NebraskaPeteGeek

A Commissioned Peterson System 2 Restoration

October 10th, 2024

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

Being asked to restore a family heirloom is a flattering and frightening request. Flattered because the owner of the piece thinks highly of your ability to restore the item yet frightening because ethos is a one of a kind item that carries significant personal meaning. In this case personal and historical family meaning as well.

Background

Earlier this month I was contacted via email by a gentleman who had seen a link to my blog on Mark Irwin’s Peterson Pipe Notes. Below is an excerpt from an early email:

“I’m wondering if you do restoration work for others as well as for yourself?

I have an old Peterson System pipe that had belonged to my father’s Uncle, Richard McNamara. He would have bought the pipe while stationed in Northern Ireland as a technician with Lockheed Aircraft. He died unexpectedly in 1943 while still in Northern Ireland.

I intend to pass the pipe along to my nephew. I had sent it to Peterson’s for their assessment to date it and to clean it up a bit. I received a nice note from Glen Whelan, who set the pipe in the 1930’s/1940’s.

So, if you do restorations of this sort, I be happy to have you restore this pipe.”

I asked if it was possible to see some photos of the pipe in question to assess what I would recommend for the restoration. The following five photos were sent by the owner.

The pipe looked to be in very good condition. I replied,

“That is a beauty. I am assuming the Peterson boys told you that the pipe was probably from 1937-1945ish. That would be my guess anyway. Here is what I see that you may want to have restored:

The stem – Looks great. There are some very small scratches around the ferrule. Micro-meshing and a white diamond buff should make it like new.

The Cap – I saw a couple of small dents. The cap can be removed and the dents pressed/tapped out. Then polished and reglued into the original position.

The Stummel – The dings from contact with a rough surface can be 1) filled with cyanoacrylate and briar dust. This will smooth them but will also make for dark spots where each dent is. Or, 2) The dents can be steamed to see if the briar can rebound back. This may lessen the dent but probably not remove it.

The Internals – a general cleaning and yuck removal. “Yuck” is a highly technical restoration term referring to smoking residue. When in abundance, it can be called “yucky”.”

The owner replied,

“Thanks, it is a nice pipe with a special heritage.

All I got from Peterson’s was that it was from the 1930/40’s. But from further investigation I have learned that the 1937-1945 span is correct. Now, I’m assuming that my Uncle bought the pipe new as he was in Northern Ireland from about 1939 to 1943. I have photos of his travels to Dublin, so I’ll further my assumption that he bought it from Peterson’s.

Anyway, i agree with your suggestions about the stem and cap. I saw some crud around the button and the dents on the cap. As for the Stummel, I think I’d just as soon leave the dents as they are. After all, as far as I am aware, only my uncle Richard and I have used the pipe in it’s 80ish years, so, in my mind, it adds a touch of being authentic with continuity. The internals will need a cleaning. I don’t have the pipe in front of me now, it’s packed away in my pipe bin in our RV basement. I’ll pull it out in a day or two and check the bowl etc., but I don’t think it’s too bad.”

We agreed on the work to be done and arranged for shipping. A few days later the pipe arrived and was photographed prior to any work.

Though there was no sign of a shape number stamp, I think this is a 307 shape.

“The 307 is an original Patent bent billiard-shape, shown in the 1896 catalog as shape 9. It has retained its original shape number in the De Luxe version, but was issued in the 1937 catalog as the 307 (2nd quality) / 357 (3rd quality). Since then, it has also appeared as the 9S and 9B (De Luxe), Dunmore System 78 (1978-1983), and the Classic Range 9BC (1940s-1950s) / XL90 (1980s-Present). The 9B dating from the 1940s-1960s (the De Luxe System with a tapered rather than saddle bit) is rarely seen on the estate market. There have been changes in the shape since the 1960s, all toward less “cheeking,” making earlier versions, when available, preferable to those wishing to get back to the first, classic iteration of the shape.” (https://petersonpipenotes.org/146-a-guide-to-system-shapes-1896-2019-part-1-the-300-shape-group/). The 1937 issue of the SYSTEM 2 coincides precisely with the provenance of the pipe.

When I first received the pipe I thought that something had gone wrong like the wrong pipe was shipped. There were no dents on the left side of the stummel. Adding further to my confusion, which is pretty easy to do by the way, was the stem. A Peterson System 2 should have a bone tenon extension or “chimney”, as the Peterson factory folks call them. This tenon was smooth, without threads, and looked to be about 9mm. A closer examination of the pipe and comparison to the photos indicated that it was the same pipe pipe from the initial photos based on briar grain patterns. I could make out well done fills where the dents were supposed to be and there were slight bumps in a newly acquired finish. The finish looked like a lacquer and stain combo which had been sprayed on or maybe a lacquer sprayed onto a still damp stain. It also looked like the stem had received some of the lacquer then had been buffed with carnauba wax.

I emailed the owner with my questions. While awaiting a response I began working on the pipe.

The Restoration

As usual the pipe was taken to the workbench where it was placed on a relatively clean denim piece.

Next the tobacco chamber was reamed using the PipNet and #2 blades. The General triangular scraper and Smokingpipes Low Country Reamers also saw limited action. The chamber was then sanded with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel. The sanding resulted in seeing the condition of the briar within the chamber which showed no signs of any damage from excessive heating or charring.

The stummel was then taken to the sink for a scrubbing with Murphy Oil Soap with a nylon scrub brush. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton hand towel.

Back at the workbench the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. This removed a good deal of color. Apparently the pipe had received a clear coat of some kind and a recent dye or stain. I could not believe that this was the original stain from the 1930’s or early 1940.

The stem was cleaned out with bristle pipe cleaners and ethyl alcohol and showed that the pipe was being well cared for and cleaned after use.

Oxidation, however, does not care how well a pipe is cared for and attacks at every chance it gets. This stem showed signs of oxidation though not very severe. I decided to remove the oxidation with Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer. The stem had a pipe cleaner inserted into the mouthpiece to act as a hanger and entered the deoxidizer solution.

During the reaming, I noticed an off smell from the removed cake. It was not a foul smell, just a slightly sour hint. I decided to give the stummel an alcohol treatment to remove any traces of old smoking and tobacco residue. I packed the tobacco chamber and shank with cotton and filled the respective volumes with 95% ethyl alcohol. The stummel was propped up to allow the alcohol levels to remain level while filled.

The below photo is after two hours of the alcohol treatment. The shank was discoloring far more than the tobacco chamber.

During this waiting time I was able to check emails. Yeah I know, a phone can be used to check emails but I’m old and stubborn. Phones are for calling, texting and photos. Typing is done on a computer. Anyway, the owner had gotten back to me regarding my questions about the condition of the pipe. He had said that he had sent the pipe to Peterson in Dublin.

“Perhaps the boys at Peterson’s did more than I realized. Good on them.”

“I just checked the box in which the pipe was returned from Peterson’s and the extra stem they sent does not match the curvature of the stem in my pictures. So, the stem you have is likely the original.

As for the 9mm part, perhaps that allowed for a bone extension rather a filter, but it’s just a guess.”

The timeline was making sense to my old brain now:

1) Original photos were taken.

2) The pipe was sent to Peterson’s in Dublin. While there the stummel fills were done and a new finish was applied.

3)The pipe was sent to me.

The tenon still was giving me confusion. There were no threads for a bone extension. I knew that Peterson did have a line of Filter pipes which were described in the 1947 catalog but this pipe pre-dated that by several years. I emailed the owner that I’d like to reachout to Mark Irwin for his thoughts. The owner agreed.

Below is the correspondence between me and Mark Irwin:

Subject: Hate to bother you

Hi Mark,

You know those four words in the subject line are going to be followed by “but…” right?

I got a commission to restore an old Pete for a gentleman whose granduncle picked it up while stationed in northern Ireland around 1940, just prior to his unexpected passing in 1943. I figured the pipe was from 1937-1945. My question is why in the world does it have what appears to be a 9mm (though it is smaller than 9mm) filter type stem? There are no threads for a bone tenon. Any idea or just rack it up to “it’s probably a replacement stem”.

“Hey John,

My best guess is that this pipe was drilled for a “Good Health” K&P 6mm filter. You can see a photo of the filter box in the identification guide at the back of the big Pete book, as these still sometimes appear on eBay. Try measuring it with your micrometer and seeing if you think a 6mm would fit!” (Mark Irwin, personal email)

Another potential piece of the puzzle – The stem appeared to have been drilled for one of the early GOOD HEALTH stems. Since it was already a Peterson System 2, today’s equivalent of a “Deluxe”, it was also not stamped as a GOOD HEALTH though it did receive a GOOD HEALTH stem. I notified the owner and he was pleased with the new information.

Time to get back to work. After 3 hours the stem was removed from deox. That is my term for the Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizing solution. Kind of a play on the idea of detoxification or detox used for drug and alcohol abuse patients in rehab. The stem was hung by its pipe cleaner on a tall bottle and allowed to drip excess solution back into the jar.

After dripping, I hand buffed the stem with a coarse shop rag. The coarse material both absorbs the excess solution and helps abbrade some of the oxidized rubber from the stem.

The next step was to scrub the stem with Soft Scrub applied to make-up pads. This mild abrasive cleanser further removes oxidized surface material from the stem.

After the Soft Scrub scrub, that’s just fun to say, the stem was worked with a series of sanding sponges from 400-3500 grits. Between each sponge I rubbed the stem with mineral oils and wiped it with a clean dry paper towel.

The sanding was followed by micro-meshing with pads 4000-12000. Between each of the pads the stem was rubbed with Obsidian Oil and wiped with a paper towel.

At this point the stummel was still having the yuck removed the the ethyl alcohol as it slowly evaporated pulling the yuck from the briar and depositing it in the cotton. That continued overnight. In the morning I removed the cotton. It had done a fine job at removing any trace of smell from the tobacco chamber, reservoir and shank.

The stummel was then worked with micro-mesh pads from 2400-12000. The 2400 pad removed the finish which can be seen wiped onto the denim and on the two alcohol dampened make-up pads in the photo below. Between each pad the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad for removing debris from the micro-meshing.

After the micro-meshing the stummel received a coat of Before and After Restoration Balm and was allowed to sit for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes the balm was wiped from the stummel using an inside out athletic sock.

The briar of the shank was covered with painters tape to protect the wood and the silver ferrule was lightly polished with the micro-mesh pads. After the peds I polished the silver with Before and After Fine and Extra Fine Polish. I failed to photograph the earlier steps of this process but did capture the final step.

The stem and stummel were taken to the buffer where they were buffed with Blue Diamond Polishing compound on a flannel wheel. Reunited with the stummel, both then received several coats of carnauba wax. The pipe was finally hand buffed with a microfiber polishing cloth to further raise the shine.

I can’t say what my favorite part of this restoration was. The pipe was a beautiful example of Irish craftsmanship by Peterson. The family history and the story of the great uncle were the things that I always wish I could know about these old pipes. The mysterious details of the pipe stem and the path that the pipe took, both geographically and through time, to get to me were a fun exploration. The happiness and gratitude of the owner upon receiving the restored piped was also fulfilling. Being honored and trusted to work on a family heirloom is daunting but exciting. All of these were part of this restoration and all of them were unique and unforgettable. The pipe turned out beautifully. I don’t mean to speak disparagingly about the clean-up that the Peterson crew did. Their fills were impressive but a custom hand polishing and finish is something that a manufacturing shop cannot take the time to do. I failed to mention in the above blog that I could not remove the silver ferrule. I tried seeping both ethyl alcohol and acetone into the glue to loosen it. I tried heating with a heat gun and even speaking softly and gently but I could not get the silver to budge. In the end I emailed the owner and admitted failure. He was understanding and we both agreed that the dents added to the history of the pipe.

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 Peterson System 2.
A Kaywoodie Matched Grain 10 Bent Billiard Restoration

October 8th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

Oh to have both of the pipes in this matched pair. I don’t mean to complain as this was part of an estate lot where I was targeting a single pipe. The target was a Peterson meerschaum Dublin 120. This pipe was just an innocent bystander caught up in the crazed Peterson Pipe Acquisition Disorder (PPAD) that wreaks havoc on my life occasionally. If you are curious regarding the meerschaum pipe here is the link to that restoration. Below is a screenshot from the original eBay listing back on August 4 of 2024. There was a second Kaywoodie but a White Briar is no Matched Grain.

The lot came from Rockmart, Georgia and did have several interesting pipes. Below are some photos of the Matched Grain prior to working on it.

“Free tobacco with the purchase of one chomped on Kaywoodie.” I don’t think that advertising campaign will catch on.

The stummel needed almost nothing except the general lava cleaning, reaming and cleaning, the stem on the other hand… You may have noticed that the stem immediately behind the button had been filed. I did that before I took the above photos. I was thinking about how to reinforce the button for its reconstruction. So in full transparency, there was a little bit of work done to the pipe prior to the above photos.

