Tag Archives: vulcanite

The Frog Prince

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Pull up a chair and light your pipe – I am about to regale you with the tale of one of the most challenging restorations I have ever undertaken. I hesitate to write “restoration”, simply because the work required on this pipe imposed a burden on that word that it may not have been intended to bear. Perhaps “re-creation” is a better word. This post is a little longer than usual, but worth it. This frog needed much more than a kiss to turn into a prince.This is a rusticated Leonard Payne Classic pipe in a billiard shape, with a matching military-style stem and dental bit. The left side of the shank reads Len Payne [over] Classic. Similarly, the ferrule also reads Payne [over] Classic. However, there are no markings (or no visible markings) on the right side of the shank. I acquired this pipe from the granddaughter of the gentleman who once owned it. This fellow is now deceased, but I am pleased to honour his memory with my work. This was obviously a favourite pipe of his, both because it was so dirty and because the rustication was so worn! It is clearly a great smoker.The pipe in question was made by the late, great Canadian artisan, Leonard Payne. He was born in England, moved to Canada in the 1950s, and died in the Vancouver area within the last few years. Payne was, to put mildly, an idiosyncratic pipe maker. I can do no better than quote Mike Glukler of Briar Blues (found on Pipepedia):

“Leonard Payne was based in B.C. for many years. He came to Canada from England. He had shops in Surrey, B.C. and Kelowna, B.C. Interesting fellow. Gruff as the day is long. When you bought a pipe, it was handed to you in a paper bag. No sock, no box. Most of his pipes carried a ‘carburetor’ system at the shank/stem junction. Another Payne idea was his shanks. Almost all his pipes were two pieces. He’d turn the bowl and shank, then cut off the shank and reattach with glue (not always with the same piece of briar, so many did not match grains). His thinking was that the shank being the weakest link, if cut and glued would never break and thus ‘correcting’ the weakest link.In addition, there was a photograph that Steve found of Payne on Reddit that appears to date from the 1960s. The original poster on Reddit told me that the photo comes from the City of Surrey Archives. I have no idea why it is in French, but here is my translation of the text on the right:

“Pipe makers are not on every street corner in Canada! Leonard Payne, originally from England, didn’t know the challenges he would face and that’s probably what influenced his decision to come and try his luck in Canada. After his arrival in 1957, he and his family settled in Vancouver, where he first found work as a tool maker – and made pipes in his free time. In 1959, he decided to become a full-time pipe maker, and since then he has had department stores in all parts of Canada among his clients. He imports briar blocks from Italy and pipe stems from England.”This pipe was a perfect example of Payne’s work. It had a ‘carburetor’ system at the shank/stem junction and the stummel had been separated in two and reattached with glue (although, in this case, he did reattach the matching piece of briar).This pipe was charming, but it had a number of issues. The stem was dirty, though not too beat up. There were a few small scratches, etc., as well as some minor oxidation to the vulcanite. The ‘carburetor’ system was going to make cleaning all the more challenging, as there was little room around the end of the aluminum tube to remove all the filth.The stummel was a different story. It was dirty, dull, and worn. The pipe had been rusticated once-upon-a-time, but so much hand-rubbing of the wood over the years had eroded it (and a lot of the Len Payne markings).

However, by far the biggest problem was the bowl. It was badly out-of-round, burned on the rim, and – take a close look at the photos – it had clearly been decapitated at some point in the past. Steve and I spoke about it, and we figure that the original pipe probably developed a crack after heavy use. The owner, loving his pipe so much, decided that he would rather modify it than toss it. Presumably, he then took a saw and cut off the damaged wood. Following this, he would have stained the wood with something very dark. All of this is conjecture, of course, but it seems likely, given the current state of the pipe.    What on earth do you do with a hacked-up pipe? Read on…

While I decided to have a “thunk” about it, I tackled the stem. I began by cleaning some of the filth on the outside with some Murphy’s Oil Soap on cotton rounds. This removed some of the surface staining. Then, I started cleaning the inside with isopropyl alcohol and pipe cleaners. This took a while. The inside wasn’t terribly dirty, but the empty space inside the end of the stem was tricky to clean well. Once the stem was good and clean, I placed it in a container of Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover overnight. This liquid does (as the name suggests) remove oxidation, but, more than anything, it helps draw oxidation to the surface of the vulcanite. This allows me to clean the oxidation off in a couple of ways: both by applying a mild abrasive cleaner to the surface, then by sanding the stem.I used SoftScrub with some cotton rounds and, as you can see, lots of revolting colour came off the stem. Thankfully, there were no significant dents, scratches, or bite marks that required a cyanoacrylate glue repair, so I moved on to the next step. For sanding the stem, I use a set of nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) which gradually erase the ravages of time and bring out the stem’s lovely black lustre. For the last five pads, I also lightly coat the stem with Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each scrubbing. At last, I set the finished stem aside. On to the stummel and, as I indicated earlier, there were MANY problems to be solved.

  1. The insides were quite filthy and would need considerable work to clean.
  2. The metal ferrule would not come off the wood. It was absolutely solid.
  3. The metal ferrule also needed to be polished.
  4. The rustication had rubbed away so much that it would need to be redone in some way.
  5. The bowl opening was badly out-of-round.
  6. Burn marks and an uneven surface blighted the rim of the pipe.
  7. The fact that the top of the pipe had been lopped off meant that it just didn’t look In a sense, this was the biggest problem of them all.

On to problem #1. The bowl really needed to be reamed, so I used the KleenReem too to scrape off as much built-up cake and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as possible. Generally, I prefer to sand the chamber down to bare briar. When restoring, it is important to ensure that there is no damage to the briar under the cake. There are a few situations when I might leave some cake in the bowl, but not today. And, fortunately, there were no hidden flaws to the briar on this pipe.I gave the wood a quick cleaning with Murphy’s Oil Soap. It turned out that I would need to clean it again later.I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with pipe cleaners and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. There was quite a bit of built-up grime inside this stummel, and it took a good number of pipe cleaners to get it clean. Or – I thought it was clean. I’ll come back to that.    Problem #2 was an interesting one. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if the ferrule was permanently attached to the shank or not. Steve told me that it is supposed to come off and that I’d better get it off because there would be plenty more pipe goo to clean. So, I dug out my trusty heat gun, applied some heat to the join and – voilà! – the grime softened sufficiently for me to unscrew the ferrule.As Steve had hinted, it was a real mess inside the shank, behind the ferrule. Just dreadful – and it took more pipe cleaners and Q-tips than I used for the rest of the stummel just to clean out this area. It had obviously never been cleaned before. I even threw the thing in an alcohol bath! The dirt just kept coming and coming, but, at long last, I finally got it clean. I followed that up by cleaning the insides of the whole stummel with some Castile soap and tube brushes. Finally, I polished the tiny piece of the ‘carburetor’ system by inserting a piece of 0000 steel wool down the shank and grinding it shiny.    Problem #3 was quite straightforward to resolve – Deo gratias. I started by soaking the filthy threads of the screw in my lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. They were dirty and the dirt was very stubborn. Eventually, it did come off and I could proceed. Next, I rubbed the aluminum ferrule with 0000 steel wool. This is the least abrasive grade of steel wool and I wouldn’t use anything harsher than that. I then used the last few MicroMesh pads to make the metal shine.Problem #4 concerned how worn away the rustication had become. I wanted to recreate the pattern that Payne had originally devised on his pipe. I took my Dremel Rotary Tool and used the smaller engraving cutter to achieve the small worm-track. The work was intricate and a bit nerve-wracking, but I was quite pleased with the results. My only problem was that I ended up having to repeat this process later, but I digress…

