 Duke Street. On the retirement of his father in 1910 Reuben Charatan took over the family business…

…The pre-Lane period (prior to 1955) and the Lane era pipes (1955 to until sometime between 1979 – 1984) are of primary interest the collector. The Lane era is often quoted as beginning about 1950… Charatan records are almost non-existent before Lane due to a factory fire, making it difficult to date pre-Lane pipes. Charatan used 4 basic grades prior to 1950: Supreme, Selected, Executive, and Belvedere. After 1950 Herman Lane’s influence began, and the grades started to expand. In 1955 Lane took over sole distributorship of Charatan in the US. In 1957 he introduced the Supreme S. Most of his other introductions were from the 60’s and early 70’s…

The section called Miscellaneous Notes had some interesting information.

Charatan records indicate the DC (Double Comfort) bit was introduced in the 50’s, but some report seeing them in earlier production. Still others indicate they were introduced by Lane in 1960. Regardless, the DC bit is not an accurate way to date a pipe because many Charatan’s were made with regular and saddle type bits throughout the “Lane Era”…

…The Lane Trademark serif and circled L indicates the pipe is from the “Lane Era” (approx. 1955 to 1979 -1984?), however it appears that both the English factory or Lane themselves sometimes, or perhaps even often forget to stamp the L on a pipe. The Charatan factory was known for inconsistencies, especially in stampings. Therefore, although an L on the pipe definitely defines it as a Lane Era pipe, the lack of it could simply mean the pipe missed receiving the stamp from the factory. The lack of the trademark could also mean the pipe was destined for the European market.

…The total script nomenclature “Made by Hand in City of London” evolved over this period of time, so many pipes had variants, such as Made By Hand in block letters and City of London in script, or some other variation of the terms or stampings. The Charatan Logo (CP) on the pipe bit was changed over the years.

From all of the historical data I could work through this Charatan’s Make Authentic was a bit of a mystery pipe from the mid 1970’s Lane era. I continued digging further into the dating of the pipe, but what I had found was a good start for me. If some of you would like to try your hand at dating it more accurately as to the time period it came out you might want to check out the article on Pipedia on Dating Charatans (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dating_of_Charatans). I had enough for me to start working on the pipe itself and see what lay beneath the heavy tars and oils.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer. I used the third and fourth cutting heads to clean out the cake. I cleaned up what remained in the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and scraped it back to bare briar. I finished by sanding the inside of the bowl with a dowel wrapped in sandpaper. The inside walls are free of burn damage or checking. I scraped the lava on the rim top with a Savinelli Pipe Knife. I worked over the inner edge and rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper.I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners.I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I sanded the bowl with 320 – 3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads and wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. I polished the bowl with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris. The pipe began to look very good. The gouge in the bowl was repaired and looked better. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. 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 really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I scrubbed the vulcanite stem with some Soft Scrub and cotton pads to remove as much of the oxidation as I could, especially around the tooth marks. I wiped the tooth marks down with isopropyl alcohol and a cotton swab and then filled in the tooth marks with black CA glue. Once the repairs cured I used a small flat needle to smooth out the repaired areas on both sides of the stem. I sanded them with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the vulcanite. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads to further adjust the fit of the stem to the shank. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.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. With the stem polished I put it back on the Charatan’s Make London England Authentic 373X Acorn and lightly buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond. I buffed the stem with a more aggressive buff of Blue Diamond. I gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This Charatan’s Make Authentic Acorn 373X will soon be on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section if you want to add it to your rack. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.52 ounces/44 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this Charatan’s Make.

Restoring a Charatan’s Make Freehand Relief Extra Large Sandblast Dublin

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a large, tall Dublin bowl with a sandblast finish. It is in dirty but in good condition other than that as can be seen in the photos below. The underside of the shank is stamped and readable. It reads Charatan’s Make [over] London.England [over] Freehand Relief [over] Extra Large in script. There is also a cursive L in a circle that connects it to the Lane Era. It has rugged sandblast finish that is very tactile on both the shank and the bowl. The shape works very well with the sandblast grain. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime deep in the finish that is darkened heavily mid bowl from hand oils. However, the grain really stands out. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The rim top had a lava coat on the top and edges. The Double Comfort vulcanite stem is oxidized and has tooth marks and dents on the top and underside of the stem. There is a faint and damaged CP stamping on the left side of the stem. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took a closer photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of the bowl and rim. You can see the light cake in the bowl and the darkening and lava on the top and the inner edge.The stamping on the smooth panel of the underside of the shank is clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. To try and figure out the era of the Charatan’s pipe I was working on I turned to the pipephil website on Logos and Stampings. There is some really helpful information on each of the lines of Charatan’s Make pipes that entered the market. Here is the link to the section of the site that I turned to, http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-charatan.html. There is an alphabetical listing of the lines but nothing on the Freehand Relief Line. The site did give a short history of the brand. I quote the portion that is most pertinent.

