Tag: buffing

A Vox Pop Superb Briar Air Conditioned Zulu Restoration

February 22nd, 2024

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

It is time for the final addition to the Penn Tobacco Company coupon pipe collection. Let’s start with the name of the pipe from the stapings. This is a VOX POP over SUPERB BRIAR on the left and AIR CONDITIONED on the right. There is no shape number. I turned to the internet for the definition of Vox Pop. According to the Cambridge Dictionary; “the opinions of people recorded talking informally in public places” and, “a broadcast for radio or television in which people going past in a public place are asked their opinion on a particular subject”. (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/vox-pop)

In other words, the person on the street interview. When this pipe was made, I’m guessing late 1940s-50s, radio was a much more important media for information. Don’t tell the Librarian but, I used Wikipedia for this next quote: “Vox Pop was a popular radio program of interviews, quizzes and human-interest features, sometimes titled Sidewalk Interviews (1936) and Voice of the People (the name is from the Latin “Vox Populi”, meaning “Voice of the People”). It was heard from the early 1930s to the late 1940s.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vox_Pop_%28radio%29). That actually helps confirm the date of this pipe and provides more meaning of the name. The Air Conditioned stamp refers to the carburetor feature of this pipe.

I am not certain of the name of this pipe shape. Henry Leonard and Thomas Inc. actually manufactured this pipe and the three other pipe lines for Penn Tobacco Company’s promotional pipes. The pipes were available to customers of Penn Pipe tobaccos such as

one of their largest selling brands, Kentucky Club pipe tobacco. According to https: //www.tobaccoreviews.com/:

“Original Kentucky Club pipe mixture. The label on the tin reads as follows: “White Burley – recognized as a better tobacco since 1867 – makes Kentucky Club the smooth, mild, satisfying pipe smoking brand with the grand aroma. An aromatic that you, and the family too, will enjoy. “Kentucky Club’s White Burley blend never tires your taste. Its delightful flavor, enjoyable taste, satisfying mildness, and grand aroma give you the greatest enjoyment in pipe smoking.”

Notes: Kentucky Club was introduced in 1934 by Penn Tobacco Company of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. In 1943 The Bloch Bros. Tobacco Co. of Wheeling, West Virginia bought the company. In 1969 it was purchased by general cigar. In the late 80’s it was purchased by John Middleton Inc. of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, where it was last blended.” (https://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/1171/john-middleton-inc-kentucky-club/?pagenumber=2&orderBy=tr.UpVotes)

The association of Penn Tobacco Company and Henry Leonard and Thomas Inc. (HLT) was a marketing venture where both companies benefited; pipe smokers needed both tobacco and pipes. Vox Pop was a brand of pipes only available as a pipe from Penn via the coupons included in packages of pipe tobacco. Penn produced the tobacco while HTL produced the pipes for Penn. Pilehil.eu explains this and three other lines of pipes below.

Brand of the Penn Tobacco Company formed in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania in 1901 by Russell Uhl († 1914) and Henry Weigand († 1942). Bruce Peters was a Treasurer of the company.

There were four pipes in the line offered by the company: the Bruce Peters (top of the line), the Silver Mac Duff, the Vox Pop, and the Broadcaster. The pipes were manufactured for Penn by Henry Leonard & Thomas, manufacturers of Dr. Grabow pre-smoked pipes.

(http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b8.html#brucepeters)

Back to the shape of this pipe, I originally wanted to call it a Dublin but it did not have the flared rim characteristic of a Dublin. Then I thought to call it a Zulu, which fits the forward cant of the bowl but this stem is straight and the shank is round, not oval. I then looked at the Dr Grabow shapes from 1960 flyers. I wanted to find a match and give this pipe shape a name. Nope, it couldn’t be that easy. Below are two shape charts from pipedia.org. The Dublin shapes, from the chart on the right, have a slight forward cant but it is slight.

That is a cant of less than 10 degrees. The Dr Grabow 65 Quarter Bent Oval Shank from the left chart has an angle of about 12.5 degrees. My computer protractor skills are still in development.

The Vox Pop has angles that match very close to the Dr Grabow 65 shape without the oval shank of the quarter bent stem. Now, this could be explained as this pipe does not have its original stem but I do not feel that I can refer to it as a Quarter Bent with no bend.

