Tag Archives: vulcanite

New Life for a Hard Smoked Older Bewlay 2 Lovat 191

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table has been here for over 3 years. Sad that there are some that have sat this long or longer before I got to them. But on the other hand I get to look through my boxes and pick out what turns my crank at the moment. This one was an interestingly grained older style small Lovat. We picked it up back in April, 2019 from a seller in Great Britain. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Bewlay in script [over] 2 in a circle. On the right side it was stamped London Made and lower on the shank it read 191 which is the shape number. The poor pipe was another one that had obviously been someone’s favourite and must have been a grand smoker. The finish appears to have some nice mixed grain around the bowl and shank that even stands out with the grime on the finish. The bowl is heavily caked with a thick lava overflow on the rim top. The inner edge showed damage and was rough looking under the lava. The stem is quite oxidized and had a lot of tooth chatter on the top and underside near the button. The pipe showed a lot of promise but it was a mess. Jeff took pictures of the pipe before he did his clean up work. He took photos of the rim top and bowl as well as the stem surfaces to show the condition of the well smoked pipe. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the heavy lava on the inner edge and rim. The damage on the inner edge is also visible on the front and right side of the bowl. The stem was oxidized and had tooth chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took some photos o f the heel of the bowl and the side to give a sense of the beauty of the grain around this pipe.He captured the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is faint in spots but is readable as noted above. I have worked quite a few Bewlay pipes over the years but wanted a reminder of the background of the brand. I turned first to Pipephil’s site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b4.html). I got a quick summary there. I have included a screen capture below and the information that was in the sidebar below that. Brand distributed by Bewlay & Co (chain of pipe stores) until the 50s, taken over by Imperial Tobacco & Co.

I turned to Pipedia next and include a screen shot of a photo there and a short history of the brand and who made pipes for them (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Bewlay). The English brand of Bewlay & Co. Ltd. (formerly Salmon & Gluckstein Ltd.), was in business from the early 20th century until the 1950s. The brand ended up being sold and taken over by Imperial Tobacco Co.. The shop chain closed in the 1980s but there seems to be one shop still in business on Carr Lane in the city of Hull.

Bewlay pipes were made by prestigious firms. Notably Barling, Charatan, Loewe & Co., Sasieni, Huybrecht, and Orlik. So understandably, the English considered a Bewlay pipe a quality pipe.

The information highlighted in red above is very interesting. Key English pipe making firms made pipes for Bewlay. I did a bit of searching for the shape number 191 under those company’s but did not find anything conclusive.

Now it was 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. The inner edge of the bowl had a lot of damage and there were some damage on the rim top. 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 then soaked it in Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He cleaned out the airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my work on it today. I took a close up photo of the cleaned up rim top. The rim top shows damage along the top and the inner edge. It looks and feels really rough and there is significant darkening on both. The bowl is clean and the walls are undamaged. The stem looks good with very light oxidation and tooth chatter along the top and underside ahead of the button.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. You can see the shank stamp is faint in spots but still is very readable. I took the stem off the pipe and took a photo. The Lovat is a nicely designed pipe with nice lines.I decided to start my work on this pipe by addressing the damage to the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth the rim top and remove the darkening in and damage. I gave the inner edge of the rim a slight bevel to take care of the chopped and hacked look of that edge. Once I was finished I liked the way it looked.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I worked over the inner and outer edge of the rim as well. After each pad I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. It really took on a shine by the last three sanding pads. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips where it works to clean, restore and preserve the briar. I let it do its magic for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a cotton cloth. The pipe looks incredibly good at this point in the process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the tooth chatter on both sides with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. It is starting to look very good.I continued to polish the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it further with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to cure. I am excited to finish this Petite Bewlay 2 Lovat shape 191. Who made this pipe for Bewlay? My guess, and it is just that, is that the pipe was made by Loewe & Co. Whoever made it the pipe is a beauty. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful straight grain all around it and the birdseye on the rim top. The polished grain on the pipe looks great with the black vulcanite stem. This smooth Bewlay 2 Lovat is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 29 grams/1.02 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will soon be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Remember we are the next in a long line of pipe men and women who will carry on the trust of our pipes until we pass them on to the next trustee. Thanks for your time reading this blog.

New Life for a Beautifully Grained WDC Seville Bullmoose

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table has been here for over five years. Sad that there are some that have sat this long or longer before I got to them. But on the other hand I get to look through my boxes and pick out what turns my crank at the moment. This one was well grained Bullmoose – or Pot with a prominent chin jutting out the front. We picked it up back in October, 2017 from a seller on EBay from Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, USA. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads WDC in a triangle followed by Seville [over] Genuine Briar. There was no shape number on the shank on either side. The poor pipe was another one that had obviously been someone’s favourite and must have been a grand smoker. The finish appears to have some nice straight grain around the bowl and shank that even stands out with the grime on the finish. The bowl is heavily caked with a thick lava overflow on the rim top – heavier on the back side. The stem is quite oxidized and had deep tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. The pipe showed a lot of promise but it was a mess. Jeff took pictures of the pipe before he did his clean up work. He took photos of the rim top and bowl as well as the stem surfaces to show the condition of the well smoked pipe. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the heavy lava on the inner edge and rim – particularly at the back of the bowl. The stem was oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.Jeff took several pictures of the stinger apparatus in the tenon. It was heavily coated with tars and was stuck in the tenon.Jeff took some photos o f the heel of the bowl and the side to give a sense of the beauty of the grain around this pipe. He captured the stamping on the left side of the shank. It is faint in spots but is readable as noted above. There was originally a WDC triangle on the left side of the thick taper stem. Most of it was worn away and I don’t think it will survive the clean up.I turned to Pipedia for a quick review of the WDC Brand and was not disappointed in what I found (https://pipedia.org/wiki/William_Demuth_Company). I quote a pertinent part of the article below. There was no mention of the Seville line.

In 1897 Ferdinand Feuerbach joined the Demuth company and by 1903 had become the production manager. Feuerbach is credited with developing Demuth’s popular Royal Demuth and Hesson Guard Milano pipelines. He left in 1919, when Sam Frank Sr. needed an experienced pipe man to run his pipe factory, located at 168 Southern Blvd., in the Bronx. Feuerbach and Frank had been close friends since Frank started his own business in 1900 and was closely associated with the sales staff of WDC, selling their line of pipes.

In early 1937, the City of New York notified S.M. Frank & Co. of their intent to take by eminent domain, part of the land on which the companies pipe factory was located. This was being done to widen two of the adjacent streets. As a result of this, Frank entered into negotiations to purchase the Wm. Demuth Co.’s pipe factory in the Richmond Hill section of Queens. It was agreed upon that Demuth would become a subsidiary of S.M. Frank and all pipe production of the two companies would be moved to DeMuth factory. New Corporate offices were located at 133 Fifth Avenue, NYC.

