Tag Archives: topping a bowl

Restoring a Unique “Malaga” Custom Carved Fluted Bent Egg

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Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff and I have been picking up Malaga pipes for a very long time. It does not seem that long ago that we picked them up for $4 – $5USD each. We purchased an estate of more than 30+ Malaga pipes. It was not long before the brand had our attention. The pipes are very well made and all are oil cured with a “secret” recipe and process.

The next pipe on the table is a “Malaga” pipe that is made in a shape that I would define as a Twisted Bent Egg. We picked it up from a seller on eBay in Bristol, Indiana, USA. It has some great cross and birdseye grain and a tapered vulcanite bent stem. The grain around the bowl and shank combined with the stem make it a stunning pipe. The carver did a great job of uniquely shaping the pipe to follow the grain on the briar. The twists and turns in the bowl are well done and almost seem to be carved for fingers to fit against the bowl either left or right handed. The bowl had a thick cake that overflowed with lava onto the rim and there were scratches and nicks on the top and edges under the grime. The sides of the bowl and shank are very dirty with grime and oils from prolonged use. The stamping on the left side of the shank read “MALAGA” in quotations. On the right side it is stamped in script and reads CUSTOM CARVED. The vulcanite stem had light tooth dents and chatter on the top and the underside of the stem. The button was worn on both sides. Jeff took these photos before he started the cleanup work on the pipe.Jeff took a closeup photo of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. The rim top had some lava overflow and darkening on the back of the bowl. There are nicks around the inner outer edges of the bowl and rim top. The stem is oxidized and dirty and there is tooth marks (dents) and chatter on the button edges and surfaces ahead of the button. The shank was too dirty for the stem to fit snugly and it looks like it is poorly fit. I will know more once I have it in hand. He also took photos of the sides and bottom of the bowl and shank to show the beautiful grain around the bowl. The photos show the general condition of the bowl and wear on the finish. It is very dirty but this is another beautiful pipe. Jeff took a photo to capture the stamping on the shank. The photos show the stamping “MALAGA” on the left side of the shank and CUSTOM CARVED on the right side. The stamping is very readable.I am including the link to a blog that I wrote that gives some of the history of the Malaga brand and the Malaga Pipe Shop in Royal Oak, Michigan in the USA. I have written an earlier blog to give a little history of the Malaga Brand and the pipemaker, George Khoubesser. Here is the link – (https://rebornpipes.com/2013/02/09/george-khoubesser-and-malaga-pipes/). That blog also includes a catalogue and the history of the pipemaker George Khoubesser. Follow the link to get a feel for the brand and the pipemaker.

Jeff reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove the lava build up on the rim top and the flat surface of the rim looked very good. The inner edge of the rim has some serious burn damage on the front inner edge. The outer edge looked very good. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it with hot water. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. Note that I will need to bend the stem slightly to fit the bend of the shank.  I took close up photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem. You can see the condition of the rim top and bowl in the first photo. Jeff was able to remove all of the tar and oils but you can now see the on the rim top and edges. The vulcanite stem had tooth chatter on both sides near and on the button surface.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank to show how good the condition is. It shows the “MALAGA” stamp on the left side and CUSTOM CARVED on the right side. The stamping is very legible. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give a clear picture of the character of the pipe. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening on the inner edge of the bowl and the scratching and nicks on the rim top. It looked much better than when I started.I polished the rim top and the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the bowl with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads to prepare the rim top for staining. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips 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 following photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I am very happy with the results. I turned to the stem to address the issues on the surface of both sides at the button. I painted the surface of the stem with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks from the surface. I was able to lift them to some degree but they would need to be repaired. I also heated the stem with the flame to soften the vulcanite and bend the stem to match the angles on the bowl. I filled in the tooth marks in the top and underside of the stem with black rubberized CA glue. I set it aside to cure. Once it cured I use a small file to flatten the repairs and blend them into the stem surface. I sanded the stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper to flatten the repairs and blend them into the surface. I started the polishing with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I also cleaned up the tenon for a better fit to the shank. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with Obsidian Oil. 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.This Malaga Custom Carved Twisted Fluted/twisted Bent Egg with a vulcanite tapered stem turned out to be a real beauty. It has great grain around the bowl and the carver really maximized that with the shape of the pipe. Everything about the pipe – the shape of the bowl, the thin flat rim top and the cut of the briar work well to highlight the grain around the bowl sides. I polished stem and the bowl with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel and the grain just popped and came alive. 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 grain took on life with the buffing. The rich oil cured colour works well with the polished vulcanite stem. The finished Malaga Custom Carved Fluted Bent Egg has a rich look that is quite catching. Have a look at it with the photos below. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. I will be adding the pipe to the rebornpipes store in the American Pipemakers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your rack send me an email or message on Facebook. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another estate pipe.

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.