Here is the Executive decision: This is a Vox Pop Superb Briar Air Conditioned Zulu. Or, if you want to be crazy, you can call it a Zublin. I won’t tell anyone.

The blogs of the previously restored Broadcaster, Bruce Peters and Silver Mac Duff also have historical information and commentary. I added links with the names to their respective restorations. Feel free to peruse them all.

This Vox Pop was purchased as a lone pipe from an eBay seller. Upon arrival I photographed the pipe before doing any work to it.

The Vox Pop was a wonderfully dirty, well used pipe that appeared to have some very pretty briar hiding beneath 70 years worth of grime. I interpret a well used pipe as a good smoking pipe.

The first step was to prep the work surface with a clean piece of denim. Next was to call forth the plastic reaming surface and the reaming tools.

That included the Scotte stainless steel reamer, Smokingpipes Low Country knife, General triangular scraper, 220 sandpaper wrapped wood dowel and the 320 sandpaper wrapped Sharpie marker. If you are wondering why there was no PipNet its because my #1 blade broke. Apparently the translucent plastic PipNets are not nearly as tough as their older opaque versions.

The reaming liberated the cake from the briar. Scraping with the knife and scraper got down closer to the briar then the sanding exposed the briar. There was no sign of any heat damage to the interior of the tobacco chamber.

There was a thick deposit of lava on the rim from years of use and/or many bowls of tobacco. I moistened this with saliva.and scraped it with a sharp pocket knife.

Here you can see the rim ½ scraped with the scrapings wiped on the paper towel. Ew, gross.

Below the rim is all scraped.

After the rim was scraped I took the stummel to the sink. Here I scrubbed the stummel with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a medium stiff toothbrush. After the scrub the stummel was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel.

I returned to the workbench and examined the stummel for the finish that survived the scrub. There were several shiney areas. You can see the shank-bowl junction was shiney.

The front of the bowl had some shine as evident in the next two photos.

I rubbed the stummel with a make-up pad moistened with 95% ethyl alcohol to see if that would remove the finish. It did but there remained some stubborn areas.

I then tried acetone on a make-up pad. That removed the remaining finish revealing the briar grain and a couple spots to fill.

I do not know what happened during the airway cleaning of the shank and the stem. I can tell you that I did clean them but I failed to take any photos of the process. The only thing I can think happened was that I was pretty engrossed with watching the final couple of episodes of the Netflix Medici series. I know that is no excuse. One other thing, if you have watched Medici and Yellowstone, do you agree with me that they are really the same show? I mean, Lorenzo Medici saves the bank & family from nefarious villains in nearly every episode just as John Dutton saves the ranch & family from nefarious villains. I guess it is just a story telling formula that works.

To protect the stamps from the ravashes of sanding I cut strips of painters tape and covered the stampings.

Next I lightly sanded the area to be filled with the 400 sanding sponge. I let the sponge retain the dust from the sanding. The pits received a small drop of brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) applied with a fly tying bodkin. Before the CA set-up I sanded the area with the dusty sanding sponge. THe dust on the sponge combined with the CA to fill the pitted areas. This technique works best for small fills and will require a second application if the pit is larger or deeper.

The stummel was then sanded with the series of sanding sponges from 400-3500. Between each sponge I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol to remove any sanding debris. The tape was removed after the final sanding sponge.

After the sanding I used the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads in sequence. In between each pad I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad moistened with alcohol, as with the sanding sponges.

The last treatment for the stummel was to receive a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm. This was allowed to do the magic that it does for about 20 minutes.

I turned my attention to the stem. It was in pretty good shape and appeared to only have surface oxidation and calcium deposits. I opted to sand the vulcanite with the 600 sanding sponge to see if the oxidation was deeper than it first appeared.

The stem looked pretty good but I wanted to make sure there was no oxidation present so I applied Soft Scrub to a make-up pad and started scrubbing the stem. The Soft Scrub removed a good deal of additional oxidation. After the Soft Scrub scrubbing the stem was given a coating of mineral oil and allowed to soak for 30 minutes.

In the meantime I used an inside-out athletic sock to wipe away the remaining Restoration Balm, revealing some very pretty grained briar.

I then wrapped the shank in painters tape and inserted the stem. I did not want to round the edges of the stem at the stem-shank joint.

The stem was sanded with the series of sanding sponges from 1000-3500 grit. Between each sponge I applied mineral oil to the stem with my fingertip and wiped off the stem with a paper towel.