The solution to problem #5 – the out-of-round chamber opening – came from a familiar source. I took a solid wooden sphere, wrapped a piece of 220-grit sandpaper around it, and sanded the inner side of the chamber. This achieved two things: first, it removed some of the burn marks on the inner edge of the rim; and second (and more importantly), the circular shape and motion of the sphere gradually returned the edge to a perfect circle. This takes time and patience, but it is quite effective. But there was more to come. As it turned out, problem #6 bled right into problem #7. As I mentioned earlier, the surgery that the pipe received earlier in its life just didn’t look right. Something significant needed to be done. As always, Steve made an excellent suggestion to save and beautify this Payne pipe. He proposed modifying the pipe to a prince shape. This made a lot of sense. Changing this into a prince would (1) smooth out the ridiculously uneven rim top; (2) eliminate the burn marks on the top; and (3) allow what remains of the briar to be showcased properly and to greatest effect. I’ve included a sample photo of some prince pipes from Greg Pease’s collection, just to give you an idea of what I was aiming for. I’ll let you be the judge of whether I succeeded or not.So, heart-in-throat, I set about grinding the Payne with my Dremel and a sanding disc. Gently, gradually, cautiously, I removed more wood and began to set the new shape. This was no mean feat for me – the Dremel is a powerful tool, and this process can go pear-shaped very easily. The following series of photos demonstrates the progress as I shaped the bowl. Once the shape was nicely developed, I used some 220-grit sandpaper to smooth and round the crown of the rim. Of course, I had to redo much of the rustication work I did earlier, since my Dremel removed most of it. This went very well. It was only at this point, when I felt comfortable with the work I had done, that I cleaned the outside of the pipe thoroughly with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a toothbrush. By the way, here is a close-up photo of how Payne cut off then rejoined the bowl and shank. It’s unusual – I’ll give him that!The stummel cleaned up quite nicely and I was able to move on to the MicroMesh pads. Again, using all nine (1,500 through 12,000 grit), I sanded, rounded, and further embodied the prince shape.  I then paused and rubbed some Before & After Restoration Balm into the soft and smooth wood. I gently brushed it into the rustication grooves and let the balm sit for fifteen minutes or so. The BARB works so well at bringing out the best in the wood. I brushed it with a horsehair brush and buffed it with a microfibre cloth. Beauty! It is obvious that at this point the pipe needed to be stained. One issue that needed to be addressed right away was how to match the sanded area to the colour of the pre-existing stain. I opted to apply some Fiebing’s Dark Brown Leather Dye only to the sanded area. I flamed it with a BIC lighter and let it set. I then removed some excess with isopropyl alcohol on a cotton round. This provided a sufficiently accurate undercoat to the wood and would allow me to apply a separate layer of dye to the whole stummel. I repeated my steps in order to add the second and final layer of Dark Brown to all of the wood. This turned out beautifully – dark and rich, with lovely subtle variations in colour.    I reassembled the pipe to prepare it for polishing on the bench buffer. However, I added a little bit of petroleum jelly to the wooden threads inside the shank. This would provide some much-needed lubrication for the connection with the aluminum ferrule.I went to the bench buffer and applied some White Diamond to the stummel and stem. Then the final polish! The rusticated surface meant that I didn’t use carnauba wax – it gets gummed up in the grooves. Instead, I used Lee Valley Conservator’s Wax which worked like a charm. What a pipe! Goodbye frog, hello prince! This was an amazing restoration/re-creation and I really had fun with it. I think the result is fantastic – it turned a lump that was destined for the firewood pile into a pipe that pays homage to the man who created it originally and the man who smoked it so joyfully.

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 “Canada” 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 Payne Classic are as follows: length 5½ in. (140 mm); height 1⅛ in. (29 mm); bowl diameter 1⅝ in. (41 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is ⅞ oz. (27 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this restoration as much as I enjoyed 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.

Refreshing a Brigham Canada 109 Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe has been here for a long time  – so long in fact that I cannot remember where I picked it up. I know it came to me from a trade or my own hunt because it had not been cleaned or reamed. It was surprisingly clean with a light cake in the bowl and some darkening on the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. The exterior of the pipe was quite clean and still had a wax shine. The stem was vulcanite and had sticky, smelly vanilla on the inside and outside as well. The bowl had a thick cake and there were light tooth marks on both sides of the stem near the button. The pipe was stamped on the underside of the shank and read 109 on the heel of the bowl followed by Brigham in script [over] Canada. The vulcanite taper stem had a single brass dot on the left side. Here is the pipe! I took close up photos of the rim/bowl and stem. The cake in the bowl was thin and there was some darkening on the rim edge. The stem was quite clean and had some light oxidation and there were light tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. I took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank and it is clear and readable as noted above.  I removed the stem from the shank which was a sticky chore and took a picture of the pipe. It is quite an attractive shape and should clean up well. For historical background for those unfamiliar with the brand I am including the information from Pipedia on Brigham pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history and background on the pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Pipes). Charles Lemon (Dadspipes) is currently working on a book on the history of the brand. Until that is complete this article is a good summary. I have included it below.

Roy Brigham, after serving an apprenticeship under an Austrian pipesmith, started his own pipe repair shop in Toronto, in 1906. By 1918 the business had grown to include five other craftsmen and had developed a reputation across Canada for the high quality of workmanship. After repairing many different brands of pipes over the years, Roy noted certain recurring complaints by pipe smokers, the most common referred to as “tongue bite”. Tongue bite is a burning sensation on the smoker’s tongue, previously thought to be due to the heat of the smoke (i.e. a “hot smoking pipe”).

He soon began manufacturing his own pipes, which were lightweight, yet featured a more rugged construction, strengthening the weak points observed in other pipes. The problem of tongue bite intrigued him, and he decided to make overcoming it a future goal.

About 1938, Roy’s son Herb joined him to assist in the business. The business barely survived the great depression because pipes were considered to be a luxury, not a necessity, and selling pipes was difficult indeed. In approximately 1937 [1], after some experimentation, Roy and Herb discovered that tongue bite was in fact a form of mild chemical burn to the tongue, caused by tars and acids in the smoke. They found that by filtering the smoke, it was possible to retain the flavour of the tobacco and yet remove these impurities and thereby stop the tongue bite.