Demuth pipes continued to be made at the Richmond Hill plant till December 31. 1972. Then the Wm. Demuth Company met its official end as a subsidiary company by liquidation. Demuth’s mainstay pipe, the Wellington continued to be offered in the S.M. Frank catalog until 1976. In the mid-80’s, the Wellington even made a brief return as a direct to the consumer offer.

Now it was 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. The varnish coat was peeling around the top half of the bowl. 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. The pipe was cleaned before we started using Before & After Stem Deoxidizer so it was very oxidized. He cleaned out the airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my work on it today. I took a close up photo of the cleaned up rim top. The rim top is smooth and looks quite good. There are some damage spots along the outer edge of the rim as well as toward the back of the inner edge. The bowl is spotless. The stem is more heavily oxidized than when we started. That may be from sitting here for five plus years. Anyway it is what it is and you can see the tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the side of the shank and the stem. You can see the shank stamp is readable. The stem stamp is all gone other than one thin line at the top of the original triangle logo.I took the stem off the pipe and took a photo. You can see that the stinger is still in place and Jeff was able to clean the externals. It was still stuck and knew I had to remove it to thoroughly clean out the shank.I decided to start my work on the pipe by removing the remainder of the peeling varnish coat. I sanded it with a medium grit sanding sponge and wiped it down with acetone on a paper towel. I repeated the process until I was free of the obnoxious peeling varnish coat. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I worked over the inner and outer edge of the rim as well. After each pad I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. It really took on a shine by the last three sanding pads. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips where it works to clean, restore and preserve the briar. I let it do its magic for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a cotton cloth. The pipe looks incredibly good at this point in the process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I heated the stinger with my lighter and was able to remove the stinger. It was badly oxidized and damaged so I will be throwing it away. I scrubbed the oxidation with Soft Scrub All Purpose Cleanser. I was able to remove most of the remaining oxidation. It is finally starting to look better. I can now see the tooth marks and chatter clearly. I cleaned out the inside of the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I was not surprised to see how dirty the stem was behind the stinger. It really inhibited the cleaning of the pipe. But it is clean now!I “painted” the newly cleaned surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks on both sides. I was able to lift them totally on the one side and significantly on the other. I filled in what remained with black superglue. Once the repair cured I flattened the repair with a small file to start the process of smoothing it out and blending it into the surrounding vulcanite. I sanded the file marks and repairs with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. It is starting to look very good.I continued to polish the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it further with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to cure. I am excited to finish this Large bowled, beautifully grained WDC Seville Bullmoose. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful straight grain all around it and the birdseye on the rim top. The polished grain on the pipe looks great with the black vulcanite stem. This smooth WDC Seville Bullmoose is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 81 grams/2.86 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will soon be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the American Pipemakers Section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Remember we are the next in a long line of pipe men and women who will carry on the trust of our pipes until we pass them on to the next trustee. Thanks for your time reading this blog.

New Life for a Hard Ridden Sasieni 4 Dot Ruff Root Dark 8 Bent Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table has been here for over four years. Sad that there are some that have sat this long or longer before I got to them. But on the other hand I get to look through my boxes and pick out what turns my crank at the moment. This one was a nice sandblast bent apple. We picked it up back in January of 2018 from a seller on EBay from Los Fresnos, Texas, USA. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads Sasieni 4 Dot [over] Ruff Root Dark [over] London Briar followed by the number 8 which appears to be the shape number. The poor pipe had obviously been someone’s favourite and must have been a grand smoker. The finish appears to be light brown but the grime and debris in the sandblast lend to that thought. The bowl is heavily caked with a thick lava overflow on the rim top filling in the sandblast. The stem fits with a gap showing that the shank is also heavily tarred. The stem has some oxidation and deep tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. It really was a mess and a stinky one at that! Jeff took pictures of the pipe before he did his clean up work. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to give an idea of the thickness of the cake and the lava on the top. It was quite thick and hard. He took photos of the stem surface to show the oxidation and the tooth marks on them. There was a deep tooth mark on the top of the stem near the button. He took photos of the sandblasted grain around the bowl sides and heel of the bowl. It is a very nice looking blast. Jeff captured the stamping and the placement of the four dots on the stem side. The stamping is clear and readable. You can also see several issues with the pipe in these photos. First, to the left of the stamping (next to Ruff) there is a flaw in the briar. It looks like a crack but it follows the grain of the blast. Second, the fit of the stem to the shank is off which says to me that the tenon is crooked not allowing a fit to the shank end.I remembered that I had worked on a Sasieni Ruff Root Dark in the past – a Canadian if my memory served me right. I did a quick search on rebornpipes and found the Canadian I was remembering and the blog I had written (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/04/19/an-easy-restoration-of-a-sasieni-4-dot-ruff-root-dark-13-canadian/). I had done some research on the stamping and brand for that blog and I am including it below.

When the pipe arrived I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-sasieni.html) to see if he included not only information on this Sasieni 4 Dot Ruff Root Dark Canadian. Sure enough there was some quick information that identified the time frame of this pipe. He dates it as a Post Transition piece 1986-today. The Ruff Root name is what they call a sandblasted finish. He points out that the 4 Dot has replaced the Four Dot from 1986.I turned to Pipedia for more information on 4 Dot line of Sasieni pipes and any information that was added there (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Sasieni). I quote a pertinent paragraph:

…The nomenclature changed again in 1986, with the sale of the company to the Post-Transition firm. The three line nomenclature was changed to two lines, with the first reading “Sasieni 4 Dot” and the second identifying the finish, e.g. Natural, Walnut, or Ruff Root. Note how 4 Dot is spelled, using an Arabic numeral 4, as opposed to spelling out the word “four”. This is the easiest way to spot a Post-Transition Sasieni, as the new company has used both script and block lettering to spell the word “Sasieni” on the shank…