After the sanding sponges, I used the micro-mesh pads in sequence from 4000-12000. In between each pad I applied a drop of Obsidian Oil, rubbed that in with my finger tip and wiped the stem with a paper towel.

The stem looked good but all of the airway cleaning had a stem loosening effect that I was not happy with. Yeah, I know – the undocumented airway cleaning. I said I was sorry. Jeez. Anyway, it might have been tightened up by just smoking it but then I would have to clean it all again, probably without documenting it. If this were a pipe I was planning to keep I would be inclined to apply a little bit of molten beeswax to the tenon and tighten it that way. Since this pipe will hopefully find a new steward I wanted a more permanent solution. I used a short bristle paint brush known as a “dry brush” in figurine painting to apply a thin coating of black CA to the tenon. This is done carefully and allowed to dry without accelerant spritzing. Once dry the CA is micro-meshed smooth. The stem is inserted and checked for fit. If too loose another light coat of black CA can be applied. If the stem is too tight additional micro-meshing evenly around the tenon will adjust the fit. In this case a single light coat was all that was required. By the way, the CA will harden and make you think that you have destroyed your brush. Don’t worry, a soak in acetone dissolved the CA and returns the brush to near normal.

With the stem well fit I hand polished the stem with Before and After Fine Polish followed by their Extra Fine Polish. Both polishes were applied and buffed with a soft cotton cloth. Again no photos but here are the products in question:

I have to say that this pipe is probably my favorite of the four-pipe set from HT&L via the Penn Tobacco Company. The Zulu shape is just one of my all time favorites. The briar grain is pretty, the vulcanite polished up nicely and the aluminum spacer gives the pipe a little accent that I find endearing. I am glad that my compulsive personality led me to collecting and restoring each of the Penn pipes but seeing all four together is just a piece of history that can now be passed along to their next steward. I do hope that you found something here useful in restorations of your own or had some fun reading this. If you enjoy this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. I thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Vox Pop Superb Briar Air COnditioned Zulu( that is a mouthful) and photos of the four Penn Tobacco co. crew.

If you are interested in acquiring the set of four pipes please, feel free to mention it in the comments or contact me at scimansays1787@gmail.com.
A Silver Mac Duff Restoration

February 20th, 2024

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

My quest to restore an example of the four pipes from the Penn Tobacco Company coupons or certificates continues. I took on the quest when researching the history of a Broadcaster pipe (the link will take you to that restoration). Upon discovering that there were four total pipes named in these offers, I was intrigued. Intrigued to the point where I wanted to restore an example of each.

I will refer back to the Broadcaster restoration for a history of the Penn Tobacco Company and their pipe offers and include a shortened version here. There is an interesting summary on piphil.eu regarding the Bruce Peters line:

(http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b8.html#brucepeters)

The Broadcaster had come to me years ago as part of an estate lot. The second pipe was a Bruce Peters, restored and published last week. This Silver Mac Duff was discovered on eBay, offered as a lone pipe. I had been looking for over a month for a Silver Mac Duff and this was the first that I had seen. The photos on eBay were not bad but indicated what might be a serious problem. The below photos were taken by the seller as part of the description of the pipe.

I took screenshots of the photos and circled the area of concern. A dark spot over an area in briar can indicate a charring of the interior of the tobacco chamber. This can be caused by the tobacco actually burning the briar. Typically caused by the smoker smoking the tobacco too fast or by smoking in windy conditions. I messaged the seller, showed him the screenshots with circles and asked if they could provide additional photos. They were kind enough to do so. The newer photos did not completely erase my fears but helped lessen them enough to purchase the Silver Mac Duff.

The pipe arrived within short order and appeared in the condition shown in the following photographs.

I had the first and arguably the most important part of the restoration accomplished – getting the pipe to restore. Put kindly, the pipe was in rough shape. It was dirty, dented, dinged, worn and oxidized. I was happy.

Normally, my restorations begin with laying down a clean piece of denim as a surface to work on. Check. They also do not usually begin with a stem that is this badly oxidized.

Sidenote: I take the before and after photos of the pipes with my Nikon. The camera sends the photos taken to my phone. The phone camera is used for the photos during the restoration. I tell you this because this is how I can recall the order of operations with a restoration. When writing the restoration I refer back to the phone for the sequence of events. So, no you know, even if you don’t care.

I figured that this one would have to soak in the Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer for at least 4 hours.

