Photographed and written by

John M. Young

I am strangely attracted to pipes that I call curiosities.  Pipes with potentially innovative designs created by dreamers who certainly thought they were creating a better way to enjoy the smoking of a pipe.  Reality frequently enters into the scene with most of these innovations and as usual, puts the invention to the test of the laws of physics and renders the idea a mere advertising ploy which does little but attract a buyer.  This reinforces the old saying, “A fool and his money are soon parted.”  Thank you Thomas Tusser for your words of wisdom from the mid-1500s.  And thank you inventors and dreamers for allowing me to test both your ideas and Mr. Tusser’s prediction.  I saw this SAMHARA pipe and was immediately attracted to it.  It reminded me of the Needham pipe (below photo) that I restored last year except this one has the screw placed on top of the shank rather than below.

I wondered what kind of internal drillings were used to rout the smoke from the bowl to the mouthpiece.  Well, curiosity and Mr. Tusser’s saying both won and enabled me to win the auction.  Surprisingly there were 3 other fools who were also intrigued by this curiosity.  The pipe made the journey from Scarborough, Maine to the wilds of southeast Nebraska and into my eager and foolish hands.  The pipe was stamped SAMHARA over PAT.PEND. over IMPORTED BRIAR.  Below are some photos of the pipe as it appeared shortly after being unboxed.

The stem was oxidized and would need a good deox regimen.  The briar had decades worth of accumulated dirt and dust to be cleaned off.  There was also a clear coat finish of some sort which I wanted to remove.  The tobacco chamber looked used but only lightly caked.  This looked to be a relatively easy clean-up and restoration.

Background

Surprisingly there was actually some information available on the Samara Pipe Company of pipedia.org.  Since it is fairly short I will include it in its entirety.

Samhara Pipe Co.

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Here we have an interesting system pipe. The Samhara Pipe Co. appears in U.S. patent records circa late 1940s.

Example and details, courtesy Benny King

Karl Harris, writes:

“The inventor was Samuel Harris from Dayton, Ohio. He was President of the Globe Clothing Company, Money Back Harris and Harris Clothing. He was born in Detroit Michigan, raised in Oakland, California which is across the Bay from San Francisco. The Family story was he slept through the legendary San Francisco earthquake of 1906. He graduated from the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio. He served as a Rabbi in Toledo Ohio for 4 years before settling in Dayton. He is my grandfather and last night I discovered four of his original unused Samhara Pipes in their boxes along with his notes and drawings.”

Note: Fantastic to have this information and history directly from Samuel’s grandson. Hopefully we will have more photos and additional notes to add soon.

Samhara Pipe ads, courtesy Karl Harris

Samhara Pipe Co. – Pipedia).  

The above advertisement clippings show a date of December 3, 1946 printed at the top of the above left photograph.  This leads me to the conclusion that this pipe is from that time.  

The only patent I could find for Samuel J. Harris is the below diagram and link to the text of the patent.  There was no mention of the SAMHARA pipe like the pipe in hand. 

(1498405586974277000-01976496).  There are two other applications filed, from Samuel J. Harris from Dayton, Ohio for a Combination skirt and trousers hanger and a Trousers display device.  With the same name, city, professional background (Clothing industry) and correct years active, I think it is safe to assume that this is the same Samuel J. Harris who was the inventor of the SAMHARA pipe.

Using photos and measurements from my pipe I was able to sketch out the drillings to approximate scale.  The photo below shows the drilled out area in light gray.  A photo of the actual tenon was scaled to fit the diagram.  At the time of this writing I have not yet begun the restoration, much less actually tried to smoke the pipe.  I have to say that I have reservations about the effectiveness of this system.  I can imagine the smoke leaving the tobacco chamber, being drawn up the angled airway expanding and cooling slightly in the small top chamber, then proceeding into the stem and to the smoker.  I cannot see the smoke going into the lower chamber (bowl-ward from the stem.  I can see condensation flowing down from the upper chamber into the stem.  I can also imagine condensation flowing into the lower chamber if the pipe were held at an angle where the bowl was lower than the button.  I cannot imagine the smoke circulating in the lower chamber as it would be drawn towards the mouth of the smoker.  The more I look at this diagram, the more I think that Samuel J. Harris’s invention was far less effective than he dreamt it was.  I am getting ahead of myself with this prediction though.  I need to get on with the restoration and test drive this old gal before making any claims.

The Restoration

As usual things began with a cleaned denim piece protecting the work surface.

The stem and airway screw were removed for cleaning.  I started with the stem on this restoration.

The screw was placed in a medicine cup with about 5 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol.

The stem was cleaned with bristle pipe cleaners dipped in the alcohol.  The exterior of the stem was rubbed with 0000 steel wool.

A pipe cleaner was inserted into the tenon of the stem to act as a hanger suspending it in the Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer.

I turned my attention to the stummel.  The reaming tools were gathered.  The PipNet, General triangular scraper, Smokingpipes Low Country Reamer and a wood dowel with 220 wrapped around it.  A dental scraper and brass shotgun bore brush was also used for cleaning the grooves inside the tobacco chamber.

The PipNet with it’s #2 blades did the majority of the reaming with the dental scraper used for the grooves.

The below photo is of the reaming with the dental scraper but also shows the one large fill which would be replaced.

Below is a photo of the reamed, clean grooved, and sanded tobacco chamber.  I noticed some charsing of the groove ridges.  This idea of providing grooves or ridges to help speed the cake building is an interesting idea but in my mind it would do little but provide greater surface area for fire to char the briar.  Which it appears to have done.

I tried to remove the existing finish from the stummel with a cotton swab dipped in acetone to test the effect.  It worked but was very slow.