So I knew that I was dealing with a Post Transition 4 Dot Sasieni that was made after 1986. Now it was 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. He soaked it in Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it with warm water. He cleaned out the airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my work on it today. I took a close up photo of the cleaned up rim top. You can see the smoothing out of the top on the right front and the left rear of the bowl. The rest of the rim top has some great sandblast. The inner edge has a slight bevel that should clean up well. The stain is faded on the top. The bowl is spotless. The stem is clean and you can see the tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. After Jeff had cleaned it the stem fit more snug against the shank end.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of the part of this pipe. I think it is going to be a beauty.I put on a magnifying headlamp and traced the flaw in the briar from the edge of the Ruff stamp on the underside of the shank. I filled it in with a thin line of clear CA glue. It was more of a cosmetic fix than a concern about a crack. Once it cured I used several brass bristle brushes I have to blend in the repair to the rest of the sandblast finish.With that cosmetic fix done I decided to address the smooth portions of the rim top. The first photo shows what I am referring to. I have used a series of burrs on my Dremel in the past to rusticate the smooth portions of the damaged top and match the sandblast pattern as much as possible. I have found that it works very well. Once I finished I used a brass bristle brush to knock off the debris and some of the roughness. I stained it with a Walnut stain pen to match the rest of the bowl colour. What do you think? Did it work?I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my finger tips and a horsehair shoe brush. The product works to clean, restore and preserve the briar. I let it do its magic for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a cotton cloth. The pipe looks incredibly good at this point in the process. With that finished I set the bowl aside and turned to work on the stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks on both sides. I was able to lift them significantly but deep marks still remained on each side. I filled those in with black CA glue and set the stem aside to cure. Once the repair cured I flattened the repair with a small file to start the process of smoothing it out and blending it into the surrounding vulcanite. I sanded the file marks and repairs with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. It is starting to look very good. I continued to polish the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to cure. This Sasieni Ruff Root Dark 8 Bent Apple is a beauty. I put the pipe back together and lightly buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful mixed grain all around it. The polished dark Walnut coloured sandblast has depth and lends to a variation in colour as the bowl is turned. It looks great with the black vulcanite stem. This smooth Sasieni Ruff Root Dark Bent Apple is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 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 46 grams/1.59 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will be putting this pipe on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section. Let me know if you are interested in adding it to your rack and carrying on the trust of this well traveled pipe. Thanks for your time reading this blog and as Paresh says each time – Stay Safe.

New Life for a Vintage Stanwell 86 Regd. No. 969-48 Handmade in Denmark Freehand

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have sold a few pipes to a fellow in Israel over the past year and he is great to work with. He has great taste in pipes and the ones he has purchased from me have been beautiful. Not long ago I received and email from him about a pipe he was interested in purchasing EBay. He sent me the link and wanted my opinion on it. I believed that it was a design by Sixten Ivarsson made for Stanwell and one that I really like the flowing shape and broad bowl. I remembered that with the Reg. No. it was made between the late 1960s and early 1970s so it was a bit of an old one. The pipe appeared to be in decent condition. Not too many days after that he wrote me to say he had won it and wondered if he could have it shipped to me rather than to him in Israel. We chatted back and forth about it via email and the decision was made and the pipe was on its way to me. Here are the pictures that the seller included with the advertising. The seller took a large photo of the rim top to show the condition. Though it is dark you can see the cake in the bowl and the burn damage to the inner edge and the top front of the bowl. I am hoping I can reduce that mark some but time will tell. He also included a photo of the top of the stem showing the oxidation and the tooth marks on that side of the stem. The photo of the underside of the bowl and shank is dark but you can seek the grain peeking through the grime on the finish. I think that it will have some nice grain once I clean it up.He also took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It was faint but readable with a light. It read as noted above.He took the stem off the shank and took a picture of the mortise and the tenon to show the condition of those parts of the pipe. It was dirty but it looked solid.The pipe arrived this week and sadly I had forgotten that it was on its way from the seller. When I opened the box I remembered it. I examined it carefully to assess both the condition of the pipe and what I needed to do with it. There was a moderate cake in the bowl with lava on the rim top and what looked like a burn mark on the top front of the bowl. There was darkening around both the inner and the outer edges of the bowl. The pipe was stamped on the underside of the shank and read Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 969-48 [over] Handmade [over] in Denmark. To the left of the stamp it bore the shape number stamp – 86. The finish was dirty and dark so it was hard to see too well but you could see some interesting grain underneath. The stem had the Crown S stamp on the top of the saddle and was fade. The vulcanite was oxidized and there were tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside. It was going to take some work to clean up but I thought it would work out fairly well. My only concern was the burn mark on the front top of the rim. Even with that though it would look pretty amazing. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I have included them below. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake in the bowl and the damage to the top and edges of the bowl. You can see the darkening on the inner and outer edge of the rim – how much is lava and how much is burn damage remains to be seen. You can also see the burn mark on the top of the bowl at the front. It does not appear to have charred the surface as it is hard. I took photos of the stem surface to show the oxidation and tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There are also scratches on the surface running from the tenon end to the button on both sides. The Crown S stamp on the top of the stem is visible but all the colour is gone.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank underside. It is faint but readable. I also took a photo of the Crown S on the top of the saddle stem.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts. It is really going to be quite a stunning piece.I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and took the cake back to bare walls. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I examined the walls with a lens and they were solid and undamaged. I cleaned out the airway in the shank and the stem as well as the mortise with isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. It was quite dirty and now smells much better.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish of the bowl and rim top. I rinsed off the bowl with warm water and then dried the bowl with a cotton cloth. The grain that came to the surface once it was clean is quite stunning. I worked over the darkening and burn damage on the inside edge of the bowl and the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It began to look a lot better.I mixed up a batch of oxalic acid and warm water and used it to scrub off the rim darkening and the burn mark on the top. I dried it off with a paper towel. The burn on the edges of the rim were much better and the burn mark on the front top was definitely lighter.I sanded the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and then sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding block. The grain on the rim top began to stand out. The rim edges look much better and the burn mark is much reduced.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. After each pad I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. It really took on a shine by the last three sanding pads. I stained the polished rim top with an Oak stain pen. It matched the colour around the rest of the bowl and hid the burn mark a bit. Though it is still visible it is nowhere near as big as it was when I started.I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar where it works to clean, restore and preserve the briar. I let it do its magic for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a cotton cloth. The pipe looks incredibly good at this point in the process. With that the bowl had come a long way from when I started working on it. I set it aside and turned my attention to the stem. I put the stem for an overnight soak in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. In the morning I removed it from the bath and rubbed it down with a coarse paper towel to remove the oxidation that was on the surface. I cleaned out the airway in the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners.I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks on both sides. I was able to lift them significantly but one remained on each side that would need to be filled with superglue.I scrubbed the remnants of oxidation with Soft Scrub All Purpose Cleanser. I removed a lot more of the remaining oxidation. It is finally starting to look better.I filled in the remaining tooth marks on both sides of the stem with black super glue. I set it aside to cure. Once the repair cured I flattened the repair with a small file to start the process of smoothing it out and blending it into the surrounding vulcanite. I sanded the file marks and repairs with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. It is starting to look very good.I continued to polish the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. The light oxidation that remained on the top of the saddle portion of the stem was hard to deal with due to the stamping on the top. I cleaned it as much as possible and repaired the white colour of the Crown S logo with White Acrylic fingernail polish. I applied it and when it hardened I scraped off the excess with my fingernail. Once finished I continued to polish the stem with the last three micromesh sanding pads. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil one more time. I am excited to finish this Ivarrson Designed Stanwell 86 Freehand. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful mixed grain all around it. The polished grain on the pipe looks great with the black vulcanite stem. This smooth Classic Ivarrson Designed Stanwell 86 is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 42 grams/1.48 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will be packing it up and sending it to my friend in Israel. I think he will enjoy this beauty once it is in his hands. Thanks for your time reading this blog and as Paresh says each time – Stay Safe.