Resurrecting a Large Dunhill Bruyere ODA 836 Panel Billiard

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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 warm, late afternoon I decided to continue working on the lot. I chose to work on the smooth Dunhill Bruyere Panel. This one is a bit different than any of the other Dunhill pipes that I have worked on. It is very nice looking piece of briar and has a square stem. The pipe is stamped on the sides of the shank. It was clear and readable. On the left side the shape number reads ODA [over] 836 followed by the stamping Dunhill [over] Bruyere. On the right side it is stamped Made in [over] England followed by an equal size 14. The reddish/brown stained finish was very dirty with grime ground in the finish all over the whole bowl and shank. Toward the bottom of left side of the bowl there was some road rash. It was rough and I would need to smooth it out some – though it would never truly be gone. The bowl had a thick cake and the rim top/inner edge had thick lava flowing up from the bowl. It appears that there is damage on the back side of the inner edge. It was hard to know its full condition with certainty until it was cleaned. The vulcanite taper stem is was dirty, oxidized, calcified and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was the inlaid Dunhill White Spot on the top of the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the darkening and lava overflow on the rim top. There were also nicks around the outer edge of the bowl. The photos of the stem show the oxidation, calcification and tooth marks and chatter on the surface on both sides. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the great grain on the pipe. It is a beauty under the grime and dust. The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photos below. It looks very good and readable. It reads as noted and explained above. The third photo shows the white spot on the stem.  I turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Bruyere Pipes to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Bruyere

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

There was a link on the above site to a section specifically written regarding the Bruyere finish (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Bruyere). I turned there and have included the information from that short article below.

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

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

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

There was also a link to a catalogue page that gave examples and dates that the various finishes were introduced (https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:Dunnypipescatalog-1.png). I turned to Pipephil’s dating guide to show how I arrived at the date of manufacture for this pipe (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). I am including the chart that is provided there for the dating a pipe. I have drawn a red box around the section. Since the pipe I am working on has a suffix 14 it points to the 1960 line on the chart below. I have drawn a red box around the pertinent section in the chart.On Pipedia they also have an ODA shape chart that was helpful. I have included that below (https://pipedia.org/wiki/A_DUNHILL_ODA_SHAPE_CHART).I now knew that I was working on a Bruyere that came out in 1974. The shape of the pipe is a Panel Billiard that Dunhill put out and that the #ODA 836 was a normal Panel Billiard shape with a taper stem.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had carried out his usual thorough cleanup of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer to remove the cake and cleaned the reaming up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and scrubbed it down with Soft Scrub All-Purpose cleaner to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very clean when I received it though a light oxidation still remained on the stem surface. I took a photo of the rim top. Jeff had been able to remove the thick lava coat from the rim top and inner edge. There is some darkening and burn damage on the back inner edge and rim top and a burn spot on the front top and inner edge. The stem is clean but has some oxidation remaining on each end (ahead of the white spot and ahead of the button). There was also oxidation on the tapered sides of the stem.I took photos of the stamping on the right and the left side of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to get a sense of what the pipe looked like. It is quite a large bowl. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the burn damage on the inner edge of the rim and the rim top. I worked on the darkening on the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to start the process. I worked on the burnt spot on the front top and the inner edge on the back top. I then used a wooden ball and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to give the inner edge a slight bevel to hide the damage on the edges. I finished by working on it once again with a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth and shape it a bit more. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris from the surface of the briar. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. 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. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. The tooth marks were very light and shallow so I moved immediately to sanding it with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit pads to remove the remaining oxidation on both ends and the tooth chatter ahead of the button. I dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with some Obsidian Oil. 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 oil and set it aside to dry.I put the Dunhill Bruyere ODA 836 Panel Billiard bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The reddish/brown stains worked amazingly well with the polished vulcanite taper stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. This is truly a beautiful Dunhill Bruyere Panel Billiard ODA 836 pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 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 1.62 ounces/46 grams. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly in the British 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.

Barontini Straight Grain B3 Hand Made Freehand with a Variegated Orange Acrylic Stem

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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 quiet Sunday afternoon I decided to continue working on the lot. I chose to work on the smooth Barontini Freehand (possibly a Rhodesian). The Barontinis I have worked on generally are nice looking pieces of briar and have had acrylic stems. This one had a nicely grained finish and a plateau style rim top. The pipe is stamped around the sides of the bowl. It was clear and readable. On the left side it reads Barontini [over] Straight Grain. On the right side it is stamped with a B3 and vertically next to the stem it is stamped Italy. On the underside of the shank it reads Fatta [over] A Mano. The stamping is clear and readable. The medium brown stained finish was very dirty but seemed to have a shellac coat over the whole bowl and shank. The bowl had a thick cake and the plateau style rim top/inner edge had thick lava flowing up from the bowl filling in the grooves. The inner edge of the bowl was covered enough with lava that it was hard to know its condition with certainty. The saddle stem is variegated orange and cream acrylic and was dirty and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was an inlaid logo dot on the top of the stem. It was a red dot encircled with silver. 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 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 looked up some information on the brand on the Pipephil website to get a quick overview of the history (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b2.html). I did a screen capture of the listing for the brand. The fascinating thing that I learned in this quick overview was the connection to the entire Barontini family and to other companies like Aldo Velani. It is interesting to see the breadth of the brand in the following screen capture.Pipedia gives further history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Barontini,_Cesare). It is a very brief article with little information. I quote that article in full below.