The brand was founded in 1863 by Frederik Charatan. When his father retired in 1910, Reuben Charatan took over the family business. All the pipes were handmade until 1973. The brand name has been overtaken by Dunhill in 1978 and sold in 1988 to James B. Russell Inc. (NJ, USA). During the period 1988-2002 Charatans were crafted by Butz Choquin in St Claude (France). Dunhill re-purchased Charatan brand name in 2002 and Colin Fromm (Invicta Briars, Castleford) followed up on freehand production.

I turned to Pipedia to see if I could find more information on the brand and possibly a link to the Freehand Relief line (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Charatan) but once again in the general article it was not listed. It did give a little more historical information and is worth reading. I am including a few sections from the site.

The section called Miscellaneous Notes had some interesting information.

…Generally, block letters “MADE BY HAND” and some of the other nomenclature in script (i.e. City of London or Extra Large next to the MADE BY HAND) means the pipe was made sometime between 1965 and the mid 1970’s. The total script nomenclature “Made by Hand in City of London” evolved over this period of time, so many pipes had variants, such as Made By Hand in block letters and City of London in script, or some other variation of the terms or stampings. The Charatan Logo (CP) on the pipe bit was changed over the years.

From all of the historical data I could work through this Charatan’s Make Relief Grain was a sand blast finished pipe from the mid 1970’s Lane era. I continued digging further into the dating of the pipe, but what I had found was a good start for me. If some of you would like to try your hand at dating it more accurately as to the time period it came out you might want to check out the article on Pipedia on Dating Charatans (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dating_of_Charatans). I had enough for me to start working on the pipe itself and see what lay beneath the heavy tars and oils.

I began working on the pipe by reaming the bowl with a PipNet reamer. I used the third and fourth cutting heads to clean out the cake. I cleaned up what remained in the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and scraped it back to bare briar. I finished by sanding the inside of the bowl with a dowel wrapped in sandpaper. The inside walls are free of burn damage or checking so the gouge does not go all the way through. I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners.I worked the sandblast rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to remove the debris in the finish. While there was some darkening it looked much better,I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. 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 really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I ‘painted’ the surface of the stem with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift almost all of them. What was left I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the oxidation and tooth chatter on both sides. I scrubbed the stem surface with some Soft Scrub cleanser on cotton pads to remove more of the oxidation. It worked quite well.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads to further adjust the fit of the stem to the shank. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.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. With the stem polished I put it back on the Charatan’s Make Freehand Relief Extra Large Lane Era Dublin and lightly buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond. I buffed the stem with a more aggressive buff of Blue Diamond. I gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This Charatan’s Make Relief Freehand Extra Large Dublin will soon be on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section if you want to add it to your rack. The dimensions 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 1.16 ounces/34 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this Charatan’s Make.

Breathing Life into a GDB International London Made 357 Prince

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that came to us from the seller in Caldwell, Idaho, USA on 07/12/2025. It is a beautiful GBD Prince with a slight bend to the vulcanite taper stem. It is in dirty but in good condition as can be seen in the photos below. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads GBD in an oval [over] International [over] London Made. On the right side it is stamped London. England [over] the shape number 357. The stamping is clear and readable. It has rich finish with a blend of black and brown stains that highlight the grain around the bowl and shank that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty and dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a moderate cake and there was tobacco debris in the bowl. The International rusticated rim top had a thick lava coat on the top and edges. The stem was quite dirty and oxidized. It has a GBD brass logo on the left side and light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the lava coat on the rim top. There was some tobacco debris in the bottom of the bowl. The stem photos show the condition of the taper stem ahead of the button.The stamping on the sides of the shank is clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is a real beauty. I looked on Pipephil’s site for information on the particular International Line and found the following screen capture listed (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-gbd.html). It is interesting in that the second pipe pictured below is the same as the one I am working on. I also went to the GBD article on Pipedia and found nothing in the great historical article that was pertinent. I did follow a link to the GBD Model Information article to see if there was some help there (https://pipedia.org/wiki/GBD_Model_Information). The article listed the following information on the line.

International — France, unknown if also made in England: medium brown smooth, carved top rim, rim stained black. -TH: Matte take off finish “with just a hint of surface waxing” – catalog (1976)

That article gave me some helpful information. I knew that the pipe line often had a carved rim top stained black. The one I was working on was smooth and stained the same at the rest of the pipe. I also knew that the 357 shape number tied back to a classic GBD Prince. Now to work on the pipe.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the cutting heads 2 and 3. I finished the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I worked over the sandblast rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the debris in the valleys of the blast. It looked better.I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water to remove the dust and soap from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and it looked much better. I restained the black rusticated/carved rim top with a black stain pen. I wanted it to match the original International Line stain. The rim top was originally black. Once stained it looked very good once the stain was complete.I sanded the bowl and shank with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. It was beginning to look very good. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The pipe began to take on a rich finish. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the rusticated rim top and the smooth briar with my fingertips to work it into the finish. 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 really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and clean up the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.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 interestingly stamped GBD International London Made 357 Prince with a carved, rustic rim top and a vulcanite taper stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The rich browns and blacks of the contrasting stains came alive 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 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 GBD International 357 Prince is a beauty and fits nicely 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: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 33 grams/1.16 ounces. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!