Background

I am using pipedia.org’s Collector’s Guide to Kaywoodie Pipes to tell the history of the company and the Matched Grain lines as they are far better at it than this lazy writer. “According to Hacker (1), the firm of Kaufmann Bros. & Bondy (KB&B) began producing the Kaywoodie (2) Pipe in 1915. Hacker notes that:

“The company was originally started in 1851 in New York by two brothers named Kaufmann, who sold meerschaums and clays that a third :brother sent them from Vienna. Business thrived and in 1854 the Kaufmanns took in a partner named Bondy. … The three partners retired :in 1898, but their relatives continued on with the firm, which had begun to manufacture their own briar pipes under the KB&B trademark. :In 1915 the Kaywoodie brand was created as a marketing umbrella for a new briar pipe which the KB&B company introduced. …”‘

The “marketing umbrella” mentioned by Hacker included lower grade Kaywoodies that were later marketed under the “Yello-Bole” name. (According to a 1948 Yello-Bole catalog, “Yello-Boles have been on the market since 1933. About 25 millions of these pipes have been sold”). Hacker concludes his history of Kaywoodie Pipes by noting that:

“The KB&B briar pipe brand existed from 1900 until just after World War I (with some overlapping with the Kaywoodie from 1915 — 1917), :and collectors refer to the KB&B as a Kaywoodie transition pipe. During the early years of the 20th century a number of filter systems :were designed by the KB&B firm and incorporated into their Kaywoodie Pipes under the names of Synchro-Stem and Kaywoodie Drinkless3 :filters. During the late 1920’s and throughout the 30’s the Kaywoodie became a highly respected pipe in spite of its filter system (which :was popular among many smokers of the era) primarily due to the fine quality of the straight grain and the flame grain models. :Unfortunately, the hard-to-get-briar years of World War II marked the decline of the Kaywoodie Pipe, a plummet from which it has never :recovered as far as collectors are concerned….”

The pre-Kaywoodie KB&B pipes were marked on the shank with a cloverleaf around KB&B. Some early Kaywoodies had this same marking on the shank, but the practice was dropped some time prior to 1936. Yello-Boles also had KBB in the leaf on the shanks, but did not have the ampersand found on Kaywoodies.

Early (pre-1936) Kaywoodies had an “elongated” white cloverleaf on the bit, a large fitment, and four-digit shape numbers. The 1936 catalog shows a larger, “fuller” leaf, but lists two-digit shape numbers. Sometime between 1936 and 1947, the better pipes were marked on the bits with a black cloverleaf in a white circle. The white cloverleaf continued on the lesser pipes. However, this was not a consistent convention, as pipes of the same grade could have either type of leaf.

The S.M. Frank Co. now owns the Kaywoodie name, but no longer makes pipes. However, Italian made “drugstore” grade Kaywoodies are still being marketed in this country. These Italian-made Kaywoodies have a “whiteoutline” cloverleaf logo.

Pipedia Editor’s Note: Thankfully, Kaywoodies are again being made in the U.S. ”

(https://pipedia.org/wiki/Collector%27s_Guide_to_Kaywoodie_Pipes#A_Partial_Chronology_of_Kaywoodie_Grades,_Shapes_and_Prices_(1936_-_1969))

The following discusses the logos seen on this Matched Grain Kaywoodie:

“Some of the pre-1936 Kaywoodies were stamped (on the shank) with a cloverleaf around KBB. Sometime between 1936 and 1947, the better pipes were marked with a black cloverleaf inside a white dot. However, because many of the pipes in the 1968-69 catalog still show this type of logo, the black-in-white logo merely indicates a “post 1936” vintage.” (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Collector%27s_Guide_to_Kaywoodie_Pipes#A_Partial_Chronology_of_Kaywoodie_Grades,_Shapes_and_Prices_(1936_-_1969))

The Kaywoodie shape 10 has remained very consistent in catalogs since if first appeared in the 1936 catalog as appears from the Collector’s Guide yo Kaywoodie Pipes:

“1936 Kaywoodie Shape Numbers and Descriptions

Shape Number and Description
- 10 — Curved Medium Billiard”
“1947 Kaywoodie Shape Numbers and Descriptions
- 10 — Medium Billiard, Full Bent”
“1955 Kaywoodie Shape Numbers and Descriptions
- 10 — Medium Billiard, Full Bent”
“1968-69 Kaywoodie Shape Numbers and Descriptions
- 10 — Small Full Bent Billiard”
(https://pipedia.org/wiki/Collector%27s_Guide_to_Kaywoodie_Pipes#A_Partial_Chronology_of_Kaywoodie_Grades,_Shapes_and_Prices_(1936_-_1969))

The below Kaywoodie Lines and their dates are clipped from the Guide and are a compilation:

“THE 1947 KAYWOODIE LINE OF PIPES

The Matched Grain first appears in the 1947 catalog. According to the Collector’s Guide or Kaywoodie Pipes: “In addition to these individual pipes, the 1947 catalog shows two- and seven-pipe matched grain sets(5).
- Two-Pipe Matched Grain Setb: $25.00
- Seven-Pipe Matched Grain Setc: $125.00”
“THE 1955 KAYWOODIE LINE OF PIPES

The line-up of pipes in the 1955 catalog (Table 3) was more extensive than in previous years. The catalog presented an expanded line of meerschaum pipes and introduced a 4-pipe set of Matched Grain Pipes, as well as several pipes with “special features”.”
- Matched Grain Set (4-Pipes): $50.00
- Matched Grain Set (7-Pipes): $125.00”
“THE 1968-69 KAYWOODIE LINE OF PIPES

In addition to the two-, five-, and seven-pipe Matched Grain pipe sets listed in Table 4, the 1968-69 catalog introduced the Presentation Pipe. The catalog states that in “Every 8 or 10 thousand briar blocks, we come across a single piece that is as near to perfection as briar can get. This rare find is set aside and turned over to a master pipe craftsman. He lovingly sees this precious briar through each step, until it takes shape as one of the rarest pipes in the century.” The Presentation Pipe was packaged in a walnut grain, velvet lined, leather case. (See Section 3.5 for description of other Kaywoodie Presentation Pipes).”
- Matched Grain Sets:
  - 2 Pipesa: $75.00
  - 5 Pipes: $175.00
  - 7 Pipesa: $250.00”
“Presentation Collection. “The most illustrious collection of pipes ever assembled – the Kaywoodie Presentation Collection. It presents a set of 28 Kaywoodie Matched Grain Pipes . . . pipes as perfectly, flawlessly, magnificently matched as a string of rare Oriental pearls. Over 500,000 blocks of pristine briar must be sorted to find just one such matched collection; hence no more than 12 sets can be produced in any one year. Hand fashioned from tapered bit to burnished bowl, every pipe in this Collection becomes a prized possession. A Carved Headbriar [see note concerning “carved heads” in the discussion of Heirloom pipes, Section 3.4], a Calabash and a Meerschaum complete this Collection of 31 pipes. This precious ensemble is housed in a custom-designed walnut cabinet of distinguished elegance. It contains a tobacco humidor and a handy compartment for pipe smoking utensils. A brass plate, engraved with the recipient’s name, personalizes the presentation” (Price: $2500). The Presentation Collection did not appear in the 1955 catalog, but was apparently introduced shortly thereafter. A “brief” article in the September 17, 1956 issue of Newsweek supports this contention. The article, entitled “Pipe Dream”, contains a photo of the Presentation Collection, which is described as the “costliest pipe set ever marketed in the U.S.” (Lowndes notes that a small (undated) WWII era catalog showed the Presentation Collection in a smaller cabinet with legs that sold for $1000.)”

(https://pipedia.org/wiki/Collector%27s_Guide_to_Kaywoodie_Pipes#A_Partial_Chronology_of_Kaywoodie_Grades,_Shapes_and_Prices_(1936_-_1969))

From all of the above we can be assured that this pipe was indeed part of a set. Most likely it was one of a pair of pipes made between 1947 and 1969. Its companion piece or pieces are lost to time thus reducing the value and importance but not the beauty of the selected briar and the craftsmanship that went into this pipe.

The Restoration

In the beginning there was clean denim. Kind of a Genesis vibe to the resurrection of this lovely pipe.

I started with the stem. It was lightly sanded with a 600 grit sanding sponge to remove the hardened oxidation and surface grime.

Next, the stem had a pipe cleaner inserted into the tenon to act as a hanger and it was submerged into the jar of Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer. Here it sat for 4 hours.

The stummel was exorcized of the remnant tobacco.

The ream team was gathered and included the PiNet, Smokingpipes Low Country reaming knife, General triangular scraper and wood dowel wrapped in 220 sandpaper.

The reaming was quickly completed and the bowl sanded to bare briar. This revealed no damage to the interior of the tobacco chamber.

The rim was moistened with saliva and gently scraped with a sharp pocket knife.

The scraped rim looked mostly free of any charring.

I tried a scrub with 95% ethyl alcohol on a make-up pad to assess the finish on the briar. The pad turned a yellow brown indicating that the finish was susceptible to ethyl alcohol.

I took the stummel to the sink for a scrub with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a nylon scrub brush. The soap lather turned a yellow brown color with scrubbing. This was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton dish towel.

Back at the workbench the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad with 95% ethyl alcohol and more of the finish was removed. The result was a finish-free stummel with lovely grain.

Next came the shank cleaning. This was done with folded bristle pipe cleaners and cotton swabs both dipped in the ethyl alcohol.

I lightly topped the rim to remove the dottle knocking scars and the light charring on the rim. 220 and 400 grit sandpaper were used.

Below you can see the rim after the topping.

I was anxious to see the briar grain and applied a coat of Before and After Restoration Balm before I sanded or micro-meshed the briar. I know patience is a virtue but I couldn’t wait.

The stem was removed from the Deoxidizer solution after four hours. It was allowed to drip a good deal of the excess solution back into the jar.

My normal coarse shop rags were both in the laundry so an old bathroom face towel was used to buff away the remaining Deoxidizer solution. I’ll see if the oxidized vulcanite is effective at staining white cotton face towels. The stem on the other hand was looking much better.

The stem was cleaned with bristle pipe cleaners and 95% ethyl alcohol.

Make-up pads with Soft Scrub cleanser were used to further remove any remaining surface oxidation.

The below photo shows a clean black stem with quite a bit of pitting from the deoxidizing of the vulcanite. The stem had been oiled with mineral oil to prevent further oxidation.

For the moment you’ve all been waiting for: “How the heck is that stem going to be salvaged?” My imagined plan was to file immediately behind the button and glue two brass pins across the gap. These pins would provide a scaffold for the building up of cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and black JB Weld Epoxy. The pins would be completely encased in CA and Epoxy and not be seen while providing rigidity for any future chomping. The thickened rebuilt zone would be the “new button” The old button end would be filed off, shortening the stem by a couple of millimeters. This plan worked brilliantly in my damaged brain but how would it fare in reality? I wasn’t sure but I knew that I’d have a heck of a hard time finding a perfect replacement stem so, this seemed like the best remedy.

Two brass pins were measured and cut to span the gap. The first pin was glued into place using black CA. I allowed the CA to cure on its own and did not use a CA drying accelerator.

I wanted to work on the stem, one side at a time and be able to access the airway to sand and smooth the airway if needed. I made a dam from a piece of plastic lid and thickened the plastic with several layers of Scotch tape. This would be inserted into the airway to prevent the CA and Epoxy from entering where I did not want it.

With the dam inserted I was ready to start layering reinforcements of black CA.

The black CA was applied using a fly tying bodkin. Unfortunately the black CA was slightly transparent. This is why I thought that I would also have to use the JB Weld epoxy. Imagine the brass pin inside the new button and the old button, that you see below, as being filed off.

Below the CA was allowed to cure and the dam removed. Everything was going according to the plan.

After the CA had cured I cut an emery board nail file to fit into the airway. I used this to smooth the interior of the airway. Below is an early photo of the smoothing. You can see that the brass pin is completely encased in CA.

The process was then repeated for the opposite side with the placement of the second pin.

Black CA was used to fill around and encapsulate the brass pin.

To build up material around the new button I used black JB Weld with the addition of very finely ground carbon powder. I wanted to make sure that the epoxy was not even slightly transparent. I emptied a capsule of carbon into the mortar and used the pestle to grind it into a very fine powder.

The two part epoxy was mixed and a small amount of ground carbon powder was added. To keep the epoxy from fouling the airway another plastic dam was used. This time I coated the surface of the dam with Vaseline petroleum jelly to keep the epoxy from adhering to the dam.

The JB Weld label says the product sets up in 15 minutes. I think they meant to say 15 hours. It does set up to the point that it stops flowing in 15 minutes but I usually give the epoxy at least 24 hours before I try to file or sand it.

The next day, I mixed a second batch of epoxy as with the first batch. This was applied to the bottom side of the stem. I propped up the pipe as shown in the photo below.

The below photo shows how the first application of the epoxy looked after 24 hours.

Here is the second application cured for 24 hours.

This photo shows the two applications in profile.

The button was filed to reshape it. Below is the top view of the reshaping.

The bottom view of the reshaping.

Profile of the reshaping.

I taped the shank off to protect it, with masking tape, then sanded the stem with a series of sanding sponges in grits 320-3500. Between each sponge I rubbed the stem with mineral oil and wiped it with a paper towel.

The stem was then micro-meshed with 4000-12000 pads. Between each pad I rubbed the stem with Obsidian Oil and wiped it with a paper towel.

The stummel was worked with micro-mesh pads 3200-12000. Between each pad I wiped the stummel with a make=up pad dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

The pipe was taken to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax. The final step was to hand buff the Matched Grain with a microfiber polishing cloth.