Refurbishing A Vintage Cased “Karoo” Gourd Calabash With Elephant Ivory Shank Extension

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

About two years back, I had worked on the only Gourd Calabash pipe that I had inherited, a 1912 William Harrison, and posted it on rebornpipes. I had smoked this pipe after it was restored and was amazed at how different the smoking characteristics of a gourd are when compared to a briar or a meerschaum pipe. Since then I was on a lookout for some good quality and condition gourd calabash estates and snagged a couple at very competitive rates. This is the first of the two gourd calabash pipes that is now on my work table.

This medium sized gourd calabash came in its original case. The case and the pipe it housed are in good shape and appears to have been well looked after. There is a beautiful ivory colored band with argyle patterns at the shank end that lends it a classy high end feel. It is stamped on the left side of the gourd as “KAROO” in an oval. There is no other stamping seen on the gourd. The vulcanite stem with a threaded bone tenon is stamped on the upper surface as “LONDON” over MADE”. There are no other stampings seen on either the gourd or the stem. The only knowledge about the pipe I had was that KAROO was an arid region of South Africa where these gourds were grown. However, there was no information on the brand KAROO that was available either on Pipedia.org or pipephil.eu. I couldn’t find any information on this brand even on rebornpipes!!

I messaged Steve and shared pictures of this gourd calabash pipe with him. He sent me this link to Pipe Club of London which had information on this brand and the same is being reproduced further down in this write up. There was an interesting discussion on the band that was at the shank end. The possibilities ranged from the band being made of hardened plastic or Bakelite or bone or even African Ivory. However, it was the evenly arranged argyle patterns that made us think on the lines of the band being of some high grade and quality material. Abha, my wife, took close up pictures of the band and patterns and she got on the task of researching the material of the band on the internet. Her research conclusively proved that the band is an Elephant Ivory. Here is the link to a site that was particularly helpful in supporting her conclusions. (https://www.realorrepro.com/article/Ivory-genuine-fake–confusing).

The argyle patterns that I had been mentioning all through are, in fact, Schreger Lines and the patterns perfectly match the ones seen on the shank end band. Having confirmed that the shank extension is elephant ivory, it was time to search for the brand KAROO.

I searched the net as suggested by Steve and found this snippet of information on Pipe Club of London (http://pipecluboflondon.com/members-pipes/calabashes/karoo-calabash/) and reproduce the same information for the benefit of the larger pipe community.

Calabash gourds (“bottle gourds” – were grown on the Little Karoo River in South Africa by Boer farmers who exported them – cut & dried – to England for fitting with bowls and mouthpieces. The heyday of the calabash was 1905 to 1915 after which the briar began to steal the spotlight.

From the Johnny Long collection PCoL #UK603F – pictured on a handmade South African tapestry. Below – the Karoo brand & hallmarks.

There was no further information lead that was worth following that would establish the provenance of this pipe. All that I can say with certainty based on the threaded bone tenon, oval slot at the stem end, Elephant Ivory shank extension and the information reproduced above, this pipe has to be from the early 20^th Century, maybe prior to 1920s.

This time period is just a ”guesstimation” and any input from the knowledgeable Readers on this brand and dating is most welcome.

Initial Visual Inspection
The case and the pipe appear to be well cared for. The case has functional hinges and clasp and closes with a reassuring click. The surface leather on the case is also intact and in good condition. The red velvet internal lining of the case is stained at the place where the rim and mouthpiece rests inside the pipe. There is a lot of debris in the nooks and corners of the case. The pipe sits perfectly inside the case. The gourd has taken on a dark color and its surface is dust covered and dirty. The meerschaum cup has a decent layer of even cake with a darkened rim top that has traces of lava overflow. There are a few minor superficial scratches over the meerschaum cup. The stem is oxidized, has tooth chatter/ bites marks in the bite zone and is under turned to the right. Overall, this old timer has been well looked after and is in great shape considering its perceived age. Dimensions Of The Pipe
Length: 5.6 inches

Height: 2.8 inches.

Diameter of the porcelain cup: 1.8 inches.

Diameter of the chamber: 0.9 inch.

Depth of the chamber: 1.3 inches.

Detailed Visual Inspection
I first dismantled the pipe in to its various components; the Gourd, the meerschaum cup and the threaded bone tenon stem. Here are a couple of pictures.