In 1890 Turildo Barontini opened a factory for the production of briar. In 1925 his son Bruno began to produce the first pipes. Cesare Barontini, son of Bruno, started direction of the factory in 1955, and still runs it together with his daughters Barbara and Silvia.

Unfortunately, on neither site was there any pertinent information on the Barontini Straight Grain pipe. I decided to do a quick google search and found a listing for what appears to be the actual pipe I am working on (https://pipes.collectionhero.com/outer/view_item.php?id=55163). I include that information and photo below. Looks like the fellow I purchased the pipe from purchased it from this auction potentially? He got it for a steal at that price as they tend to run between $90 and $120 online. I guess I will never know for sure but at least I found the pipe online. It is now time to work on the pipe itself.

Jeff had reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. The rim was thoroughly cleaned and the damaged areas were obvious. Without the grime the finish looked really good. The Lucite stem would need to be worked on but I really like the profile it cast. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on 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 to show the condition and readability. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give an idea of the perspective and design of the pipe. I scrubbed the carved plateau rim top of the bowl with a brass bristle wire brush to remove the remaining darkening and debris in the nooks and crannies of the rim top. It looked much better once I finished.I wiped down the bowl with acetone to remove the shiny coat. It barely broke through the coat. I wiped it down repeatedly and then moved on to the micromesh pads. I polished bowl with micromesh sanding pads using 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiping it down after each sanding pad with a pad and acetone to remove the sanding dust and debris from the finish. I paused the polishing after the 4000 grit micromesh sanding pad to stain the lighter spots on the bowl and shank. I used an Oak Stain Pen to match the colour of the rest of the bowl and shank. The colour was a perfect match. I touched up the light spots on the shank end, the rim cap and spots around the bowl sides. It looks much better. I finished polishing it with 6000-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl and shank with my fingers and into the plateau carved rim top with 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 sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth marks and chatter. I started polishing the acrylic stem with a folded piece of 600 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the 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 know many think it is useless to use the Obsidian Oil on acrylic stems but I find that it is a good lubricant when I am sanding with the micromesh pads. For me it works! 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 oil and set it aside to dry.I put the Barontini Straight Graini B3 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 worked amazingly well with the polished orange acrylic stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. This is truly a beautiful Barontini Straight Grain Freehand pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.76 ounces/51 grams. 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.

Mastro de Paja Italia Pesaro 1B Media Diamond Shank Sand Blast Bent Billiard

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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 evening after work I decided to continue working on the lot. I chose to work on the sandblast Mastro de Paja Italia Pesaro 1C Media Bent Diamond Shank Billiard. It has a classic bent Billiard shape with an Italian twist. The sandblast is rugged and tactile though it seems to have been lightly smoothed out in the making. The rim top is smooth as is the smooth band around it to allow the stem to seat correctly. 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 Italia[over] Pesaro. Next to that it reads Mastro de Paja [over] Fatta A Mano (made by hand). At the end of the shank it is stamped with 1B in a circle [over] Media. The 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 sandblast. The bowl had a thick cake and the rim top 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 and was dirty with tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. 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 and the 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 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 underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It is clear and readable as noted above. The third photo shows the Maestro de Paja metal disc logo on the left side of the stem as noted above. 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 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 Sandblasted 1B + 1 Sun which made it a light brown sandblasted. The one I have in hand has darkened from use. It also is stamped Media which makes it a Medium size 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 pretty incredible. Even the darkening and marks on the rim top on the right side look much better. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were predominantly near the button. They should be easy to remove. (Sadly, I forgot to take photos of the stem before I started working on it. You can see the repairs in the photos I have included below.)The stamping on the left underside of the diamond shank 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 slight darkening on the rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1200-15000 grit pads. I also worked on the inner edge of the bowl. Over all the rim top and edges looked much better. The bowl and shank were very clean. 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 sandblast 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 Media 1B Sandblast Bent Billiard is a real beauty with a deep and tactile blast. 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 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 Media Bent Billiard is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 72 grams/2.54 ounces. This great looking sandblast Billiard 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.