This beautiful Matched Grain Kaywoodie will unfortunately and most likely never again see it’s mate. It’s beauty will have to be appreciated on it’s merits alone. I think the pipe turned out very nicely. The briar is exceptional with outstanding grain and free of any pits or flaws. The stem reconstruction actually went as I imagined it would. That comes as a welcome shock to me. More times than not my imagined plans are dealt a rude awakening by reality. The dimensions of this Matched Grain 10 Bent Billiard are:
- Length: 4.90 in./ 124.46 mm.
- Weight: 1.28 oz./ 36.30g.
- Bowl Height: 1.72 in./ 43.69 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.47 in./ 37.39 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.72 in./ 18.03 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.39 in./ 35.31 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.

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Below are some photos of the finished Matched Grain 10 Bent Billiard.
A Sea Dog Calabash Restoration

October 8th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

The stereotypic pipe that most people think of when envisioning Sherlock Holmes would most likely be a calabash. The above bent beauty would likely fit that image, with its flowing curves and old fashioned mouthpiece. Once again reality interferes with our perception, according to https://www.visitportsmouth.co.uk/conan-doyle/sherlock-holmes, who states “Our aim is to publicise the Conan Doyle Collection locally and internationally. To do this, we attend and create local events and work with other partners on projects to promote access and to the Collection.”, “It’s common to see Sherlock Holmes with a Calabash Pipe (similar to the one at the bottom), but that was a choice made for the stage. In the books Sherlock Holmes smoked briar, clay and cherrywood pipes but none were specifically explained so it is unclear exactly what he smoked.” (https://www.visitportsmouth.co.uk/conan-doyle/you-dont-know-sherlock-holmes-yet/cabinet-of-curiosities/three-pipes#:~:text=In%20the%20books%20Sherlock%20Holmes,unclear%20exactly%20what%20he%20smoked..). Nevertheless, in the minds of the public Holmes smoked a calabash.

This lovely Holmes stereotype was purchased from a seller in Racine, Wisconsin who was kind enough to accept my offered payment. The pipe bears the following stamps, all on the left shank: SEA-DOG in a flowing arched script over REG^D over MADE IN FRANCE. The Sea-Dog sports an unmarked stem with an orific button. Below are some photos of the pipe as it appeared prior to having any work done.

For its age, the pipe was in great condition. The bowl had moderate cake and the rim had considerable lava deposits. The condition of the rim remained concealed underneath the lava. There were a few fills, dents and dings. The stem looked remarkably free from oxidation. This indicated that the pipe had been stored away from any light. I was expecting a nice break from a rather difficult previous restoration.

Background

I will differ from the description of a Calabash shape to the experts at St. Claude,

“The Calabash pipe shape is one of the most sophisticated and refined shape that exists. Most of the time associated with the image of the detective Sherlock Holmes, the Calabash pipe distinguishes itself by its really pronounced bent silhouette and its imposing bowl. At the beginning, the real “gourd calabash” pipe (also called “Calebasse”), was made from an African squash, with a removable bowl made out of meerschaum (positioned against a cork joint) and an amber stem. Smokers greatly appreciate this kind of conception because the tasting experience is, according to some people, unbeatable. Indeed, the smoke arrives in mouth cooled down and dry thanks to the large settling chamber on the inside of the bowl of the pipe. This empty space allows the smoke to cool down (and therefore to get smoother) before being aspirated by the smoker. Nowadays, pipe makers create Calebass pipes from more traditional materials (like briar for the main part and acrylic for the stem). Therefore, we can find pipes essentially made with briar that copy the iconic calabash silhouette (it is the case for a lot of brands like Peterson, Ser Jacopo, Stanwell, Butz-Choquin…). More rarely, it is possible to find pipes called “reverse Calabash”. On the same principle, a huge cooling chamber will disrupt the smoke on the inside of the pipe to return it to you smooth and cooled!” (https://www.pipeshop-saintclaude.com/calabash-262)

The term “sea-dog” obviously hails from maritime regions far from my local landlocked home of Nebraska.

“sea-dog (n.)

1590s, “harbor seal,” from sea + dog (n.). Also “pirate” (1650s). Meaning “old seaman, sailor who has been long afloat” is attested by 1823. In Middle English sea-hound was used of the walrus and the beaver.” (https://www.etymonline.com/word/sea-dog#:~:text=1590s%2C%20%22harbor%20seal%2C%22,the%20walrus%20and%20the%20beaver.) Beavers on the other hand are a very familiar critter in these parts. Now pertaining to this pipe pipe I am pretty sure that the sea-dog anime refers to the “old seaman or sailor” though I have seen rustications that reminded me of the gnawing habits of beavers.

This particular pipe is very likely from the following, “Sea Dog was one of many brands owned by the Oppenheimer Pipe group, apparently made in France, likely by Marechal Ruchon & Cie. as evidenced on page 34 of the Circa 1950s Oppenheimer Pipes Catalog”. (Sea-Dog – Pipedia). The date 1950 struck me as far too recent of a date for a mouthpiece like that of the Sea-Dof in hand. I am not familiar with orific buttons occurring after about 1920. Further searching of pipedia.org led e to the next entry concerning Marechal Ruchon & Cie.,

“Marechal Ruchon & Cie. was a company owned by Auguste Marechal and Ferdinand Ruchon (“& Cie” is the french equivalent of “& Co”) which owned the GBD brand from the end of the 19th century until 1902 when they sold Marechal, Ruchon & Cie. to Oppenheimer Pipe, which in turn changed the name of the company to Marechal, Ruchon & Co., Ltd.. Upon the creation of Cadogan, however, the brand was no more, remembered only in the name of the GBD Marcee pipes made until just after the Second World War.” (Marechal Ruchon & Cie. – Pipedia)

So to cloud the history a bit further we have GBD owned by Marechal Ruchon & Cie. who then sold it to Oppenheimer in 1903. Pipephil has a truly brain bending flowchart of the mergers and acquisitions of the Oppenheimer group throughout the early 1900s. There appears to be a great deal of motion and changes in ownership of companies at this time.

(http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/infos/connect-en.html)

Again I return to pipedia for a synapses of some of these events,

“Cadogan Investments Limited is a subsidiary of A. Oppenheimer & Co. Limited. It was formed by Oppenheimer Pipe in 1920 as a holding company for its many recent acquisitions, including BBB, Loewe & Co., two pipe factories in Saint-Claude and others. It continued to acquire pipe brands and makers for decades, adding GBD and others to their marquee.

Both companies are currently located at 20 Vanguard Way, Shoeburyness, Essex, SS3 9RA. A storefront operates out of the same location selling pipes and smokers accessories under the name Cadogan Gifts, and also sells a wide variety of other items. Cadogan currently holds, among others, the trademarks for Dr. Plumb’s, Irwin’s, Comoy’s, BBB, GBD, Loewe & Co., Medico, Orlik, and Ropp.” (Cadogan – Pipedia)

That puts this pipe as made in France prior to the demise of Marechal, Ruchon & Co., Ltd. in 1920. This is supported by the button type, orific. I am not familiar with buttons of this type in pipes made after the early 1920s.

The Restoration

I was hoping that the restoration would be far less confusing than the above company lineage.

For some reason I began cleaning out the stem of the Sea-Dog. This was done with 95% ethyl alcohol and bristle pipe cleaners. The stem was remarkably clean inside, a nice surprise.

The reaming gear was gathered.

The PipNet was once again the workhorse of the process. The scrapers were used for the finishing touches then the chamber was sanded with 320 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel. No scorching nor heat damage was observed.

The rim was a mess with lave deposits. This was softened with saliva then scraped using a sharp pocket knife. I realize sharp can be a subjective term so, let me explain. My high school dropout father worked his way through college, after a stint in the Army, a GED (general education diploma) and the G.I. Bill, at a packing plant in Waterloo, Iowa. There, he was a ham cutter. Needless to say, every knife in our house was very sharp. I was taught at an early age how to sharpen and maintain a sharp knife and have not been without one in my pocket since I was 5 years old. By the way, dad ended up with a PhD and not in knife sharpening.

How the rim looked after the scraping.

Next was a scrub with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a nylon scrub brush. The decades of grime and soap were rinsed away with warm water and stummel dried with a cotton hand towel.

The shank cleaning was carried out next in hopes that water from the rinse would have slightly softened the yuck (the technical term for smoking residue in an airway) within. Apparently a little Peterson Premiere 51 needed to photobomb this shot or it was used to prop up the Sea-Dog and its crazy bendy shape. The shank of this bent beauty proved to be not too dirty, slightly worse than the stem but still surprisingly clean. The curves made the junction with the tobacco chamber a little challenging with very short scrub strokes with pipe cleaners.

The stummel was wiped off with 95% ethyl alcohol on a make-up pad and the fills, of which there were many, were picked clean of their old fill material.

In the photo below you can see a large flake of the old fill material which was picked from the fill on the shank. .

The photo attempts to show the inner rim damage from doddle knocking or cage fighting medieval armored combatants.

Taking a break from the sitting and picking led me to submerge the stem in a bath of Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer. The pipe cleaner inserted into the tenon acted as a hanger.

Returning to the workbench the process of filling all of those recently excavated fills resumed using brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and in most cases CA and briar dust. The fill on the shank proceeded without any briar dust. When the briar dust combines with the CA it makes for a quality fill that can take years of abuse, it also cures very rapidly and allows one to keep working without the need of excessive drying or curing time. Unfortunately, the subsequent fill is very dark and can be conspicuous. I thought that the fill on the shank of the Sea-Dog was too large and would look awkward. Instead, I filled the depression with brown CA and let it cure on its own. I applied two additional coats of brown CA to fill in the voids. Each of these took approximately 20 minutes of curing time when I was not able to do anything with the pipe.

I thought I made the right call. You could still see the briar grain through the CA and it appeared far more natural than a dark scab of a fill.

The rim was kind of a mess. There was one deep gouge, seen at the 2:00 position below, dents and dings around the inside rim and outside rim. To keep the classic Dublin shape with nice sharp edges and a flat top, I had to do a good deal of reconstruction with CA and briar dust. I laid down a bead of CA with the fly tying bodkin and pressed the still wet CA into the tray of briar dust. The dust would quickly cure the CA and for a hard fill. I would then brush the excess dust back into the tray with a brass brush. The new fill was then topped. The whole process was repeated until the surface was filled and smooth.

For the fills on the sides of the stummel a similar procedure was used. Except rather than pressing the wet CA into briar dust the dust was applied and pressed into the wet CA.

Now comes the issue with CA and briar dust fills – they are dark in color. On the sides they can blend in with the briar grain but on the rim they can appear as scorched charred spots and look less than appealing.

To address this I planned to give the stummel a contrast dye using black Fiebing’s Leather Dye. The black dye would be absorbed more into the soft grained briar and less in the harder grains. When the surface is abraded off, either by buffing with rouge compound or sanding, the softer grains retain more black dye making the grain stand out and concealing the CA fills. To avoid sanding the stamps and losing their detail I covered the stamp with an irregular piece of painters tape. This is not meant to protect the stamp from sanding but to keep it from becoming dyed and then requiring buffing or sanding to remove the dye.

Okay, maybe I felt a little bit apprehensive about dying and wanted to think about it moreso, I stalled and retrieved the stem from the deox. Using the high tech patented Drip-Dry-O-Matic the stem was allowed to drip excess solution back into the jar.

After dripping, the stem was hand buffed with a coarse shop rag to absorb the excess solution and to abbrade some of the loosened oxidation.

Below you can see the oxidized rubber which came off with the rubbing.

The tooth chatter was filed with a small flat file.

Filing on both top and bottom was followed with sanding the 320 and 400 grit sanding sponges. The stem was then coated with mineral oil and allied to sit while I dyed the stummel.

My composure and confidence regained, I gathered the dye kit: The black Fiebing’s Leather Dye, a folded pipe cleaner (applicator), a dust tape wrapped fishing bobber (Plug for keeping dye from the tobacco chamber) and a lighter.

The stummel was dyed with the black Fiebing’s and flamed to set the dye and evaporate the alcohol solvent. The stummel rinsed with 99% isopropyl alcohol over the sink and wiped with a paper towel then returned to the workbench. Below, you can see how the tape kept the black dye from the stamp which kept me from having to sand the stamp area, thus preserving the stamp.

The stummel was wiped with a make-up pad dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol to remove any remaining dye. The stummel was then taken to the buffer and buffed with rouge compound and a flannel wheel to remove the outer layer of dyed briar. Below you can see how the softer grained briar absorbed more black dye while the harder briar did not.

I wanted the stummel to have a lighter shade of brown while keeping some of the darker grain so I sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge. That was the color I was after.

Below you can see how the rim looked after the dye and some of the black removed.

The stem and stummel were reunited with sanding of both pieces done together. The sanding was done with a sequence of sanding sponges from 400-3500 grit. Between sponges the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad moistened with ethyl alcohol while the stem was rubbed with mineral oil and wiped with a paper towel.

The pipe was worked with micro-mesh pads in grits 4000-12000. Again between each pad the stem and stummel were wiped as above except Obsidian Oil was used in place of mineral oil.

The stem was coated with Before and After Restoration Balm and allowed to sit for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes the balm was wiped and hand buffed using an inside out athletic sock.

I’m not sure why I did this next step, maybe because I bought the stuff and have rarely used it. I used a gun cleaning patch to apply a very light layer of Danish Oil to the stummel.The gun cleaning patch was used because it is a lint free material. I followed the label instructions and allowed the oil to “harden” for 9-12 hours.

It may not have served much purpose but it sure was pretty.

