NebraskaPeteGeek

A Two Kings Billiard Restoration

May 7th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

This pipe is an enigma. The shank is stamped with MADE IN ThE over REPUBLIC over OF IRELAND. I will refer to this stamp as MITROI from here on.

The stamp above is faint and this was taken prior to the cleaning or any restoration work. The only pipes that I know of that bear a stamp like this are Peterson pipes. It was for this reason that this pipe was purchased from eBay. There was another pipe in the lot and it was a cute little GUILDHALL apple shape.

If you have followed this blog for a while you may have picked up on the fact that I am a big fan of Marxman, Dr Grabow Westbrook and Peterson Pipes. The number of Peterson I own far exceeds their representation in the blogs due to the fact that I have been restoring pipes for several years and only been blogging about restorations since the end of October of 2023. Most of the Petersons had been restored long before I started blogging. Perhaps I shall start to make them the subjects of the blog in the future. Below are some photos of the object of my confusion prior to having any work done.

Two Kings Background

I am not sure why I made the above bold. There is nothing on Two Kings. Nothing on pipedia,org, pipephil.eu, Google search, Google images, nothing. I am pretty sure that this pipe may evaporate at any second leaving the only record of its existence in these photos.

So, what does one do when facing questions about all things MITROI? Email Mark Irwin, of course. Mark is one of the authors of the great Peterson Pipe book.

(Available at https://www.smokingpipes.com/accessories/books/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=471478)

The below is an email exchange I had with Mark Irwin.

Me: “I’m looking forward to reading the X Pipe. Congrats on that by the way. I’m emailing you with a question: What have I found? I recently picked up a TWO KINGS (left shank stamp) with MADE IN THE over REPUBLIC over OF IRELAND. The stamps are light and dirty, as I’ve not started the restoration yet. The dimensions of the pipe are:
- Length: 5.99 in./ 152.15 mm.
- Weight: 1.54 oz./ 43.9 g.
- Bowl Height: 2.01 in./ 51.05 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.65 in./ 42.00 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.78 in./ 19.81 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.50 in./ 38.10 mm.
All fit within the range of a 105. Have you ever heard of “Two Kings”. I cannot find anything on it.

(I included some photos of the Two Kings which you saw above.)

Thank you for you time,

John”

(Personal email)

Mark Irwin’s reply:

“Hi John,

I suspect the TWO KINGS is similar to the B.P.L. pipes, i.e., someone connected to K&P was buying stummels already stamped with the MITROI, then stamping their own brand. You can read about B.P.L. pipes at the blog. I agree, this looks like a 105.

Best,

Mark”

(Personal email)

For those of you who were as curious as I was about this B.P.L. which stands for Briar Pipes Limited. I have included the two links below. They are both to Mark’s Peterson Pipe Notes blogs regarding B.P.L. and a wonderful restoration of a B.P.L. carved pipe by Charles Lemon.

Mark Irwin’s response to the MITROI stamp:

141. The B.P.L. (Briar Pipes Limited) – Peterson Connection

Restoration of a B.P.L.:

142. Restoring an Irish-Made B.P.L. Carved Bent Bulldog

So the mystery is kind of solved. This is a pipe that was based on a stummel carved by Peterson. It was stamped at the Peterson factory then sold to an unknown party who then finished the pipe and stamped it with their own product name. The time frame for this was probably about the same as the B.P.L. pipes; 1970-1980s. I think I will call this subterfuge a Peterson made Peterson knock off. I don’t think the descriptor will stick but it was fun to think of.

Well if I’m going to start imagining scenarios then here goes another: Late one evening in 1972 a group of Antarctic Atlantean terrorists broke into the newly opened Peterson factory at Sallynoggin. They were hoping that the move to the new factory had created the confusion needed for their evil plot. They loaded up backpacks with stummels from the factory floor, careful not to select any stummels stamped with PETERSON as this would prove far more difficult for them to fence. The terrorists then snuck from the factory and entered their get-away lorry. It may not have been a lorry but, I’ve always wanted to use that word in a sentence and I can mark that off my “bucket list”. They sped off into the dark Dublin suburbs. At the top secret Antarctic Atlantean terrorist hide out they repackaged the pipes and contacted their devious network of underworld underlings each would deliver the MITROI stamped pipes to Tobacconists throughout Europe where they would be stamped with the name of the respective establishment and confound MI6. The money from this illicit larceny was used as an attempt to reestablish the Atlantean State and end the exile of Atlanteans from their frosty abode in Antarctica. Yeah, where are the college demonstrators for restoring the homeland of the Atlantean Exiles?

Side note: Atlanteans were used in the above scenario to avoid hurting anyone’s “woke” feelings about real ethnic groups. No Atlanteans were harmed in the imagining of this scenario.

The Restoration

As usual the pipe received a clean denim piece after the “before pictures” photo shoot.

The first task was to ream the tobacco chamber. The PipNet with #2 blade did most of the world.

After sanding with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel I could see no sign of damage to the chamber.

The rim was encrusted with lava. This was scraped from the rim using a sharp pocket knife and saliva.

After the scraping the stummel was taken to the sink for a scrub. The scrubbing was done with a medium stiff toothbrush and undiluted Murphy Oil Soap. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton hand towel.

Back at the workbench the stummel was wiped off with a cotton make-up pad moistened with 95% ethyl alcohol. Some remaining grime and/or old wax was removed.

I started cleaning out the airway of the shank. I poured 3-5 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the tobacco chamber and allowed it to flow into the shank. I used a nylon shank brush to scrub the airway with the alcohol present. The alcohol was then poured into a medicine cup. I wiped the residue from the brush onto a paper towel.

I used a dental scraper to scrape the airway as much as I could . Tar removed by scraping reduces the scrubbing dramatically. Cotton swabs dipped in alcohol were used to further scrub the airway and remove excess alcohol. I repeated the scraping, alcohol/nylon shank brush scrubbing several times.

Eventually the airway was cleaned.

After the shank I set to work on cleaning the airway of the stem. Bristle pipe cleaners were dipped in alcohol and used to scrub the airway. I could get the nylon shank brush into the airway from the tenon end of the stem but not through the button. I scrubbed with the brush as well.

Once the interior of the stem was cleaned I sent the stem to deox. Okay, that means that I submerged the stem into the Before and After Deoxidizing solution. (deox). Normally I’ll leave a stem in for 2-6 hours. This time I forgot about it and left it in for about 20 hours.

With the stem in deox, I returned attention to the stummel. The rim needed a light topping. This was done with a piece of 220 sandpaper laid flat on a countertop. I used a circular motion and rotated the stummel 90 degrees every 3-4 circles. This was done to keep the pressure equally distributed around the entire rim. The 220 sanding was repeated with 400.

That was a much improved rim.

The extra time in deox had me a bit worried. I don’t normally forget stems. My name or what I was doing at that moment, yes, but not stems. What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, the stem in deox. 20 hours later I let the stem drip excess solution back into the deox jar.

I like to use a coarse shop rag to wipe the deox solution from a stem. It absorbs the excess solution and is a bit more abrasive for removing oxidized vulcanite.

Below you can see the rag stained with brown oxidized vulcanite.

The stem was then scrubbed with Soft Scrub on make-up pads. This removed still more of the loosened up oxidized rubber.

For a better grip while sanding the stem I taped the shank and inserted the sem into the stummel. I then sanded the stem with the sequence of sanding sponges from 400-3500 grit. Between each sponge I wiped the stem with a finger dipped in mineral oil then wiped the excess oil off with a paper towel. When finished the stem was oiled with mineral oil and set aside.

Back to the stummel. There were a few pits that needed to be filled. The below shows the largest of them. These were filled with a drop of brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust. The CA was placed in the depression, a pinch of briar dust is then pressed hard into the depression. You can try not to get the CA and briar dust onto your fingers or wear nitrile gloves. Personally I kind of like the brown speckled fingertips. The fill was then filed smooth with a flat needle file. Usually a second application of CA was needed. This was sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge. The sponge provided the briar dust and smoothed the fill in the process.

After the fills were finished the stamps were taped with painters tape and the stummel was sanded with the sequence of sanding sponges, 400-2500. Care was taken to not sand very much on the stem as it had already been sanded. Between each sponge the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad wetted with 95% ethyl alcohol. Below you can still see the adhesive from the painters tape around the TWO KINGS.

The final sanding with the 3000 and the 3500 sponges was done without the painters tape. The alcohol wiping was the same for each sponge.

After the sanding sponges the stummel was micro-meshed with the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. Between the pads I wiped the stummel as with the sponges.

A coating of Before and After Restoration Balm was applied to the pipe, stem and stummel, and it was set aside.

12 Hours later I returned and was ready to finish the Two Kings restoration.

The excess Restoration Balm was wiped away with an inside-out athletic sock.

The pipe was then taken to the buffer where it received several coats of carnauba wax with the buffing wheel. A final hand polish with a nano-fiber polishing cloth and the Two Kings was ready for the “after” photo shoot.

Overall I am very pleased with the restoration of this Two Kings billiard. It is a large pipe and feels very substantial in hand. The shape is typical of a wonderfully muscular Peterson billiard . The fishtail stem polished up nicely and its glossy black accents the natural grain of the briar. I am sure this will make someone a great smoking pipe for years to come. Maybe even one of the descendants of the Atlantean terrorists.

The dimensions of this Two Kings billiard are:
- Length: 5.99 in./ 152.15 mm.
- Weight: 1.54 oz./ 43.9 g.
- Bowl Height: 2.01 in./ 51.05 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.65 in./ 42.00 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.78 in./ 19.81 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.50 in./ 38.10 mm.
I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Tow Kings billiard.
A Bentley Lovat Restoration

May 2nd, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

The next pipe in que for the workbench is this cute little Bentley Lovat. Once again I have chosen a pipe to restore that appears old, beat up, dirty and has little information concerning its origin story. Yay ( feel free to read with extra sarcasm). The pipe itself is good looking, well good looking if you use your “imagination”. Structurally it was sound with well centered drillings and nice proportions. The stamps are BENTLEY on the left shank and ALGERIAN BRIAR over FRANCE on the right.

Below are some photos taken of the Bently prior to working on it.

Trust me, there is a pretty little pipe there. In planning the restoration in my mind, I saw the usual cleaning and stem oxidation removal. I also say the filling of pits and blemishes and a contrast staining to bring out the naturally occurring grain. I will be sad to see the stem logo disappear but it was only painted on, not stamped and will not make it through a deoxidation process.

Background on Bently pipes

I turned first to pipedia.org for a search of Bentley. There is a short article on Bentley, “This is the production Brand of Hans Jonny “Former” Nielsen. When the U. S. pipe demand for quality handmade “freehand” pipes diminished, W.Ø. Larsen in Copenhagen sent their several workshop pipemakers home to work out of their house. Former who was the Larsen foreman at the time, eventually went to Germany and started the Bentley line of production pipes made on frasing machines, several at a time. Some years ago he returned to Denmark with this type of equipment and continues to make these production pipes in his current workshop in between making his famous handmade pipes.

Bentley could also be a name of a line of Kaywoodie seconds.” (Bentley – Pipedia)

The last sentence of the quote is most applicable to the Bentley that I have in hand. The aforementioned Bentleys sound like much higher quality pipes than this little lovat. Next I turned to a search of Kaywoodie, again in pipedia.org. I could find no mention of Bentley in a search of any Kaywoodie pages. Things that make you say “Hmmm.”

I then went to pipephile.eu to look for logos. This pipe had a circle logo containing a “B”. of the several circle B logos none of them matched. Search for Bently did meet with several suspects.
1. Very unlikely.
2. This one has potential. The BENTLEY stamping looks very similar to the stamp on the lovat but the stem logo is completely different.