Before the stem would get its bath, it had to have a little pre-treatment with a rubdown with 0000 steel wool. A pipe cleaner was inserted into the stem to act as a hanger for suspending the stem in the solution.

With the stem safely submerged I turned my attention to the reaming of the tobacco chamber. The reaming tools were assembled: The PipNet with #3 blades, the Smokingpipes knife, General triangular scraper, 220 sandpaper wrapped dowel and 320 sandpaper wrapped Sharpie.

The PipNet took center stage and did most of the work. This pipe had a large chamber with most of the cake deposited on the upper half.

After the PipNet the scrapers were used to clean off the lower part of the chamber then the interior was sanded to bare briar with the 220 followed by the 320 sandpapers. There was no sign of any heat damage to the chamber.

This was a great relief referring back to that dark spot on the front of the bowl. Below is my photo of the left side of the stummel. There is a dark area but it was not associated with any charring damage from within the tobacco chamber.

Next, the rim was scraped using a sharp pocket knife on the lava. Yeah, I know it sounds gross but I moistened the lava with saliva before scraping.

After the scraping the stummel was taken to the sink and scrubbed with Murphy’s Oil Soap. The Murphy’s was used undiluted and the scrubbing done with a medium stiff toothbrush. The Murphy’s was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel. At this point I poured about 4 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the bowl and let it flow into the shank. I used a nylon shank brush to scrub the airway full of alcohol. I then poured the alcohol into a medicine cup. I can get a pretty good idea of how dirty a shank is by gauging the color of the alcohol in the cup. This one was dark indicating a lot of scrubbing would be required.

The counter, next to the sink, is where I top a rim if topping is required. This rim definitely needed some topping to remove the damage from dottle knocking.

I would have had to remove several millimeters or ⅛ inch from the rim to remove the damage. Instead I opted for a topping and to bevel the outer rim edge.

I used a funnel with sandpaper glued to the interior. The funnel established the angle. I then used a flat needle file and further funnel sanding to bevel the rim.

On to the shank scrubbing. I started with scraping as much yuck (the highly technical term for smoking residue) from the shank with a dental scraper. I then poured about 3-4 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the tobacco chamber. This was allowed to flow into the shank but not out. I then held the stummel at an angle and scrubbed with the nylon shank brush and alcohol. After a bit of scrubbing I’d pour the alcohol into the medicine cup and either scrape or use a cotton swab to check on the yuck removal. This was repeated several times, replacing the alcohol when it got fully yuckified (another highly technical term for something which has been exposed to large amounts of smoking residue).

I must have gotten bored with all the scrubbing and decided to work on the stummel. According to the order of photos on the phone, I then polished the silver then taped over it. Perhaps I was curious to see the condition of the briar after the Murphy’s scrub.

After taping the stamp and silver, I lightly sanded the stummel with the 400 and 600 grit sanding sponges. I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad dipped in alcohol to remove the sanding dust/sinish. I discovered a couple of spots that I filled using cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue). I placed a small drop of the CA into the pit and used the dusty sanding sponge to provide the briar dust to the fill. You can see the red stain originally used on this pipe.

Without any more interruptions, I returned to the airway scrubbing. This is not my favorite part of restoring a pipe and I have been known to seek a distraction or two. Eventually the alcohol and the cotton swabs were returning lighter colored. Oh yeah, I also used a small piece of paper towel rolled around a round needle file dipped in the alcohol to scrub the airway. That’s what you see in the below photo on the right, below the shank brush.

Several more rotations of alcohol scrubs followed by cotton swabs later the airway was cleaned. And in the process the alcohol completely removed my carefully placed tape. Like I said, seeking distractions.

More tape and the sanding of the stummel was carried out. I used the sanding sponges in sequence from 1000-3500. Between each sponge I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol.

When finished with the sanding sponges I used the micro-mesh pads 4000-12000. Again between pads I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol. I am not sure what that dark spot is in the center of the stummel below. There was no pit there and it does not show on any other photo.

The next step in the restoration of the stummel was to give it a liberal coating of Before and After Restoration Balm. The balm was allowed to soak into the briar for about an hour.

An hour later the Restoration Balm was wiped off using the inside of an athletic sock. If you do not have an athletic sock covered in white German Shepherd hair, don’t worry. I am sure that an athletic sock without white German Shepherd hair would work equally as well.