The next morning I returned to the Sea-Dog. I took it to the buffer and applied several coats of carnauba wax with a flannel wheel. The pipe was hand buffed with a microfiber polishing cloth and the final photos can speak for themselves.

It is official, I really like the calabash shape. There is just something about it that says, “I am how pipes should look.” Yeah, I know they don’t talk but you know what I mean. This Sea-Dog is a grand old testament to pipe makers’ generations lost. The sweeping curves and graceful flow beckon me to fill the bowl, slow down, relax and enjoy a moment of contemplation. This is called, “sitting on your butt doing nothing” by some people. The best part of their attitude is that there remains far more tobacco for us to enjoy. I think this Sea-Dog restored very nicely. The numerous fills are not too noticeable with the contrast dye. The stem polished up beautifully and provides an excellent contrast while complimenting the briar grain. The old fashioned orific button can interestingly be directed into one’s mouth with subtle changes to the alignment with the shank. A slight twist can send the smoke into a new direction.

The dimensions of this Sea-Dog Calabash are kind of strange to measure but here they are:
- Length: 5.53 in./ 140,46 mm.
- Weight: 1.53 oz./ 43.70g.
- Bowl Height: 2.09 in./ 53.09 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.60 in./ 40.64 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.73 in./ 18.54 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.41 in./ 35.81 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.

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Below are some photos of the finished Sea-Dog Calabash.
A Sasieni SL 52G Hurlington Restoration

October 3rd, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

The term”big” doesn’t do this pipe justice. Giant, gargantuan, enormous all seem more fitting. I remember opening the package when it arrived in the mail. I’m pretty sure I said, “good Lord, that’s big.” Have I mentioned that “big” doesn’t do this pipe justice? For such a large pipe it felt remarkably good in my hand, then again, I am a fan of the apple shape. This pipe wore the stamps: MADE IN over ENGLAND in an oval to the left, SL over LONDON MADE all on the left shank. The right shank sported the stampings 52G while the stem bore an Old English script S on a shield. Below are some photos of the pipe prior to work being done.

Background

The stem logo on this pipe says, “I’m a Sasieni”. Well at least a Sasieni’s second…

That is where I started, with Sasieni. Joel Sasieni began building the company in London, England in 1919. I will let Stephen P. Smith, in his pipedia.com entry explain,

“In his book, “The Ultimate Pipe Book”, Richard Carleton Hacker writes American pipe collectors “seem to be more preoccupied with ’smokable’ brand names, of which the most collectible are Dunhill, Barling, Sasieni, and Charatan.” Theodore Justin Gage, the former publisher of the much missed “The Compleat Smoker”, called Sasieni pipes a “fascinating collectible, …representing all that is good about classic English pipe making.” And for good reason: the pipes made by the Sasieni company between the years 1919 and 1979 rank among the very best the London pipe industry had to offer. They featured superb wood, flawless bowls, outstanding smoking qualities, and a styling that was uniquely theirs.

Yet for all that, Sasieni’s are among the most underrated pipes on the collectible market, usually selling for far below their real worth. In this, they offer the astute collector a genuine opportunity, whether he or she is looking for a pipe with potential for appreciation, or simply a great pipe at a reasonable price.

However, in order for the collector to capitalize on this, it is vitally important to realize the Sasieni company changed hands on two occasions, and each owner had different priorities and agendas. Not surprisingly, this was reflected in the quality of the pipes made during these different times. All bore the Sasieni name, and yet they were very different pipes.

It is possible to divide the Sasieni history into three eras, similar to Barling. In fact, throughout this article, I will be referring to “Pre-Transition, Transition, and Post-Transition” Sasieni’s. While this may raise a few eyebrows, I believe it will become clear these classifications are actually quite appropriate.

Therefore, it will also become clear a collector must be able to distinguish between Sasieni’s of different eras, as it is mainly the family made pieces made between 1919 and 1979 which are truly desirable to collectors. The dual purposes of this article, then, are to trace the history of the Sasieni pipe, and to enable collectors to judge, with a reasonable degree of certainty, when the Sasieni in question was made.

A Brief History of the Sasieni Company

There is a great deal of mystery surrounding the Sasieni pipe, owing largely to the fact there is such a paucity of written information about them, as is the case with many collectible pipes. Even the name of the founder has been subject to debate. One respected source says the founder was named “Joel” Sasieni. Another equally respected source says with equal certainty the name was “Joseph” Sasieni. (A third, rather less reliable source once told me “Joel” and “Joseph” were brothers, but I think we can safely dismiss that.) An old Sasieni catalog which I came maddeningly identifies the founder as “J. Sasieni”. However, some research at the U. S. Patent Office conclusively shows that his first name was Joel.

Joel Sasieni apprenticed at Charatan, and moved on to Dunhill, where he eventually rose the position of factory manager. Many men would have been perfectly satisfied with such a position, but not Mr. Sasieni. He opened up his own factory in 1919, believing he could improve on some of Dunhill’s methods. Mr. Sasieni was, if nothing else, an optimist.

Things did not go smoothly for the new firm. The factory burned down almost immediately. Apparently undaunted, Mr. Sasieni simply rebuilt the factory and carried on.” (Sasieni – Pipedia)

Steven Smith’s writing goes on and is well done and informative. I highly recommend reading it if you are a burgeoning Sasieni fan or just interested.

As for this pipe, I could find no reference to the SL stamping. I assumed the 52G was a shape number and indeed a Sasieni shape chart from pipedia.org lists the 52 as a “Hurlington” and matches the shape of this pipe beautifully. I am assuming that the 52G is the Hurlington in a giant form.

(File:Sasieni Pipe Shapes.jpg – Pipedia)

Another Sasieni shape chart states that Sasieni has “160 SHAPES”.

(File:SasieniShapes.jpg – Pipedia). 160 is a remarkable number of shapes for a manufacturer to keep track of much less the carvers employed making those shapes. Remember, this was all long before a quick google search to remind oneself of the dimensions of a particular shape.

The Restoration

The Sasieni found its way to the workbench and a cleanish denim piece. The stem was a very tight fit after the photo shoot. I did not force it back into place as that’s where I planned to start with this restoration, anyway.

The calcium deposits on the stem were heavy and combined with the also heavy oxidation made for a rather ugly mess. I started by scraping the surface from the stem with a sharp pocket knife.

Once scraped, I buffed the stem with 0000 steel wool.

The airway was cleared of the tars and yuk which had taken up residence there. A good many bristle pipe cleaners and 95% ethyl alcohol were used to clean the airway.

With the inside and outsides cleaned, it was time for the stem to go into deox. That is my term of endearment for Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer. I thought this stem would require at least 4 hours of chemical love.

I turned my attention to the stummel. The reaming tools were assembled with the PipNet’s #2 and #3 blades getting used.

The reaming was done mainly with the PipNet.

The Smokingpipes Low Country reaming knife and the General triangular scraper. When the scraping was done the tobacco chamber was sanded to bare briar with 320 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel.

The lava on the rim was moistened with saliva and scraped with a sharp pocket knife.

The stummel was then scrubbed with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a nylon scrub brush. You can see the grime in the bristle of the brush, below. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton hand towel.

The Airway of the shank was equally as dirty as the stem’s. I used the Kleen-Reem shank drill tool to drill out the airway. That seemed to have done a great job at scraping. I still used the dental scraper along with several scrubs with the shank brush, bristle pipe cleaners and cotton swabs but the drill removed a large amount of tar from the airway.

The stamps were covered with painters tape to preserve their detail during the sanding.

The stummel was sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 400-3000 grit. Between each sponge I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad moistened with alcohol.

The final sanding sponge was the 3500 grit. This one was allowed to sand under the tape.

The stummel was then worked with micro-mesh pads 4000-12000 grit. Again between each pad I wiped the stummel with alcohol on a make-up pad.

The stummel received a coat of Before and After Restoration Balm and was allowed to sit for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes the remaining balm was wiped with an inside out athletic sock.

After two hours I removed the stem and used the patented Deox Drip-Under-Matic Mechanical irrigation and Egress System (DDUMMIES) to drip dry the stem.

The stem was wiped with a coarse shop rag. This allows for the excess solution to be absorbed and abbrades some of the oxidized vulcanite at the same time.

The stem’s color looked much better but the wear of the stem and the removal of oxidation showed a much reduced stem. The button had been smoothed almost to oblivion. This was going to take some time to rebuild.

I first painted the stem with a butane light hoping to have the vulcanite rebound a little bit and reduce the tooth dents. This provided minimal effect. The stem was then painted with a coat of black cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue from the end of the button to about 1 ½ inches or 4 cm.

The CA was spritzed with a CA drying accelerator. This speeds the curing time to nearly immediate but does leave a roughened surface.

The rough surface was filed. The low spots remained more glossy and would require additional applications of black CA.

The second application still had some low spots but they were becoming smaller and fewer.

Finally I was down to only two spots for reapplication on both the top and bottom.

The final CA spots were smoothed with the small file and 400 sanding sponge.

The button received its final shaping and shaping.

Unfortunately the faint stem logo was lost with the exposure to the Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer Strength.

The stem was sanded with a series of sanding sponges with grits of 400-3500. Between each sponge the stem was rubbed with mineral oil and wiped with a dry paper towel.

The stem was further polished with 4000-1200o micro-mesh pads. I neglected to photograph this process but can state that between the pads the stem was rubbed with Obsidian Oil and wiped with a dry paper towel. The final polishing was done at the buffer with White diamond buffing compound and a clean flannel wheel. The pipe received several coats of carnauba wax with the buffer. A hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth was done to further raise the shine of the briar and vulcanite.

I have to admit that this Sasieni Hurington looks very impressive just by the nature of its size. The pipe feels great in the hand which is good, because there is no way that it is comfortable to clench for more than a few seconds. Its length and mass prove to be a physical feat of power lighting which would test the most capable jaw musculature. The briar looks beautiful with the rusticated spots concealing flaws in the piece while adding character. The stem turned out very nicely with hardly any sign of the reconstruction which was done to repair the aged and worn vulcanite. Overall it is a remarkable pipe which, the term “big” hardly does it justice, in case you had forgotten. The dimensions of this Sasieni SL 52G Hurlington are:
- Length: 7.36 in./ 186.94 mm.
- Weight: 2.48 oz./ 70.30g.
- Bowl Height: 2.21 in./ 56.13 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.77 in./ 44.96 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.82 in./ 20,82 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.80 in./ 46.37 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.

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Below are some photos of the finished Sasieni SL 52G Hurlington.
An Aristocob Restoration

October 1st, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

When I first saw photos of an Aristocob I was intrigued. My view then shifted to unnecessary and gimmicky as I became more enamored with new and old corn cob pipes. Still, the intrigue remained. The price of these pipes also played a part in my general lack of interest in acquiring and restoring one. I then read about the lack of availability of replacement interior corn cob replacement bowls. That was a real strike against the pipe, in my opinion. A pipe which required a disposable part that was no longer produced made me question the lasting qualities of these pipes. I remember looking through auctions for replacement bowls. When available, a 3 pack of replacement bowls was nearly the price of an Aristocob pipe. Which I thought was already rather high. Then one day I won an auction for an estate lot and surprise surprise, there was a new box of 3 unused Aristocob bowls. That meant that I would HAVE to purchase an Aristocob pipe. The completionist character flaw was rearing it’s ugly head and winning.

Well, two years or so later, I finally found an adequately priced Aristocob in need of restoration and probably in need of a fresh corn cob bowl. The auction was won and the pipe made a journey from Brooksville, Florida to southeast Nebraska. There are no stampings on the pipe nor on the stem. The only item which had any nomenclature was a stained Medico filter which resided in the shaft/stem of the pipe. Below are some photographs of the pipe as it appeared upon arrival.

I was reminded of the old Wendy’s restaurant commercial “Where’s the beef?” except I was thinking “Where’s the briar?” Yeah, if you got that reference, you are old and American. Anyway, I wasn’t sure exactly how to proceed with a wood-free pipe. I guess clean everything, buff the metal, sand the stem (that part was familiar) and see how it all looks when finished.

Background

As I disassembled the pipe I was first concerned with ridding the pipe of the dry crusty smoking residues and tar. As I cleared that away I was impressed with the quality of work and the amazing design of this pipe. My initial intrigue became more appreciation as I was able to examine the details that J.W. Zarikta, the inventor, incorporated it into the design. Little things like; the rubber o-ring seating the stem in the shank, the reservoir beneath the bowl allowing condensed water to pool below the bowl keeping it from absorbing the liquid, the slight air space around the con cob bowl allowing expansion and the fins of the aluminum stummel acting to radiate heat while allowing the handler of the pipe not to touch a overly hot pipe. The words “brilliant” and “genius” came to mind. Then the engineering and machining that impressed me as well. The casting of the aluminum was good with no noticeable pits and the only seams, from casting, were observed along the middle above the shank and between the cooling fins.

According to smokingmetal.co.uk,

“The ARISTOCOB is an American made system pipe with corn cob bowl inserts.

Originally the AL-COB CORPORATION out of Grand Haven, Michigan, which later became ARISTOCOB INCORPORATED from Caledonia,Michigan. Later still they were bought out by Missouri Meerschaum Company

Apparently available in the first place in a plastic case containing one pipe, 2 replacement corn cob bowl inserts and instructions for use

The cob inserts were made for some time by The Missouri Meerschaum Company, manufacturer of corn cob pipes in Washington, MO. The box shown is their box. They made the inserts from the early 1970’s until 1983. They are no longer available from that source but do appear on ebay at times

The top of the vaned bowl outer unscrews to enable easy replacement of the bowl insert. An inline filter can be used in the stem.