New Life for a Radice Rind Rusticated Rhodesian Style Freehand

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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 1C Bent Billiard, Ser Jacopo Delecta Octagonal Bent Billiard, Caminetto Business KS118 Canadian, Radice 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 the all and today I received them in Vancouver and 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 start on the lot. I chose to work on the Radice Rind Rhodesian. It is a rusticated classic shaped Rhodesian with an Italian twist. The rustication is very dirty with grime and grit. It is a unique and well executed rustication that is a hallmark of the line. The pipe has twin smooth rings around the cap of the bowl. Under the thick coat of lava there appears to be a smooth rim top with an inward bevel. The bowl has a very thick cake that overflows on to the rim top. The shank end also has a smooth band around it and a smooth shank end with beautiful grain on it. The pipe is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. It reads RADICE [over] RIND followed by Hand Made in Italy (in lower case) in two lines. The stamping is clear and readable. The rim top was dirty and had a burn on the right front of the inward bevel and what appeared to be some darkening around the inner edge of the bowl. The stem is acrylic and was dirty with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. There two brass dots inlaid vertically on the topside of the fancy saddle 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 darkening and light lava on the inner edge and top of the rim. He also took some photos of the stem to show the condition of both sides. You can see the light marks on the top and underside next to the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the style of the rustication 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 is shown in the photo below. It is clear and readable as noted above. The Radice two dot stack on the stem is clean and readable.I started my search on the brand by looking on Pipephil’s site to see if there was any information on the Radice Rind line (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-r1.html). The line was not included there but there was some information in the side bar on the dot position on the stem and how to interpret them. I have included that portion below.I turned to Pipedia to the article on Radice pipes and the birth and development of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Radice). I have included the information that I found there below.

Luigi Radice, born 1939, took a piece of briar in his hands for the first time in 1961, when he was employed at Carlo Scotti’s Castello in nearby Cantu.

After lengthy experience, he founded, together with Peppino Ascorti, the famous “Pipa del Baffo”, the “Caminetto” which through 1974 and 1975 made wealth with the precious cooperation of Gianni Davoli, Milanese distributor.

In 1980 Luigi undertook a new adventure, founding his own brand: the Pipa Radice. From the beginning his son, Gianluca, joined the workshop, together with Luigi’s father, Paolo Radice, who helped in some basic steps of production.

Only later my brother and I started working together with our father, trying to learn the secrets and the mastery to be able to create a pipe which could join artisanal estrus(?) to functionality.

We have always trusted the professionalism of Italian briar cutters to obtain the raw material. We season the briar in our workshop for at least three years. We believe that it is enough to produce a perfect pipe.

Our shaping is pretty diversified. A distinguishing feature is the use of various options, like the faux-bamboo shank or silver band or save-rim, hand engraved by Luigi.

About pipes for completely dedicated collectors, we would like to mention the several variations of pieces made using buffalo, moufflon, deer or roe horn.

The creative idea and the study of the technical side, lead us to invent pipes with a twin bore mouthpiece, coupled with a special production of oil cured pipes, taking inspiration from old English skills.

We have recently introduced the use of ebonite(vulcanite) mouthpieces, to satisfy the requests of our fellow pipesmokers.

Radice is a pipe which is continually evolving, keeping alive the treasured experience of 50 years of pipemaking of our father Luigi.

Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual 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. I 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 look much better. The stem looked very clean. The tooth marks and chatter were minimal and predominantly on the underside near the button. They 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 slight darkening on the top and the edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove the damage and the darkening. Over all the rim top and edges looked much better. I polished it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and wiped off the debris. I touched up the stain on the rim top with a Cherry and a Mahogany stain pen to blend it into the surrounding bowl colour and particularly the smooth shank end. It worked very well. 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 finish on the pipe is beautiful in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter on the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper. I started polishing it with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper.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 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 Radice Rind Hand Made in Italy Rhodesian Freehand with an acrylic saddle stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful rusticated finish really works well with the shape and the polished finish is stunning. The flared shank and smooth freehand style shank end is a great addition. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the smooth portions of the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Radice Rind Rhodesian fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 66 grams /2.33 ounces. I will be keeping this one here for awhile. I have been wanting a Radice Rind and this one ticks all my boxes. I am looking forward to enjoying it. 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.

Dipping a Toe into the Murky Waters of the BP Jum

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by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is a robust, rugged, rusticated pipe which I acquired in a lot of pipes from a gentleman living on Vancouver Island. He had quite an assortment of pipes and they ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime. This is not a Custom-Bilt – it is a BP Jum. They could easily be mistaken for one another. This is a very handsome pipe and promises to be a great smoker. It’s a bent pot (or a “War Club”, as Steve calls it), with a vulcanite, wide saddle stem. And what a wonderful rustication on this one! On the left side of the shank, the markings read BP Jum [over] Imported Briar. These are the only markings.The history of BP Jum, like many pipes of the same era, is shrouded in some mystery. The brand name has no mention on either Pipedia or Pipephil. Some pipe folks have proposed that BP Jum pipes are, in fact, Custom-Bilt seconds, but there is no direct evidence to support this. In previous restorations that Steve has done, he wrote the following: “There was a lot of conjecture as to whether the brand was made by Tracy Mincer of Custombilt fame. There is no definitive proof other than the common shapes, sizes and look of the pipes. Bill Unger, of Custombilt fame and author of a history of the brand, mentions BP Jum but cannot definitively connect the two. So the maker remains a mystery that is still unsolved.”