Just as Thomas Edison had searched far and wide for the perfect material from which to make the first electric light bulb filaments, Roy & Herb began experimenting with many materials, both common and exotic, in the quest for the perfect pipe filter. Results varied wildly. Most of the materials didn’t work at all and some actually imparted their own flavour into the smoke. They eventually found just two materials that were satisfactory in pipes: bamboo and rock maple. As bamboo was obviously not as readily available, rock maple then became the logical choice.

They were able to manufacture a replaceable hollow wooden tube made from rock maple dowelling, which when inserted into a specially made pipe, caused absolutely no restriction to the draw of the pipe, yet extracted many of the impurities which had caused tongue bite. The result was indeed a truly better smoking pipe…

Charles Lemon has also written a great article on the stampings and marking on the Brigham pipes that fit into a time line that he has drafted. It is well worth a read and is fascinating. (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Pipes_%E2%80%93_A_Closer_Look_at_Dots,_Dates_and_Markings). I quote from the pertinent section on the time frame for this pipe.

I have dubbed the decades between 1980 and 2000 the Late Canadian Era, a period that saw several changes at Brigham that are of note to the collector. First, the traditional 8-grade pinning system (the famous Brigham “Dots” which denoted the quality of the pipe) was changed to a 7-grade system to simplify pinning (more on this below), and the Norsemen and Valhalla series were merged to form the President Series, which represented the very finest pipes coming out of the Toronto factory. Early pipes from this era (left, below) are stamped with a shape number and “Brigham” over “Canada”; later pipes (late 1980s+, on right below) are stamped simply with a shape number and the Brigham logo.

This solidly places the pipe I am working on in the period of Brigham production that Charles calls the Late Canadian Era (1980-2000). It is a great looking pipe with an older style rustication pattern than the later Brighams that I have worked on.

Charles also put together a chart that helps the restorer to understand the Brigham dot system. I quote from the same link on Pipedia as noted above.

Revised Dot System 1980

Brigham changed the Dot system in 1980, adding a 7 Dot at the top of the line, dropping the names of each series and eliminating the confusing vertical and horizontal 3 Dot configurations. The Norsemen and Valhalla series were combined to form the President series of freehand pipes, which adopted a 3 Dot pattern with a larger dot on the right as shown below. The 7- grade pinning system stayed in place from 1980 to 2001.    I knew that I was dealing with a pipe made between 1980-2000 from the Late Canadian Era. It sports 1 dot making it Brigham Series 100 pipe with a 3 digit shape number 103. Now to do a bit of spiffing with the pipe itself.

I used a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the light cake from the bowl walls. It was uneven and needed to be removed so I took it back to bare briar. I sanded the bowl with a dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the walls. Now it was time to scrub the inside of the shank and rid it of the tars and oils. I scrubbed the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and 99% isopropyl alcohol. There was some stain in the inside of the shank that came out. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the inner edge of the bowl. It looked far better once it was finished.   I polished the briar on the rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. The briar really took on a rich shine with the polishing.   I rubbed the bowl down with some Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a horse hair shoe brush to clean, revive and preserve the wood. It really brings the grain alive once again. I let it sit for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The grain really pops at this point in the process. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down between each pad with some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to deepen the shine. I gave it a final wipe down with Obsidian Oil.   I pulled out a new Rock Maple Distillator for tenon and insert it in place before putting the stem on the shank.  I like working on Brigham pipes so I was happy to see the finished pipe. I put the Brigham Canada 109 Apple 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 buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with dimensions of the rustication popping around the bowl and shank. Added to that the polished vulcanite taper stem was a beautiful touch. 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: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 39 grams/1.38 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the Canadian Pipemakers section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. I want to keep reminding us of the fact that we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next trustee.

Finally Getting Around to Finishing up this Danet’s 904 Sitter

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Blog by Steve Laug

It seems I am finally getting some time to work on the backlog of pipes we have here. We have a large collection of pipes we have picked up over time and cleaned up and set aside to work on. This interesting piece was purchased from an antique store on 10/14/2017 in Pocatello, Idaho, USA and I am finally getting around to it. The pipe is Danish take on a bent Billiard with an extended flat heel that makes the pipe a sitter. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Danets [over] made in Denmark. On the underside near the stem it has the shape number 904 stamped. The briar was dirty with grime ground into the finish. The bowl had a thick cake with an overflow of lava on the beveled rim top. The fancy saddle stem was lightly oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of and on the button surface. There was a cursive D on the left side of the saddle stem. There was also a crack in the shank on the left side that ran about ½ inch up the shank. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of both. The bowl has a thick cake that overflows with lava onto the beveled inner edge of the rim. It is hard to know what the rim top and edges look like under the cake and lava. He took photos of the stem as well to show the tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button and on the button surface as well. He took photos of the grain on the heel of the bowl and the shank. The grain was quite nice and followed the flow of the pipe. I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable on the shank sides. The D stamp on the stem side was also deep and readable. I looked up information on the brand before I started my work on it. I turned first to Pipephil’s site to get a quick overview (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-d2.html). I included a screen capture of the pipe pictured there. Interestingly, it is the same shape as the one that I am working on. The difference is the taper stem on the one in the photo. I also have included information in the sidebar below the picture. The information connects the Danets to Georg Jensen. I quote:Brand imported from Denmark to USA by BRANDT IMPORT. Sometimes stamped DANETS. Probably a label from Georg Jensen as the photo below would attest these stampings.

I followed one of the links in the side bar to the photo below. The link with Georg Jensen and Danets is clearly shown in the photo. With that information, I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. The inner edge of the rim and top cleaned up very well. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove as much of the oxidation as possible. He soaked it in Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it with warm water. The vulcanite stem was clean and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was a Danets D logo stamped on the left side of the stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. It was an amazing looking pipe. I took photos of the rim top and bowl as well as the stem to give a sense of the condition of both. The rim top and edges looked very good. The stem cleaned up well and the tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button were very light.      I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. They are readable as noted above. The D on the stem side lost all colour but it is deep and readable.    I took the stem out of the shank and took a photo of the overall look of the pipe. It is a unique looking pipe with the oddly shaped flat bottom on the bowl.I started my work on the pipe by addressing the hairline crack in the left side of the shank. I found a brass band that was a perfect fit on the shank. The depth of the band was too much and when on the shank covered the edges of the stamping on the shape number on the underside.I used a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to sand the underside of the band and reduce the depth. I took half of the depth off and checked the fit regularly to make sure it was thin enough to not cover the stamping on the underside of the shank. Once I had the depth correct I used a tooth pick to put white glue on the cracked shank and inside of the band and pressed it into place on the shank.   I took photos of the freshly fitted band. The glue had cured and you can see the stamping is not affected by the placement of the band.    With the band binding together the crack the tenon was too big for the mortise. I sanded the tenon with 220 grit sandpaper to reduce the diameter of the tenon so that it fit the mortise. I put the stem in the shank and took photos of the new look of the pipe. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. The briar really took on a rich shine with the polishing.  I rubbed the bowl down with some Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips to clean, revive and preserve the wood. It really brings the grain alive once again. I let it sit for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The grain really pops at this point in the process.   I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the small tooth marks (almost pin prick marks) next to the button on each side of the stem with clear super glue. Once it cured I sanded them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.     I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. I finished the polishing with some Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. The stem looked very good.  I touched up the white stamp on the “D” on the left side of the stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I worked it into the depth of the stamp with a tooth pick. Once it dried, I scraped off the excess material and polished the stem.    As always I am excited to finish a pipe that I am working on. I put the Georg Jensen Made Danet 904 Sitter 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 buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the grain popping around the bowl and shank. The thin brass repair band adds a touch of bling to the pipe. The polished vulcanite saddle stem brought the combination to a beautiful close. 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 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 27 grams/.99 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. I want to keep reminding us of the fact that we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next trustee.