3. Very unlikely.

4. Stamping here is lower case except for the “B”and the stem logo is missing the circle.
5. Unlikely. Country of manufacture (COM) is England. The Bentley lovat is france.

6. OK, so maybe it is a Kaywoodie second but, does Kaywoodie have any ties to French made pipes? According to the below, yes. They are both stamped Kaywoodie. This might not be the case if a pipe were a true second as “KAYWOODIE” would not necessarily be present on a second.
Conclusions: This Bently lovat is stamped BENTLEY, ALGERIAN BRIAR over FRANCE and it is a pipe. Thank you Captain Obvious. Seriously that is all I can say with certainty. It is a pipe, made in France from Algerian briar.

The Restoration

This restoration started with a clean denim piece then reaming of the tobacco chamber.

The reaming went well except that the chamber is drilled with a size that is just a smidge too tight for the PipNet #2 blade. The General triangular scraper was used then followed by the sanding with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel.

The tobacco chamber was in great condition with no sign of any heat damage or careless scraping with sharp pointy knives. The rim on the other hand needed some attention from a sharp knife. I moistened it with saliva and scraped it with a sharp pocket knife.

After the scraping it looked much better and only showed a bit of rim darkening.

The stummel was taken to the sink for a scrubbing with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a medium stiff toothbrush. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton hand towel. Back at the workbench, I started picking the old fill material out of the pits.

Before repairing the pits I started cleaning the shank airway. The draft hole from the tobacco chamber was normal size then it widened considerably in the shank. My nylon shank brush was too thin to be very effective. I had to use two doubled over bristle pipe cleaners bent together to fashion a scrubbing tool. I poured 3-4 ml of ethyl alcohol into the chamber and allowed it to flow into the shank. I then used the two doubled over pipe cleaners to scrub the airway with the alcohol. Cotton swabs were then used to remove the remaining alcohol. This was repeated several times until the cotton swabs returned clean.

After the shank was cleaned I turned my attention to the stem. For such a short piece of rubber it certainly was dirty. Bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol were used to clean the airway of the stem.

The exterior of the stem was lightly sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge then it was submerged into the Before and After Deoxidizing solution. I planned on leaving it in the solution for 2-4 hours.

This allowed plenty of time to fill the newly excavated pits. I used a fly tying bodkin to apply a small drop of brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) to the pit. I then took a pinch of briar dust and pressed it into the CA filled pit. The briar dust combined with the CA and cured almost instantly. The new fill was then filed with a flat needle file flush with the surface of the stummel. A second small drop of CA was applied with the bodkin. While the CA was wet I sanded the area with a 400 grit sanding sponge. The briar dust from the sanding and the dust on the sponge combined with the CA to fill any remaining rough spots or slight depressions. The new fills appeared dark brown.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say that I covered the stamps with painters tape to protect the stamps from sanding.

The stummel was ready to have its grain accentuated. Due to budget cuts the same paper towels have remained on the dying station for a few restorations. Okay, maybe I’m just too lazy to lay down fresh clean ones. The plan was to use Fiebing’s Leather Dye to dye the stummel black. Sand away the dyed surface leaving the black dye on the softer grain where it had penetrated deeper. Then apply a light brown dye over the black adding a more yellow color to the non-blackened briar. The taped stamps would hopefully keep the black from giving the stamps an “Censored” bar appearance.

The black was wiped with cotton balls soaked in 99% isopropyl alcohol to remove the black dye from the surface.

The stummel was then taken to the workbench and sanded with a 320 sanding sponge to remove the outer layer of black dyed briar. After the sanding the stummel was again dyed but this time with light brown Fiebing’s Leather Dye.

After the light brown had dried I lightly sanded with a 400 sanding sponge. Below you can see the effect that I was hoping to achieve compared to the original surface.

The stummel was then sanded using the sequence of sanding sponges 600-3500. Between each sponge the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol. Oh yeah, I forgot to say that I reapplied the painters tape to protect the stamps.

Then the stummel was polished with micro-mesh pads from 4000-12000. Again between pads the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol.

The stummel then was coated in Before and After Restoration Balm and allowed to sit for 30 minutes.

I retrieved the stem from the deox, that is my term for the Before and After Deoxidizing solution. The excess solution was allowed to drip back into the jar. The stem was then rubbed vigorously with a coarse shop rab to remove remaining solution and help abrade oxidized vulcanite. A pipe cleaner was used to clear any deox solution from the airway. I then scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub applied to make-up pads. Energetic scrubbing with the Soft Scrub removed the oxidized material.

Since this stem is so short there was very little room to work with the sanding sponges or the micro-mesh pads. I took the stem to the buffer and tried to polish it with a flannel wheel and red buffing compound. This worked but did not have the finish that the sponges and pads would have achieved.

30 minutes later the Restoration Balm was wiped from the stummel using an inside out cotton athletic sock.

All that remained was to give the pipe several coats of carnauba wax with the buffer.

This little Bentley lovat of unknown origins is nevertheless an adorable pipe. The briar took the dye as I hoped it would and now sports a lovely contrast dye that accentuates the grain. The stem, though short, cleaned up well and works well with the dark contrast of the briar. The draw is smooth and promises to be a delight to smoke.

The dimensions of this Bentley Lovat are:
- Length: 4.95 in./ 125.73 mm.
- Weight: 0.94 oz./ 27.00 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.71 in./ 43.43 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.50 in./ 38.10 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.79 in./ 20.01mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.17 in./ 29.72 mm.
I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Bentley Lovat.
A Denicotea 201 Restoration

April 30th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

I blame Sascha Mertens, a friend in Germany, for my desire to restore a Denicotea pipe. Okay, maybe “blame” is too strong of a word; I credit Sascha for piquing my interest in the Denicotea brand of pipes. Yeah, that sounds better. I think Sascha is even counting the number of times he is mentioned in my blogs. He really is a great guy and pipe restorer with a sense of humor very similar to my own.

I found this Denicotea interesting because of the stamps. The DENICOTEA on the shank left and GENUINE BRIAR over MADE IN ENGLAND over 201 on the right side matched everything that I had seen concerning Denicotea pipes on pipephil.eu. The top stamp was very weak, requiring a jeweler’s loupe to read.

The listing on eBay was for a $9.99 opening bid so, I figured what the heck.

I knew better to get too excited over an auction that only had two photos of the pipe. I fully expected the poor darling to have issues that were not visible in the two less than revealing photos. More on that in a minute.

Background on Denicotea

Pipedia.com has a short article on Denicotea. I will include it here in its entirety:

“Willy Heineberg founded the company Denicotea in 1932 and began manufacturing and selling smoking accessories such as filters, filter inserts, cigarette holders and pipes.^[1] The company headquarters was initially in Cologne, but was relocated to Bergisch Gladbach after the Second World War.^[2]

Denicotea is actually the name of a silica gel filter, cigarette holders and care products for pipes and cigarette holders.

I still find it a bit confusing as Denicotea seems to be a company^[3] and a brand as well which is operated by COMPOSING-STUDIO GmbH^[4].

Brands

Adsorba

Adsorba is a fantasy series of pipes produced by Luigi Crugnola for the German market.

Aldo Morelli

Aldo Morelli is a fictional name. The brand Aldo Morelli has been registered for Denicotea on February 26th, 1992.^[5]

Depending on the different lines the pipes are made by Cesare Barontini, Gigi or Molina Pipe for Denicotea GmbH.

Stefan Petzuch points out this brand appears to have similarities to the Mauro Cateni pipe brand, in particular they are both fictional Italian brands by German companies, and both have the “HAND CUT” imprint on the stem as seen bellow. This may connect the Aldo Morelli brand to Gebr. Heinemann KG in Hamburg, who had registered the Mauro Cateni brand. Or perhaps there is a connection between Denicotea and Gebr. Heinemann KG, or perhaps these pipe brands simply used “Hand Cut” stems from the same source.” (Denicotea – Pipedia)

Interesting and weird are the two qualifiers that come to mind in reading that. The four makers mentioned in the article; Luigi Crgnola, Cesare Barontini, Gig and Molina are all Italian pipe manufacturers. Where does the MADE IN ENGLAND stamp on the example on pipephil.eu or the stamp on the pipe I purchased come in, I cannot say. I can say that I am not the first person to have little success researching the origins of Denicotea pipes. Dal Stanton, who is far more diligent in his background research than I, had a French made Denicotea. He traced its origins to the St. Claude area but not to a specific maker. Dal’s blog was posted on Steve Laug’s rebornpipes.com site. Here is the link to Dal Stanton’s blog post: https://rebornpipes.com/2016/09/29/nice-find-in-plovdiv-bulgaria-denicotea-deluxe-curling-bruyere-extra/

Below are some photos of the Denicotea before any work was done.

I am not sure how I did it but the GENUINE BRIAR is very legible in this photo.

This is why I had to get the jeweler’s loupe out.

And this photo shows what I was referring to as issues not shown on eBay. A double shank crack.

Okay, my $10 pipe had some issues. The tooth chatter, grime, dents and dings were expected. The shank crack and dottle knocked rim damage was a set of bonus problems.

The Restoration

I just finished loading all of the photos onto this document in the correct sequence. I can’t help but feel that for the folks that have followed me for a few months, this is rather repetitive. I do thank you for your continuing readership. For those who are new to this blog or to restoration in general, welcome and thank you for stopping by. This blog will be number 81 since the end of last October when I began blogging. It’s crazy to think that I’ve restored that many pipes and wrote about them all. Then I think back to the number of pipes that I restored before I started blogging. Yikes, I really need to sell some of these. Oh well.

I began with a clean denim piece on the workbench.

The reaming tools were gathered and put to work. The PipNet with the #2 bladed struggled a bit with the tight fit and hard cake. The General triangular scraper was used to open up the tobacco chamber and thi the cake allowing the PipNet to do it’s job.

After the reaming the General was used again to finish the scraping. This was followed by the 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel. The chamber was sanded to bare briar and no damage from heat was observed.

Thi rim was encrusted with a deposit of lava. This was moistened with saliva and scraped with a sharp pocket knife. One of the many things learned from my father was how to sharpen a knife. He had worked at Rath Packing Plant in Waterloo Iowa after being discharged from the Army and knew well how to sharpen a knife. I can’t help but smile everytime I think of him, a high school dropout who later earned a PhD.

Below is the stummel with a freshly scraped rim.

Next came the cleaning of the airway inside the shank. I only took one photo of the process. This makes it look like it was not as long of a process as it really was. I use a rotation for shank cleaning. First 3-4 ml of 05% ethyl alcohol is poured into the chamber. This is allowed to flow into the shank. I use a nylon shank brush to scrub the airway with the alcohol then pour the alcohol into a medicine cup. I then use either cotton swabs or a pipe cleaner dipped in alcohol to further scrub the airway removing the softened and dissolved tars. This is repeated using the same alcohol, if it is fairly clean, or fresh alcohol if it is heavily fouled with tar. Eventually the pipe cleaners/cotton swabs return less dirty and the airway is cleaned.

With the airway cleaned out I took the stummel to the sink for a scrub. I used a medium stiff toothbrush and Murphy’s Oil Soap, undiluted, to scrub the stummel. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton washcloth.

Back at the workbench I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. This came back stained bright red. The alcohol was dissolving the original stain and removing it.

A second make-up pad yielded similar results. I sanded the stummel with a 320 sanding sponge and wiped the stummel with a make-up pad wetted with acetone. The acetone also was removing red stain. Additional wipes finally freed the red from the briar and I was able to proceed.