Well, I’ve taken up the mantle to see what else could be found. A gentleman who commented on one of Steve’s restorations said “BP Jum pipes are shown in a 1971 Kentucky club premiums [sic] catalog I have. They are not labeled in the text but I can see it stamped on shank of the picture of the pipe. The rustication on these is also very telling and looks the same on most of them.” I took it upon myself to see if I could find photos of the 1971 Kentucky Club Premium Catalog. I did find some online, but the images did not include the page with the BP Jums that were mentioned. Alas.Another potential source is a fellow named Tom, who goes by the handle, NWPipesmoker, on YouTube. As a devoted fan of both Custom-Bilt and BP Jum pipes, he has a few videos speculating on the origins of BP Jum pipes. In one video, he quotes from an unnamed correspondent of his who says that the BP Jum name comes from “Bilmore Pipes Jumbo”. Now, it is important to stress that there is only circumstantial evidence to support this. The information is enticing, but no more than indirect. The advertisement below (for Biltmore) displays some drawings of pipes that are very close (or identical) to BP Jum pipes. We don’t see the words “BP Jum” anywhere on the pipes or in the ad, but I am still impressed with this.As an aside, the connection between Tracy Mincer’s Custom-Bilt and Biltmore is circuitous, to be sure, but it exists. Briefly, both Bilmore pipes and Mincer pipes (specifically the Doodler) were either owned by or produced by National Briar Pipe Co. of New Jersey. In Bill Unger’s book, As Individual as a Thumbprint: The Custom-Bilt Pipe Story, he writes: “Apparently, both Tracy Mincer and the National Briar Pipe Co. continued to produce Doodlers concurrently until Mincer was no longer able to make pipes, sometime before his death in 1964. Bill Mincer then sold all rights to the Doodler to the National Pipe Co. in 1966.”Finally, NWPipesmoker has another video where he compares two pipes that he owns: one marked “Custom-Bilt” and the other marked “BP Jum”. He has entitled this video, “CustomBilt and BP Jum connection confirmed”. I think that’s overstating it a bit, but I am including the link to this video here, for your examination: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdsBYoydYu8

It is certainly possible (and perhaps even likely) that Custom-Bilt and BP Jum pipes are related in some way – even if we are not able to make a definitive statement about it. I feel comfortable in saying that there is a connection between the pipes, but this connection is not ironclad. To put it colloquially, they may be brothers but they are not twins.