Breathing Life into a Tired and Worn Comoy’s Tradition Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff and I know longer remember where or when we purchased this pipe. It is a small pipe with nice grain and a saddle stem. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads COMOY’S [over] TRADITION. The right side is very faintly stamped Made in England. The rest of the stamp was unclear as was the shape number. It had a flat bottom on the shank and heal of the bowl that made it a sitter. We don’t have any photos of the pipe before Jeff cleaned it. But Jeff did his usual cleanup. The bowl was reamed with a PipNet reamer. He cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. He did the same with the airway in the stem. The rim top and the beveled inner rim edge were damaged and showed burn marks on the front and back of the bowl. The outer edge of the bowl was damaged on the front side. The bowl was also out of round and damaged. The vulcanite saddle stem is clean but has some tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. The stem has a 3 part C on the left side of the saddle. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my work on it.  I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of both. The bowl is very clean but you can see the burn damage on the top front and rear of the bowl and on the beveled inner edge. There was some darkening all over the rim top. It really was quite a mess. I took photos of the stem as well to show the tooth dents on the top and underside ahead of the button and on the button surface as well. There was three part C logo on the left side of the saddle. I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. The stamping on the right is very faint and I could not capture the Made in England stamp that was faint. There was no shape number on the shank.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe. It is proportionally pleasing and quite an eye catching pipe. I looked on Pipephil’s site for information on the Comoy’s Tradition and found the following information I have included a screen capture (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-comoy.html). It has the three part C which dated it to 1946 and following. The stamping is the same as the one I am working on. I turned to the article on Pipedia about dating Comoy’s pipes but the style of the stamping (https://pipedia.org/index.php?title=Comoy%27s_Dating_Guide#1917_to_the_end_of_the_1930.27s_.28at_least_1938.29). I have include the section in the screen capture below that date this pipe to the 1950s.

Now the Comoy’s stamp can be found in three variants in the 1950s

  1. A simple block-letter style without serifs but with the C larger than the other letters and the apostrophe before the “S”.
  2. A return to the slightly more fancy block letters with serifs and the apostrophe. (It seems that some grades carried different stamps, or at least that the stamping changed in different years for some grades.)
  3. A simple block-letter style without serifs and without the apostrophe and with the “C” the same size as the rest of the letters. This stamp was probably not used very long.
  4. A simple block-letter style without serifs but with the apostrophe before the “S” and with the “C” the same size as the rest of the letters.

Inlaid “C” on the stem

“C” was first inlaid in the side of the mouthpiece around 1919. This was a complex inlay needing three drillings. First, a round white inlay was inserted, then the centre of the white was drilled out, and a smaller round black inlay was inserted. Finally, another drilling was made to remove the open part of the “C,” and an even smaller black inlay was inserted. This inlaid “C,” known as the “three-piece C,” was continued until the Cadogan era in the 1980s. However, the “C” in the 1920s and early 30s is much thinner and more delicate than the one post-WW II.

That article gave me some helpful information regarding the pipe that I was working on. I knew that the stamping and logos identified the pipe as having been made in following WW2 and from what I can see from the above information it is a 1950s era pipe.

I started my work on the pipe by addressing the damage on the rim top, outer edge and the inner beveled edge of the bowl. I topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper. I filled in the deep damage on the outer edge and rim top with clear super glue and briar dust. I used a wooden ball and 220 grit sandpaper to give the rim top and inner edge a bevel and minimize the burn damage to the top and edges. I stained the rim top with an Oak Stain Pen to match the colour around the sides of the bowl. It took several coats but it matched quite well.I polished the briar on the rim top and the rest of the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. The briar really took on a rich shine with the polishing. I rubbed the bowl down with some Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips to clean, revive and preserve the wood. It really brings the grain alive once again. I let it sit for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The grain really pops at this point in the process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter and was able to lift the tooth marks and chatter significantly. I sanded out those that remained with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. It was starting to look very good.     I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. I finished the polishing with some Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. The stem looked very good.   As always I am excited to finish a pipe that I am working on. I put the Comoy’s Tradition Pot 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 buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the grain popping around the bowl and shank. Added to that the polished vulcanite saddle stem was a beautiful touch. 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 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 34 grams/1.20 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. I want to keep reminding us of the fact that we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next trustee.

Breathing Life into a GBD London Made C Conquest 68 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff and I know longer remember where or when we purchased this pipe. It is a large pipe with nice grain and a saddle stem. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads GBD in an oval with London Made C arched underneath it. Below that it is stamped CONQUEST. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in London in an oval England followed by the shape number 68. On the underside of the shank it is stamped with a G. We don’t have any photos of the pipe before Jeff cleaned it. But Jeff did his usual cleanup. The bowl was reamed with a PipNet reamer. He cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. He did the same with the airway in the stem. The briar is very clean and the rim top and the beveled rim edge look good. There were several fills well blended into the finish on the bottom of the bowl. There were are few sandpits on the right side of the bowl. There is some darkening on the back edge of the beveled rim top but otherwise it looks great. The vulcanite saddle stem is clean but has some tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my work on it.  I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of both. The bowl is very clean but you can see some darkening on the inner beveled edge. There was some slight darkening was also on the rim top on the back. I took photos of the stem as well to show the tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button and on the button surface as well. There was no brass logo on the side of the saddle though it was a perfect fit.I took photos of the stamping on the shank sides. The stamping on the left, right and underside is faint but still very readable.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe. It is proportionally pleasing and quite an eye catching pipe.I knew that the GBD Conquest was a special line of GBD pipes that were generally larger in my experience than the normal GBD Pipes. So I turned to Pipephil to have a look and found one photo of a Conquest but no specific information on the line (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-gbd.html). I have included a screen capture of the pipe there. It was a Conquest Century Model which was different from the one I was working on. It also had a Perspex stem rather than the black vulcanite one I have.I turned then to Pipedia link on GBD pipes and followed a link there to a separate page on the various GBD Models (https://pipedia.org/wiki/GBD_Model_Information). I found a section on what they called Plus Sized Pipes that included information on the Conquest line. I quote below.