Below is a closeup of the rim damage from careless dottle knocking or perhaps using this pipe to build a deck and pound in several pounds of nails.

The rim was topped using a piece of 220 sandpaper laid flat on a countertop. A circular motion was used and every 5 circles I would rotate the stummel 90 degree and continue with the circles. This was done to apply an even pressure and equal sanding to the entire rim. The outer edge was sanded using a piece of sandpaper inside a plastic funnel to give the bevel while the inner rim was beveled with a 2 inch polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe end cap wrapped in sandpaper.

I then turned my attention to cleaning the stem. This was done with bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

Once the airway was clean, I started scrubbing the exterior with make-up pads with a few drops of Soft Scrub. The soft scrub removed the oxidation from the stem with a good deal of “elbow grease”

Below you can see the stem after scrubbing and having received a coat of mineral oil. I allowed the stem to soak in the oil for about an hour.

There is a reason why screw in tenons usually have aluminum mortise and tenons, because they don’t crack when tightened. Duh. I really wanted to say that to the designer of this pipe. Perhaps that is why there is so little information about Denicotea pipes – they just didn’t want consumers showing up at their doorsteps saying ”There is a reason why screw in tenons usually have aluminum mortise and tenons, because they don’t crack when tightened, DUH!” Wll to repair this cracked shank I decided a brass band was in order. I checked my brass tubing stocks and found that the 9/16 inch outside diameter (O.D.) tubing was nearly the exact same O.D. as the shank. I would have to file and sand some briar from the shank to get it to slide onto the shank but it would ensure a nice fit and fairly flush band. The band had to be narrow to retain the DENICOTEA stamp.

After filing the shank and checking the fit of the tube I was ready to cut the band. I slid the 9/16 inch tube into a 19/32 inch tube. It was a tight fit but this larger diameter tube would allow me to use the pipe cutter without the 9/16 inch tube from moving in the cutter and cutting an uneven thickness band.

Below you can see the 9/16 slid into the 19/32 tube. The cutting wheel is at the bottom of the tube. This technique gave me a nice even 3 mm thick band.

Below is the band close to it’s new home. At this point the stem was taken to the buffer where I used a rouge buffing compound to polish the stem. I had not done this before. Normally I will sand with the sanding sponges then use the micro-mesh pads. This stem did not appear to need any sanding to smooth easy scratches or blemishes, except for immediately below the button. The tooth chatter was sanded using the sanding sponges but it was difficult to work between the saddle and the button.

A fly tying bodkin was used to apply thin cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) along the length of the crack. The thin CA penetrated into the crack. Brown CA was applied to the shank and the band was tapped into position. The excess CA was wiped off with a cotton ball wetted in acetone. The fly tying bodkin was again used to apply a bead of brown CA around the outside edge of the band filling the slight gap between the shank and the brass band. Once cured this was sanded smooth. Below is a closeup of the DENICOTEA stamp and the band.

Below you can see the new band and how it looked with the unsanded/unfinished stummel and stem.

The next step was to sand the stummel using the sequence of sanding sponges from 600-3500. Between each sponge the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol.

After the sanding the stummel was worked with 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. Again between each pad the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol.

The stummel then received a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm and was allowed to sit for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes the stummel was wiped of the excess balm with an inside out cotton athletic sock.

All that remained was to apply several coats of carnauba wax with the buffer.

Overall I was very pleased with the restoration of this Denicotea 201. The draw is very open and feels like it is meant to have a filter, yet there is nowhere to place a filter. The briar grain is very nice showing some flame grain on the front and back with great bird’s eyes on the left. The band turned out as well as I think it could have. The shank crack is still very visible on the right side. Since the crack runs through the stampings I could see no way to fill the crack while retaining the stamps. I suppose that I will have to accept that crack and have faith in the band to keep it from spreading further.

The dimensions of this Denicotea 201 are:
- Length: 5.53 in./ 140.46 mm.
- Weight: 1.26 oz./ 35.80 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.83 in./ 46.48 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.55 in./ 39.00 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.75 in./ 19.05 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.43 in./ 36.32 mm.
I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Denicotea 201.
A Dr Grabow Westbrook Triangle Dublin Restoration

April 25th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

I have a love for two groups of Dr Grabow pipes; the old Linkman’s and the Westbrook line. The Linkmans were produced from 1932-1953 while the Westbrooks were from 1957-88. The linkmans I have are mainly pre-World War Two (WWII) pipes while the Westbrooks are more undetermined ages. I guess I should slow down and clarify this a bit. “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.

History:

The subject of this blog has a left stamp reading WESTBROOK over DR GRABOW. I believe to be an earlier sample due to the stamping of the right side: IMPORTED BRIAR over Ajustomatic over PAT. 2461905. According to pipedia.org, “1949, February 15th. David P. Lavietes gets patent for AJUSTOMATIC stem to shank threading system, Patent #2461905” (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Grabow_Pipe_History_Timeline).

So you ask, “Why is a patent from a Mr. Lavietes important to a Dr Grabow pipe?” I reply, , “Good question.” Before I answer that question let’s go back to 1952-53. 1952 Linkman (82 years old?) retires as president of M. Linkman & Co., or maybe in 1953-54?” (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Grabow_Pipe_History_Timeline). As The founder of Dr Grabow was looking to retire he sold the company to Henry Leonard and Thomas (HL&T). HL&T held the patent for the “Adustomatic” filed by Mr. David Lavietes. Now, you see the connection. In 1955, HL&T started manufacturing the Westbrook line. They stamped the new line with a famous patent number giving additional merit to the new line.

I do not think that pipes produced a few years after this would still be marketed as having this “new” feature. Yes, it is conjecture but it makes sense from a marketing perspective.

“Henry Leonard & Thomas, Inc. (HLT) was founded in Ozone Park, Queens, New York by Henry J. Lavietes and two partners on May 31, 1938. The company patented a stem design for pipes and cigarette holders designed by Henry on March 9, 1943. Henry was the son of David Lavietes, who moved to Sparta, North Carolina in the early 1940s to purchase laurel and rhododendron burl to ship back to his son and HLT. Lavietes decided to stay in Sparta and founded the D&P Pipe Works with his other son Paul, originally as a 15 person operation. David Lavietes was the inventor of the Ajustomatic feature incorporated into Dr. Grabow pipes even today.

In 1953, HLT acquired all assets and equipment of the Dr. Grabow company of Chicago, Illinois, and began production of Grabow and Hollycourt pipes. At the same time, they acquired the Continental Briar Company, owner of the Royal Duke, Duke of Dundee, and Honeydew pipe brands still evident in the common use of the word “Duke” to name Grabow pipes.” (Henry Leonard & Thomas Inc. – Pipedia)

Another interesting feature of the Westbrook line is that they were only available as “coupon” pipes, meaning that they were not sold at normal retailers. They were only available as promotional items via tobacco purchases.

“Westbrook was one of several pipes (Berwyck, Belvedere, Emperor, and Sculptura) that were made by Grabow and distributed by R. J. Reynolds as coupon pipes. A coupon was placed into bags of Carter Hall and George Washington tobacco that was redeemable for these Grabow pipes. Westbrook was about 5 coupons and $3.00 for part of its life. This offer started in the mid-50’s and ended in the late 80’s. It was the longest running redemption offer in history” (https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/dr-grabow).

This now places the production of the Westbrook Dr Grabow Dublin to North Carolina in the late 1950s. Now to find an official name for the pipe. I found a 1970 catalog and screenshot the below image. This lists the name as a Triangle Dublin

(https://www.reddit.com/r/PipeTobacco/comments/lo30m9/happy_ipsd_heres_a_little_pipe_history_dr_grabow/#lightbox)

The Restoration:

Here is what the Westbrook Triangle Dublin looked like prior to having any work done.

Yep, it’s an old dirty beat-up pipe. The list of things to do was a long one. It could be summarized as cleaning inside and out, sanding, refinishing and polishing. That would exclude nearly all nuances but it does describe the process in general terms. Of course, I will go into more detail below.

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

Reaming was the first task. The reaming crew was assembled: PipNet with #2 blade, Smokingpipes Low Country Reamer, General triangular scraper with tip ground to round, and 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel.

The reaming was uneventful and the sanding unveiled the tobacco chamber free of any heat damage.

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

The stummel was then taken to the sink where it received a scrubbing with a medium stiff toothbrush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton hand towel. Upon returning to the workbench, I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

Next the stummel was sanded with the 320 and 400 grit sanding sponges to find any hidden spot to fill or to dig out existing fills which needed to be replaced. Care was taken to avoid sanding the stampings. A few pits were discovered and one large gouge on the front of the stummel was picked of it’s original fill material.

The stummel was then topped to remove some of the damage from careless dottle knocking. I know this sounds like a fun sport but let me assure you both Indigo Bunting and dottle knocking are far from fun leisure activities. One is a lovely little bird and the other leaves rim scars that give pipe restorers nightmares.

(https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/indigo-bunting)

The topping was done on a counter with a piece of 220 sandpaper laid flat. This was followed by sanding with 400 sandpaper.

The results of the topping are shown below.

Next the shank airway was cleaned. The airway was scraped with a dental scraper to remove the dry crumbly tars.

After the initial scraping, I poured approximately 3-4 ml of the alcohol into the chamber and allowed it to flow into the shank. I used a nylon shank shank brush to scrub the airway with the alcohol. The alcohol was then poured out into a medicine cup. Cotton swabs and folded over bristle pipe cleaners were then dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol and used to scrub the airway.

This alcohol scrubbing was repeated numerous times, with scraping and scrubbing with the cotton swabs and folded pipe cleaners.

Eventually the airway was mostly clean. I decided to give the stummel an overnight alcohol and cotton soaking. Cotton balls were stuffed into the airway and tobacco chamber then saturated with 95% ethyl alcohol.

The stummel was set so that the alcohol would not pour from either end. Evaporation would draw the tars from the briar ind into the cotton.

While the alcohol was doing what alcohol does, I started working on the stem. The button was reshaped with a flat needle file to give it more definition then the stem was sanded with the 320-600 sanding sponges. The stem was wiped with a heavy coat of mineral oil and allowed to sit overnight.

The next day the airway of the stem was cleaned using bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. The screw-in tenon was cleaned with 0000 steel wool dipped in the alcohol.

The alcohol in the stummel had done a fine job at moving the tars and smoking residue from the briar into the cotton.

Below are the cotton pieces removed from the stummel. They were dry to the touch as the alcohol had evaporated overnight.

The stem did not line-up correctly. It was approximately 3-5 degrees over-clocked. This could be remedied two different ways. One was to heat the aluminum screw-in tenon to the point where the stem material was partially melted then rotate the aluminum back a few degrees. The second was to “paint” the stem face of the tenon with a thin even coat of black cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue). Allow it to cure then sand it smooth. This additional material would lengthen the stem and shorten the screw-in distance, moving the alignment counter clockwise. I chose the latter and painted the stem with black CA.

I used an emery board to sand the new tenon face smooth.

The stem lined up perfectly with the shank’s mortise aluminum.

The stem was slightly underclocked when all finished. This is how many manufacturers finish the fit of the stems when they leave the production line.

Next I dealt with the fills. Brown CA and briar dust were used to fill the larger gouges and pits.

The CA was applied into the depression.

A pinch of briar dust was pressed into the wet CA. The briar dust sets up almost immediately with the CA.

The resulting fill was then filed with a flat needle file.

A very light bead of thin CA was applied to the surface of the fill.

