Photographed and written by
John M. Young
I’m pretty sure that the saying, “An apple a day, keeps the doctor away” was in reference to the apple shape of pipes. Although, the only lines that my doctor seems to say are; “You should lose 30 pounds” and “exercise more”. I think I’ll take a walk with this BBB 165 once it is restored. This lovely pipe, well soon to be a lovely pipe, came to me via an eBay auction. How could I say no to this listing:
Besides, I was the only bidder for the “Chubby” darling. The pipe was obviously well made with great grain, minimal fills, and a very tight fit between the stem and shank. The stamps read; BBB in a diamond, OWN MAKE (with the KE very faint) over VIRGIN on the left side. On the right shank was stamped MADE IN LONDON over ENGLAND and 165. I assumed this to be the shape number associated with this model. The stem had an inlaid metal logo consisting of a diamond with B over BB within the diamond. Below are some photos of the BBB upon arrival here in southeast Nebraska.
This looked like a straightforward restoration with no hidden weirdisms. I like straightforward without weirdisms.
Background
I think this was the first BBB pipe that I had worked on certainly, the first I blogged about. I first turned to pipephil.eu for a search of BB logos. Here I found the following:
There are several examples of BBB lines but nothing on the OWN MAKE VIRGIN. The good news was that this was definitely not a cheap Chinese BBB reproduction or copy. Side note: Is that even a thing? I have heard of Dunhill imitations but that had nothing to do with the Chinese.
Next, I turned to pipedia.org. Here I found a plethora of information on the brand. There was a link to a history of BBB which the pipedia entry is taken from, Genesis and history of Adolph Frankau & Co Ltd written by Benoit de Liège.
(Pipe Smokers – BBB, by Benoit de Lège (fumeursdepipe.net)). This piece is a fascinating look at the history of the company and the 18 year old Luis Blumfeld who was given charge of the firm and is the origin of the first “B” in BBB. I will include an excerpt and recommend the article for those interested. I used the translation function in Google to translate the French to English and it did a fine job.
In 1847, Adolph Frankau arrived in London and quickly understood the opportunities presented by the rapidly expanding tobacco market. He founded the company “Adolph Frankau & Co” and became an importer of meerschaum pipes and tobacco-related supplies. He took under his wing a 14-year-old boy, Louis Blumfeld. The business prospered quickly until the death of Adolph Frankau in 1856. His widow is preparing to sell the company.
Enter Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), author of “Heroes and Hero Worship”. The latter advised Mrs. Frankau not to sell, but to entrust the future of the company to the young Louis Blumfeld, then 18 years old. Carlyle must have had a very high opinion of the young Louis, and this confidence was justified by his handling of the case, his enthusiasm, and his inexhaustible energy. Louis quickly realised, like others, the great potential of La Bruyère, whose interest had just been recognised.
Louis Blumfeld developed important international trade relations from the very beginning, with particular success in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and the far east of Europe, Switzerland and, with a special mention, Denmark. Although the USA has never been an extraordinary market, a branch is still open in New York. In fact, the commercial strategy focused mainly on the countries of the British Empire. Shortly before 1914, A Frankau & Co was also the exclusive dealer for Ropp’s Cherry Wood pipes to cover the United Kingdom and its colonies.”
(Pipe Smokers – BBB, by Benoit de Lège (fumeursdepipe.net)).
The below quote discusses the quality of various BBB ranges. This includes the metal inlays as seen with this BBB 165 Large Apple.
“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.
Middle of the years 1950 with that of the Sixties, the lines are relatively stable. At the top, Own Make “Rare Grain”, then the line virgin with hearth in scum, Own Make “Virgin”, Own Make “Walnut” and finally Own Make “Thorneycroft”.” (BBB – Pipedia)
Based on the information above the metal “incrustation of initial BBB” represents a “top-of-the-range” quality of this BBB.
The identical stamping of a pipe can also be found on pipedia.org and is shown below.
BBB Virgin and nomenclature, courtesy Doug Valitchka
The 1960 BBB catalog had images of the VIRGIN line as well as the 165 large Apple shape.
Taken in its entirety, the above information indicates that the BBB Own Make Virgen 165 is a high quality pipe fashioned between the mid-1950s-1960s.