The mouthpiece has been seen in two version, with and without an �O� ring

20 Dec 1966 US patent # 3,292,639 Inventor Joesph W Zarikta, Grand Haven, Michigan – assignor Al Cobb Corp.” (http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/pipe.php?page=56).

Below is the patent that Joesph W. Zarikta submitted on June 15, 1964 and was granted Dec. 20 1966:

(1499082584172577519-03292639 (storage.googleapis.com))

Using the above dates it is a safe assumption that this pipe was made between 1966 and the early 1970s in Caledonia, Michigan. The box of replacement bowls were of the original make as well marked with the Caledonia, Michigan location indicating that they were from prior to the purchase of the Missouri Meerschaum Company.

The Restoration

This restoration began with a clean denim piece on the work surface.

The pipe was disassembled with the rim going into a 95% ethyl alcohol bath and the bowl chamber filled with enough ethyl alcohol to cover the smoking residue.

I allowed the aluminum to soak for 20 minutes to soften the tars. The chamber, shank and rim were then cleaned using cotton swabs and a light rubbing with 0000 steel wool both wetted with ethyl alcohol. With the aluminum parts cleaned of their crusty tar I took the stummel to the buffer where I buffed it with a flannel wheel and rouge buffing compound.

Back at the workbench I wiped the buffing compound away with make-up pads dipped in ethyl alcohol.

The aluminum had returned to a lovely shine.

The stem was made from a nylon, I think, that was similar to the black plastic stems of Missouri Meerschaum (MM) corn cob pipes. I was leery of filing and sanding the plastic, fearing that I would not be able to restore the original luster. I decided to file and sand it anyway as I wanted to remove the tooth chatter and couldn’t think of another way to do that.

I then cleaned out the airway of the stem using cotton swab and bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

The light filing and sanding appeared to work well to remove the tooth chatter. Now would sanding allow a fine finish? The answer was yes. The sequence of sanding sponges from 400-3500 worked well to remove the chatter and restore the stem to a like new condition. To better hold the stem during sanding I inserted it into the stummel and wrapped the shank with painters tape to protect the aluminum.

To further polish the stem I micro-meshed it with 4000-12000 pads. Between the pads I applied a small drop of Obsidian Oil which was rubbed onto the stem then wiped with a dry paper towel. Below you can see the taped shank.

The stem was then hand buffed with Before and After Fine Polish on a soft cotton cloth.

The Fine Polish was followed by Before and After Extra Fine Polish with the same cloth.

The tape was removed and the entire pipe was buffed with white buffing compound at the buffer. After the compound was cleaned and wiped away using make-up pads and ethyl alcohol the pipe received several coats of carnauba wax applied with the buffer.

Looking at the finished pipe I wondered why in the world it took me so long to restore one of these remarkable and attractive old pieces of ingenuity. The design and manufacturing was a testament of the grand idea that this pipe imbues and is a testament of inventiveness. I also cannot help but think an easy fix to the problem of not being able to get additional corn cob replacement bowls would be to custom make a meerschaum bowl. I know this would violate the whole “cob” of the “Aristocob” concept but it would be a cool upgrade. The dimensions of this Aristocob are:
- Length: 5.48 in./ 139.19 mm.
- Weight: 1.35 oz./ 38.40 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.68 in./ 42.67 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.11 in./ 28.19 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.63 in./ 16.00 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.38 in./ 35.05 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.

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Below are some photos of the finished Aristocob.
A Liberty Bell Meerschaum

September 26th, 2024
Photographed and writing by

John M. Young

Here is a pipe which I had my doubts about ever possessing. I first saw the eBay auction in the spring of 2023, I think. The price was more than I was willing to spend but I was intrigued by the shape. The pipe was never sold and was relisted. This went on for numerous cycles. I eventually started making offers to the seller which met with no reply nor counter offer from the seller. I thought that I must be just offering too little to warrant a response. Well, long story shortened, after over a year of this the seller agreed to my offer and I received the pipe in July of 2024. I guess this proves that something is only worth what someone is willing to pay.

When the pipe arrived I was amazed at the detail which the photos failed to show. The stem had a matching bell shape and crack. The front of the pipe had the 1776 and 1976 pressed into the meerschaum as well as the crack. The bottom of the pipe had a stylized clapper or the “hanging ringer thingy”. Unfortunately there was no maker’s mark indicating who carved this piece of American history. Below are some photos before I began work on the pipe.

The most notable issues were the lava on the rim and the tooth dents on the top and bottom of the stem. The photos don’t show the dents well but they were there and annoying.

Background

1976 was a time, which I remember as nostalgic and optimistic. There were continuous celebrations of the 200 year birth of the nation. Lots of fireworks displays, parades and advertising all in support of the bicentennial year of our founding. From Saturday morning cartoons (yeah, that was about the only time we got them) to the minting of bicentennial coins, nationalism and patriotism were on full display. Apparently this also made its way to meerschaum pipes. I was able to find a couple of examples of Liberty Bell meerschaum pipes but none matched the shape or style of this piece.

(https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/liberty-bell-meerschaum-pipe-480964941)

(https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/liberty-bell-block-meerschaum-tobacco-4653030132)

With nothing to really work with I reached out to the meerschaum experts in a Facebook group I am part of. I posted photos of the Liberty Bell and said that I thought it to be from 1976 and asked if anyone could provide any additional information. Unfortunately, I did not get a response by anyone to further clarify the potential origin of this pipe.

The Restoration

I am preparing myself for some new workbench protective pieces of cloth. As this summer closes out I will be retiring a couple of pairs of cargo shorts thus I’ll be entering a new phase of workbench protection. Until then I’ll just have to deal with these rather stained denim pieces.

The below photo shows the rim of the Liberty Bell and it’s slightly lava encrustation.

Cotton swaps dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol were used to clear away this lava. I didn’t want to wear away the rustications of the carvings so a light touch was employed.

My unfamiliarity with meerschaum led me to not cleaning as thoroughly as I probably could have. My fear was that I’d overdo the cleaning and smooth the surface of the meerschaum.

The stem was cleaned with bristle pipe cleaners dipped in ethyl alcohol.

I scrubbed the stummel with warm water and a medium stiff toothbrush. The stummel was dried with a cotton hand towel and looked better than it did prior to the cleaning.

I found myself washing my hands constantly during work on the meerschaum. I did not want to have my grubby finger leaving marks on the pipe.

The two photos below show the tooth indentations better than the initial photos.

These dents needed to be filled with thin clear cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) applied with a fly tying bodkin. If you are wondering, the CA bottle is glued to the card to make spilling less likely.

I started with the bottom side of the stem. The thin CA flows very readily and fills the surface imperfections well.

I spritzed the wet CA with a CA drying accelerator. This makes the CA cure almost instantly and gives it a rough surface texture.

The rough CA was filed with a small flat file to smooth the fill and blend it with the surrounding acrylic stem.

The fill was then sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge.

The process was repeated for the top of the stem. Below shows the application of the CA to the dents.

Again the wet CA was spritzed with drying accelerator.

Filing and sanding of the fills was done and they were far less noticeable than before.

The stem was then sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 400-3500 grit. Between each sponge I wiped the stem with a water dampened paper towel to remove sanding debris.

After the sanding I used micro-mesh pads in grits 4000-12000 for further polishing the stem. Between these pads I applied a small drip of Obsidian Oil and wiped it with a paper towel. The fills were nearly invisible.

Top view of the micro-meshed stem.

Bottom view of the stem.

I used a double boiler type set-up to melt the beeswax. The wax sat in a small glass jar placed in a pan of boiling water. The tin to the left of the pan was used to catch the drips of wax during application and as the meerschum is heated with the heat gun.

I prepared the meerschaum for waxing by heating it with a heat gun.

The meerschaum was then covered with hot liquid wax via a paintbrush.

The meerschaum was then heated with the heat gun again and the remelted wax allowed it to drip from the pipe into the tin. The photo of this step was so blurred by me moving too much to be useful. The final step was using a paper towel to absorb any excess wax from the still hot stummel. I put on a kevlar glove here not for protection from being cut but because that was the only glove at hand. This sink and counter are used for cleaning fish on occasion, thus the kevlar glove.

The pipe was taken to the buffer where the stem received several coats of carnauba wax. The stummel did not receive any carnauba as it just got fresh beeswax.

The fresh beeswax darkened the meerschaum slightly and gave it a richer color. I am very pleased with how well the fills on the stem came out. The cyanoacrylate blended in with the swirling amble to make nearly perfect fixes. I do wonder if I should have used the brown CA instead then I wonder if I’m just being too critical. The rim also bothers me slightly with the darkening of the rustications with a touch of old lava. The original Liberty Bell did not have a rusticated dome so maybe I should have smoothed this one and completely eliminated the crevasses and their blackened grooves. Oh well, none of these petty grievances detract much from this old pipe and I can attest to it being a grand smoker. The dimensions of this Liberty Bell meerschaum are:
- Length: 7.16 in./ 181.86 mm.
- Weight: 1.79 oz./ 51.00 g.
- Bowl Height: 2.15 in./ 54.61 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.57 in./ 39.88 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.81 in./ 20.57 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.33 in./ 33.78 mm. (at the shank)
1.86 in./ 47.24 mm. (at the flared bottom)

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.

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Below are some photos of the finished Liberty Bell meerschaum pipe.
A Small Amber Stem Meerschaum Bulldog Restoration

September 24th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

This is the fourth pipe in my briar free stage apparently. I have to say that I am looking forward to returning to work on briar pipes. The meerschaums are fun but their frequent lack of a documented heritage leaves me wanting and since I mainly do this for entertainment and relaxation the absence of a feeling of completion doesn’t sit well with me. I know what you are thinking, ‘quit complaining and get on with it.’ You are correct. Besides, the next pipe in the queue is another meerschaum.

This adorable little darling was purchased to allow me to work on a few novel traits. First, an amber stem, second an orific bit and third meerschaum. The threaded bone tenon was a bonus. The pipe came with a fitted case which had a distinctive mildew smell. The leather exterior of the case had almost completely deteriorated with only a few scraps remaining. What was left was paper thin and very brittle to the touch. The interior of the case had remnants of a velvet-like green lining which was also severely deteriorated by age. Inside the lining could be made out and read REAL MEERSCHAUM. The pipe had no markings. Below are photos of the case and pipe prior to any work done.

The joining where the shank met the stem was in remarkably good alignment and showed only a slight “overclocking”.

In all honesty, I was pretty sure that I would screw up major parts of this restoration. I was ready to do so and call any errors on my part inexperience. Then I thought that would do a disservice to the legacy of the old pipe and merely be an excuse for mistakes. I searched Steve Laug’s rebornpipes.com for meerschaum restorations and read several. The handful of meerschaum restorations which I had done all were rusticated pipes. This would be the first smooth meerschaum that I’d tackled. Everything about it seemed fragile; the disintegrating case, the amber stem, the bone tenon and the delicate smooth meerschaum stummel. So here goes, good or bad, I’ll show you all what I did.

Background

This is an easy one. There, done. Really, I have nothing to go one. I tried searching for “REAL MEERSCHAUM” marked cases – no matches. Most of the cases are actually marked”Genuine Meerschaum” so, I thought I might get lucky with the “Real” but, no. I guess we can talk about the orific bit quickly. Mouthpieces with orific bits seem to have gone out of favor by 1920 and were replaced with the slot which we are all more familiar with. Steve Laug wrote a great blog on the demise of the orific button and I’ll link to it here.

Judging by the case, the amber stem and the orific button, I think I can safely say that this pipe is from before 1920 and most likely carved in Europe.

The Restoration

Dirty little pipe on a clean piece of denim.

The reaming was done with scrapers and sandpaper only. Twisting reamers are considered too aggressive for meerschaums due to their potential torque.

The Scraping was slower than normal as I was trying to be careful of the meerschaum. I am still developing a feel for the amount of pressure which can be used. Also the sound. Briar has a squeak, to my ears, that is different from the sound of a scraper on cake. I have not had enough experience reaming meerschaum to have developed an “ear” for it. I know, practice, practice, practice.

The reamed bowl before the sanding.

After the reaming, I started cleaning the airway. How something so short could have enough tar to take down a saber-tooth cat I’m not sure. Many bristle pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol later the airway was clean.

It was a bit difficult for me not to grab the Murphy Oil Soap when cleaning a stummel. I didn’t. The stummel was scrubbed with only warm water and a medium bristle toothbrush.

I forgot to mention that I lightly sanded the rim while I was sanding the tobacco chamber. This was done in an attempt to remove the lava which had formed over the rim.

I didn’t want to take away too much of the surface meerschaum as I thought that a ring of fresh mineral would look ridiculous with the rest of the colored meerschaum.

Below is the scrubbed stummel, left and right.

With the stummel cleaned I turned my attention to the stem. Fortunately it was nowhere near as dirty as the shank had been. Alcohol dipped bristle pipe cleaners made short work of this. The bone tenon was slightly overclocked when tightened. I added a very light coat of thin clean cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) to the threads of the bone tenon. I hoped that this slight increase in their thickness would be enough to reduce the overclocking.

The stem immediately behind the button had teeth dents both above and below. These were filled by first lightly sanding the amber to provide additional surface area for the CA to adhere to. The dents each received a small drop of CA. You can see the damaged button in the photo below. I will come back to how I repaired it.