The wet thin CA was then quickly sanded with the 400 sanding sponge. This same technique was used to fill the smaller pits, a small drop of CA, followed immediately with sanding. The sanding provides the briar dust for the fill. It fills in the depression and the CA bonds with the dust to make a nice fill.

The gouge at the front of the stummel was filled using the brown CA with the pressed briar dust. This one took a couple of pinches and pressing to complete the fill.

Once all the fills were done the stummel was sanded with the 400 grit sanding sponge. I wanted to sand the outer surface from the stummel. My hope was that I could remove some of the old original stain achieving a contrast stain appearance. This proved unsuccessful. The original stain had penetrated the briar very deeply. I then thought that I might be able to lighten the whole stummel using oxalic acid. Besides, I wanted more practice using the oxalic acid. I Made a saturated oxalic acid solution a couple of restorations ago and stored it in a glass canning jar. I applied this solution with a cotton swab. As the stummel absorbed the solution and as it dried, I applied additional solution. I wanted the whole stummel well coated. I allowed it to sit with the oxalic acid for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes I took the stummel to the sink where I rinsed it with warm water. I dipped a toothbrush into baking soda and scrubbed the stummel with the baking soda and water. I figured that this would neutralize any oxalic acid that remained on the stummel. The stummel was further rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton hand towel.

After a few minutes of drying the stummel did appear much lighter and the grain was more visible.

The stamps were taped over with painters tape and the stummel was sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 1000-3500. Between each sponge the stemmel was wiped with a make-up pad dipped in alcohol.

The stummel was then micro-meshed with 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. Between each sponge the stemmel was wiped with a make-up pad dipped in alcohol.

The stummel was then coated with a liberal layer of Before and After Restoration Balm.

While the Restoration Balm was working its magic, I worked on sanding the sem. The orange logo was raised slightly above the surrounding stem. I used the topping counter with 400 grit sandpaper to sand the stem logo flush then used the sequence of sanding sponges 600-3500. Between each sponge I dipped my finger into the mineral oil and rubbed it over the stem. I then wiped off the excess oil with a paper towel.

After the sanding sponges I used the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. Between each pad I applied a small drop of Obsidian Oil to the stem, rubbed it in and wiped with a paper towel.

The Restoration balm worked it’s magic on the briar returning the luster. The excess balm was wiped off using the inside of a cotton athletic sock.

The pipe was taken to the buffer where it received several coats of carnauba wax.

Overall, I am very happy with this restoration. The briar lightened up nicely with the scrubbing, sanding and oxalic acid treatment. All of these combined to return the wood to more the way I imagine it looked fresh from the factory. The stem polished up nicely as well, showing off the glossy ebony. The orange spade provides a nice accent and fits in well with the color of the briar. The scars on the bowl are present and show that this pipe had been used and was probably a favorite of someone’s. I do regret that the stinger is missing and wish that I had a replacement, perhaps someday…

The dimensions of this Westbrook Dr Grabow Triangle Dublin are:
- Length: 5.29 in./ 134.37 mm.
- Weight: 1.01 oz./ 29.00 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.68 in./ 42.67 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.42 in./ 36.00 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: .70 in./ 17.78 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.29 in./ 32.77 mm.
I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Westbrook Dr Grabow Triangle Dublin.
An 1876 Adolphe Oppenheimer Co. (A.O.C.) Poker Restoration

April 23rd, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

No, I am not getting political with this restoration and would greatly prefer you not to associate this restoration with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, an American left-wing politician and activist, who has represented New York’s 14th congressional district since 2019, with a capital D after her name. I remain a card carrying Libertarian and want the record to show that I do not support Representative Cortez in any way. That said, this little pipe was probably made 70 years prior to the birth of Ms. Cortez and also owes her no affiliation. I think that covers the political and legal requirements of distancing myself from the people and parties involved in dismantling the Constitution of the United States.

The original purchase was made from eBay due to what appeared to be two interesting pipes. In the photo below the two are on the left. The middle poker with the orific bit and the orange logo indicating a Dr Grabow Westbrook. Upon arrival this poker was very dirty with grime obscuring the briar almost completely.

I wasn’t even sure if there was wood under there as I could not see much grain. The band read, STERLING SILVER but it appeared more like a black plastic. The stampings on the shank were clear showing what appeared to be a globe with latitude and longitude lines surrounding the letters A.O.C. on the left and LONDON ENGLAND on the right. The stem was stamped with a globe identical to the shank. The button was the type I’d seen on pipes dating to pre-1920. This old style bit is called orific. Steve Laug did a nice article on “Whatever Happened to the Orific Button?” (used with permission of S. Laug). Steve says the following of the pipes in his collection “are all older pipes with stems made of a variety of materials – amber, vulcanite, Bakelite and horn. In this group there are 45-50 pipes with this type of airway. All of them come from the mid to late 1800s and the early 1900s, literally another time and place.”

Oppenheimer Background

According to pipedia:

“The Oppenheimer Group was a British holding company, which through the Cadogan company had various pipe brands. It was founded in 1860 by Charles Oppenheimer, along with brothers Adolphe and David, and Charles’s brother-in-law, Louis Adler. They established connections with GBD in 1870. With business interests in Saint-Claude, Oppenheimer bought the Marechal Ruchon & Cie. factory, which from then on had two directors in London (Adolphe Oppenheimer and James Adler, son of Louis Adler), and two in Paris (August Marécel and Ferdinand Ruchon). In 1906, the group built a large factory in Saint-Claude, under the direction of Lucien Verguet, which led to the merger of Sina & Cie. and C.J. Verguet Freres. In 1920, the London factory took over A. Frankau, which produced BBB. Between the wars, Oppenheimer assumed the management of Ropp and used countless pipe factories around the world. In the 1970s, with the creation of Cadogan France, which had the GBD, Chacom, and Ropp brands, the last two being sold later, it separated from its English partner. ^[1] (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Oppenheimer_Pipe)

Wow, I had to read that paragraph several times to wrap my damaged brain around all that was written. I think the pertinent information to this pipe are the 1870 and 1906 dates. That would have been times when Adolphe was still alive and directing production. I am assuming here that a line of pipes with one’s name would occur while the one is still alive. It would also fit with the existence of the orific button on the stem of this pipe.

Looking closely at the stamping on the silver band the left marks are illegible but the right mark is definitely a capital “A”. Assuming that the pipe was indeed made in London, as indicated by the stamp, it would be relatively safe to assume the silver stamp would be that of the London assay office. Below are the London assay date letter associated with their respective years. 1876 is an “A”.

(https://www.925-1000.com/dlLondon.html)

I think the date stamp pretty much locks this providence of this pipe up. It is an Adolphe Oppenheimer Company poker made in London England with a silver hallmark stamp indicating manufacture date of 1876.

I came across a few other interesting tidbits while researching this pipe. I’ll leave the links for those who might find them interesting.

History of Vulcanite (https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/history-of-vulcanite-article.37354/)

Smokingpipes.com example of an AOC (https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/estate/england/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=533251)

Pens Pipes and More video of an AOC Bulldog

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MkmBA4-F5c)

The AOC Poker as it appeared prior to any work being done.

The Restoration

As usual the pipe was moved to the workbench where it was placed on a clean denim piece. I was most interested in seeing what was under the many years of grime that shrouded the briar. That would have to wait a few more minutes.

Reaming the tobacco chamber was the first task to complete. The pipe had been recently reamed so there was little for me to do.

During this process the sterling silver band came loose. The band was very thin and I thought that it would be easily damaged.

After sanding the tobacco chamber, I needed to rid the rim of the lava deposits.

The lava was moistened with saliva and scraped with a sharp pocket knife. There were a couple of dents on the rim but it looked good and was free of charing.

Next was the moment I was most interested in, seeing what was under the grime. I scrubbed the stummel with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a medium toothbrush. The lather became gray with grime and was rinsed away with warm water. I also used a nylon shank brush and a small amount of Dawn dish soap to scrub the airway of the shank. This was also rinsed with warm water. The stummel was dried with a cotton wash cloth and returned to the workbench.

At the workbench the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. The pad changed color only slightly during the siping. There was briar under the grime, yay! The briar also had some nice grain. The scrub and wiping also revealed a fairly large pit at the bottom of the left side.

The briar grain at the back of the bowl was the most attractive.

I wanted to see how well the sterling silver would look after a cleaning. The Cape Cod Metal Polishing Cloths were selected for this. These clothes are moistened with chemicals which I did not want to affect the briar. I wrapped the briar with a layer of 3M Scotch tape. And proceeded to hand buff the band in situ on the shank inorder to retain the shape and protect the band.

After a good deal of hand buffing the black tarnish was removed and the underlying silver could be seen. Some areas of black stubbornly remained.

The pit on the lower left side of the stummel needed to be filled.

The pit was filled using brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briardust. The pit was first picked out using a fly tying bodkin.

A drop of CA was applied into the pit. I used a dental scraper to scoop a small amount of briar dust and placed this onto the pit and used the back side of the dental scraper to press the dust into the wet CA and into the pit.

The fill was filed with a flat needle file then sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge.

Next the interior of the stem was cleaned using bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. The surface of the stem was lightly sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge. After the sanding the stem was coated in mineral oil and set aside to absorb some of the oil.

I then turned my attention to cleaning the airway of the shank. I used cotton swabs dipped in alcohol to scrub the mortise, then the dental scraper to scrape the tar and yuck (yuck is the technical term for smoking residue and tar) from the shank as deeply as I could reach. The yuck that was removed was dry and crumbly even after the dawn dish soap and the alcohol cotton swab scrubbings.

I poured 5 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the bowl and allowed it to flow into the airway. I used a nylon shank brush to scrub the airway with the alcohol. The alcohol was then poured into a medicine cup. The color was dark but I could still see through it. The scrub brush was thickly caked with yuck.

More scraping and using alcohol dipped cotton swabs to clear the shank were used. Further alcohol-nylon shank brushings were done. Note the alcohol in the cup is much darker.

More of each of the above. I started going to the sink and applying Castille soap to the shank brush and scrubbing the airway with that. The soap was rinsed with warm water then alternated with the alcohol scrubbing.

Even after all that scrubbing with soap/alcohol.I was still scraping crumbly yuck from the airway.

I was becoming a bit frustrated with the lack of progress. I knew it was progress but I had other things I needed to do. I decided to pack the bowl and shank with cotton and fill each with 95% ethyl alcohol. Hopefully the alcohol would dissolve the yuck and allow it to be absorbed by the cotton.

Below you can see the cotton pushed through from the mortise.

Shank view stuffed with cotton.

The bowl was stuffed with cotton. I figured that 10 ml of alcohol would suffice. I used a disposable pipette to soak the cotton.

I was close with my 10 ml prediction. Only about a ml remained in the medicine cup. The alcohol was allowed to soak for several hours.

While the alcohol did its dissolution magic, I returned my attention to the stem. I cut a piece of painters tape to cover the stem logo to protect it from scrubbing and sanding.

First I scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub on a make-up pad. Surprisingly little oxidation came off.

The stem was then sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 1000-3500 grits. Between each sponge I would dip my finger in mineral oil, rub the oil onto the stem then wipe the stem with a paper towel.

After the final sponge I removed the tape and used a series of mich-mesh pads from 4000-12000 grit to polish the stem. Between each pad I applied a drop of Obsidian Oil, rubbed it onto the stem and wiped the stem with a paper towel.

The stem was then polished with Before and After Fine Polish using a soft cotton cloth.

The fFine Polish was followed by Before and After Extra Fine Polish with a clean section of the same cloth.

Several hours later I removed the cotton which was now just slightly damp with alcohol as most of the alcohol had evaporated. The cotton was brown from absorbing the yuck as the alcohol evaporated.