Let’s move on…

This pipe had been well-loved and well-smoked, as it arrived with some marks and general wear. The stem was dirty and had lots of dents and tooth marks. Most of the stummel was in decent shape, but the rim was pretty nasty – the were burns and lava, and the rustication grooves were full of gunk. I took up the stem and cleaned it off with Murphy’s Oil Soap. It was quite dirty and needed some scrubbing. Following that, I used pipe cleaners and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol to clean out the internals of the stem. As you can see, there was much muck to be removed! Next, I wiped down the stem with some SoftScrub cleanser and then put the stem in my container of deoxidizing fluid. This works to draw the oxidation to the surface of the stem, so that it can be cleaned off again with more SoftScrub. With the stem nice and clean, I needed to address the damage to the stem. To achieve this, I applied a type of black cyanoacrylate adhesive (impregnated with carbon and rubber) to the damaged area. I sprayed these areas with an accelerant to cure the adhesive immediately. I then had to shape these repairs so that they would look great! I began by taking a needle file and shaping the hardened adhesive. Continuing, I used 200- and 400-grit sandpapers on the repairs to smooth them out. I finished up by using all nine of my MicroMesh pads to sand the entire stem. I also used some pipe stem oil to assist with the sanding and protect the vulcanite.Having put aside the stem, I moved on to the charming, chunky stummel. First on the agenda was to ream out the bowl, as it was full of cake. The PipNet reamer made short work of this, and I followed up by sanding the walls down with some 220-grit sandpaper attached to a wooden dowel. This revealed a tiny bit of damage to interior wall – but this would be easily fixed.Next on the list, I thoroughly cleaned out the shank. Using a combination of Q-tips and pipe cleaners dipped in lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol, I removed all the awful filth in there. The photo shows a mere portion of the cotton used. As the girls in the 80s used to say, grody to the max!I always like to ameliorate the cleaning of the stummel by performing a “de-ghosting” on the stummel. I placed some cotton balls in the bowl and the mortise of the shank, then saturated them with straight isopropyl alcohol. I let this sit overnight while the oils and tars (and evil spirits) leeched into the cotton.I broke out the Murphy’s again and wiped down the outside with some cotton rounds. Once I felt the outside was clean, I then took out my two brushes and castile soap and washed both the inside and outside. The internals were lovely and clean after that – but there were still some issues on that rim.Even though I’d used both a toothbrush and a wire brush on the rim, there was still some filth to be dealt with – not to mention some burning. I began by “topping” the pipe – in other words, I placed the top of the pipe, level and flat, on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper and gently ground it down to smooth and even out the rim. The rim still required a bit more beautification. I took a small piece of sandpaper and evened out some rough parts that topping wasn’t able to address.I then went “next level” insane. I took a dental tool and individually excavated each groove on the rim to remove the crud. It took awhile, but the results were worth it.In order to address the burns, I dissolved some oxalic acid crystals in some hot water. Then, taking a Q-tip and tipping it in the acid, I rubbed and rubbed and rubbed until it removed most of the burning that was there. It didn’t all come off (it rarely does), but was much improved. Once I was satisfied with that, the finishing sanding was next, so I took all nine of my MicroMesh pads and sanded the whole stummel until it was super-smooth and handsome. The pipe had benefitted from a lot of work, but this wore out the colour of the wood. I decided to restain the pipe. First, I brought out my heat gun and spent a couple of minutes thoroughly heating the wood, so it would be as receptive as possible to the stain. I wanted the stain to penetrate well into the wood, to give the best results. I applied Fiebing’s Light Brown Leather Dye with a cotton dauber. I flamed it with my Bic lighter, let it set, then coated it again with dye, flamed it again, and let that set too. I decided to let the pipe sit overnight. This dye is alcohol-based, so I used isopropyl alcohol to wipe down the pipe and remove excess stain. I am very happy with the results.Earlier, I referred to a little hairline crack emanating from the draught hole. Steve recommended repairing it some pipe mud. This is made by mixing cigar ash (not pipe ash) with the merest bit of water to create a paste. I then applied the paste with a tiny spatula and let it set until dry. I then gently sanded it down. Later, I added some Before & After Restoration Balm to the stummel. This does good things to wood, enhances the grain, and brings out some lustre. Then it was off for a trip to the buffer. I applied a few coats of Conservator’s Wax and the pipe really popped. The lovely shine made the wood very attractive. This is a very handsome pipe and will provide many years of smoking pleasure.This BP Jum is much improved and is ready to be enjoyed again by the next owner. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the American pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5⅜ in. (137 mm); height 1⅝ in. (41 mm); bowl diameter 1⅞ in. (48 mm); chamber diameter ⅞ in. (24 mm). The weight of the pipe is 2⅛ oz. (61 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Breathing Life into a Beautiful Stanwell Maron 32 Straight Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

Another hot day in Vancouver so I decided to go to the basement and work on another one that was purchased on 01/26/2023 in a lot of pipes that came to us from Copenhagen, Denmark. It included a group of Danish Made Stanwell pipes that are quite beautiful. The grain around the bowl and shank of this Bulldog has a mix of cross, birdseye and flame grain. The pipe is stamped on the left underside of the diamond shank and reads STANWELL 32 [over] Maron [over] Made in Denmark. The pipe was a well used pipe when Jeff received it. There was dust and grime ground into the finish. It is finished in the warm stain of the Maron finish, with some nice grain around the bowl and shank under the dirt. The bowl was moderately caked and there was an overflow of lava on the rim top. The inner edge shows some darkening around the bowl and on the rim top. There is a band on the shank. It has two brass bands with an orange piece of acrylic sandwiched between them both. The stem is acrylic and was dirty with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. There is no brass/gold crown S logo inlaid on the left side of the saddle 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 darkening and light lava on the inner edge and top of the rim. He also took some photos of the stem to show the condition of both sides. You can see the light marks on the top and underside next to the button. 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 lower left side the diamond shank is shown in the photo below. It is clear and readable as noted above. 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 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. There was some darkening and marks on the rim top on the right side and the back of the bowl. 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 to the inner edge and the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to bring the edge back into round and it looked much better. Over all the rim top and edges looked much better. Now it was time to do my work on the pipe. I polished 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. 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 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 Maron 32 Straight Bulldog with an acrylic taper stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful finish really highlights the grain and the polished finish is stunning. The triple layer brass and orange acrylic shank extension is also a great addition. 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 Maron Bulldog fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 38 grams /1.34 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the Danish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in purchasing this pipe send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

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 Beautiful Stanwell Pot with a Bamboo Shank and an acrylic taper stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