The solution was an acetone bath.  The stummel was placed into my jar of acetone.  Fresh acetone was added to fill the jar completely.  The stummel was allowed to soak for 45 minutes.

The stummel was then removed from the acetone.  I used a brass brush dipped in the acetone to work the rusticated surface of the stummel and free any softened finish that remained.

The stummel was then wiped with a couple of make-up pads wetted with fresh acetone to remove the remaining clear coat.

While the tars in the airways were still soft from the acetone, I cleaned the airway with bristle pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

The acetone had evaporated during the airway cleaning and only a slight aroma of it remained.  I took the stummel to the sink for a scrub with a nylon brush and undiluted Murphy Oil Soap.  I thought that I may have done the scrubbing sequence out of order and maybe should have done it before the acetone bath.  It did remove debris from the stummel and discolored the soap lather so something was being removed.  The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton hand towel.

Returning to the workbench, I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol and ran an alcohol dipped pipe cleaner through the airway.  Both the make-up pad and the pipe cleaner came back with very little color.  This indicated that the inside and outside had been thoroughly cleaned;

The stem was allowed to spend 3 hours in the Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer (deox).  I removed it and hung it by the pipe cleaner to drip excess solution back into the jar.

I used a coarse cotton shop rag to scrub the stem.  This absorbs the remaining solution as well as helps to remove loosened oxidized vulcanite.

The below photo shows the removed material.

The stem was scrubbed with make-up pads sprinkled with Soft Scrub cleanser to further remove the oxidized vulcanite.  I failed to photograph this, apologies.  The stem was oiled and the project took an overnight break.

The next day I began sanding the stummel looking for fills which would need to be replaced or repaired.  

I only found one that I thought needed attention and it was actually in two places as it went from the side to the rim.

The old fill was picked out using a fly tying bodkin.

The plan was to apply a coating of brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) to the pit then add briar dust to fill the missing material. 

The CA was applied.

Briar dust was then added and pressed into the wet CA.

A top coat of brown CA was applied.  This was allowed to cure on its own.

Once cured, the new fill was filed with a small flat file then sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge.

A second view of the fill from the side.

A view of the fill from the top (it is at the 11:00 position)

The pipe was then sanded with a sequence of sanding sponges from 400-3500 grit.  The stampings on this pipe were very deep.  This led me to think that I could sand the stamped area very lightly without protecting it with a layer of tape.  The stem and stummel were together as I was sanding both pieces.  Between each sponge I wiped the stummel with an alcohol wetted make-up pad.  The stem was rubbed with mineral oil and wiped with a dry paper towel.

The pipe was then worked with micro-mesh pads 4000-12000.  Between each pad the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad dipped in alcohol.  The stem was rubbed and wiped as above but Obsidian Oil was used in place of mineral oil.

I coated the briar with Before and After Restoration Balm worked into the rustications with a baby toothbrush.  The balm was allowed to sit and work its magic for 20 minutes.

The remaining balm was removed with an inside out athletic sock.

The pipe was then taken to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax.  I applied minimal pressure to the stummel while waxing in an attempt to keep the wax only on the smooth surfaces.  The rustications would receive Renaissance Microcrystalline Wax applied with a baby toothbrush and hand buffed with a microfiber polishing cloth.

Overall the restoration of this SAMHARA pipe restoration ended very well.  The finish of the briar provides a glimpse of lovely grain on the smooth surfaces.  I think the carvings are less than attractive and seem a bit cartoony.  The stem polished very nicely and provides a nice contrast to the rustic briar.  The one large fill that was redone blended in well and is barely noticeable.  Now the big question:  “How does the SAMHARA System perform?”  For this test I wasted a neutral Virginia based tobacco so, I chose Orlik Golden Sliced tobacco.  The bowl was filled to approximately 2/3rds.  The pipe had a nice draw though it did feel slightly constricted.  Once lit the pipe performed well.  The briar of the bowl was thick enough to disperse the heat of smoking without getting hot in hand.  The smoking session lasted around 45 minutes and was cool and dry to the mouth.  I usually sip Virginias but I tried to push this one a couple of times.  The smoke never did feel too hot in my mouth nor with the pipe in hand.  Was this a great “game changing” invention? No, I don’t think it was.  Clever and innovative yes, but hardly providing noticeable improvements.  The grooves to aid cake development merely provide more surface for charring of briar to occur.  The convoluted airway path perhaps would have led to condensing some water from steam but nothing that Peterson System pipe had not been doing for over 50 years.  Alltold, this is an interesting pipe and another advertising gimmick more than an improvement for the pipeman.  If you are interested I thoroughly cleaned the pipe after the Orlik Golden Sliced smoke and documented that at the very end, after the “finished pipe” photos The dimensions of the SAMHARA are:     

Length:  5.61 in./ 142.49 mm.

• Weight:  1.45 oz./ 41.11 g.
• Bowl Height:  1.85 in./  46.99 mm.
• Chamber Depth:  1.46  in./ 37.08 mm.
• Chamber Diameter:  0.78 in./ 19.81 mm. (Conically bored diameter is at the top)
• Outside Diameter:  1.50 in./ 38.10 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 completed SAMHARA pipe.

The test smoke:  ⅔ bowl of Orlik Golden Sliced.

The post smoke ash tray.

The down bowl photo post smoke.

I cleaned the airway with alcohol dipped pipe cleaners.

The down mortise photo.  This shot was taken after cleaning the airway and does contain some alcohol from that cleaning in the lower chamber thus making it look “wetter” than it did after the test smoke.

The stem was then cleaned with alcohol dipped pipe cleaners.