Another sidenote: Thank you to all of you readers who have told me that they prefer the black background for my before and after photos. I now know exactly who does not have a white German Shepherd living in their homes.

The stummel was pretty much finished but I still needed to let the stem soak for a couple more hours. I suppose I should go make some dinner.

Finally the four hours were up. I returned to the stem, still soaking in the Before and After Deoxidizer. I removed the stem and let the solution drip off for a few minutes. While I cleaned up the workbench and retrieved the rough shop rag I like for wiping the deoxidizer from stems. This first photo shows the stem still wet with solution. The dark smudge to the left was from this stem when it first hit the rag. I rubbed the remaining solution off with quite a bit of force. I was trying to wipe off the solution and abbrade away as much of the oxidized rubber as possible.

Below you can see the stem after the solution has been rubbed off and a couple of pipe cleaners passed through to remove the solution from the airway. It is looking much better and black though you can see the dents from teeth and small pits left by the removal of the oxidized rubber.

Here is another shot showing the rough surface of the stem after the solution. I chose to use Soft Scrub of make-up pads to see how much more of the oxidized material was still present.

The answer, a lot. The good news was that the oxidized material was quite soft from the deoxidizer solution so this brown matter came off easily. Afterwards I oiled the stem with mineral oil and allowed it to soak in.

With fresh vulcanite, I used a cotton swab dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol to remove the oil from the area I needed to fill with black CA. I placed a small drop onto the dent and spritzed it with a CA drying accelerant. This makes the CA set-up within seconds.

I filed the dried CA smooth and applied a larger spot of black CA to the area. This time I spread the drop out to about ⅛ inch diameter or 4-5 mm. I spritzed it again with the accelerant. This area was again filed smooth then sanded with the 400 sanding sponge followed by the 600 sanding sponge. Below you can still see the larger CA area sanded.

From there, I sanded the stem with a series of sanding sponges from 1000-3500. Between each sponge I wiped the stem with mineral oil on my finger and wiped it with a dry paper towel. The stem had been reinserted into the stummel to avoid any rounding of the joint edges of the stem or the stummel. The stummel was also taped to protect the silver.

I failed to take a picture of the stem with micro-mesh pads. Let the record show that the stem was indeed micro-meshed with the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. Between each pad I applied a drop of Obsidian Oil, rubbed that in with my finger and wiped the stem with a paper towel. The final steps of polishing the stem were with the Before and After Fine and Extra Fine Polish. These polishes were applied and hand buffed with a soft cotton rag.

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

This restoration brought me one pipe closer to the goal of having a restored example of each Penn Tobacco Company coupon pipe. The Broadcaster, Bruce Peters and now Silver Mac Duff could be checked off of the list. The final pipe arrived during the restoration of the Silver Mac Duff and will be the subject of the next restoration blog. Overall I am very pleased at how well this pipe turned out. It was rather rough looking at first. The grain is lovely with almost contrast stained features. The vulcanite polished very nicely and has that black luster that really makes the briar grain stand out beautifully. The accenting of the whole pipe with the broad silver band is like the icing on the cake. I do hope that you found something here useful. If you enjoy this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe. I thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Silver Mac Duff, a name that continues to make me smile every time I type it.
A Custombilt Original 699

February 16th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

It has been said that ignorance is bliss. With that in mind let me say that in regards to Custombilt pipes, I am a blissful ignoramus. I can look at a pipe and say, “that is a Custombilt style pipe.” I also know that the company was started prior to World War II by Tracy Mincer. Oh, and this Custombilt in the photo above doesn’t look like a typical Custonbilt. That is about all I really know about Custombilt. You ask, “Then why did you go out of your way and buy that pipe?” I reply: “Good question. Because it looks cool and I wanted to restore a Custombilt. Preferably one that I could afford.”

Returning to ignorance for a moment. As a high school teacher, I frequently needed to intercede in social conflicts usually between young males. Inevitably, one of the two verbal combatants was “stupid” according to the other. This often provided a learning experience for both youngsters. I would say something like, “Roberto, Stupid means that someone is unable to learn. Now, we both know Kyle has learned some things, like how to annoy you. Stupid is not the term you need. I think you want to say ignorant. This means that Kyle does not know something. Maybe you can teach him what he doesn’t know.” Eyes would roll, sometimes even loud enough to hear, and I’d usually have to clarify with something easier to remember: “if stupid and ignorant were diseases then you can cure ignorant but, you are going to die with stupid.” That would usually get a smile or chuckle. My day was made if I could get one eyeroll that was loud enough to hear.