The Restoration
As usual the restoration began with a fresh piece of denim on the workbench.
The ream team was gathered and included the PipNet reaming tool with #2 blades, Smokingpipes Low Country reaming knife, General triangular scraper (with the tip ground round) and a wood dowel wrapped in 220 sandpaper.
There was a surprisingly large amount of cake in the bowl. The previous owner was a “whole bowl” smoker with the cake running all the way to the bottom of the tobacco chamber.
The PipNet tool was a near perfect fit of this bowl and only slight scraping with the other tools was needed.
After sanding the interior of the chamber to bare briar I could see very slight spider webbing. I thought that a bowl coating of maple syrup and carbon powder would be more than sufficient to protect the briar from further damage.
The below two photos are out of sync with the restoration. The first shows the spider webbing of heat damage. I coated the bowl with maple syrup and dusted it with carbon powder at the end of the restoration. The second photo shows the bowl coating.
The rim had a bit of lava on the surface. I hoped that there was no damage to the rim beneath the lava. I moistened the deposits with saliva and gently scraped it with a sharp pocket knife.
The scraped rim showed little damage – Yay!
The stummel was taken to the sink where it was scrubbed with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a nylon scrub brush. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton face towel.
Back at the workbench I could see that the stummel had not received a clear coat. Perhaps this was what BBB referred to as “virgin”. The briar looked as though it had been stained with a medium brown stain. The grain was quite pretty and I decided to do as little as possible to the stummel.
I began cleaning the shank with 95% ethyl alcohol on cotton swabs. Once the yuck (technical pipe restorer term for smoking residue) was softened, I proceeded to scrape the airway with a dental scraper. I then poured 3-4 ml of ethyl alcohol into the bowl and allowed it to flow into the shank. Using a nylon shank brush I scrubbed the airway and poured the alcohol into a medicine cup. The scraping, scrubbing and swabbing continued.
Several cycles of the above finally yielded a clean stairway within the shank.
The stem was lightly sanded to assess the level of oxidation. Prior to the sanding I covered the logo with a piece of painters tape to protect it. The stem material was discolored like vulcanite but softened with the 95% ethyl alcohol like phenolic plastic (Bakelite) does. I proceeded to clean the airway with several bristle pipe cleaners dipped in the alcohol.
There were a couple of tooth dents on the button that received small drops of black cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue). The CA was allowed to cure on its own without the use of a CA drying accelerator.
While the CA was curing, I examined the stummel for pits which needed to be filled. I only found one. I placed a small drop of brown CA on the pit and allowed it to cure.
The cured CA was filed and sanded smooth.
The stem was also filed and sanded smooth
I taped over the stamps on the shank with painters tape and proceeded to sand the pipe with a series of sanding sponges from grits 400-3500. Between each sponge I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol. The stem was rubbed with mineral oil and wiped with a paper towel between sanding sponges.
The pipe was then micro-meshed with pads 4000-12000. Again the stummel was wiped with alcohol between pads while the stem was rubbed with Obsidian Oil and wiped with a paper towel.
I applied a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm to the entire pipe and set the timer for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes I wiped the excess balm from the pipe with an inside out athletic sock.
The pipe was then taken to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax. The final step was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth.
This BBB was restored beautifully. I am not sure about the definition that BBB used for their version of “Virgin”. In my mind that would be an unstained briar finished only with love and wax. This pipe appears to have been stained with a medium brown previously. I am not being critical, it is a lovely shade of brown and the stain shows off the grain very nicely. The stem cleaned and polished well. The material of the stem reacted with 95% ethyl alcohol like Bakelite rather than vulcanized rubber. Either way the high gloss finish of the stem provides a beautiful contrast to the briar. The apple shape is a favorite of mine so, I may be a little bit jaded by calling this pipe beautiful. I am sure that it will once again provide it’s new steward with hours of great smoke and contemplation. The dimensions of the BBB Own Make Virgin 165 Large Apple are:
- Length: 5.43 in./ 137.92 mm.
- Weight: 1.43 oz./ 40.04 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.74 in./ 44.20 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.21 in./ 30.73 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.74 in./ 18.80 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.45 in./ 36.83 mm.
I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.
Below are some photos of the finished BBB Own Make Virgin 165 Large Apple.
NebraskaPeteGeek 