The CA was spritzed with a CA drying accelerator. This cured the CA as it evaporated. The newly cured CA was then filed and sanded smooth and blended with the existing amber.

The CA added to the bone tenon had cured without the use of an accelerator and allowed for a correct alignment of the stem with the shank. Better lucky than good, any day. I then used a series of micro-mesh pads from 1500-2400 wetted with a couple drops of water. The micro-mesh pads 3200-12000 were used dry. Between each pad I wiped the pipe off with a paper towel moistened with water.

It was time to give the small Bulldog a fresh coat of beeswax. The kit that I used is illustrated with a photo from a previous meerschaum waxing. I place beeswax in a small glass jar and place the jar in a pan with water. The boiling water melted the wax and allowed me more time to apply the liquid wax. It is kind of like a double boiler and a hot water bath. The working surface has a heat gun and an empty tin to collect wax drippings. The wax is moved close to the work surface hopefully keeping my dripping to a minimum as I apply the wax to the stummel with a paintbrush.

As the wax was melting I heated the stummel with the heat gun.

Below is the boiling water melting the beeswax.

Once the entire stummel was “painted” with wax, I used the heat gun to remelt the wax. The dripping wax was collected in the tin. As I was melting the wax from the pipe I was also spreading it around with the paintbrush to ensure complete coverage.

Once the wax had either been absorbed by the meerschaum or had dripped into the tin, I put on the nearest glove and wiped the stummel with a dry paper towel. The glove was a necessary part as the stummel was very hot.

The color of the meerschaum had softened and took on a more warm golden hue.

Now, back to that button repair, I promised you.

Great idea: Use a toothpick wrapped in Scotch tape as a plug for the airway. The CA shouldn’t stick to the tape.

I inserted the toothpick, good thing this is an orific button.

I then used a fly tying bodkin as a dropper for brown CA. The brown CA was filled in around the toothpick. I used a medium CA rather than a thin formulation. It took a couple of applications to fill the broken voids.

The CA was allowed to cure on its own rather than using a drying accelerator.

After the CA had cured I removed the toothpick, pretty sure that my great idea would work but still cautious.

Success! I used a round diamond rat-tail file to smooth the interior of the airway. The button was reshaped using a flat file and sandpaper.

A sub-par photograph. I guess you will either have to wait for the “finished” photos or jump down to them.

Ugg, the case. I am sure that it once had a leather covering. That was long gone. I think all that remained was a papier mache shell. At least I think that is what it was made of.

There was also at one time a wooden frame around the case. Below you can still see a couple of flakes of old leather, the blackish paper tin stuff.

Enter great idea number two: Coat the whole exterior with sodium silicate, also known as water glass. That should act as an adhesive which would penetrate the papier mache and better hold it together. It would do the same for the wood frame. In my imagination this worked wonderfully. I removed the disintegrating flaking leather and started painting the exterior of the case.

I worked. I was not happy with the color though. It didn’t look like my imagination at all.

Well, I was rather committed at this point. I continued and painted the edges as well.

Great idea number three: Lightly sand the case, dye it with Fiebing’s black leather dye then give it a coat of black shoe polish. I know it didn’t have any leather but, It sounded good to me.

The case was sanded then dyed black. I did not flame the dye. My imagination told me that was a really bad idea. For once I listened.

The case was allowed to dry for an hour then I applied the black shoe polish with a cotton swab. Once applied, I used a shoe shine brush to buff the shoe polish.

The pipe was taken to the buffer where the stem received several coats of carnauba wax. The stummel did not receive any carnauba as it just got fresh beeswax.

Yeah, it is still a beaten, battered, scared, little bulldog but it is a cute little beaten, battered, scared bulldog. I am not sure if sanding would have removed all of the scratches. If the pipe had been that severely sanded, it most likely would not have any color of a developed meerschaum pipe. I am okay with the scars and think they show that this old pipe has stories which would probably amaze all of us if only it could tell them.The repairs to the amber stem turned out very well. The brown CA is a near perfect match to the color of the amber. The dimensions of this Small Amber Stem Meerschaum Bulldog are:
- Length: 4.51 in./ 181.86 mm.
- Weight: 0.82 oz./ 23.40 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.63 in./ 54.61 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.05 in./ 39.88 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.70 in./ 20.57 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.40 in./ 33.78 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.

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Below are some photos of the finished Small Amber Stem Meerschaum Bulldog.
A Jima Restoration

September 19th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

The Jima pipe is one of those things that when you see one you just want to have one. They look so cool and 1960 futuristic. I am pretty sure if Captain James T. Kirk smoked a pipe on Star Trek. It would have been a Jima. Even the advertisements had a Bohr model-esque image:

(Jima – Pipedia). But like all things mainly fashioned in one’s imagination reality enters the picture. I recently succumbed to the Juima bug. Searching through the eBay auctions I found what looked to be a good example and a reasonable price, $25, and I decided that I had to have it. The wait for it to arrive from Hudson, Florida was tolerable with me imagining shooting space aliens while puffing happily with my restored Jima between my teeth.

When the Jima arrived, I have to say I was impressed with the look of the pipe and the condition which it was in. It looked as though it had only been smoked a few times. The feel of the pipe was much different than I had imagined. It felt like the whole thing was made of plastic. I had a chat with Steve Laug recently about Jima and his quote struck me as very insightful and funny. He said, “I have done a few Jimas and they always feel like kids bubble pipes” (Laug,Steve, personal communication) That is exactly what this Jima felt like, a toy pipe. I tried disassembling it, thinking that the bowl should unscrew. It didn’t. Or maybe the mouthpiece slip off, nope. I finally visited smokingmetal.co.uk and discovered the following:

“A plated metal frame holding the mouthpiece, an internal metal filter and the outer bowl of various colours of plastic. The bowl appears to be a ceramic material, which I have not managed to remove.

To access the filter, the barrel ( various patterns) of the inner stem is unscrewed on some models, or simply slid back on others

Mouthpiece of plastic and stamped JIMA on top and �Brevete France & Etranger� �Modele Depose Made in France�

Also available as GARLAND with the Brevet France etc stampings

Since acquiring the Garland which has all text in English, realise the bowl is not intended to be removed by the users. However it seems politric to leave it here lest other try to remove their ceramic bowl Overall Length: 144 m/m” (http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/pipe.php?page=159).

Now I know this introduction has bled over into the “Background” portion of this blog but, I am trying to show the sequence of events as they occurred. I’ll get back on track. Here are some photos of the Jima and it’s condition upon arrival.

This is another of those restorations which really isn’t much of a restoration. Sure, the stem needs a bit of chatter removal and the parts need cleaning but, that is really about all there was to it.

Background

The Alexandria Library of pipes, also known as pipedia.org, has the following to say about Jima:

“An innovative system pipe, the “Jima” (for export also known under the name “Garland” and to a lesser extent in the Netherlands) was a pipe with a silver-plated or gold-plated steel metal frame, connecting a plastic mouthpiece to a plastic outer shell that housed the pipe bowl. This plastic pipe came in a few different colors, black and ivory being the most popular and later various mottled pastel shades showing depressing sales. While the housing was made of hard plastic, the bowl proper was made of a pressed white clay which has been mistaken for meerschaum or sepiolite. The bowl was made detachable by using a screw in fitting which could be loosened or tightened using an Allen key. The fittings on both the bowl and evaporator (stinger) used a plastic compression gasket to keep tar and moisture from seeping out and air from leaking in.

The “Jima” was equipped with an innovative filter design previously unemployed which made it an unforgettable part of the system pipe revolution that began in 1880 with the increasing popularity of new, moist aromatic tobaccos. In the “Jima” was found a filter which was made of spiral wound (sometimes double wound) “electrostatic” metal wire dubbed the “filtres serpentins helicoidaux”. It was said that the electrostatic properties of this filter caused the tars and residues to cling more readily to the filter medium. It is more likely that the extreme turbulence produced by this system caused particles of tar to fall and moisture to condensate as the smoke cooled rapidly. In this instance the evaporator worked to great effect relative to the amount of tar and moisture which accumulated in the stem.

To access the filter, the stem (plastic and in other iterations metal) can be unscrewed, by use of a spring system, or simply slid back, tilted downward and finally pulled off. In nearly every instance the words “Breveté France & Etranger” or “Modèle Deposé Made in France” can be found on the underside of the mouthpiece near the stem.

French brand created in the 1960s by Mayeux, which had a very modern look. This modern look was emphasized by the manufacturer in the promotion material. The slogan speaks of “la pipe de l’an 2000” or “The pipe of the year 2000” . The factory was sold to Chapel Frés, which became part of the Berrod-Regad group in 1987. The Jima pipe is no longer made.”(Jima – Pipedia)(I added the italics)

The above entry also contains numerous photos of Jima pipes in various colors. The one photo that makes me sad is the photo of the “filtres serpentins helicoidaux” or metal filter. This pipe did not come with the original filter. The other thing which I wished that this pipe had is the screw allowing for the disassembly of the bowl from the pipe. That too is not something common to this Jima.

The third site that I checked for background on Jima was pipephil.eu. Here there is a single entry with three links. The left top two links are to other pipe makers associated

with Jima. The “More infos here” link takes you to the smokingmetal.co.uk site for Jima. The final link, “The Chapel Freres & Cie factory” delivers you to a page which shows the building housing the factory. This building now is quite literally housing.

This all leads me to say with some certainty that this Jima was made in France in the 1970s.

The Restoration

The Jima started out with a clean denim piece, like usual.

Since most of the required work on this pipe appeared to be on the stem, that is where I began. I used a wood block to raise the stem slightly to allow a more curved action when filing. I lightly filed the tooth chatter with a small flat file.

The filed surface was then sanded with a 320 grit sanding sponge. You can see on the photo below that the stem stamps were covered with painters tape for protection.

The sanding was done to both the top and bottom sides.

The stem was then sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 320-3500 grits.

The stem was polished with micro-mesh pads 4000-12000.

I failed to photograph the buffing of the plastic stummel with the buffer and white diamond compound. You are not really missing much as there wasn’t much to do.

The Jima’s shank, for lack of a better word, was removed by sliding it towards the mouthpiece then tilting it downward and sliding it off. This tube was cleaned with cotton swabs dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

The two short airways were cleaned with bristle pipe cleaners again dipped in ethyl alcohol.

The bowl was cleaned out with cotton swabs and, you guessed it – ethyl alcohol.

The pipe was reassembled and taken to the buffer for a couple of coats of carnauba wax then a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth.

The best part about this restoration is that I can mark it off the list of pipes to restore. I can’t say that I was terribly impressed with the Jima. I mean yeah, they look very cool but the plastic-like feel just did not appeal to me. It is also true that I never smoked the pipe. It may completely redeem itself with a bowl of tobacco. The amber plastic is very pretty and the gold accents it remarkably. The amber looking stem brings the whole pipe together in a very attractive way and I still admit that I love the aesthetics of the pipe. The design and engineering also are of great quality, The o-rings seal beautifully even with their age and the finish of the pipe is good. I do not like the slight gap around the gold rim and the amber plastic of the stummel but I am sure that is there to allow expansion and contraction of the two plastics and the ceramic bowl. I just can’t get over how it feels in my hand. Perhaps this makes me tactile-ist. A new word I am claiming in reference to being snobbish and elitist regarding the feeling of things. The dimensions of this Jima are:
- Length: 5.68 in./ 144.27 mm.
- Weight: 1.35 oz./ 38.30 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.61 in./ 40.89 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.31 in./ 33.27 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.70 in./ 17.78 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.48 in./ 37.59 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.

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Below are some photos of the finished Jima.
A Marxman Jumbo C Restoration

September 17th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

This may just be the longest restoration yet. Trust me when I say this project has been ongoing since August 15 and today is September 10. For context a normal restoration takes me 2-4 hours not including drying or soaking time. Let me start in the beginning which normally is where stories begin. This pipe was purchased on August 6. I knew it had issues, which you will see shortly, and would allow me to practice several techniques that I wanted to become better at. The pipe was listed on eBay as a “Buy now” for $20 or best offer. I offered the seller $16 and they accepted. In a few minutes you will think I am losing my cognitive faculties or that I probably never had that large of a faculty to start with.

The pipe was sent from Hudson, New York to the wilds of southeast Nebrask and arrived after 6 days, August 12. Upon opening the package I was a bit surprised at the severity of the issues which I had willingly adopted. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. Here is the pipe prior to any work done.

Remember, I said it had issues. I can hear folks saying, “What kind of masochistic idiot are you?” and probably some comments about wanting to sell me fine swamp land in Louisiana or perhaps a bridge in Brooklyn. I wanted to practice the cracked bowl pinning technique by Charles Lemon (you can see that here), repairing cracked shanks and I am continuously working on different ways to repair chewed up mouthpieces (this time with black epoxy resin). So, now you see I thought I could do all of those things with one pipe. There was madness to my madness. No wait, that’s supposed to be, there was a method to my madness.