In addition to the pipe line and shape information stamped on the pipe GBD also had codes for plus sized pipes. These codes in ascending order of size were…

Conquest

Collector

Colossus

Perspex refers to the lucite/acrylic bit material GBD used, the clear bits used on various models are Perspex. Metal rondelles were discontinued after the merger with Comoy.

The information was very clear that the pipe was one of the larger GBD pipes like I suspected. I also found it interesting that the Conquest was at the bottom of the order of Large pipes. It also notes that the Metal rondelles were discontinued after the merger with Comoy. That helped me to come to the conclusion that the stem on the one I was working on is probably original.

I started my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening on the inner beveled edge of the bowl and the rim top. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to deal with the darkening. It did not take too much and it was clean and smooth.  The inside of the bowl was a bit rough from the removal of the cake. I sanded it smooth with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. I wiped it down with a piece of paper towel and the inside was clean and smooth. I cleaned out the dust from the sanding with alcohol and pipe cleaners.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. The briar really took on a rich shine with the polishing.   I rubbed the bowl down with some Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips to clean, revive and preserve the wood. It really brings the grain alive once again. I let it sit for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The grain really pops at this point in the process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter and was able to lift the tooth marks and chatter. It looked much better and the marks all lifted. Polishing the stem would take care of the damage.  I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. I finished the polishing with some Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. The stem looked very good.    As always I am excited to finish a pipe that I am working on. I put the GBD London Made Conquest C 68 Billiard 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 buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the grain popping around the bowl and shank. Added to that the polished vulcanite saddle stem was a beautiful touch. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 56 grams/1.98 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. I want to keep reminding us of the fact that we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next trustee.

Found an Oddity – an Imported Briar Sparkless Cigar Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

I decided to work on something a bit different now. I pulled out a rusticated Cigar Pipe that Jeff had purchased at an Antique Store on 04/17/18 in Bozeman, Montana, USA. The pipe is stamped on both sides. On the left side it reads CIGAR-PIPE [over] SPARKLESS. On the right side it reads GENUINE [over] IMPORTED BRIAR. The finish was dirty and grit was in the rustication. There was a thick varnish coat on the finish that had a few bubbles in it. The bowl is split in half and held together by a threaded metal apparatus in the stem end of the pipe. The other end is threaded in the briar and screws onto the apparatus. There is an aluminum nose cone on the front end of the pipe. The inside was dirty and had been smoked. There was a lot of carbon in bowl and the shank end of the pipe. The stem is vulcanite and has some calcification along the button edge. There was tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. There was a white circle logo on the left side of the saddle stem. There is a stinger in place in the tenon end. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work.Jeff took photos of the sides of the pipe to show the rustication around the briar. You can also see the varnish on the briar that is slightly worn and spotty. You can also see the fills in the briar around the bowl sides. Jeff took a photo of the bowl from the side. You can see the line (joint) in the center of the pipe. You can also see the putty fills on both the right and the left of the bowl in the first photo. He took photos of the stem sides to show the tooth chatter and marks on the surface near the button.He captured the stamping on both sides of the bowl. It is clear and readable as noted above. He also captured the logo on the left side of the saddle stem. I worked on a pair of Mastercraft Sparkless  Cigar pipes back in 2016 so I turned and reread the blog I wrote on the work. Here is the link: https://rebornpipes.com/2016/09/12/back-in-flight-a-pair-of-mastercraft-sparkless-cigar-pipe-zeppelins/. I quote from the research below:

I have seen a lot of these pipes for sale in shops and on eBay but I had never had one in my hand so I had never done any research into them or what “sparked” their invention. So now that I had two of them I figure it was time to look up some information. I looked on the pipephil website and found that they were made by Mastercraft and that there were some further articles in the odd pipes section of the site. Here is the link to that part of the site. http://www.pipephil.eu/oddpipes/pipcig/sparkless2.html. The trouble is that the articles were in French. I used Google Translator to translate them into English and then did some serious editing to the translations. I am including both articles in full here. The first one is written about the smooth briar versions and the second is about the rusticated versions.

Overseas manufacturers of pipes are not deprived of market of cigar pipes based on the mythical model of the 1920s. The best-known is called Sparkless [1] and comes from the Mastercraft House which was issued in several finishes. Two of them will allow you to judge fully of these strange pipes (The article included two photos of two different smooth finishes on the pipes – a stained and an unstained version).

It should be noted on at the outset that it is stockier than its Germanic Zeppelin cousin. When the pipe is disassembled we note that the two wooden parts screw into another – one side is threaded wood on the interior of the piece and the other side has a metal threaded end that turns into the wooden threads. There may be some doubts about how well this type of connection will hold up under use. There is no place for a filter in the Sparkless pipes unlike the Zeppelin. This pipe is adapted to the tastes of American smokers.

You should know that Mastercraft had a long standing near-monopoly of imports of European briar and particularly Italian briar. This explains the stamping ITALY on the side of the pipe.

The stamping is as follows:

On one side it is stamped Cigar Pipe, Sparkless and on the other side it is stamped Century Old, Briar Italy. On the nose of the pipe it is stamped Perfected on one side and Reg. No. M.U. 3840 on the other side.

The measurements of the pipe are as follows: The length is 13.9 cm and the height is 3.2 cm.

Where the German maker, Vauen offers one model of the Zeppelin pipe, the American Mastercraft diversifies its range. To the two versions of the Sparkless model mentioned above we add here two other variations in the form of pipe, rusticated in natural finish.

These variations to this atypical pipe probably spoke to a limited audience. Let’s face it the quality of the woodwork on the two models rusticated models isn’t the most refined in the light of the criteria of the XXI century. But don’t lose sight of the variety that was offered when these pipes were made was radically new.

My preference is usually saddle bit pipes. But I confess that by comparing the Zeppelin to the Pipe-Cigar Mastercraft models, the Zeppelin has more elegance due to the continuity of the shape to the tip compared to the general shape of the Cigar-Pipe. The German made Zeppelin pipe appears as a whole very consistent where each part (tip – stove – metallic cap) is the continuation of the other. This consistency and flow is less noticeable for this North American pipe.

The complete disassembly of the pipe shows that the stem in ebonite has a condensation system reduced to its simplest expression here: a small aluminum tube. It should be noted that these systems don’t bring great benefits for smoking and on the contrary can add moisture and condensation. They are often the origin of disturbances in the draw of the pipe and cause of particularly unpleasant gurgle. But it should not hurt.

The details of the stamping nomenclature reflects that the origin of the pipes is Italian and are potentially made by Lorenzo.

On one side it is stamped Cigar Pipe, Sparkless and on the other side it is stamped Century Old, Briar Italy. On the nose of the pipe it is stamped Perfected on one side and Reg. No. M.U. 3840 on the other side.