The meerschaum cup is medium sized and has a moderate layer of even cake. The inner rim edge has a thin layer of lava overflow on an otherwise clean rim top surface. There are minor scratches over the rim surface which will be addressed when the meerschaum cup is cleaned and polished. There are no breakages or chipped surfaces or cracks in the cup which is a big relief. The draught hole at the center bottom of the cup is clogged with oils/ tars and gunk. The outer surface of the cup is covered in dried oils, tars and gunk and towards the rim top; there are traces of cork lining which has stuck to the cup (this is actually mysterious!) at the base of the rim. The gourd surface has colored beautiful and it will be my endeavor to preserve the patina that has developed on the surface due to smoking. The surface is covered in old oils, tars, grime and dirt from all these years. There is no damage to the gourd surface and that’s a big relief. This piece of gourd will look stunningly beautiful and rich once it has been cleaned and polished. The meerschaum bowl is held in place inside the gourd with a cork gasket. This cork gasket was dry with a thin outer surface layer stuck to the meerschaum. This is not a major issue as the bowl still sits firmly in the gourd. The inside of the gourd has depositions of oils and tars and ash and would benefit from a thorough cleaning. The ivory shank extension has yellowed a fraction but is sans any damage. The full bent tapered vulcanite stem is oxidized with tooth chatter on either surface in the bite zone. The threaded long bone tenon is covered in grime and oils and could be a contributing factor for the misaligned seating of the stem in to the shank. The oval opening of the slot and the tenon opening is constricted due to accumulation of old and dried oils/ tars. The Process
I started the process with reaming the meerschaum cup with PipNet reamer heads 1, 2 and 3. I further cleaned the bowl with my fabricated knife to completely rid the chamber of carbon that couldn’t be reached by the reamer heads. I used a 220 grit sand paper, pinched between my thumb and forefinger, to sand the inner walls of the chamber of the pipe. Once I had reached the bare walls, I wiped the chamber with a cotton pad dipped in isopropyl alcohol. This removed all the residual carbon dust and also rid the chamber of all ghost smells. The walls of the chamber are nice and solid with no signs of heat fissures or cracks.I gently scraped off the dried gunk and remnants of the cork with my sharp fabricated knife. I further cleaned the surface with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol. I cleaned the external surface of the meerschaum cup with a cotton swab and Murphy’s Oil Soap. I further wiped the surface with a moist soft cloth and rid the surface of the soap. I ran a couple of hard bristled pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol through the draught hole and thoroughly cleaned it. I set the bowl aside to dry out completely.I cleaned the stem airway using thin shank brushes and anti oil dish soap. I also cleaned the tenon surface with the soap and wiped it dry with a paper towel. The tenon opening and the oval slot is now clean.Since the tooth chatter on upper and lower surface was superficial, I decided to address this issue by sanding down the tooth chatter rather than resorting to the filling method. I sand the bite zone with a 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth chatter. I followed it up by further sanding the stem with 320, 600 and 800 grit sand papers. Once I was satisfied that the tooth chatter had perfectly matched the rest of the stem surface, I completed the polishing cycle by wet sanding the surface with 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads. The stem looks great with the tooth chatter nicely matched with the rest of the surface. I rub a little quantity of Extra Virgin Olive oil into the stem surface and set it aside to rehydrate the vulcanite. While I was working on the stem, Abha went about the task of polishing the meerschaum cup. She polished the bowl by dry sanding it with 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads. She applied a little Before and After Balm, though it does not affect the meerschaum in any which way, and set it aside. A few minutes later, she buffed it with a microfiber cloth.Next in the process was the cleaning and refurbishing of the gourd itself. Using my fabricated dental tool and sharp knife, I carefully, read that as very (2x) carefully, scraped out all the dried gunk and grime from the inner walls of the gourd. I ran a couple of pipe cleaners and q-tips dipped in alcohol through the shank end. I wiped the inner walls with a cotton swab moistened with alcohol. At this point in restoration, the internal cleaning of the stem, mortise and gourd is completed. The stem repairs and polishing is also completed and so is the refurbishing of the meerschaum cup. Next I decided to clean and polish the external surface of the gourd. I cleaned the external surface of the gourd with Murphy’s Oil soap on cotton swabs. I wiped the surface with a moist cloth and set the gourd aside to dry out completely. After the gourd had dried out, I polished the gourd surface with micromesh pads. I wanted to preserve the patina and deep coloration that has developed on the gourd surface and so I dry sand the stummel surface with 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads. This is starting to look really nice. I rub a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to the gourd with my finger tips and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the gourd now has a nice vibrant appearance with the beautiful darkened colors on full display. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. All that remained was the original case that housed this pipe. Firstly, I reattached all the black linings that had come loose with superglue. I wiped the leather cover with Murphy’s Oil soap on a cotton swab. The color on the swabs should give the readers an idea of how dirty the surface was!! I wanted to further scrub the leather surface, but unsure that I was as to how the leather would hold up to all the scrubbing, I left it at that (remember my mantra… Less is more!!). I cleaned the inner satin and velvet linings of the lid and bottom respectively, with a mild soap in warm water and a soft bristled tooth brush. I was very gentle with this as I had no intention of tearing the lining. I completely dried the lining using paper towels. It now does look nice and rich. To apply the finishing touches, I mount a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and apply a coat of Blue Diamond to the gourd and the stem to polish out the minor scratches. With a cotton buffing wheel that I use for carnauba wax, I apply a coat of the wax and continue to work on it till the complete coat of wax had been polished out. I mount a clean cotton cloth buffing wheel and give the entire pipe a once over buff. I finish the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The finished pipe looks beautiful and is ready to be added to my restored pipe collection. When, or if at all I will, smoke this pipe only time will tell!! Here are the pictures of the refurbished pipe. P.S.: The alignment of the stem with the gourd stummel was restored to perfection once the threads of the bone tenon, threads at the shank end and the internals of the gourd was thoroughly cleaned. I rejuvenated and hydrated the cork gasket by applying a generous layer of natural Petroleum Jelly.

Thanks to all readers of rebornpipes who have spared a moment of their invaluable time in reading through this write up and as is always, your suggestions and advice are always welcome as this would not only help me but also help the new pursuers of this art.

Praying for the safety and well being of all the readers and their loved ones …

Restoring a “Peterson’s Product” – a Made in Ireland Shamrock 53 Lovat

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Blog by Steve Laug

With the flood in our office/basement/workshop we moved my pipe work upstairs with my day job work to occupy the dining room table. I went through the boxes of pipes I have to work on sorting things to work on from those I will likely put in grab bags and came across this nice looking Lovat with a shiny band and a P-lip style saddle stem. It turns out that it is stamped on the left side of the shank and read SHAMROCK. It was also stamped on the right side and reads “A PETERSON’S [over] PRODUCT” over MADE IN IRELAND (3 lines) with the shape number 53 next to the bowl. The silver coloured (nickel I think) band was stamped with a Shamrock[over] three symbols in cartouches – a shamrock, a crouching lion and a standing figure. The band had rotated so these were on the underside of the shank rather than on the left. The vulcanite stem lightly oxidized and had some light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The bowl had been reamed and cleaned as obviously Jeff had done his magic on it before I got it. He had scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He had rinsed it with warm water. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub and left the stem looking quite good. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took photos of the rim top and the bowl to show the condition. The rim top was smooth and clean. There was some burn damage on the inner edge of the rim at the back of the bowl. I also took photos of both sides of the stem to show the light oxidation and tooth chatter. Over all the pipe was in good condition. I took photos of the sides of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is readable in the photos below and is as noted above.I took the stem off the pipe and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of proportion.I am including the link to the Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Peterson’s Shamrock Pipe. On page 312 it had the following information.

Shamrock (c1941-2009) Originally stamped SHAMROCK with no brand name, an inexpensive line first described in George Yale (New York) mail order booklet in 1941, imported by Rogers Import. The line was actively promoted beginning in ’45, aggressively promoted in US by Rogers from early ‘50s when they registered the Shamrock logo with US Patent Office, claiming propriety since ’38. Over the years offered with P-lip or fishtail mouthpiece, with or without nickel band, with or without shamrock logo on the band, with or without S stamped in white or later in gold on mouthpiece. Appearing in 2008 as unstained smooth and rustic, fishtail mouthpiece with gold impressed P on the stem. COMS of MADE IN over IRELAND (C1945-1965), MADE IN IRELAND forming a circle (c1945-1965), “A PETERSON’S PRODUCT” over MADE IN IRELAND (c1945-1965), MADE IN THE over REPUBLIC over OF IRELAND9c1948-1998). Model is always difficult or impossible to date.

Judging from the description above, the pipe I am working on is stamped with the stamp noted in red above. It reads “A Peterson’s Product” over Made in Ireland which narrows the date to between approximately 1945-1965. It is just stamped SHAMROCK with no brand name and no stem.

I decided to start my work on the pipe by loosening and adjusting the fit on the shank. It had twisted to the underside of the shank and it needed to be turned a quarter turn so that the stamping aligned with the stamping on the left side of the shank. I heated some water in the microwave until it was boiling, removed the stem and stood the shank end in the water until the glue softened. I turned the band and aligned it with the left side of the shank. I set it aside and let the glue set.