Alcohol dipped cotton swabs and pipe cleaners finally returned with just a slight discoloration. A few more of each and the airway was finally clean.

The stummel was then sanded with a sequence of sanding sponges from 1000-3500. Between each sponge the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad moistened with alcohol.

After the sanding the stummel was polished with a series of micro-mesh pads from 4000-12000 grit. Between each pad the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol.

The stummel was then coated with Before and After Restoration Balm and allowed to sit for about an hour.

An hour later the Restoration Balm was wiped off the stummel using the inside terry cloth of an athletic sock.

The silver band was removed and the inside was cleaned with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol. This band was very thin, slightly thicker than heavy duty aluminum foil. Care was taken during the cleaning. The inside of the stem was then polished with Before and After Fine Polish on a cotton swab.

The end of the shank was then sanded with 600 grit sanding sponge to remove and smooth any remaining old glue. A bead of white all purpose glue was applied to the shank. The silver band was then slid into place. Excess glue was wiped off with the cotton swab and the surface cleaned again with alcohol. Once the glue had set up the silver was carefully buffed with white diamond abrasive on the buffer. The whole pipe then received several coats of carnauba wax with the buffer as well.

That was a personal record for me. The AOC Poker was the oldest pipe that I had ever restored. I am very pleased with how well the restoration turned out. The briar grain is beautiful; the old stain was preserved and not modified. The stamps indicating the pipe’s heritage were also preserved intact. The vulcanite cleaned up well and was returned to a lovely high gloss black. It was sad that the stamps on the silver band did not fare as well in their battle against time, wear and oxidation. Fortunately the date letter was legible. I would like to think that 150 years from now someone will rediscover this old poker and really have an old pipe to restore.

The dimensions of this Adolphe Oppenheimer Company (A.O.C.) Poker are:
- Length: 4.95 in./ 125.73 mm.
- Weight: 0.94 oz./ 27.00 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.71 in./ 43.43 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.50 in./ 38.10 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.79 in./ 20.01mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.17 in./ 29.72 mm.
I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished A.O.C Poker.
A No Name Canadian Restoration

April 19th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

Why is it that some pipes can’t qualify for the maker stamping their name on the pipe? Not to sound like President Biden but, “Come on, man.” IMPORTED BRIAR is not enough of a name to mean anything except that your briar is imported (Duh, isn’t it all imported?) and that the pipe was likely made in the US after World War 2 (WWII).

Fortunately our government is there protecting us from the diabolical domestic terrorist native briar cartels. As can be seen by,

“Section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1304)

provides that, unless excepted, every article of foreign origin

imported into the U.S. shall be marked in a conspicuous place as

legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of the article (or

container) will permit, in such a manner as to indicate to the ultimate

purchaser in the U.S. the English name of the country of origin of the

article. Congressional intent in enacting 19 U.S.C. 1304 was that the

ultimate purchaser should be able to know by an inspection of the

marking on the imported goods the country of which the goods is the

product.

    Part 134, Customs Regulations (19 CFR Part 134), implements the

country of origin marking requirements and exceptions of 19 U.S.C.

1304. As provided in section 134.41, Customs Regulations (19 CFR

134.41), the country of origin marking is considered to be conspicuous

if the ultimate purchaser in the U.S. is able to find the marking

easily and read it without strain.”

(https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1994-11-15/html/94-28159.htm)

Use your best Yoda impression to read the following, “The sarcasm is strong in this one.”

Okay, what are we looking at with this restoration?

The Restoration

Perhaps it is for the best that little information can be gleaned from the stamping to the heritage of this pipe. All that background and history research would just keep me from addressing the things that need fixing with this pipe. First off there is a clear coat to eliminate. Then there is the standard reaming and cleaning, followed by repairing the damaged rim and stem. I think the briar would benefit from a contrast stain allowing for a highlight red to be accented by black. Stay tuned to see what happens.

Of course I will begin with a clean denim piece protecting the work surface. Someday I will get around to stripping the finish from this old roll top desk that I use as a workbench. It has a shellac finish that does not agree with spilled alcohol or acetone. A polyurethane would make more sense but it was my grandfather’s desk and I don’t want to alter it too much.

I worked on reaming the tobacco chamber first. The PipNet with a #2 blades after I had scraped the hard dry cake a bit with the General triangular scraper. The problem was that the chamber had a diameter that was a touch too large for the #2 blades and too small for the #3 blades. This meant more scraping.

The chamber was sanded with 220 sandpaper to get to clean briar then finish sanded with 320 sandpaper. There was no heat damage observed in the chamber.

That brings us to the rim. The lava deposits made inspection of the rim difficult. Though there did appear to be charring at the 8 o’clock position of the photo below and around the inside edge of the rim from 3-8 o’clock.

The rim was moistened with saliva then scraped with a shape pocket knife.

A further scraping revealed that the rim damage was all around the rim. The charing was also around most of the inside edge. Topping this stummel and removing the dents and dings would be required. I was hoping to only remove about 1/16 of an inch, 1-2 mm of briar from the rim. Beveling of both the inside and outside edges would remove the edge damage and keep me from removing even more briar.

After the reaming of the tobacco chamber, I poured 2-3 ml of 99% isopropyl alcohol into the chamber and allowed the alcohol to flow into the shank. I then used a nylon shank brush to scrub the airway. I poured this alcohol into a clean medicine cup. I was surprised that the alcohol did not have the dark color that I had expected. The long shank would make scraping the airway very difficult.

The stummel was taken to the sink. Here I used undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a medium stiff toothbrush to scrub the exterior of the stummel. The stummel was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton washcloth. I then decided to check the shank airway by using the shank brush with a bit of Dawn dish soap. I was still having trouble believing that the airway was as clean as the alcohol led me to believe. The Dawn shank brush scrub did not result in dark lather. Maybe the previous owner did keep the airway clean. The evidence was mounting in his favor but the question lingered, “If the rim was that fouled with lava, why did he keep the airway clean?”

I returned to the workbench for another go at cleaning the airway. About 5 ml of 99% isopropyl alcohol was used this time and scrubbed with the shank brush. When this alcohol was poured out I saw the dark color I had expected. The airway was dirty; it had just taken a bit of scrubbing to soften the yuck (yuck is a highly technical term to describe the smoking residue). It was present, not easily scraped and needed to be removed. This was going to be a long one. I just realized the unintended pun, there – long shank, long cleaning job.

Before I started the shank airway cleaning I wanted to top the stummel and remove the clear coat as it got sticky with the alcohol.

The topping was done by moving the stummel in a circular motion on a clean sheet of 220 sandpaper laid flat on a countertop. Every 3-4 circles I would rotate the stummel in my hand to keep an even pressure of all sides of the stummel. I wanted to remove about 1/16 inch or 2 mm of briar from the rim. This would not be enough to eliminate the rim edge damage but I figured I could remedy that by beveling the outside edge of the rim.

Next, I first tried removing it with 95% ethyl alcohol. That worked albeit slowly.

I then tried wiping it with acetone. This worked better and faster.

With the finish mostly removedI set to cleaning the stem. The airway was cleaned with bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 99% isopropyl alcohol. The outside was lightly sanded with a 320 grit sanding sponge then with Soft Scrub applied to make-up pads.

Next came the shank cleaning. The long shank did not allow for effective scraping with a dental scraper. The cleaning did utilize a nylon shank brush with numerous scrubbings of the airway with 5 ml of 95% alcohol poured into the bowl and allowed to flow into the shank. While in the airway the alcohol was scrubbed with the brush. Below you can see the medicine cup use to collect the alcohol after the scrubbing.

There were a couple of dents in the lower left section of the stummel. I used a hot iron and a damp rag to raise these.

Below is a photo of the stummel partially wrapped in the wetted cotton rag and pressed against the hot clothes iron.

The steam from the iron heated water raised the dents very nicely.

After the shank was cleaned the pits on the stummel were filled using a small drop of cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust. A small drop of CA was applied to the pit then sanded with a 400 sanding sponge. The dust from the sponge combines with the wet CA to fill the pit. Additional applications were used for deeper pits.

I wanted a contrast dye that had a base of black with a secondary dye of red. I hoped that this would give the pipe an accented grain in black with reddish hued highlights. To achieve this I first dyed the stummel black with Fiebing’s Leather dye. The dye was applied with a folded pipe cleaner and flamed with a disposable lighter.

A duct tape wrapped fishing bobber was used to keep dye from the tobacco chamber and to act as a handle.

The black dye was then wiped from the stummel using several make-up pads dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

The stummel was then sanded with a 320 sanding sponge to remove the outermost black dyed briar leaving the underlying black dyed briar in place, accentuating the grain.

A second dying of the stummel was then done with Fiebing’s Dark Red Leather Dye.

This was then wiped from the stummel using alcohol dipped make-up pads.

The sanding of the stummel with a 400 grit sanding sponge then wiped with a clean alcohol dipped make-up pad resulted in the stummel looking quite red, below. Notice the strange surface crack just above center – this was filled using thin CA then sanded, with the sanding dust filling the crack.

Below is the contrast dyed stummel before any sanding with finer sanding sponges.

I felt like this pipe was living up to the unofficial Nebraska motto – Go Big Red.

Next on the list was the stem repair. I admit to getting into the “stem repair” mode and losing track of documenting the process. I start by de-oiling the areas to be repaired with an alcohol dipped cotton swab. Then small drops of black CA are placed into the depressions on the stem. The wet CA is spritzed with a CA drying accelerator. Once dry or cured the CA is filed with a flat needle file. If the depression is deep it may take several small drops of CA and subsequent spritzes with an accelerator to fill the depression. That was the case here. When I started photographing, I was already filing the second application.

A third application was applied and spread around to thin over a larger area using the tip of the applicator on the bottle. This was then spritzed, filed and sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge. The next two photos show the depressions filled and sanded with the 4000 sponge.

The stem was slightly “over-clocked”. This led to the stem not aligning correctly with the stummel, as it had been over tightened. There are two ways to address this:

1) to heat the aluminum screw-in tenon until the stem is slightly melted, then rotate the aluminum to the correct position and allow it to cool.

2) Add a light layer of black CA to the edge of the stem and allow it to cure.

Both methods work but come with downsides of being time consuming and tedious. I chose to use the adding of black CA to the stem. Since the alignment was very sligh, only a few degrees I only needed to “paint” or apply a single coat of black CA to the stem.

The pipe was sanded intact. I wanted to smooth out the mortise tenon joint as the original fit was less than smooth feeling. I used a series of sanding sponges with grits from 1000-3500, in sequence. Between each sponge the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol while the stemI received a bit of mineral oil rubbed in by fingertip then wiped with a paper towel.

After the sanding sponges I used a sequence of micro-mesh pads from 4000-12000. The stummel was wiped between each pad as above. The stem received a drop of Obsidian Oil between pads, rubbed in by fingertip and wiped with a paper towel.

The pipe then was coated with Before and After Restoration Balm. The balm was allowed to sit for 15 minutes.

The excess balm was wiped with an inside-out cotton athletic sock to reveal a beautiful rejuvenated contrast dyed briar.

The stem was further polished using Before and After Fine Polish. The polish was applied by fingertip and hand buffed with a soft cotton cloth.

The polishing was finished using the Before and After Extra Fine Polish using the above procedures.

The final step was to apply several coats of carnauba wax using the buffer.

I am quite pleased with how well this Italian Canadian of unknown make turned out. It is a large pipe yet is surprisingly light in hand. The contrast staining yielded the color that I had in my mind as I was imagining how it would look finished. The screw-in tenon fits and aligns well. Though not the most beautiful grain the contrast stain definitely improved the look of the briar and is accentuated by the high gloss black stem. I am certain that this will be a nice smoking pipe even without a maker’s stamp.