It is a hot day here in Vancouver so I decided to head to the basement where it is cool and work on another pipe. This one was purchased on 11/14/2022 in a lot of pipes that came to us from a seller in Copenhagen, Denmark. It included a group of Stanwell Bamboo pipe that are quite beautiful, combining a briar bowl, a bamboo shank and in this case an acrylic stem. The pipe is a nice looking pot shape. The grain around the bowl and short briar portion of the shank has a mix of cross and birdseye grain. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the bamboo and reads STANWELL vertically between the knuckles. The pipe was a well used pipe when Jeff received it. Someone had given it a coat of varnish so it was quite shiny but there was grime underneath. The mixture of brown stains highlights some beautiful grain under the dirt. The bowl had been reamed and it was clean.  There was some darkening and some nicks on the crowned rim top and one burn mark on the left rear. The inner edge had some darkening and some nicks around the edges. The outer edge on the front of the bowl had been damaged and someone had repaired it somewhere along the journey. It had been sanded smooth and changed the profile of the crowned rim at that point. I would need to rework that area. The stem is acrylic and was dirty with some deep tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. There is a brass/gold crown S logo inlaid on the left side of the taper stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started the clean up work on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before the clean up. You can see the darkening on the inner edge and top of the rim. It is hard to see but there is damage that is well hidden at this point on the front outer edge of the bowl. I took some of the stem to show the condition of both sides. You can see the deep tooth marks on the top and underside next to the button. They will take some work.The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the uniquely stained grain around the bowl and shank. The mixture of black and brown stains adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The two knuckle bamboo shank has a nice patina on it that will only get better with time. It had a black acrylic spacer between the shank and the bamboo and the stem and the bamboo.The stamping on the left side the bamboo is shown in the photo below. It is clear and readable as noted above. It also shows the gold crown S on the stem side. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe to show the flow and cut o the pipe. It is a beauty.I turned to several of the previous blogs that I have written on other Stanwell Bamboos that I have restored. I have included the information from those blogs on the line. I turned to Pipephil to get a quick review of the brand (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-stanwell.html). The Brass Crowned S inlaid logo on the stem is shown in the photo below. I have included a screen capture of the brand info there.I then turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell) for more information. The article is great and gives a lot of history on the brand. There were also links to catalogues at the bottom of the page. I am including a page from a catalogue on the site below that gives a bit of a glimpse into the brand. Here is the link (http://www.axeljeske.de/Pfeifen/Stanwell_Amager.pdf). The catalogue page gives a great description of the Bamboo line. It reads as follows: Top quality bowls perfectly fitted with porous bamboo shanks for casual elegance.

Armed with that information about the pipe it was time to work on the pipe. I scraped out the cake remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I scrubbed out the internals with 99% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to remove the oils and tars. While the pipe was fairly clean I was able to remove the remaining oils. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the damage to the inner edge and the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to bring the edge back into round and it looked much better. I worked over the burn mark on the back left outer edge and top and smoothed it out. I also worked on the previously repaired damage to the front of the bowl outer edge. It had been knocked against something hard and then smoothed out. I reshaped the crown on the outer edge of the bowl. Over all the rim top and edges looked much better.In order to clean up the grime under the varnish coat on the bowl I washed it down with acetone on a cotton pad. I was able to remove the shiny coat and remove the grime in the finish. Once the shiny coat was gone the pipe cleaned up very well. The photos below show the look of the pipe once it was cleaned. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad to remove the grit. The bowl began to take on a rich shine. It is a beauty. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and into the bamboo with a horsehair shoe brush. I let it sit for 10 minutes and the Balm did its magic. It enlivens, cleans and preserves the briar. It certainly brought this bowl back to life. I buffed it off with a clean cloth and took the following photos. I set the stem aside and turned my attention to the stem. The acrylic stem had deep tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. Heat would not lift them so they would need to be filled in with black rubberized CA glue. I filled them in and spread the repair with a dental spatula. Once the repair cured I used a small file to recut the button edge and to flatten out the repairs. I used 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the stem surface and started the polishing with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I 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 Bamboo Pot with an acrylic taper stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful finish really highlights the grain and the polished finish is stunning. 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 Bamboo Pot fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ 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 37 grams /1.31 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the Danish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in purchasing this pipe send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Doing a Clean up and Restoration of a Kaywoodie Super Grain 5 Medium Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is one that a fellow just dropped by. He had written to me earlier this week about a pipe he found. He wanted to drop it off and have me clean it up for him. Here is his first email.

Steve, found a Kaywoodie medium billiard that I’d like to get cleaned up. Can I drop it off this weekend? Take care, Robert

I replied to him as follows:

Drop it by. Can you send me a photo of the pipe so I can see it? Thanks – Steve

We made an appointment for Saturday or Sunday.