I then turned to address the darkening and damage on the inner edge of the rim. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out and clean up the edge. It looked much better! I decided to leave the sandpits on the bowl side and filling them seemed unnecessary to me. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. (Note the sandpit on the left side of the shank near the bowl.) I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I sanded the diameter of the stem at the shank end with 220 grit sandpaper to take down the left side so that it matched the side of the band on the shank. I worked it over until the flow between the nickel band and the stem was smooth. I started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I set the bowl aside and polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I am excited to finish this Nickel Banded Older “Peterson’s Product” Shamrock 53 Lovat. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful mixed grain all around it. The polished nickel band is losing some of the plating but it still looks great with the black vulcanite stem. This smooth Classic Shamrock 53 Lovat is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 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 37 grams/1.16 oz. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will be putting on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers Section. Thanks for your time and as Paresh says each time – Stay Safe.

Restoring an interesting Long Shank Rusticated Peterson’s of Dublin Canadian

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Blog by Steve Laug

With the flood in our office/basement/workshop we moved my pipe work upstairs with my day job work to occupy the dining room table. I went through the boxes of pipes I have to work on sorting things to work on from those I will likely put in grab bags and came across this rusticated long shank Canadian with a Sterling Silver Band. It turns out that it is stamped on the underside of the bowl and reads Peterson’s [arched over] Dublin [over] Made in the Republic of Ireland in the standard three line. The silver band was stamped with K& P in cartouches [over] Sterling Silver. The vulcanite stem lightly oxidized and dirty with tooth chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The bowl had been reamed and cleaned as obviously Jeff had done his magic on it before I got it. He had scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He had rinsed it with warm water. The silver band was still oxidized (probably from sitting here). He cleaned out the inside of the shank and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub and left the stem looking quite good. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took photos of the rim top and the bowl to show the condition. The rim top was rusticated and uneven looking. There was some grime and debris in the rustication on back of the rim top. The inner edge was in decent condition. I also took photos of both sides of the stem to show the light oxidation and tooth chatter. Over all the pipe was in good condition. I took a photo of the stamping on the heel of the bowl and on the silver band on the shank. It is clear and it reads as noted above.I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to give an overall picture of the pipe. The rugged rustication is quite beautiful. There also appears to be a shiny coat of varnish on the surface of the briar that needs to go!I turned to the Peterson’s Pipe by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to ferret out information on the stamping of this pipe to try to pin down a date. Under the section, Dublin on Page 298 I found information on the stamping on this pipe. I quote:

Dublin (1906-2003) Although DUBLIN appears under PETERSON’S on many pipes over the decades, it has served mostly as part of the brand name. The word first appeared on pipes hallmarked 1906-11, stamped PETERSON’S over PATENT over DUBLIN. The simpler PETERSON’S over DUBLIN appeared on pipes hallmarked 1912 after the expiration of the patent… Specimens of the former will bear either an Irish COM or LONDON MADE over ENGLAND COM and almost certainly date from 1945-62. It was first mentioned in print as part of a model name in the ’68 price list, as K&P Dublin…

I looked also at the information on page 304 about the K&P stamping on the silver band. I quote below.

K&P Another set of three marks, each in a shield-shaped frame are frequently mistaken as hallmarks and are seen on sterling bands. See Maker’s Mark…

On page 305

K&P on Mount …A second style of maker’s mark, K&P in three shields, was registered on June 26,1908 and has been in continuous use since.

On page 307

Maker’s Mark … Collectors frequently mistake this row of three shields for hallmarks, especially on pipes made between 1938-68 when Peterson sterling mounts had no proper hallmarks. Collectors tend to label these faux hallmarks. The three shields are not hallmarks at all but their presence on the mount does confirm the mounting is sterling.

Now at least I had a time frame for the pipe. It had the three maker’s marks in three separate shields (K&P). The sterling silver band did no have any proper hallmarks so it came from the time period between 1938-1968. The K&P stamp on the silver and the Dublin stamp on the heel of the bowl seem to point to the 1968 time period as well. The pipe was also a Republic Era Pipe which dated it from 1950-1989. Armed with that history and having a sense of the brand it was now time to do a bit of spiffing with the pipe itself.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone to break through the varnish coat and worked the surface or the pipe over with a brass bristle wire brush to further remove it. It took several repetitions of the process to remove the finish coat but when I did it was better. I stained the faded rim top with a Walnut Stain Pen to match the colour around the bowl and shank. It looked good and once it was polished would match very well.I rubbed the bowl down with some Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush. The product works to clean, renew and protect briar. I let it do its work for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The pipe is really quite a beauty. I polished the silver with Silver polish and tarnish remover. It really came out looking shiny. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I scrubbed off the residual oxidation on the stem surface with Soft Scrub cleanser and was able to remove the majority of it. What remains should come of easily with the micromesh sanding pads.I polished the surface of the acrylic stem on both sides using micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded the stem with the 1500-12000 grit pads, then wiped it down with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After stem polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I am excited to finish this Republic Era Peterson’s Dublin Rusticated Canadian. I put the pipe back together and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished black acrylic stem with the silver band. It really was a beautiful pipe. The grain shining through the rich red stain on this Peterson’s Dublin Rustic Canadian is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 7 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 1.73 ounces/50 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers Section soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the cleanup with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Restoring a Beautifully Grained Amphora X-tra 725 Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

For the next pipe, I chose a unique looking pipe that we picked up back in March of 2018 from a friend in St. Leonard, Maryland, USA. It has been here for a while and I am just now getting to it. This one is an Amphora Bent Billiard. It has a really nice mix of flame and straight grain around the bowl and shank. It was stamped on the sides of the shank. On the left side it reads Amphora [over] X-tra [followed by] the shape number 725. On the right side it reads Genuine Briar [over] AMPHORA, Holland. The pipe was dirty with grime ground into the finish. The grain really shined through the grime. There was a thick cake in the bowl and a light lava overflow and darkening on the thin rim top. The inner edge of the rim looked very good. The vulcanite saddle stem was heavily oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button on both sides. There is an A in a circle inset on the left side of the saddle stem that is faded and worn looking. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up. He took photos of the bowl, rim top and stem to show the condition of the pipe. The bowl is heavily caked and you can see the light lava and darkening on the rim top around the bowl. The stem is very oxidized and there are some light tooth mark on the top and underside of the button.Jeff took photos of the sides of the bowl to show the grain on the sides. It is really quite a pretty looking piece of briar.He took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable with some faint stamping on the edges.I knew from past work that there was a connection between Amphora and the Royal Dutch Pipe Factory. The Amphora – Holland stamped pointed to that for me. I turned to Pipephil’s site to remind myself of the connection (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-a5.html). I have included a screen capture of the section on the site that give some photos of the stamping. The pipe I am working on is stamped like the first photo below.There was also some information in the side bar that I have included below:

A brand of Elbert Gubbels & Sons – Royal Dutch Pipe Factory who has gone bankrupt on March 2012. See also: Big-Ben, Humbry, IRC, Roermond, Royal Dutch, Thompson and Porsche Design.