The measurements of the pipe are as follows: The length is 13.9 cm and the height is 3.2 cm.

Armed with the interesting information I went to work on the Cigar-Pipes that I had a rusticated pipe. My brother had done the lion’s share of cleanup work on both of these pipes. Judging from the internals and the externals he did a great job cleaning out all of the gunk and grime. The rusticated briar was cleaned with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap and in doing so he was able to remove the majority of the finish. The next four photos show the exterior of the pipe. The stem was quite clean though it had tooth chatter on both sides. The white circle logo was in good condition. The finish was dull. The aluminum nose cone was dull. There was a fill on one side of the pipe that stood out as it was smooth and the rest of the bowl was rusticated. I took photos of the stamping on the shank sides and the stem. It is clear and readable. I took pipe apart and took photos of the halves of the pipe. It is an interesting  piece of pipe history.       I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush. The product works to clean, renew and preserve briar. I let it sit on the briar for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth. The pipe looks very good at this point in the process.  I polished out the tooth chatter on both sides of the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with some 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 laid it aside to dry.   As always I am excited to finish a pipe that I am working on. I put the rusticated Sparkless Cigar 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 buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the colours shining through the various carving in the rustication along with the vulcanite saddle stem. It is beautiful, light and unique pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 inch, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 31 grams/1.13 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the American Pipe Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. I want to keep reminding us of the fact that we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.

Restoring an interesting Mastercraft Made Sparkless Bent Egg

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Blog by Steve Laug

In picking up estate pipes there are always those unique ones that just call out to be worked on  and this was one of those. We purchased it from an online auction on 04/16/20 in Columbia, Missouri, USA. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Sparkproof [over] Weatherproof. On the right side it is stamped Algerian Briar [over] Made in France. There is a stamped S logo on the left side of the taper stem. I have worked on several different brands of the flip top bowl cover pipes that are often called Hurricane pipe. The bowl is briar and the cap and sides are made of Bakelite. The finish on this Sparkless was filthy with grime ground into the finish. The Bakelite lid was also dirty and the holes in the cap and inside of the lid was also dirty. There was a thick cake in the bowl and a lava coat on rim top under the lid. The vulcanite (hard rubber) stem was oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. This one would be quite labour intensive.  He took some photos of the rim top and bowl from various angles with the lid flipped to give me a clear picture of the condition of the rim top and bowl. You can see the cake in the bowl and the thickness of the lava coat on the top and inner edge. He captured the condition of the stem and the tooth damage on both sides of the stem in the photos. He also took a photo of the stinger in the tenon to show the build up on the aluminum. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl with the cap flipped and closed to show the condition of the finish on the pipe. Under the oils and grime it was a nice looking bowl. I think it will be a beauty once it is restored.     He took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable and reads as noted above. He did not capture the S logo stamp on the left side of the stem in the photos below. Before I started to work on my part of this particular pipe I wanted to understand more about the Sparkproof brand name. I looked it up on Pipephil (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s10.html) and found the following listing. I did a screen capture of the section as it showed a very similar looking pipe with the same stamping as the one I have. It also linked the brand to Mastercraft. I turned to the link to Mastercraft to see if there was any other information. There was some information on the Sparkproof Zeppelin but nothing on this one.I also followed a link to the Hurricane pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-h4.html#hurricane) and did a screen capture of that section as well. I also included the information underneath the entry and in the sidebar.Hurricane is not exactly a brand but rather a pipe type characterized by an integrated swivel cover. An H on the stem denotes a pipe produced by Orlik. These pipes were often made in collaboration with Nutt Products Ltd or were sometimes stamped for Roy Tallent Ltd.

Other brands have crafted or distributed Hurricane type pipes stamped with their own name among which:

I think that the pipe I have is one of these collected pipes probably made in collaboration with Nutt Products Ltd. or Roy Tallent Ltd. There seem to have been a large number of these in a variety of shapes and formations that all came out about the same time in England and France. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff once again did an amazing job cleaning the pipe. The clean up was labour intensive because of the flip cap. It did not completely flip out of the way so there was a lot of maneuvering that had to happen to do the work on it. Both the inside of the cap and bowl underneath had to be cleaned so there were many more surfaces that needed attention. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and got rid of the cake. He cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He took the cake out completely so that we could see the walls of the bowl and assess for damage. He cleaned the internals of the cap, the shank and stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to get into the grooves around the flip top. He rinsed the pipe under warm water. He dried it off with a cloth and then let it air dry. The rim top cleaned up pretty good. I took pictures of the pipe before I started my work on it.   I took a close up photo of the rim top to show how clean it was with the lid closed and open. There was some darkening and a chip on the inner edge on the right front of the bowl. There were also some chips on the back edge of the salt and pepper rim cover. Overall the pipe looked impressive at this point in comparison to where it had started. The stem looked amazingly good with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable though faint in some spots.      I took a photo of the bowl and stem taken apart. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the remaining darkening on the inner edge of the bowl and nicks on the back edge of the wind cap. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and when finished the pipe looked better.     I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads (carefully avoiding the stamping). I used 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The bowl really took on a shine.     I used a Mahogany stain pen to restain the rim top to match the rest of the bowl. It looks very good and polishing will only make it better.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and Bakelite Wind Cap with my finger tips. The product is a great addition to the restoration work. It enlivens, enriches and protects the briar while giving it a deep glow. It is a product I use on every pipe I work on.  I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. Somewhere along the way the stinger was lost – no big loss that is my feeling! I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry 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 buffed the stem with a soft cloth to raise the shine.    I touched up the S stamp on the left side of the stem with some white acrylic fingernail polish. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick. Once it dried I scraped off the excess and it was much better.     As always I am excited to finish a pipe that I am working on. I put the Sparkless Sparkproof, Weatherproof Bent Egg 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 buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the grain popping around the bowl and shank along the polished hard rubber taper stem. It is beautiful, light and well balanced pipe. 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 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 52 grams/1.83 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the French Pipe Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. I want to keep reminding us of the fact that we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.