The dimensions of this large Canadian are:
- Length: 6.67 in./ 169.42 mm.
- Weight: 1.40 oz./ 39.8 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.88 in./ 47.75 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.65 in./ 41.91 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.78 in./ 19.81 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.46 in./ 37.08 mm.
I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished no name Italian Canadian.

I think I might have to start selling these post restoration denim pieces as wall art.
A Pipe Den Zulu Restoration

April 17th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

The Pipe Den, the name harkens back to a day of local pipe and tobacco shops which our world appears to have mostly left in the past. Many pipe smokers love our local brick and mortar shops and it warms our hearts to hear the success stories of the local shop that is surviving in the world of big internet retailers. I live within an hour drive of one such shop and I admit to visiting it about once a year to stock up on a local blend assembled there. The place has a cigar lounge and will infuse your clothing with cigar aroma at no cost. I have been the only pipe smoker present on my last two visits. The world I live in enables me to have pipe tobacco from all over the world available with the convenience of no 60 minute drive in city traffic and the thrill of opening the aromatic box, freeing the imprisoned contents and allowing them to join their tobacco blend brethren in glass jars upon a shelf.

I warmly remember the smell of David’s Briar Shop in a local mall Westroads in the 1970’s and 80’s. That smell is firmly locked into the vault and I have to admit to wishing to experience it again. It is a nostalgic smell that when reminiscing with others about the mall, has never met with someone saying “I hate that smell”. To the contrary, it seems to only incite fond memories. These are the memories that stir when I work on a pipe stamped with the name of a pipe shop.

This Zulu came to me as part of an estate lot. Let me show you what I was looking at with this Pipe Den Zulu.

Background on the Pipe Den

The Pipe Den is a shop from Vero Beach Florida. According to the internet, source of only honest, truthful and accurate information, the Pipe Den still operates today. According to their website, Bob Marshbanks has been, “Serving pipe and cigar enthusiasts since 1977. We are your premier cigar, pipe and tobacco shop” (https://pipedenvero.com/). The website does not offer any online shopping yet invites patrons to the actual store to see what they have to offer. There is no mention of specific pipes but they do state the following:

“We offer a large selection of top quality pipes made by the world’s best pipe makers. I personally guarantee all my pipes, even “starter” pipes. Many “production” made pipes are manufactured of “Green” briar, heavily stained, varnished to cover poor grain and imperfections and smoke “hot”. To order a pipe, select your shape preference and let me know the price range you have in mind. Choose natural, dark or sandblast finishes. This will allow me flexibility in my efforts to ensure that you will get the very finest pipe available from my selection.

Even easier, just call, we can discuss your preferences and we can be more sure of the selection. I also have a selection of one-of-a-kind and freehand, hand carved Meershaum and Estate pipes.

The relaxed atmosphere at The Pipe Den is there for everyone. You are welcome anytime to come by, sit and enjoy a good cigar, fill your pipe bowl and get away from the hassles. I specialize in friendly old fashioned service.” (https://pipedenvero.com/pipes-%E2%80%A2-hints-%26-tips)

Here is a very nice review of the Pie Den with some photos taken by the author: The Pipe Den in Vero Beach My New Happy Spot in Florida (classyvice.com)

The question of who made this pipe for Pipe Den remains. In looking at the stem I see similarities to a couple of other pipes that I own. I have two Jobey pipes that appear to have very similar identical stems. They are saddle stems with a near 90 degree shoulder.

The quality of briar and the original stain color also match quite well. Given those last two qualities are hardly good indicators of a shared heritage but they do look similar. When looking up Jobey on pipedi.org, the first sentence of the entry says, “English – American – Danish – French… Sadly, solid information about Jobey is scamt…”(Jobey – Pipedia) Even misspelling scant. This should tell me something, what, I am not sure. The pipedia.org article goes on to discuss possible origins of the Jobey company. The most likely hypothesis, to me, is that Jobey was an American company and a subsidiary of the Norwalk Pipe Corporation (Norwalk Pipe Co. – Pipedia) and later sold to Weber. There is also another discussion mentioning that, “Weber Pipe Co. owned and manufactured Jobey pipes – when mainly sold in the USA by the Tinder Box from 1970’s – 80’s. In addition Jobey / Weber bought Danish freehands from Karl Erik (Ottendahl). These pipes were offered as Jobey Dansk. Ottendahl discontinued exports to the United States in 1987 and in the very same year – obviously only as a ghost brand – Jobey was transferred to Saint-Claude, France to be manufactured by Butz-Choquin.”(Weber Pipe Co. – Pipedia). This I believe is the most likely suspect. The Pipe Den Zulu has a Jobey/Weber feel to it. I can’t explain that other than the word “feel”. The age would fit for the Pipe Den history, according to their website the Pipe Den opened in 1977. I am of the opinion that this Pipe Den Zule was a Weber made pipe likely from the late 1970’s – 1980’s.

The Restoration

In the beginning… No, that sounds too biblical. How about, this restoration began with a clean piece of denim laid out on the workbench? Much better.

The fit of the stem was too tight and was left partially inserted to avoid dressing the mortise. The stem was also in dire need of oxidized vulcanite removal. That is where I began.

I sanded the stem with a 600 grit sanding sponge to remove the calcium deposits, surface oxidation and light tooth chatter. You can see that I used the denim to clean the sponge.

Next the interior of the stem was cleaned using bristle pipe cleaners and a nylon brush dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol.

With the stem cleaned inside and out, It was time to go into the Before and After Deoxidizing solution. A pipe cleaner was used as a hanger to suspend the stem in the solution.

I refer to this as the deox tank or deox, as a play on words with detoxification or detox for alcoholics and drug addicts.

With the stem in deox, I turned my attention to the reaming of the tobacco chamber. The below tools were assembled.

The chamber was bored with a very conical bit and did not fit the PipNet reamer at the bottom. This required more scraping with the Smokingpipes Low Country Reamer and the General triangular scraper.

The interior of the chamber was sanded to bare briar and no evidence of heat damage could be observed. The rim was the next target of restoration. I could see damage around the outer edge from tapping out dottle on surfaces not meant for tapping. There was also a thick coating of lava.

The lava was scraped with care and a sharp pocket knife after being moistened with saliva.

The stummel was then taken to the sink. Here it was scrubbed using a medium stiff toothbrush and undiluted Murphy Oil Soap. The soap was rinsed with warm water. At this point I decided to scrub the airway of the shank with a nylon shank brush and a bit of Dawn dish soap. The airwar was rinsed with warm water and the stummel was dried with a cotton washcloth.

Back at the workbench the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol to remove any remaining wax or finish. The pad came back with reddish brown, indicating that I was removing some of the original stain. No finish could be observed.

The cleaning of the shank was next on the list. I poured about 4 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the bowl and allowed it to flow into but not out of the shank. I used a nylon shank brush to scrub the airway with the alcohol present. I then poured this alcohol into a medicine cup to be used until it was too blackened from dissolved tar. After the alcohol scrub I returned to the sink and scrubbed the airway with undiluted Castile soap. Then abc to the workbench for an alcohol scrub. This rotation continued until my nylon brush was no longer turning black with tar.

Between scrubbing rotations I would scrape the airway with a dental scraper and scrub with cotton swabs. Eventually the airway was cleaned.

14 hours later, I retrieved the stem from the Before and After Deoxidizing solution. I allowed it to drip off excess solution for a few minutes.

Below the stem is on my preferred coarse cotton shop rag. I like this rag for buffing a stem after the solution as it absorbs the remaining solution and abbrades some of the loosened oxidized vulcanite.

Below is the stem after the buffing with the rag.

After the hand buffing I used several make-up pads with Soft Scrub to further remove oxidized material from the stem. I could have sworn that I photographed the pads but failed to find the photos. Further proof than getting old is not for the… What was I saying?

The stem was then coated with mineral oil both inside and out.

There were a few small pits which needed to be filled prior to taking on the damaged rim. The small fills were repaired by placing a small drop of cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) into the pit then sanding immediately over the pit. The dust from the sanding and sanding sponge combined with the CA to fill the pit. Two applications were sometimes needed for slightly larger pits. Now to deal with that damaged rim I did not want to top the rim and remove an ⅛+ inch or 3-4 mm of briar thus changing the shape of the stummel. I lightly topped the pipe to restore sharp edges on the undamaged rim. My plan was to apply a bead of brown CA to the damaged outside edge of the rim then press it into a container of briar dust. The briar dust would then be combined with the CA to make a hard briar incorporated fill which could be sanded smooth.

Below is the bead of CA around the damaged areas

Below is after the first dip of the wet CA into the briar dust. The excess dust was scraped off with a pocket knife.

Below is a photo of the new edge. It would require a couple more beads of CA and dust dips but it was working.

Below is dust dip number two.

After filing and sanding the edge was restored. The fill did appear darker than the supporting briar but that would be addressed with a contrast dye (more on that later).

Now, to conceal the darker edge, I figured a darker stain or dye with the surface sanded away would provide a nice contrast showing off the grain of the briar and concealing the repairs. In preparation for this dye job, I wanted to keep the dye from the stamp if possible. I covered the stamp with a slightly irregularly cut piece of painters tape. I wanted it irregular to avoid the “CENSORED” block look.

I mixed equal volumes of both black and dark brown Fiebing’s Leather dye and added a couple of ml of 95% ethyl alcohol to allow them to mix thoroughly. The dye was applied with a folded pipe cleaner and flamed with a disposable lighter to burn off excess alcohol in the dye and set the dye to the briar.

Below you can see the tape had ignited during the flaming. Oops.

Back at the workbench, the stem appeared black.

I wiped the excess dye from the stummel. Several alcohol dipped make-up pads later the stummel can be seen to have a very dark brown color. Oh yeah, I actually remembered the nitrile gloves this time. I bet you didn’t see that coming?

The stummel was then sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge to remove the outer layer of dark dyed briar.

Next the damaged stem needed to be repaired. Below are the top and bottom surfaces of the stem.

Black CA was applied to the depressions on both the top and bottom of the stem. The CA was then spritzed with a CA drying accelerator.

These were then filed with a flat needle file until flush with the surrounding stem. Both top and bottom required a second application of CA. I prefer to use several light coats compared to a single large coat of the CA.

Additional filing and sanding eventually led to the below photos of the top and bottom of the stem.

The stem was then sanded using a sequence of sanding sponges in grits 1000-3500. Between each sponge I applied a bit of mineral oil then wiped with a paper towel.

After the sanding sponges I used a sequence of 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. Between each pad I rubbed in a small drop of Obsidian Oil and wiped the stem with a paper towel.

On to sanding the stummel. It was sanded with the sanding sponges 1000-3500. Between each sponge the stummel was wiped with an alcohol dampened make-up pad.

The stummel was then worked with a sequence of 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. Between each pad the stummel was wiped as with the sanding sponges.

The stem then received polishing with Before and After fine then Extra Fine polish. Both were applied by finger and hand buffed using a soft cotton cloth.

The stummel then was given a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm and allowed to sit for 20 minutes.

The excess Restoration Balm was removed with an inside out cotton athletic sock to reveal a lovely grained briar.

The pipe then received several coats of carnauba wax from the buffer.

Overall I am pleased with how well this Pipe Den Zulu turned out. I love the shape though I would appreciate a slightly larger size. The repairs of the rim and stem came out better than anticipated. The briar grain was accentuated by the contrast dye and shows itself far better now than when it was buried by years of grime. Though the make of this very nice little pipe may never be known I am sure that it can find a new stewart who will get years of enjoyment from it.