Now that I was reminded about the Royal Dutch Pipe Factory connection it was time to work on the pipe on my end.

Jeff had done a great clean up of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. He cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He cleaned the exterior of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and the lava on the rim top. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the debris that had accumulated on it. The pipe looked clean and ready for the next step in the process. Here are some photos of it when I finally got around to working on it 4 years later. I took some close up photos of the bowl, rim top and the stem surface. It looked amazingly good. The stem looks good with a little oxidation at the button end. There were also some light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It was readable though faint on both sides of the shank and stem side.I removed the stem from the shank to show the components of the pipe. It is a great shape and is a beauty.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It really began to take on a shine. I rubbed the bowl down with some Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, renew and protect briar. I let it do its work for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The pipe is really quite a beauty. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I scrubbed off the surface of the stem with Soft Scrub All Purpose Cleanser to remove the residual oxidation on the shank end of the pipe. It looked much better.I used 220 grit sandpaper to sand out the tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. I started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper to further blend in the sanded areas.I polished the stem on both sides using micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded the stem with the 1500-12000 grit pads, then wiped it down with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After stem polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. This is another pipe I am excited to finish. It is a Amphora X-tra 725 Bent Billiard with some beautiful grain. I put the pipe back together and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really was a beautiful pipe. The mix of flame and straight grain shining through the rich browns/black stain on this Amphora X-tra Bent Billiard is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 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 1.48 ounces/42 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the Pipe From Various Makers section soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the cleanup with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Restoring a Bari Special Handcut Danish 01 Bent Brandy

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Blog by Steve Laug

For the next pipe, I chose a unique looking pipe that we picked up off EBay back in December of 2016 from a seller in Marlboro, New Jersey, USA. It has been here for a while and I am just now getting to it. This one is a Bari Special Handcut Bent Brandy. It has a really mix of flame and straight grain around the bowl and shank. It was stamped on the sides of the shank. On the left side it reads Bari [over] Special [over] Handcut. On the right side it reads Made in Denmark [over] 01 which is probably the shape number. The pipe was dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a thin coat of varnish on the bowl and shank that was spotty and worn. There was a thick cake in the bowl and lava overflow and darkening on the thin rim top. The inner edge of the rim was covered so thickly in lava it was hard to know what was underneath. The vulcanite stem was lightly oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button on both sides. HANDCUT was faintly stamped on the left side of the taper stem and coloured white. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up. He took photos of the bowl, rim top and stem to show the condition of the pipe. The bowl is moderately caked and you can see the lava and darkening on the rim top around the bowl. The stem looks good other than the tooth mark on the underside of the button. Before I started working on it I did a bit of research on the brand to remind myself of the maker. I have worked on quite a few Bari’s in the past so rather than rework all of that I am including the information I found while working on a Bari Special Handcut Made in Denmark Dublin Freehand (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/07/22/cleaning-up-a-danish-made-bari-special-handcut-b-dublin-freehand/). I quote below from that blog.

I quoted a section from Pipedia on Bari pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Bari). It is good to be reminded of the fact that Viggo Nielsen was the pipe maker.

Pipedia states that Bari Piber was founded by Viggo Nielsen in Kolding, Denmark around the turn of 1950/51. His sons Kai and Jørgen both grew into their father’s business from a very young age and worked there till 1975. Both have become successful pipe makers.

Bari successfully adapted the new Danish design that had been started mainly by Stanwell for its own models. Bari was sold in 1978 to Van Eicken Tobaccos in Hamburg, Germany though the pipes were still made in Denmark. From 1978 to 1993 Åge Bogelund and Helmer Thomsen headed Bari’s pipe production.

Helmer Thomson bought the company in 1993 re-naming it to “Bari Piber Helmer Thomsen”. The workshop moved to more convenient buildings in Vejen. Bogelund, who created very respectable freehands of his own during the time at Bari got lost somehow after 1993. Bari’s basic conception fundamentally stayed the same for decades: series pipes pre-worked by machines and carefully finished by hand – thus no spectacular highgrades but solid, reliable every day’s companions were what they turned out. The most famous series are the smooth “Classic Diamond” and the blasted “Wiking”.

I did a quick look at Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b1.html) and did a screen capture of the section on Bari pipes.Now that I was reminded about the Viggo Nielsen connection it was time to work on the pipe on my end.

Jeff had done a great clean up of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. He cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He cleaned the exterior of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and the lava on the rim top. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the debris that had accumulated on it. The pipe looked clean and ready for the next step in the process. Here are some photos of it when I finally got around to working on it 5 years later. I took some close up photos of the bowl, rim top and the stem surface. It looked amazingly good. There was still some darkening on the rim edges. The varnish coat on the bowl and shank would also need to be removed. The stem looks good with a little oxidation at the shank end. There were also some tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It was readable though faint on both sides of the shank and stem side.I removed the stem from the shank to show the components of the pipe. It is a great shape and is a beauty.I wiped the bowl down with alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the spotty varnish coat. It really looked better without the varnish. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It really began to take on a shine. I rubbed the bowl down with some Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, renew and protect briar. I let it do its work for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The pipe is really quite a beauty. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I scrubbed off the surface of the stem with Soft Scrub All Purpose Cleanser to remove the residual oxidation on the shank end of the pipe. It looked much better.I used 220 grit sandpaper to sand out the tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. I started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper to further blend in the sanded areas.I touched up the faint stamping on the left side of the taper stem. It read HANDCUT the H and the UT were deep enough to take the touch up. The rest of the stamping was not as deep and did not hold the Rub’n Buff Antique Gold. I polished the excess off and took photos of the stem at this point.I polished the stem on both sides using micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded the stem with the 1500-12000 grit pads, then wiped it down with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After stem polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. This is another pipe I am excited to finish. It is a Bari Special Handcut Danish 01 Bent Brandy. I put the pipe back together and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem with the golden acrylic spacer. It really was a beautiful pipe. The sandblasted grain shining through the rich browns/black stain on this Bari Special Handcut is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ 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 2.12 ounces/60 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the cleanup with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Restoring a Ben Wade Hand Model London Made Large Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