After viewing the photo and talking with Mike about the pipe when he dropped it off I knew what I was dealing with. He found it when he was visiting his parents in New York. I took photos of the pipe once it was dropped off before I worked on it. My evaluation of the pipe included the following observations. The pipe was actually quite clean. The bowl had been reamed quite recently and the internals were clean. The rim top and the inner edge of the bowl showed some damage. There were some nicks and marks on the surface and edge. The walls of the bowl seemed be to quite smooth and did not show any checking or damage from heat or fire. The finish was dark but quite clean. There were just a few nicks and scratches in briar. The stamping was faint but read Super Grain [over] Kaywoodie on the left side. On the right side the numeral 5 was stamped. There was a inlaid white Kaywoodie Shamrock inlaid in the briar on the right top of the shank. The shank was quite long and had a shorter stem. Kaywoodie called the shape a Medium Billiard. The Kaywoodie threaded tenon and stinger had been clipped and filed smooth. The stem was vulcanite and quite clean but had tooth marks on the top and heavier ones on the underside. It is a great looking pipe that I really like the looks of and I think that once it is cleaned up it will be a real beauty. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem. The rim top shows the damage and nicks on the top and the inner edge of the bowl. It is uneven and quite messed up. You can see the tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is faint and hard to read but with a bright light and lens it reads as noted above. The pipe is quite nice with the stem removed. You can see the flow of the design and the look of the parts.The inlaid white shamrock/club on the shank side/top was a clear clue to the age of the pipe. I turned to Pipedia to an article entitle Guide to Kaywoodie Pipes to see what I could find that would help date it (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Collector%27s_Guide_to_Kaywoodie_Pipes). I quote a section of the article below. I have highlighted the portions that apply to this particular pipe in red.

THE 1936 KAYWOODIE LINE OF PIPES

The 1936 Kaywoodie catalog lists only four grades of pipes (Table 1). These four grades, however, were available in 140 shapes (see Appendix). These 140 shapes included many that differed only in size (small, medium, large). For example, the “In-Between”, “Colt” and “Freshman” shapes listed in the Appendix were merely smaller versions of the standard shapes, and the “E-Z-Set” shapes were “flat-bottom” versions of the standard shapes.

Table 1: Kaywoodie Pipe Grades and Prices (1936)

  • Straight Grain: $10.00
  • Super Grain: $5.00
  • Carburetor: $4.00
  • Drinkless: $4.00

As shown in Table 1, the Straight-Grain pipe was Kaywoodies’ top-of-the­-line, selling for $10.00 in 1936. The Straight Grain pipe did not appear again in the catalogs reviewed in this research until 1968-69 (see Section 3.4).

The 1936 catalog shows 3 Super Grain models, selling for $5.00 each. One model is introduced as the “New Banded” Super Grain. The banded Super Grain had the white Kaywoodie cloverleaf logo in the bit and a wide metal band. The non-banded (“original”) Super Grain had the white Kaywoodie cloverleaf logo in the shank of the pipe and was offered in two finishes, virgin and miami (slightly darker than virgin). Due to the gap in catalogs used in this research, it is not known precisely when the practice of putting the cloverleaf in the shank of the Super Grains was discontinued (the 1947 catalog shows the cloverleaf on the bit). The Super Grain was later downgraded and many new grades appeared above it (see subsequent sections of this Chapter). The early (original) Super Grains are particularly interesting not only because they were high quality briars, but because they were the only Kaywoodies (in the author’s knowledge) to have the logo inlaid in the shank of the pipe…

Thus, I knew that the pipe in hand was a Super Grain with the inlaid Kaywoodie cloverleaf was done in 1936 and we do not know when it ceased. It had the darker finish called Miami (a darker stain). It was time to work on the pipe.

I started my work on this pipe by reaming the bowl. I cleaned out the remaining cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I took it back to bare briar to carefully examine the walls of the bowl. I finished by sanding the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel to smooth out the interior of the bowl. It was quite clean and undamaged. I cleaned out the internals of the bowl, shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners until they were clean. Next, I addressed the damage to the inside edge and top of the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the inner edge and give it a slight bevel. I smoothed out the damage and once done I wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. It looked much better than when I started.I polished the briar 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 briar. The product works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar 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 briar really began to have a deep shine in the briar 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 set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. It was in good condition but had some buffed tooth marks on the surface and what looked like a repair on the underside next to the button. I painted the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to try and lift the marks. I lifted them some but they were still distinctly present. I filled in the marks with black rubberized CA glue and set it aside to cure. Once cured I flattened the repairs with a file and then followed that up with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. It looked much better. 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 like to use Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really 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 briar and the vulcanite. 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 really is a nice pipe. The smooth finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great. The vulcanite taper stem works well with the pipe. The Kaywoodie Super Grain 5 Medium Billiard 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 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.13 ounces/32 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be giving back to Robert who dropped it off for restoration. I am sure he will enjoy it and it will give many more years of service to him.

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.