The dimensions of this little beauty are:
- Length: 6.06 in./ 153.92 mm.
- Weight: 1.05 oz./ 29.7 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.94 in./ 49.27 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.59 in./ 40.39 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.77 in./ 19.56 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.31 in./ 30.28 mm.
I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Pipe Den Zulu.
An Excelsior Poker Restoration

April 15th, 2024
Photographed and Written by

John M. Young

Now there is a cute little pipe. Great traditional poker lines, pretty stain, interesting carvings, comfortable bit, clear stampings, beautiful clear coat – Screeerttttttt (that was the sound of an old needle scratched across a vinyl record). There will be NO clear coat! Yes my nemesis, the dreaded clear coat, more annoying than little sisters when you bring a date home to meet the parents. More annoying than Northwoods mosquitoes. More annoying than flat tires on the highway, in the freezing rain when you are in a hurry to get to work. I know what you are thinking, “Hmm, I don’t think this guy likes clearcoat, sisters, mosquitoes or going to work. I also wonder about his mental stability.” I say, “Hah, I love my sister (most of the time), I love teaching (though retirement is far more enjoyable), I love the Mesabi Iron Range AKA Northwoods (Hi, Tomassoni family), the flat tires and the clear coat, not so much.

This darling Excelsior came to me as a member of an estate lot purchased in January of this year. It was not the item of interest of the lot. I was after the 3 Senlar pipes of that lot. If you are wondering what a Senlar pipe is here are links to those restorations: Billiard, Canadian 1 and Canadian 2. I had been smitten by the little Excelsior poker but it had to wait it’s turn at the bench until last night. Let me show you what it looked like.

Not quite sure how the White German Shepard got her hair in there.

The pipe was in excellent shape. I figured the restoration would be a quick and easy affair with the usual reaming, cleaning, deoxidizing and a bit of finish removal and refinishing. The term “figured” can be replaced with assumed and we all know what happens when one assumes. You make an “ass” of “u” and “me”.

Background of Excelsior pipes

This section proved more difficult than I originally thought. I came across an entry for octagonal logo outlines a few weeks back on pipephil.eu. Fortunately I took a screenshot and saved it into a folder for the Excelsior poker. I knew that I would eventually get around to restoring the poker. I then forgot about the screenshot. When I started researching Excelsior, I remembered seeing the octagonal logo outline but I couldn’t find it again. When saving the photos for this restoration I saw the screenshot and felt lucky that I had the foresight to save it weeks ago.

The Excelsior has an “E” rather than the “D” as shown in the image below.

(Dra-Duk — Pipes : Logos & Markings (pipephil.eu))

The EXCELSIOR over ALGERIAN BRIAR over MADE IN FRANCE is the same naming sequence that Jeantet used but, that is more circumstantial evidence and block letters pretty much all look alike, making positive identification of the maker inconclusive.

Jeantet has a long history of pipe making. According to Pipedia.org:

“The firm of the Jeantet family in Saint-Claude is first mentioned as early as 1775. By 1807 the Jeantets operated a turnery producing in particular wooden shanks for porcelain pipes and wild cherry wood pipes. The firm was named Jeantet-David in 1816, and in 1837 the enterprise was transformed into a corporation as collective name for numerous workshops scattered all over the city. The manufacturing of briar pipes and began in 1858. 51 persons were employed by 1890. Desirous to concentrate the workers at a single site, the corporation began to construct a factory edifying integrated buildings about 1891 at Rue de Bonneville 12 – 14. This took several years. In 1898 Maurice Jeantet restructured the business. He is also presumed to enlarge Jeantet factory purchasing a workshop adjoining southerly. It belonged to the family Genoud, who were specialized in rough shaping of stummels and polishing finished pipes. (In these times it was a most common procedure to carry goods from here to there and back again often for certain steps of the production executed by dependant family based subcontractors. Manpower was cheap.)

Jeantet was transformed to a corporation with limited liability in 1938. By that time a branch workshop was operated in Montréal-la-Cluse (Ain), where mainly the less expensive pipes were finished. 107 employees – 26 of them working from their homes – were counted in Saint-Claude in 1948 and 18 in the Ain facility.

The Saint-Claude factory was considerably modernized by ca. 1950 installing (e.g.) freight elevators. In 1952 the southern workshop was elevated. 80 workers were employed in 1958. The factory covered an area of 2831 m²; 1447 m² of the surface were buildings.

The climax of the pipe production was reached around 1969, when thirty to thirtyfive thousand dozens of pipes were made by 72 workers (1969). But then the production continously dwindled to only six or seven thousand dozens in 1987 and only 22 workers were still there. Eventhough, around 1979 a very modern steam powered facility for drying the briar had been installed in the factory’s roofed yard.

Yves Grenard, formerly Jeantet’s chief designer and a great cousin of Pierre Comoy, had taken over the management of Chapuis-Comoy in 1971. Now, to preserve the brand, the Jeantet family went into negotiations with him, and resulting from that Jeantet was merged in the Cuty Fort Group (est. 1987 and headed by Chacom) in 1988 along with the pipe brands of John Lacroix and Emile Vuillard. Chacom closed the Jeantet plant, and the City of Saint-Claude purchased it in 1989. After alternative plans failed, the buildings were devoted to wrecking. The southerly workshop was wrecked before 1992.

Today Jeantet pipes were produced as a sub-brand by Chapuis-Comoy who’s mainstay is Chacom of course.” (Jeantet – Pipedia)

The pipedia.org article also had an image of the 1980 Jeantet catalog.

(File:Jeantet 1980 cat.jpg – Pipedia)

From the catalog image we can see that Jeantet is using the octagonal logo outline around the letter “J”. Likely for Jeantet. I do not think it is too large of a leap to think that Jeantet used the octagonal logo outline around an “E” for the Excelsior pipe in hand. With this in mind I conclude that the Excelsior poker is a Jeantet product with an undetermined year of production.

The Restoration

The restoration began as do most with a clean denim piece on the workbench. This pipe needed to have that stinger soaked for a bit in 95% ethyl alcohol so, that was job #1.

Job #2, see what solvent will remove this clear coat. First attempt 95% ethyl alcohol on a cotton swab. Mostly negative.

Attempt two, acetone on a cotton swab. Success.

That means that the stummel needed to take an acetone bath for 30 minutes.

While the acetone was doing what it does, I started on the stem. The initial sanding was done with a 6000 grit sanding sponge to remove the light tooth chatter and oxidation. Care was taken to avoid the logo.

The interior of the stem was then cleaned out using bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. The button of this pipe seemed very constricted. Not from damage or accumulated yuck (the technical term for smoking residue). It was just a slightly smaller daft hole than would fit a bristle pipe cleaner. I had to use Falcon Thin Pipe Cleaners to get through it. As a remedy I cut an angular piece from an emery board, nail file, and used that to enlarge the airway.

The stem was then scrubbed with several make-up pads with Soft Scrub applied. I had not noticed how light the stamp was for the logo. Once the Soft Scrub was not producing oxidized rubber the stem was oiled with a coat of mineral oil and allowed to sit. The Soft Scrub was abrasive enough to remove the paint and most of the logo indentation. I hoped that it would be deep enough for some fresh white paint.

The stummel was retrieved from the acetone bath.and scrubbed with an acetone dipped toothbrush then wiped with acetone dipped make-up pads to make sure all the clear coat was dissolved and removed from the briar.

I then worked on reaming the tobacco chamber. Since the chamber was small I used the Scotte Stainless Steel Tool and the Smokingpipes Low Country Reamer.

The reaming was followed by sanding the chamber with 320 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel.

The removal of the clear coat allowed me to discover three things I had not previously noticed. One, a lage fill at the end of the stamp and two, a small pit on the base of the stummel and three a 6-7 mm long shank crack. I decided that there was little I could do for the fill without damaging the stamp and the old fill was secure, so I left it alone.

The pit on the base was small and probably could have been ignored. It wasn’t.

I used thin cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust to fill the pit. A small drop of CA was applied then sanded with the 600 sanding sponge. The briar dust on the sponge and the newly created dust from sanding combined with the wet CA to fill the pit.

The top, rim, and the bottom of the stummel were sanded with the sequence of sanding sponges 100-3500. Between each sponge the stummel was wiped off with a make-up pad moistened with 95% ethyl alcohol.

I stayed in stummel mode and cleaned out the shank next. This was done by pouring about 5 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the bowl and allowing it to flow up the shank but not out. I then used a nylon shank brush to scrub the shank interior with the alcohol in place dissolving the yuck from the airway. The alcohol was then poured into a medicine cup and the shank scrubbed with cotton swabs. This alcohol shank brush scrubbing was repeated until the cotton swabs came back clean.

Before I started the new band, I wanted to get the stem sanded and micromeshed to ensure a perfect fit with the band. I wiped the mineral oil from the stem and started lightly sanding with the 1000 sanding sponge. I was careful to avoid the logo. I continued with the sponges through the 3500 sponge. Between each sponge I dipped my finger into the mineral oil, rubbed this onto the stem and wiped it with a paper towel.

I then proceeded to the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. Between each pad I applied a drop of Obsidian Oil, rubbed it with my finger and wiped it with a paper towel.

The dreaded shank crack. I am pretty sure there is no such thing as a good shank crack.

This crack needed a band. I checked my stock of brass tubing. The 17/32 inch outside diameter (O.D.) brass tube was nearly a perfect fit. A pipe cutter was used to cut the brass to 0.2 inches or 5 mm.

Nearly meaning that I had to file and sand a small amount of material from the shank. This actually made for a smoother fit for the band. I had to tap rather hard to get it to seat as far back as I wanted it. I replaced the stem and it too was tight, too tight (I’ll come back to that in a minute). Normally I would have used a tiny drill bit to drill a hole at the end of the crack to assure that it would not continue but that would have required a fill immediately beyond the band and into the rustication. I could not see the crack opening at all with the band on and the stem inserted. Both edges of the new band were sanded to give them a slight bevel to make them less obvious to the touch. I applied a bit of thin CA which seeped into the crack then forced the band into place. Using a flat piece of steel and a hammer I tapped the band into place.

Below, you can see there is a slight overhang of the band. This allowed the stem to slip under the band almost like a double mortise. The full fit was pleasing to both the eyes and the fingers. Now, remember when I said I’d come back to the tight fitting stem? I used a 600 grit sanding sponge to sand the tenon by pinching the sanding sponge around the tenon. The stem was then rotated. I checked for fit every few rotations until I got a perfect snug fit.

The logo had been near completely obliterated. I tried to clean the area of any oil with a cotton swab and alcohol before painting it.

I applied a white acrylic model paint and allowed it to dry.

Using a rigid piece of plastic I tried to scrape the paint from the area above the stamp indentations. It was no use. I tried a couple of times to no avail, the stamp was just too light. I then used the Before and After Fine Polish with a soft cotton cloth.

I followed the Fine Polish with the Before and After Extra Fine Polish again with a soft cotton cloth.

The final steps were to apply a couple of coats of Renaissance Microcrystalline wax to the stummel.

The label said to apply and wipe off with a soft cloth. Instead I applied it with a baby toothbrush and buffed it with a clean flannel wheel on the buffer. I changed wheels and buffed the stem and, staping, top and bottom with several coats of carnauba wax.

Overall I am pleased with how well this Excelsior Poker turned out. The clear coat was gone and the underlying briar looked great. The step polished to a very nice high gloss.The new band accentuated the look of the pipe overall all adds a touch of class to the rustic carvings. The sligh bent to the stem gives the pipe a comfortable balance for clenching along with the light weight. I am sure that it will be a nice smoking little pipe.