Background

Over the past almost a year, I have restored 7 Marxman pipes. This will be the 8th. And you say, “I thought you went by the name Nebraska Pete Geek?” Well, I just counted and I have done 12 Petersons so, the name is well founded. I do love an old Marxman pipe though. The amazing history of Robert Marx was summarized by me in an earlier blog which I will include again here:

On January 11, 2024 I blogged about a Marxman Gold banded Dublin (linked if you are interested) and wrote the following about Robert Marxman and Marxman pipes:

“My recent fascination with the post-World War Two (WWII, to properly use an acronym) led me to further appreciation of the Marketing genius of Robert Marx, the founder of Marxman Pipes Inc. Allow me to illustrate:

(Pipe Lovers Magazine 1946 all numbers : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive)

Those are the back covers of Pipe Lovers Magazine for each month of 1946. That represents a substantial investment in building and maintaining one’s brand name.

Here is a quick review of Marxman pipes from pipedia.org:

“Marxman (Marxman Pipe Company) was created by Robert (Bob) L. Marx in 1934, when he was 29, and after he had worked for the William Demuth Company. His pipes were not outstanding because of the quality of their wood (probably Algerian), but Bob started making unique sculpted pieces, which brought the brand fame in the World of Hollywood cinema. Actors like Zachery Scott, Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, Joel McRae, and Ronald Reagan were some of the faces that appeared on the bowls.

Bob knew how to innovate and took full advantage of marketing and press advertising in order to sell the brand–one of his slogans being “Relax with a Marxman”.

(Marxman – Pipedia)

In a recent forum post on Pipesmagazine.com, contributor jguss posted the following from the February 2, 1935 issue of the United States Tobacco Journal:

A remarkable article showing the business acumen as well as a photo of the man himself. Thank you, jguss.

This is one of my favorite quotes about Rober Marx:

“Ted also said: Several years before UST bought Mastercraft, M/C had aquired Marxman Pipes. A wonderful kind man, Bob Marx was still working as a salesman in NYC, and I was fortunate to make a few sales calls with him. You all remember Charles Atlas? Bob Marx was about 76 and had just been awarded the (I think) Atlas Award for being the finest speciman of manhood over 70 years old in NYC, or maybe the state.

M/C had some inventory of Marxman stuff, but not a lot. I know very little about Marxman. Did they make, import, or both?” (Mastercraft – Pipedia)

The “Ted”, who is being quoted above, was the nickname of Tom Douglas. Here is an announcement of Mr. Douglas’ passing from Pipesmagazine forum November 26, 2018:

“Tom Douglas passed away at 71 years of age, this past Saturday, in Florida. It seems he had an infection in his stomach, but I don’t know much more than that, regarding what actually contributed to his death. He did have a history of heart and other health complications. I just spoke very briefly with his wife Joyce; you can imagine how she’s doing.

The impact Tom had on the pipe community is huge…beginning with an immense library of pipe knowledge through the pages of the Dr. Grabow Collectors Forum….his 25 years of service at the Grabow / Sparta pipe factory (where he retired in 1991)….his executive leadership over Mastercraft distribution for many years…”

(Broken Pipe: Tom Douglas, aka “TED” :: General Discussion :: Pipe Smokers Forums of PipesMagazine.com)

So, at 76 years old Robert Marx was still involved in the business that he must have loved. This would have been around 1980.”

Then last winter, Mark Irwin, of Peterson Pipe Notes and author of The Peterson Pipe book, sent me a c. 1945 Marxman Brochure. I photographed the pages of the brochure and included them below.

One of the easiest things to date is a Marxman pipe. The company was formed in 1939 and sold in 1953 to MasterCraft. Though the Marxman name continued after 1953 the pipes were made in France or Italy and stamped as such with Country of Manufacture (COM) stamps. This means that a non COM stamped Marxman pipe was made in New York City between 1939-1953.

(The above was from A Marxman Mel~O Pear published July 23, 2023)

This pipe is undoubtedly a Marxman Jumbo as seen on page six of the above brochure. As a “C” size this pipe would have commanded a price of $10 in 1945. According to the Consumer Price Index inflation calculator that would equate to $173.78 today (July 1945 to July 2024). (https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=10&year1=194507&year2=202407)

The Restoration

Oh no, the poor battered beauty can’t even get an unstained denim piece to rest upon. The bright side is that it will look significantly worse shortly.

I started with the reaming of the tobacco chamber using a PipNet with the size 3 and 4 blades. The #4 rarely gets to come out and play.

Typical of Marxman pipe the reaming was very easy with the cake coming easily off the briar. The chamber was sanded with 320 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel and taken to bare wood. No heat damage was observed.

The shank was a dirty mess. For as easily as the tobacco chamber gave up it’s accumulated cake the airway clung to it’s smoking residues tenaciously. Several scrubs with 95% ethyl alcohol and a shank brush followed by alcohol dipped cotton swabs were used. I was getting frustrated and my thoughts turned to the next steps.

It was during the repetitions of scrubbing that my mind started to process ways to repair the cracked shank. The first thought was merely a brass band. I did this with a Marxman Mel-O and that restoration turned out very well as the below photo illustrates:

My thoughts shifted to considering an internal band. I had seen a video on how to make a pipe with a military mount by J. Alan of jalanpipes.com a few years ago. Here is that video. In the video he used a piece of brass and filed teeth into the brass tube. He then used the tube to cut a circular slot or hole just outside of the mortise on the shank. A piece of brass tube was inserted into this circular slot and the shank had a reinforcement that could take significant abuse. I filed that away in the back of my mind. For whatever reason the thought of a brass reinforcing band inside the shank of this pipe seemed like a good idea. The shank was thick and could easily accommodate a band and what the heck, it was already cracked. How badly could I screw this pipe up? In hindsight, I should have watched the video again or researched this technique more but I was in “problem solving” mode.

I looked through the stock of brass tubing that I had and found a piece which looked to be the perfect diameter. It was 5/8th inch outside diameter tubing. Next I started filing teeth on the edge of the tube. I couldn’t remember how many teeth were used in the video and couldn’t be bothered to rewatch it. As you may have guessed by my complete lack of video that I really do not like videos. I think it comes from being a teacher for 32 years. Rather than read, research and learn things like I did as a student, all students ever wanted to do was “watch a video”. This is fine and dandy for seeing how to replace the gas cap door on a 2004 Ford F150 (yeah, I just did that) but there isn’t a video on the life of Robert Marx. Videos are a great tool for some things but they are not the sole source of learning. Anyway, I filed some teeth.

They looked like they would cut briar. They also looked like they would have to be brought out of the hole and have the saw dust blown off of them frequently. I was in uncharted territory and expected some learning by trial and error.

In my imagination the brass tube/cutter would be clamped into a chuck of some type and spun at some speed, probably slow and lowered or slid into the shank which would be clamped somehow. Yeah, there was a lot of “some” in my thought process at this time. I do not have a drill press nor a lathe. The thought of using hand tools for this operation seemed ridiculous. I then contacted my son-in-law’s brother who is a machinist extraordinaire. The date was August 15, 2024. He replied the next day and was worried about brass being able to cut the briar. I then realized that he spent his days cutting far tougher material like steel, stainless steel, titanium and cobalt-chromium alloys. Yeah, he works in a prosthetics lab. He had the experience, tools and know-how needed to help with this endeavor. More on this later.

I had a rim to clean up and a stummel to scrub and a whole bunch of clean cotton swabs which were demanding to be filthy..

So that is what I did. The stummel was taken to the sink and scrubbed with Murphy Oil Soap, undiluted , and a nylon scrub brush. The years of dirt and the lava came off quickly. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton hand towel.

Back at the bench things were looking good both in the reality of the drying stummel and in the realm of my imagination of how the shank repair would proceed.

I certainly was back in reality, with a really dirty shank.

That brought me to the next new idea I wanted to try. In one of the Facebook groups that I am in, someone mentioned using two part epoxy to repair and reconstruct buttons. I wish I could remember what group or who the person was who had sown this seed in my brain. I thought that I needed to try it out and this stem was a perfect subject. The stem was cleaned using 95% ethyl alcohol and bristle pipe cleaners then lightly sanded to remove some of the surface oxidation and allow the Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer access to the vulcanite.

A pipe cleaner was inserted into the remaining button, to act as a hanger suspending the stem in the deoxidizer, and it was lowered into the deox ( my term for the liquid).

According to the time stamp on the photos the stem was in deox for 7.5 hours.

That gave me plenty of time to soil another stack of cotton swabs in an attempt to exorcize the tar demons from the airwair. Finally, I was victorious and the airway was clean.

The seemingly unending airway scrub did allow me time to ponder the next step and the next technique that I wanted practice with. That is the repair of a cracked bowl using strategically placed brass pins. I first saw this technique in a post by Charles Lemon of Dads Pipes. Charles is a real restorer, unlike me, and actually does this for a living bringing back family heirlooms and working magic with his impressive skills. You can find Charles’ pinning tutorial blog here. I had used pins to repair a cracked shank as a first time practice ordeal and again with a cracked bowl, both blogs are linked if you care to make fun of my attempts. This cracked bowl was more of a cosmetic crack in the briar. It did not extend through the wall of the tobacco chamber and looked more like it was from an improperly cured piece of briar rather than a case of excessive cake. Either way, I was going to repair it with brass pins. I first filled the crack with brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) pushed into the crack with a fly tying bodkin. The CA was allowed to cure in it’s own time and was not accelerated by a CA drying accelerator.

Once cured the surface of the CA was roughened up a little bit to better blend it with the carving on the stummel. I used a round rat tail file and a diamond needle rat tail file for the roughening.

My jumping around from task to task with this restoration shows my desire to plan and think through each of the multi-step procedures used with each technique. I use the time stamps from the photos to sequence the restoration process that I present to you. I apologize if this makes it hard to follow while reading. This is the way it all happened though

I wanted to give the CA adequate time to cure so I busied myself with the repair/rebuilding of the stem. Someday I’ll get a drill press or a lathe and that cool tenon turning tool and I’ll just make stems rather than try to reconstruct them. There’s that imagination again. Anyway, the stem was removed from deox and wiped with a coarse shop rag. This more abrasive material is great for absorbing the excess deoxidizer and abrading away some of the oxidized vulcanite.

Aug. 15 (I’m using the dates here to show the curing times of the epoxy.)

To rebuild the button, I first cut a dam from a plastic lid. This dam was coated with petroleum jelly and inserted into the airway in an attempt to keep the epoxy for sealing it off. I mixed the two part J. B. Weld black epoxy as per product instructions.

I used a piece of Scotch tape around the bottom of the stem to aid in keeping the epoxy on the top then applied the epoxy to the fill area with a fly tying bodkin. The stem was set aside for 24 hours to cure.

Aug. 16

The next day, I checked on the epoxy to see how well it was working as a fill material.

The dam was removed easily and appeared to have work at keeping the epoxy from the airway.

I took the stem to the photography bench for some better than the phone photos.

The surface was roughed up with a 320 grit sanding sponge to give the next application of J.B. Weld something to bond to and the dam was reinserted.

Another batch of epoxy was mixed then applied to the area to build up the missing material for a proper button. This application was again set aside for 24 hours.

Aug. 17

This was nowhere near as quick as using a black cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) to fill an area but I was still curious as to its effectiveness. I filed the 2nd application and reformed the button.

The epoxy filed and sanded more easily than CA would have. I was sure that it would cure to a harder consistency in a couple of days.

Aug. 18, 8:30am

A third application of J.B. Weld was applied to the stem. This time to a larger area. I wanted a wider area to use for blending the original stem to the new patch. This application also was spread on the top and bottom of the stem.

A pipe cleaner was inserted to act as a hanger and the stem was hung to cure.

Aug. 18, 9:50pm

13 hours later, I checked on the curing of the epoxy. The surface was rough rather than smooth, as it had been with the previous two applications. I did like the way tha material built up though.

Aug. 19, 1:00pm

Another 15 hours later and I returned to the cured epoxy on the stem. The rough texture remained and the epoxy felt more tacky than the previous iterations. The new material pulled away from the second application as I was filing it. Bah, that won’t do. I peeled the 3rd application off the stem. I was not sure if it was a bad mix or what had happened. One thing that I was certain about was that I preferred to use black CA for rebuilding buttons.

All this time between sessions with the pipe did allow me to thoroughly plan how I wanted the pinning to go. I drilled 3 holes with a 2mm drill bit. Each hole was drilled at a different angle and each transected the crack. The below photo shows each hole with a piece of 2mm brass rod. I had gotten better with my drilling and none of the holes had emerged all the way through the stummel.

The hole depths were measured with their respective rods. Each rod was cut slightly shorter than the depth of the hole.

I applied a small drop of brown CA to a hole and quickly pushed the corresponding rod into it to a point below the briar surface. The below photo shows all three rods pressed into place. You can still see the brass peeking from the holes.

The holes were then filled with another application of brown CA and topped with a small scoop of briar dust. The dust was pressing into the wet CA. The fill was then sanded smooth on the rim and slightly smoothed in the carved areas. This project took an intermission while I waited to schedule a visit to the machine shop of my fellow conspirator.

Sept. 9

A date had been set for the machine shop visit. This was a clandestine operation after hours. In preparation for the event, I needed to glue the shank crack with CA. I used a thin clear CA to penetrate the crack as deeply as possible. This was applied with the ever popular fly tying bodkin and quickly clamped.

The clamping provided no visual compression of the crack but it made me feel like I accomplished something. I then applied a thin line of brown CA to the crack to fill it with the fly tying bodkin.

Sept. 10

Now to protect my fellow conspirator’s identity, since we were infiltrating his shop after hours and without the knowledge of his overlord, I will refer to him as Christian. A fitting name and perhaps title. I explained what I thought we could do and how I imagined it happening. Christian immediately understood and dashed my imagined process with a healthy dose of reality. He said that this was a job for the milling machine. The first order of the new reality based procedure was to shorten my brass cutter to fit into a collar which could be mounted into the chuck of the milling machine.