Breathing Life into a Jobey Shellmoor 200 Patent Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one that has been here for over three years. It is nice looking sandblasted bent Bulldog. We purchased it from an online auction on 06/18/19 in Huntington Station, New York, USA. It is a great looking pipe with lots of promise. The sandblast is quite rugged and there is a lot of dust and grit in the crevices. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank on the left side. The shape number 200 is followed by the Patent Number – PAT. 3537462. Above that it is stamped Jobey (in script) [over] Shellmoor. The bowl has a heavy cake and tobacco debris in the bowl with lava overflowing and filling in much of the sandblast on the rim top. The edges look quite good. Other than being dirty the finish is in good condition. The stem has a Jobey brass oval inlaid on the left side of the saddle stem. It has an saddle stem and is connected to the shank by the patented Jobey Link system. It is oxidized and has tooth chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. He took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the pipe. You can see the cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top. The stem photos also show the oxidation and tooth chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. He took photos of the sandblast on the sides and heel on the bowl. It really is a nice looking blast and shape.He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the diamond shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. There are some faint spots but it is readable. The Jobey brass oval logo stamp is inlaid on the top left side of the stem. Before I started to work on the pipe I wanted to understand the patent number on the shank. To understand the information I turned to the US Patent search site and entered the numbers. I was able to find both a description of the invention and a diagram that was submitted with the Patent application. The patent is for the Jobey Link that connects the stem and shank on the pipe. Here is the link to the site and a screen capture of the information found there. https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=03537462&SectionNum=1&IDKey=6F776849C285&HomeUrl=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1%2526Sect2=HITOFF%2526d=PALL%2526p=1%2526u=%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsrchnum.htm%2526r=1%2526f=G%2526l=50%2526s1=3537462.PN.%2526OS=PN/3537462%2526RS=PN/3537462 With that information, I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife.  He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove as much of the oxidation as possible. He soaked it in Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it with warm water. The acrylic stem was clean but had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was an Jobey Brass Oval logo inlaid on the left side of the stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. It was an amazing looking pipe.  I took photos of the rim top and bowl as well as the stem to give a sense of the condition of both. The rim top and edges looked very good. The stem cleaned up well and the tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button were very light.I took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. They are readable as noted above. I took the stem out of the shank and took a photo of the overall look of the pipe.The bowl was in excellent condition. The rim top and edges looked really good. I started my work by working some Before and After Restoration Balm into the surface of the sandblast bowl. It works to preserve, clean and renew the briar. I worked it into the crevices with a shoe brush. I let it sit for 10 minutes and then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The bowl really looked good at this point. I stopped by Lee Valley Tools to pick up some micromesh sanding pads and came across a new product that they had displayed. It is Clapham’s Beeswax Salad Bowl Finish  composed of mineral oil, beeswax and carnauba wax that is applicable without a buffer. I picked up a jar of it to try out and figured this sandblast finish would be a great test case. I applied it by hand and buffed it off with a soft cloth. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks on both sides. I sanded out the remaining tooth marks and chatter with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub all purpose cleanser and cotton pads to remove the residual oxidation that was still in the stem. It worked very well and the stem was greatly improved.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiping it down after each pad with some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both fine and extra fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. This Patent Jobey Shellmoor 200 Sandblast Bent Bulldog with a vulcanite saddle stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful grain on the briar shines through the polished finish is stunning. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Clapham’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 Jobey Shellmoor 200 Bent 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 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 36 grams/1.27 ounces. I will soon be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the American Pipe Makers Section. If you are interested in 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. There are many more to come!

Breathing New Life into a BBB Ultonia Sandblast Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another one that has been here for over five years. It is nice looking short, old style BBB Ultonia Billiard. We picked it up off eBay on 01/29/17 from a seller in Poughkeepsie, New York, USA. The shank is quite short but it is not cut off or damaged. It was designed that way. The sandblast is quite rugged and there is a lot of dust and grit in the crevices. The bowl has a moderate cake and tobacco debris in the bowl. The edges and rim top look quite good. Other than being dirty the finish is in good condition. The stem has a BBB diamond stamp on the left side. It has an older style straight taper cut to it. It is oxidized and has tooth chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. He took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the pipe. You can see the cake in the bowl and the light lava on the rim top. The stem photos also show the oxidation and tooth chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. He took a photo of the sandblast and the smooth heel on the bowl. It really is a nice looking blast and shape.He took photos of the stamping on the heel of the bowl and shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. There does not appear to be a shape number stamped on the pipe. The BBB Diamond stamp is visible on the left side of the shank. I turned to Pipephil’s site to see if it listed the Ultonia line (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-bbb.html). It did not but it gave a short summary of the brand. I quote:

BBB: ” Best British Briar” is now a brand of the Cadogan Company (Oppenheimer group). American rights to use the brand name were sold to Wally Frank in 1980. Founder of the brand in 1847: Louis Blumfeld. The oldest pipe brand name in the UK has been registered in 1876 (Blumfeld Best Briar) Grading (ascendant): Own Make, Bold Grain, Best Make, Rare Grain.

I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/BBB) to see if I could get some specific information on the Ultonia. I read through the history on the site and I quote the pertinent section of article below.

Louis Blumfeld develops from the very start of important international trade, with a particular success in Canada, in Australia, in Zealand News, India and in the extrème Is Europe, in Switzerland and, with a special mention, in Denmark. If the USA were never an extraordinary market, a branch is opened all the same in New York. In fact, the marketing strategy was focused especially on the countries of the Britanique Empire. Little before 1914, A Frankau & Co was also a sole agent for the pipes Cherry Wood of the Ropp house to cover the United Kingdom and its colonies.

If the BBB are its the most known pipes, A Frankau & Co had several marks of pipes: Capt. Kidd, Fairway (“F” in white; FAIRWAY/LONDON MADE/ENGLAND), Frankau’ S (London Made/Made in England), Glokar, Major Daff, the Snap-FIT. It also seems that Ultonia and Last word must be regarded as marks with whole share, in spite of the fact that they are presented as being product lines under label BBB. That would explain their absence of catalogues BBB…

… In the Thirties, the top-of-the-range one becomes “BBB Best Make” with alternatives like “Super Stopping” and “Ultonia Thule”. The BBB Carlton, sold with the detail with 8/6 in 1938, is equipped with a system complicated out of metal, system which equipped the BBB London Dry too. Blue Peter was not estampillées BBB but BBB Ultonia, and the BBB Two Star (* *) become the bottom-of-the-range one. The calabash leave the catalogues, but some pipes with case and some scums are still produced. The forms also are typical of this time: half are billiards, some princes and bullcaps, a limited number of bulldogs and curved. It is as at that time as the top-of-the-range series receive an incrustation of initials BBB out of metal, whereas the bottom-of-the-range series have only the engraved pipe.

With that information, I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife.  He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. There was some darkening on the inner edge of the rim and top that would need to be dealt with. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove as much of the oxidation as possible. He soaked it in Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it with warm water. The acrylic stem was clean but had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was an BBB Diamond logo on the left side of the stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. It was an amazing looking pipe. I took photos of the rim top and bowl as well as the stem to give a sense of the condition of both. The rim top and edges looked very good. The stem cleaned up well and the tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button were very light.I took photos of the stamping on the heel and underside of the shank. They are readable as noted above. I took the stem out of the shank and took a photo of the overall look of the pipe.The bowl was in excellent condition. The rim top and edges looked really good. I started my work by working some Before and After Restoration Balm into the surface of the sandblast bowl. It works to preserve, clean and renew the briar. I worked it into the crevices with a shoe brush. I let it sit for 10 minutes and then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The bowl really looked good at this point. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I touched up the BBB Diamond on the left side with some Rub’n Buff Antique Gold. I applied it to the stamp and worked it in with a tooth pick. I buffed it off and the stamping looks good. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiping it down after each pad with some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both fine and extra fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. This older BBB Ultonia Made in England Sandblast Billiard with a vulcanite taper stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful grain on the briar shines through 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 BBB Ultonia Billiard fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: 5/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 27 grams/.95 ounces. I will soon be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section. If you are interested in 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. There are many more to come!