The dimensions of this little beauty are:
- Length: 5.64 in./ mm.
- Weight: 1.04 oz./ 29.50 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.64 in./ 41.66 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.52 in./ 38.61 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.69 in./ 17.5 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.19 in./ 30.23mm.
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 Excelsior Poker.
A Large Italian Oval Shank Billiard Restoration

April 11th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

Well, I have good news and bad news. Or maybe, it’s good news and good news. I have an Italian oval shank billiard, here. The bad news is that I can’t do much about the history of a pipe when the only stamp on it is “ITALY”. Now, if you find my histories or background sections annoying this is good news. The other good news is how well this pipe turned out. She is a very attractive no name.

The pipe came to me as part of an estate lot purchased in March of 2024. It was not the target of the lot. After looking over the pipes I found the shank shape very interesting. It was kind of an oval but with points on the ends and it was tapered from wide at the bowl to narrower at the stem. I thought that it was more like a Canadian shape but Canadian shanks are not tapered. The grain of the briar looked pretty uninteresting, at first glance, and there were no identifying markings so, it went back into the box of future projects. Several weeks later I was looking through the box again and the stem drew me back to the pipe. Here is what I was seeing:

Just another old pipe, right? But that shank was cool. I thought, “wait, there is some interesting grain under the grime and crappy stain. This old girl will clean up nice.” Well, spoiler alert – A contrast stain would really show off the grain. Yeah, the stem was a mess, she was dirty, there were pits to fill, and who knows what lies under that lava covered rim?

The Restoration

As usual a clean denim piece was added to the workbench. I knew this piece of denim was not going to look clean for very long.

I began with the stem. I figured that it was going to be in the Before and After Deoxidizing solution for several hours so, best to get it in there first. I sanded the worst of the oxidation and calcium from the stem with a 320 grit sanding sponge.

Yep, so much for the clean denim.

Next I cleaned out the inside of the stem with bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. Ignore the aluminum stinger soaking in the alcohol, that’s part of another project. After the cleaning the stem went into deox (my term for the Before and After Deoxidizing solution).

With the stem in deox, I turned to reaming the stummel. The pipe had a large diameter bowl and was drilled with a tapered tobacco chamber. This required using the PipNet with the #2, #3 and the Scotte reaming tools.

The reaming was finished with the General triangular scraper and sanded with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel. The tobacco chamber showed no signs of any heat damage. The rim on the other hand was still doing it’s impression of a Hawian island with it’s lava flows.

The lava was softened with saliva and scraped from the rim using a sharp pocket knife.

After the reaming and rim scraping the stummel was taken to the sink. Here it was scrubbed with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a medium stiff toothbrush. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton dish towel.

After the scrub, I sanded the stummelwith 320 and 400 grit sanding sponges searching for pits, dents and dings to fill.

Several were found a couple had to have the old fill or dirt picked from them. ALl were filled using brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust.

The next day, I returned to the deox tank. The stem had been soaking for 12-14 hours. I removed the stem and let the excess solution drip back into the jar.

The stem was then hand buffed with a coarse shop rag.

Returning to the workbench I started scrubbing the stem with Soft Scrub on make-up pads.

I progressed to using the Soft Scrub with the remnants of my Magic Eraser.

Once the pads started to provide a significantly less color change the step was coated with mineral oil and allowed to sit.

I thought that a contrast stain would allow the grain of the briar to be more apparent. I chose Dark Brown mixed with Black Fiebing’s Leather Dye. I mixed the brown to black at a 2:1 ratio. Prior to applying the dye I heated the stummel with the heat gun, shown below. The dye was applied with a folded pipe cleaner and flamed with the lighter. Two coats were applied and flamed.

Returning to the workbench, I dipped make-up pads into 95% ethyl alcohol and wiped the stummel. I wanted to get as much of the dye off of the stummel as possible.

Once the dye had been wiped from the stummel I started sanding the surface with a 320 sanding sponge. The sponge needed to be wiped off on the denim frequently to free it from the accumulated briar dust. Below shows the stummel ½ sanded illustrating the accentuation of the grain.

When finished with the 320 sanding sponge I sanded with a 400 sponge. Between the sandings I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad dipped in alcohol.

I wanted to sand the stem and the stummel together to avoid rounding the edges of each piece. This meant that I needed to finish the stem. I wiped the mineral oil from the stem and used a cotton swab dipped in alcohol to clean the oil from the area I would be working on. I used black CA to fill the tooth dents.

I applied the black CA into the dents and spritzed the stem with a CA drying accelerator.

The cured CA was then filed smooth with a flat needle file.

Additional coats of CA were added to further smooth and blend the repaired areas.

I prefer to work with several light coats rather than a single heavy coat of CA. Below the dark spots are areas where another application is needed to fill a depression.

Below is after filing and sanding to 400 grit.

The same process was done for the bottom side of the stem.

Once the stem had been sanded with the 600 grit sanding sponge the two pieces were reattached and the pipe was sanded together. The 1000-3500 sanding sponges were used in series with care not to sand the ITALY stamp. Between each sponge the stummel was wiped off with an alcohol moistened make-up pad. The stem had a bit of mineral oil rubbed inby fingertip and then wiped with a paper towel.

The pipe was then polished with a series of micro-mesh pads from 4000-12000. Between each pad the stummel was wiped off with an alcohol moistened make-up pad. The stem had a small drop of Obsidian Oil rubbed in by fingertip and then wiped with a paper towel.

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

20 minutes later the Restoration Balm was wiped from the stummel using an inside-out athletic sock.

The final step of the restoration was to apply several coats of carnauba wax to the pipe using a buffer.

This lovely Italian oval shank billiard may not have a stamp indicating a maker and will thus be considered a “less than” pipe but looking at the before and after photo below, I dare you to call her “less than”. She is more than average in quality of briar, workmanship and quality of finish. I am quite pleased at how well this billiard turned out. The stem had me a bit

worried but after the repair it polished up nicely. The Contrast stain did indeed make the briar grain shine. This old girl will be a grand smoker and will hopefully bring someone many years of enjoyment.

The dimensions of this little beauty are:
- Length: 5.50 in./ 139.7 mm.
- Weight: 1.34 oz./ 37.80 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.97 in./ 50.04 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.72 in./ 43.69 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: .82 in./ 20.83 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.47 in./ 37.39 mm.
I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Italian No Name Oval Shank Billiard.

Wow, I have to work on that button. The bright light makes it look oxidized.

By the way, here is the finished piece of denim.
A Dr. Grabow Duke Restoration

April 9th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

This is honestly more of a refinishing than a restoration. This little Dr. Grabow Duke had never been smoked. If you have read my blogs for a while you know that I do not like clear-coat finishes. Oh, and thank you for being a reader. If you are new here, thank you for stopping by and I don’t like clear-coat finishes.

I know many folks don’t think too highly of Dr. Grabow pipes. They have a reputation as mass produced, factory made, low quality and low price pipes. I can agree with all of those statements save the “low quality”. I view a good deal of the Quality of a pipe in the briar used and the finish applied. This pipe is a prime example. Though it is small the briar is a fine specimen. It has nice grain and I did not see a single fill. The finish of the pipe is another matter. I do not like clear-coat finishes. Hmm, have I said that before?

Allow me to show you some photos of the Dr. Grabow Duke prior to being worked on.

Now, this pipe was in fine condition. Never having been smoked helps in that and we could say that the finish on the pipe had not aged well. I would still say that may be true being bumped around in a drawer, unused may lead to some dents, dings and surface scratches. The fact remains that I do not like clear-coat finishes, scratched, aged, dented or dinged. Hmm, have I said that I don’t like clear-coat finishes?

Dr. Grabow Background

I have not blogged about Dr. Grabow pipe too extensively. Although my very first blog was about using a briar plug in the bottom of the bowl of a Dr Grabow Westbrook. Back on December 27, 2023 I wrote a blog about a Grand Duke and included the following links for those interested in reading more about Dr. Grabow pipes. I will include those links again here:

History:

Dr. Grabow Pipes: https://www.tobaccopipes.com/dr-grabow-history/#:~:text=The%20famous%20smoking%20pipe%20brand,US%20patent%20number%201.896%2C800.

Dr. Grabow on Pipedia:

https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Grabow

Dr. Grabow timeline, Pipedia:

https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Grabow_Pipe_History_Timeline

Current Dr. Grabow:

https://www.drgrabow.net

This pipe has no shape number. The only thing which I could find about the history on this specific pipe was a quote from the pipedia.org describing the Duke line, “DUKE (c1964?) — From 1964 to 1984 the “Little Duke” and the Lark were imported from Italy. Later made at Sparta to increase production at the facility.” (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Grabow_Models_(Series,Line)_Names_Through_the_Years)

The Restoration

As previously mentioned, this was far more of a refinishing project. I did start with a new denim piece and immediately tried to discern what solvent would be best for removing the clear-coat. Have I mentioned my dislike of clear coats? Anyway, the first contestant was 95% ethyl alcohol. Its two carbon chain did a fine job at removing the dust from the clear coat but accomplished little else.

The next contestant was acetone. This highly volatile beauty did a fine job at removing the clear finish and some of the underlying stain by the look of the make-up pad.

I decided that rather than me scrubbing with acetone dipped make-up pads I would just give the stummel a 30 minute dunk in the acetone jar.

This 30 minutes allowed me the time I needed to polish the stem. There was no need to use the sanding sponges since the stem was already looking near new. I ran through the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. Between each pad I applied a small drop of Obsidian Oil, rubbed it around with my finger tip then wiped the stem with a clean dry paper towel.

After 30 minutes the stummel was removed from the acetone. The finish was mostly gone.

I rubbed the stummel with a few acetone wetted make-up pads to be sure and folded over a piece of 400 sandpaper to clean out the beading grooves.

Being very careful not to sand the stamps I sanded the stummel with a 320 and 400 sanding sponge. My goal here was to remove the outer layer of darker stained briar while leaving the dark stain in the softer parts of the briar. In essence, using the existing stain as a contrast dye without me having to dye the stummel. I wiped the stummel between each sponge with an alcohol wetted make-up pad.

The stummel was then sanded with a series of sanding sponges from the 600-3500 grit sponges. Between each sponge I wiped the stummel with the alcohol wetted make-up sponge.

After the sanding, I used the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads in sequence. Between each pad I again wiped the stummel as with the sanding sponges. I failed to photograph this step. If you want a description, it looked like the previous photo only more shiny and with more colorful pads. The stummel was then coated with Before and After restoration Balm and allowed to sit for 30 minutes. I also failed to photograph the restoration balm. Geez, you just can’t get good help these days.

I wiped the balm from the stummel with the inside of a cotton athletic sock and reassembled the pipe. It was really looking good. All it needed was several coats of carnauba wax applied with the buffer.

This restoration, if you want to call it that, turned out very nicely. The clear coat was gone, replaced with the more natural beauty of the briar. The wood grain was allowed to show off it’s God given lines accentuated by the stain from the original manufacturing. Only now it was not hiding beneath all that despicable finish. The glossy black of the long stem building on classic lines of the pipe. This is a small pipe indicative of the times. I can imagine a worker taking a 10-15 minute break and relaxing with their pipe. The dimensions of this little beauty are:
- Length: 5.86 in./ 148.84 mm.
- Weight: 0.78 oz./ 22.11 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.45 in./ 36.83 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.15 in./ 29.21mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.63 in./ 16.00 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.18in./ 29.97 mm.
I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Dr Grabow Duke.