Next we needed to clamp the stummel into position in a way that limited movement without marring the briar. This was done with a couple of scraps of a clear soft plastic between the vise jaws and the stummel.

The cutter was aligned with the shank.

Turtle speed was selected on the milling machine.

And the cutting was begun, very slowly, maybe 0.5 mm then I’d blow the dust away with the compressor.

This continued and was looking very promising. I hadn’t really thought about how deep to make the slot. It was determined that 5 mm would probably be sufficient.

The depth gauge was set to the 5 mm goal and the cutting proceeded.

Once achieved, the slot looked as good as I had imagined.

The next task was to cut a 4.7 mm wide brass band from the same tube the cutter was made with. This would ensure a perfect fit. We moved to the lathe to square up the end of the brass tube.

The lathe was set to cut a precise 4.7 mm wide band. We thought that this would allow me to press the band into the slot so that it would be flush with the face of the mortise and would require no sanding of the brass band. The no sanding was important for a proper fit with the stem to maintain the shank to stem joint.

The band cutting proceeded successfully on the second attempt after Christian had sharpened the cutter. The first attempt met with a hot mess. Literally, the dull cutter made an out of round band that was very hot.

The band seemed to fit beautifully. It was not pressed in fully as there was no way to extract it once it was in there. Also, my crack glue-job seemed to be holding without the reinforcing band.

After many thank-yous, a Mission Impossible like extraction from the machine shop and a drive back home the Marxman was back to the home workbench.

I thought about which glue to use, CA or epoxy for gluing in the band. I settled on epoxy due to my fear of not being able to move fast enough for the CA and having the CA set-up before I had the band fully pressed into place.

I applied a bead of epoxy to the slot.

Surprisingly, I remembered to roughen the inside and outside of the brass band with a sanding sponge.

The band was then pressed into position.

The excess epoxy was cleaned up with a cotton swab dipped in acetone and… (dramatic pause). OH CARP! There was about 0.2-0.5 mm of brass band sticking up above the surface of the mortise. What had gone wrong? I texted Christian, if that is his real name, and explained what I was seeing. We had both noticed that my brass cutter was significantly more dull when we finished cutting, back at the shop. He thought that the dulled teeth would have given a false 5 mm depth to the cut. I agreed and thought that maybe the epoxy would have added another fraction of a mm. In hindsight, the band would have been better cut at 4.5 mm to ensure greater clearance.

I used a small flat file to remove as much of the brass as I felt comfortable removing. I had to go very slowly and with great care to avoid filing any briar. I then took the stummel to the topping board there. I very slowly sanded the brass to flush with the briar. I failed to photograph any of this, apologies. I did photograph the resulting fit though.

Below is a photo of the internal brass band in all of it’s glory.

Now to finish this stem. I thought I could go over the patch on the bottom of the stem with black CA and that it would make the difference in the vulcanite and the black epoxy disappear. Once again the imagination was working beautifully and all of the imagined repairs were equally as beautiful.

I painted the bottom of the stem with the black CA.

The CA was then spritzed with a CA drying accelerator. The subsequent area was filed and sanded to blend the vulcanite with the patch. You’ll have to wait or jump to the end to see how reality dealt with my imagined results. This is mainly because I failed to photograph it. Umm, I mean, that I want to build anticipation. Yean, that’s the ticket.

To rebuild the button proper, I Scotch taped the stem right against the button This kept me from having to re sand the blended stem patch. It also allowed me to file and sand the button without scratching up the already smoothed stem. I applied layers of black CA to the button, spitzed with the drying accelerator and while the CA was still soft, I made a straight cut through the still pliable CA giving the button a more defined seam where it met the stem.

The above was done for both the top and bottom. Both sides were filed then sanded to a proper shape.

Here you can see the progress from the side.

Eventually the stem was sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 400-3500 grit. Between the sponges the stem was rubbed with mineral oil and wiped with a dry paper towel.

I was apparently getting tired and failed to photograph the micro-meshing of the stem. The next step was to coat the stummel with Before and After Restoration Balm and let it sit for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes the Restoration Balm was wiped off with an inside out athletic sock.

It was at this point that I decided to try another novel technique on this pipe. I had not worked with a shellac finish on a pipe in a long time, perhaps even before I started blogging back in October of 2023. I slid the stem out about ¼ inch or ½ cm to provide a handle but not get any shellac on it. I used a disposable foam brush to apply a very thin coat of shellac to the stummel. The briar absorbed the shellac quickly and it dried as the alcohol solvent evaporated. Now for the weird part – I slightly wetted a paper towel with 99% isopropyl alcohol and wiped the stummel with the paper towel. This smoothed the shellac remaining on the surface of the panels. I only applied the single coat of shellac as I don’t really like the look of a clear coat on pipes. This wasn’t really a clear coat, more of a sanding sealer and a layer of protection of the carved surfaces from dirt and hand oils. I let the stummel dry for about 15 minutes then took it to the buffer for a polish with white diamond compound. The entire pipe was then wiped with a clean dry cotton cloth to remove any remaining buffing compound. The stem and stummel then received several coats of carnauba wax with the buffer. A quick hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth and she was finally finished.

I would like to thank you for making it this far into this dissertation. It is actually longer than many Masters Degree dissertations that I’ve read. Perhaps I’ll be awarded an honorary masters from some pipe restoration university. That’s a thing, isn’t it? A special thanks goes out to the machinist Christian, who may or may not actually go by that name. I had now successfully turned the $16 pipe into a $25 pipe, which equated to about $0.50/hour. Good thing I’m retired or the U.S. The Department of Labor would be filing suit for unfair pay. In all honesty, this pipe provided me with some new challenges and did exactly what I wanted it to do, allowed me to practice doing what I love to do – learn new and hone existing techniques. The pipe turned out amazingly well. This one will be joining my personal collection. The dimensions of this Marxman Jumbo C are:
- Length: 6.01 in./ 152.65 mm.
- Bowl Height: 1.73 in./ 43.94 mm.
- Weight: 2.13 oz./ 60.60g.
- Chamber Depth: 1.32 in./ 33.53 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.91 in./ 23.11 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.76 in./ 44.70 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.

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Below are some photos of the finished Marxman Jumbo C.
A Dr Grabow Collector 2002 Billiard Restoration

September 12th, 2024
Written and photographed by

John M. Young

Proof positive that I have turned away from restoring pipes from the 1940s. Okay restoration may be too strong of a word for this entry. I can’t be certain that this pipe ever saw a flame. It is a lovely example of the craftsmanship that Dr Grabow is capable of. This beauty was part of an estate lot from Norman Park, Georgia, USA via an eBay auction. The pipe was not stamped with The name Dr Grabo yet it wears the Dr Grabow logo on the stem. The only stamp is COLLECTOR over 2002. Below are some photos of the Collector 2002 as it looked upon arrival.

I’m not sure if that is the original filter. It came that way though.

I always find it funny to find an unsmoked or seldom smoked pipe that has tooth dents or chatter.

Background

Dr Grabow has a long and well documented history, in general. This line, unfortunately, is not part of that “general”. In an earlier blog of mine, I briefly detailed this history. I will include that summary here:

“In one of my very first blogs I wrote about the restoration of an MLC pipe. “The stamp that I could not make out on my pipe was the MLC. This stands for Mary Linkman & Company. This is the same company formed by Louis B. Linkman, the originator of Dr. Grabow pipes. In 1898 Linkman and August Fisher started a small business making pipes. The business grew and, “in 1907 M. Linkman & Company was incorporated with Louis B. Linkman as president, August Fisher, vice-president…” (https://pipedia.org/wiki/M._Linkman_%26_Co.). If you would like to see a very early blog about the MLC Hell Maria here is that link.

So, two youngsters started up a pipe making company at the turn of the last century. It doesn’t end there, friends. I wrote the following in a blog about another Linkman’s pipe: “ “BACK IN 1898, two ambitious young men reached the momentous decision to go into business for themselves. They were Louis B. Linkman and August Fisher. From the time they were in knee pants they had worked for a pipe jobber in the mid-west.” (https://pipedia.org/wiki/M._Linkman_%26_Co.). These two young entrepreneurs were joined by a third, “Anton Burger, who had also been employed by a pipe jobber in the mid-west, approached them and was taken in as a partner. M. Linkman & Company proceeded as a partnership; the business developed rapidly through the untiring efforts of these men in producing quality pipes and rendering good service to their customers.” (https://pipedia.org/wiki/M._Linkman_%26_Co.). The company eventually

came to be known as Dr Grabow.”

According to Tobaccopipes.com “The birth of the Dr Grabow smoking pipe is simple enough. It started off when Dr Grabow himself and his acquaintance Dr Linkman regularly visited the local pharmacist at Brown’s Drug Store in Lincoln Park Chicago. Dr Linkman was on the lookout for a doctor’s name to Christian an innovative line of pipes in order to mellow out the smoking apparel’s smoggy image. He asked Dr Grabow to allow him to use his name to which he agreed and the name has stuck since then. Linkman continued to manufacture his Dr Grabow pipes until 1953.

The earliest of these exclusive pipes were stamped both with Linkman’s and Dr Grabow. They included a propeller emblem that was white in color at the top of the mouthpiece. Linkman’s pipes are also stamped with their own four digit code. This code indicates their model and shape. For example, the PRE – 1944 model names included the “Special”, “Supreme” and “Deluxe” versions of Dr Grabow’s pipes.

In 1944 the white propeller emblem was replaced with a white spade, a move that heralded the introduction of Linkman’s new Dr Grabow pipes. All of the newer entries included most of the earlier favorites as well as “TRU-GRAIN” and “SELECT”. Later models of Dr Grabow pipes were described as Imported Briar.” (https://www.tobaccopipes.com/dr-grabow-history/)” (https://docs.google.com/document/d/13LnPnQ3QRxtydNpCFros7VpuQPRYYrVBMTagngNDV0Y/edit)

The other references of a “Collector 2002” come from pipesmoker.com/forums

(https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/show-off-your-dr-grabow-pipes-here.23838/page-24 by author tuold), and Worthpoint listings:

(https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/dr-grabow-collector-2002-sandblasted-1870580531)

that I could find comes from a timeline created by a Tiki Vegas:

(https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/dr-grabow).

I have frequently said things like, “I ain’t too bright but…” or “I may have been born at night but, it wasn’t last night” regarding my own intelligence. With that in mind, I can pretty assuredly surmise that this pipe is from Dr Grabow’s Sparta, North Carolina factory and was made in 2002.

The Restoration

Okay, not a real restoration, more like a refreshment. Although that makes me think it needs a cocktail umbrella or something sticking out of the bowl though.

I did ream out the bowl as it was rough with what I assume was a lumpy bowl coating.

Below you can see a couple of the lumps I was referring to. The tobacco chamber was sanded smooth with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel.

I cleaned the airway of the shank with cotton swabs and folded bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

The stummel was scrubbed with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a nylon scrub brush to remove 22 years of dust. The soap was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton hand towel.

Before polishing the brass band I first taped the stem with painters tape. This was to keep the metal polish from the plastic of the stem. I always enjoyed polishing the brass on my JROTC uniform back in high school. Though this Cape Cod Metal Polish smells far better than the Brasso of 40 years ago. The brass band polished up very nicely.

The stem was cleaned out using cotton swabs & bristle pipe cleaners with 95% ethyl alcohol.

I’m not sure how an unsmoked pipe can get teeth marks but they do. I used a small flat file to smooth the area behind the button on both top and bottom. The filed surface was then sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge.

The stem was sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 600-3500 grit. I was a bit nervous about achieving a factory like finish on this plastic stem but continued and hoped for the best.

The stem was micro-meshed with 4000-12000 pads. Between each pad I applied a small drop of Obsidian Oil. The stem was looking great, no need for my earlier worries.

I removed the painters tape and used Before and After Fine polish hand buffed with a soft cotton cloth. I buffed both the brass band and the plastic of the stem.

Before and After Extra Fine Polish followed the Fine Polish.

The pipe was then taken to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax from the buffer. The rustications on this pipe were not very deep so I figured that buffing carnauba would be OK and it appeared like I was correct. The final step prior to photographing the finished pipe was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth.

I have to admit that I am not the biggest fan of Dr Grabow pipes. I mean, I love the Westbrooks and the old Linkmans that I have. I find that the Dr Grabow filters are a bit too constricting for my taste. The factory finishes that come with many Dr Grabow pipes are high gloss clear coats which is something that I do not prefer and many of the carved or rusticated versions look cartoon-like. However, this Collector 2002 is a beautiful pipe. I still do not like the draw with a filter inserted but without the filter it is wide open and very nice. The finish is a nice light sandblast which shows off the briar grain beautifully. The stain is a bit dark for me but it works well with the brass band. The stem is polished exceptionally well and has a gorgeous high gloss. Overall this is a darn good looking and feeling pipe which Dr Grabow should be proud of. The dimensions of this Dr Grabow Collector 2002 Billiard are:
- Length: 5.92 in./ 150.39 mm.
- Weight: 1.43 oz./ 40.80 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.76 in./ 44.70 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.39 in./ 35.31 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.75 in./ 19.05 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.35 in./ 34.29 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.

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Below are some photos of the finished Dr Grabow Collector 2002 Billiard.