After a long week of dealing with insurance issues on flood damage to my basement office and now waiting for a plumber to come and give his report on Monday I decided it was time to take a break and just work on a pipe that interested me. I chose a unique looking pipe that we picked up off EBay back in December of 2016 from a seller in Marlboro, New Jersey, USA. It is a long shank Pot with a craggy and deep sandblast and an unusual shape to the bottom of the bowl. The yellow spacer on the pipe is a part of the stem. The pipe is stamped on the underside and reads Ben Wade in script [over] Hand Model [over] London Made. There are no shape numbers on the pipe. I have worked on quite a few English made Ben Wade pipes but never one that was stamped like this. It would be interesting to learn more about it. The pipe was dirty with a moderate cake in the bowl and some lava overflow in the sandblast on the rim. The edges of the bowl were in good condition. The saddle stem (vulcanite with a yellow acrylic spacer attached) was shiny but had tooth damage to the button on the underside. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up. He took photos of the bowl, rim top and stem to show the condition of the pipe. The bowl is moderately caked and you can see the lava in the sandblast of the rim top toward the back of the bowl. The stem looks good other than the tooth mark on the underside of the button. Jeff took photos of the bowl and sides to give a sense of the sandblast and the depth of that finish. It is really a beautifully blasted pipe and well executed. You can also see the slight slope to the bottom of the bowl on the front. He took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank which was clear and readable as noted above. It is the source of the mystery for me – what and when was the Hand Model made.Now it was time to try and figure out the stamping on this pipe. I remembered chatting with Dal Stanton, the Pipe Steward about a pipe he was working on that had this stamping. At least I thought I had. I knew it was a while ago so I did a quick search on the blog for Ben Wade Hand Model London Made pipes and found what I was looking for. Here is the link to the blog Dal wrote and his research on it (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/02/13/rejuvenating-a-ben-wade-hand-model-london-made-billiard/). I am quoting extensively from what he wrote as there is no need to go back through the same sources he did.

I’ve discovered through the reading I’ve done about the name ‘Ben Wade’ that it has an up and down history. The Pipedia article is helpful in simplifying the history in four helpful ‘eras’ which I’ve summarized from the Pipedia:

The Family era (1860 to 1962) – the heydays of the English name when the pipes were stamped Made in Leeds, England.

Charatan / Lane second (1962 to 1988) – When Herman G. Lane purchased the name, the transition from a higher quality pipe during the long Family Era transitioned exclusively to the fabrication of machine-made pipes. Lane moved the production from the Leeds factory (closed in 1965) to Charatan’s Prescott Street factory. Ben Wade became essentially lower quality series pipes produced in standard shapes. The pipes during this period were stamped, “Made in London, England” or dropping the “London” and stamped with “England” alone. After Lane died, in 1978 his heirs sold the Charatan and Ben Wade names to Dunhill, which left the production of Charatan/Ben wade at the Prescott Street factor. In 1988 production came to an end for Ben Wade when the Charatan’s Prescott Street factory closed.

Ben Wade turns Danish (1971-1989) – During this era Preben Holm, from Denmark, was in financial difficulties and Herman Lane and he went into partnership producing the Handmade and fancy pipes. These pipes were marked “Ben Wade Made in Denmark”. These pipes gained great popularity, especially as the were marketed in the US. After Lane’s death, Preben Holm, not the businessman, was in financial difficulties and reduced his workforce and production, but at his death in 1989, production of the Danish Preben Holm pipes came to an end.

Resurrection – (1998 to present) – Duncan Briars bought the Ben Wade name from Dunhill in 1998 and production of Ben Wade pipes restarted at the Walthamstow plant, sharing the same space where Dunhill pipes are produced and reportedly benefiting from the same quality of production. During this present era, the stamping on the pipes is: “Ben Wade, Made in London, England”

The reason I went through this summary of Ben Wade’s morphing history is because in nothing I’ve read about Ben Wade (and I’m sure there’s more out there), I found no reference to a Ben Wade Hand Model with the COM, London Made. The stamping on the pipe before me is ‘Ben Wade’ [over] HAND MODEL [over] LONDON MADE. The saddle stem has the Ben Wade stamped on the upper side of the stem saddle. My first glance at the blasted finish made me wonder whether this Ben Wade came out during the ‘mystery’ Resurrection period in the Pipedia article. Here is the full text that made me wonder:

As said before Preben Holm’s death marked the third end of Ben Wade and for long years there were no Ben Wade pipes in the shops anymore. But then, all of a sudden they were back in the USA some years ago! Who made these pipes? A concrete manufacturer was not known at first.

The rumors spreading were considerable. Especially because these Ben Wades – originally all blasted and in deep black color – featured so perfect straight and / or ring-grain that they were almost suspicious in view of the prices. The supposition that “Mother Nature” had been given a leg up by means of rustication combined with subsequent blasting was evident as different sources confirmed.

Dal also posted the following with some anecdotal information that linked the pipe he was working to Charatan. I quote:

I sent out pictures of some pictures and the nomenclature to various pipe Facebook groups and the responses I did get, though they were anecdotal, pointed to an earlier period. Paul, from Pipe Smoker of America FB Group, said that he believed it was a Pre-78 and made in Charatan factory. He also said that these were some of his best smokers are London BWs. It sounds good to me!

Following Dal’s lead I posted pictures of the stamping and the pipe on Facebook groups I am part of and hope to learn some more. Tom Myron, a good friend replied on the Gentlemen’s Pipe Smoking Society and wrote as follows:

Yeah, Steve, that’s absolutely a Charatan shape in their ‘After Hours’ style – 60s / 70s.

Jeff had done a great clean up of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. He cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He cleaned the exterior of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and the lava on the rim top. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the debris that had accumulated on it. The pipe looked clean and ready for the next step in the process. Here are some photos of it when I finally got around to working on it 5 years later. Look at the craggy sandblast on this pipe! Wow. I took some close up photos of the bowl, rim top and the stem surface. It looked amazingly good. The damage on the underside of the stem button is not as bad as I expected.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above.I removed the stem from the shank to show the spacer and tenon on the pipe as it is quite unique. I also wanted to get a clear picture of the components of the pipe. It is a beauty.The pipe bowl was in such great condition that I did not need to do a lot of work on it. I rubbed the bowl down with some Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush. The product works to clean, renew and protect briar. I let it do its work for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The pipe is really quite a beauty. The depth of the blast is quite stunning. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I built up the tooth mark in the button surface with Medium Thick Black Super Glue. I sprayed it with a shot of accelerator to harden the surface and set the stem aside to cure overnight. In the morning I reshaped the button edge and surface with a small file.I sanded and reshaped the repaired area on the underside of the stem and the tooth chatter on the top side with 220 grit sandpaper. I started polishing it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the stem on both sides using micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded the stem with the 1500-12000 grit pads, then wiped it down with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After stem polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. This is another pipe I am excited to finish. It is a Ben Wade Hand Model London Made Long Pot. I put the pipe back together and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem with the golden acrylic spacer. It really was a beautiful pipe. The sandblasted grain shining through the rich browns/black stain on this Ben Wade Hand Model is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 1 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.08 ounces/59 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the cleanup with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.