Reviving a Vauen Luxus

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is a handsome Vauen, which I acquired from a Craigslist pipe lot. Although not an old pipe, it is a handsome one. It’s rather big and hefty, but not heavy, and feels good in the hand. I’m really glad that my customer picked out this pipe, as it has been sitting around unused for far too long. I’m happy that it has found a new home.This pipe is a Vauen Luxus 2013 chunky, bent billiard with a beautiful horn ferrule, It also takes a 9 mm filter. The stem has the traditional Vauen white dot (not unlike Dunhill’s) and, most interestingly, it has a P-lip, very reminiscent of Peterson’s. The ‘2013’ does not refer to the year of manufacture, rather, it refers to the shape number. The markings on the pipe are as follows: on the left side of the shank, it reads Vauen [over] Luxus. The underside of the shank shows the model number 2013, and the top of the stem shows the classic white Vauen dot.I searched on Pipedia for some history of the Vauen brand. Here’s what I found:

In 1848 Karl Ellenberger and his partner Carl August Ziener turned an idea into reality in Nuremberg. In the first German pipe manufacturing company they produced tobacco pipes from selected woods for connoisseurs throughout the world.

The Vereinigte Pfeifenfabriken in Nuremberg (known in short as VPFN) was brought into being in 1901 with the amalgamation with the Gebhard Ott pipe factory founded in 1866, also in Nuremberg. In this way, a business was created under the management of Ernst Eckert, a scion of the founding family Ott, and its products and services were to attend and shape the culture of tobacco and smoking in Europe and overseas for a long time – for 150 years now.

In the 1920s, VAUEN had taken out a trademark on a white dot on the mouthpiece for Germany and Austria, at the same time that Dunhill had done the same for the international market. The companies ended up in court with the result that Dunhill may use the white dot internationally, whereas VAUEN may use it only in Germany and Austria and has to use a differently-coloured dot for all other markets. They have used light blue and grey dots internationally since then. The white or coloured dot denotes the higher quality pipes of VAUEN; the lower-end pipes are only marked by the VAUEN imprint on the stem.

In the search for a term which would be easy for all pipe friends to remember and not confuse with anything else, Ernst Eckert’s son, Adolf Eckert coined a new name for the business in 1909.

VAUEN, consisting of the initial letters V (pronounced VAU) from Vereinigte Pfeifenfabriken and the N (pronounced EN) of Nuremberg. A brand name for the future had been created.

After 1945 Ernst Eckert, son of Adolf Eckert, succeeded in overcoming the destructive effects of the war with an unshakeable pioneering spirit. VAUEN grew to become a business with a worldwide reputation once more.

Alexander Eckert, now the fifth generation of pipemakers, has been at the head of the oldest German pipe-manufacturing company since 1982. The company, which has been in the hands of the founder’s family since it was established, is expanding again in importance as a result of increased international commitment.

Over at Pipephil.eu, they note that “Some of the pipes in Vauen’s Dr. Perl line (Germany) are equipped with a conventional P-lip stem.” In this context, the word ‘conventional’ is referring to the same P-lip invented by Peterson in 1898.

On to the pipe: given that it wasn’t very old, the pipe was in pretty good shape, but as usual, there were a couple of issues. The rim on the stummel was blackened and a bit burnt – that would need to be addressed. The insides were fairly dirty and would need some work to clean out. There were also some small fills in the wood, and they had ever-so-slightly expanded so that you could feel them when rubbing your finger over the surface. My customer didn’t want the fills dug out and replaced, so I would need to stain the fills instead. Mercifully, the beautiful horn was in good shape and wouldn’t need anything other than a polish. The stem needed some work. It was definitely dirty inside and the cavity that holds the filter would need a thorough cleaning. The stem also had some calcification and tooth marks/dents that would need addressing. In addition, the button would need to be reshaped. The stem was first on my list. I wiped down the outside of the stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame in order to lift the bite marks and dents. Unfortunately, this didn’t really work, but I have ways of sorting this problem out.

Then, I cleaned out the inside with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. It was pretty dirty and required quite a few pipe cleaners. Once this process was done, the stem went for an overnight soak in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover.The following day, I cleaned all of the de-oxidizing mess off with alcohol, pipe cleaners, et cetera. The oxidation had migrated to the surface and would be fairly straightforward to remove. I scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation on the stem.The bite marks on and around the button had to be dealt with, so I whipped out my black cyanoacrylate adhesive to fill those in and let them fully cure. 

I then sanded the adhesive down with 220-, 400-, and 600-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. Next, I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. On to the stummel, and the usual cleaning procedures were in order. The bowl really needed reaming so I used the KleenReem to remove the built-up cake and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper on a dowel to eliminate as much as possible. I took the chamber down to bare briar, as I wanted to ensure there were no hidden flaws. Fortunately, there were none. I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and isopropyl alcohol. There was quite a bit of filth inside these stummels and it took a lot of cotton to get them clean. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes.I used a toothbrush and some Murphy’s Oil Soap to scrub the outside of the stummel and then the lava on the rim of the pipe.The burn marks remained, so in order to remove the remaining burns and nicks on the rim, I “topped” the pipe – that is to say, I gently and evenly sanded down the rim on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. This effectively removed the damage, without altering the look of the pipe.A de-ghosting session also seemed in order, so I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused the oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this. Just before sanding, I covered the horn with painter’s tape to prevent any damage to it. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) on the stummel to make it lovely and smooth. After that, a light application of Before & After Restoration Balm brought out the best in the wood.In order to minimize the appearance of the fills, I opted to apply some stain to the wood. First, however, I used some furniture pens on the fills and the newly sanded rim to darken them a bit. I began by applying a layer of Fiebing’s Light Brown Leather Dye to the pipe. After applying the dye, flaming it with a BIC, and letting it set for a few hours, I wiped the stummel down with isopropyl alcohol to remove much of the dye. Then it was time for the second round of staining, following the same steps as before. Finally, it was off for a trip to the bench polisher. A dose of White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax were just what it needed. The lovely shine made the wood look absolutely beautiful. This Vauen Luxus looks fantastic and arise ready to be enjoyed again by the next owner. I know that the new owner will enjoy smoking it for many years to come. I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much I as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 6 in. (150 mm); height 2.3 in. (59 mm); bowl diameter 1.4 in. (35 mm); chamber diameter 0.8 in. (20 mm). The weight of the pipe is 2.5 oz. (72 g). Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.