One thing I do give myself credit for is my ability to talk to just about anyone and my ability to learn new things. Given, these new learnings may be quickly forgotten but relearning comes far easier than initial learning. I love reading about history. Pipe history, Natural History, Archeology, Geologic History, they all interest me. When I get to learn something new for a reason other than my own selfish interests it makes it even more enjoyable. So, thank you reader, for giving me an excuse to go down the Custombilt rabbit hole and cure my own ignorance. Even if it is only temporarily.

The amount of information available on Custombilt pipe is pretty amazing. Rather than giving you a history of the company, I have chosen to provide several links which I think will provide some of the history of the company and their pipes.

Typically, my first starting point for information about a brand is pipedia.org.
1. (Custom-Bilt – Pipedia).
2. There is a book written on their history: THE CUSTOM-BILT PIPE STORY, by William E. Unger, Jr., Ph.D. (circa 2001). The book appears to be self published by the author and a search of the book will lead you to a review written by Rich Esserman (http://naspc.org/Archives/esserman.htm). The review is good and has several quotes from Unger’s original. If one goes to pipedia.org and searches “Custombilt”, the search will yield the above review and a second review:
3. “THE CUSTOM-BILT STORY: A Review By Tony Soderman” (Custom-Bilt – Pipedia). At the end of the pipedia.org Custombilt entry there is a link for ordering the book. Unfortunately the link takes you here:
An eBay search for the original Unger signed book and a Custombilt pipe was recently available:

(RARE “As Individual As a Thumbprint” Unger Signed Copy & Custombilt Bulldog Pipe | eBay). Yikes! is all I have to say about that.
1. The next link is a wordpress.com site that does a very nice job showing many examples of photographs of Custombilt stampings and pipes organized by “eras” of the company. (https://pipesrevival.com/).
2. The final link is to a blog post by Paresh Deshpande. This post: “Restoring a Wally Frank Era Custombilt Sitter #633”, appeared on Steve Laug’s rebornpipes.com site and shows a restoration of a pipe with very similar carvings to the subject of this Custombilt Original 699 restoration. (https://rebornpipes.com/2018/07/20/restoring-a-wally-frank-era-custombilt-sitter-633/)
The Custombilt Original 699, subject of this restoration, just arrived last week. I saw it while searching for 1940’s and 50’s brands of pipes. The photos indicated a large pipe as to be expected from a Custombilt. Oh wait, I guess I did know something else about Custombilts, they’re big. When I opened the box and unwrapped the 699, I was a bit taken aback. It was really big. The next observation was at how nice the briar grain looked. That’s not supposed to happen. I mean, the whole reason for the Custombilt carving is to mask the unsightly appearance of Algerian Briar. Wow, there’s another thing I knew about Custombilts, they were made from Algerian briar. I guess I knew more than I thought I did. The stampings said I had a Custombilt over ORIGINAL on the left shank and 699 on the right. Here is what the pipe looked like prior to any work being done

Notice that I didn’t show any photos of the tenon. That is because it was stuck. I could twist it about 90 degrees and move it off the mortise a few millimeters then it was really stuck. I sprayed some olive oil cooking spray into the gap and on the tenon. Allowed it to soak for about 30 seconds and resumed my twist-pull. That is all it needed. It was still cold from being outside but the oil was the secret sauce to free up the stem.

After the photos I took the 699 to the workbench. The pipe was worthy of a clean denim piece to protect both it and the work surface.

The reaming tools were gathered: The PipNet with #3 blade, Smokingpipes knife, General triangular scraper, 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel and 320 sandpaper wrapped around a Sharpie. The small amount of cake was mostly removed with the knife and scraper. THe PipeNet #3 blade was a bit too small and the #4 too large. This pipe had either been smoked rarely or reamed recently. The cleaning of the shank would certainly solve that question.

I apparently did not feel the need to photograph the minimal amounts of cake removed by the reaming. Trust me, it was quite uneventful and minimal. The next task was cleaning the rim. The lava was mainly on the sides and back surface. I moistened the rim with saliva and started carefully scraping with a sharp pocket knife. After the scraping I remoistened and rubbed the rim with a Scotch-brite pad.

Below you can see the lava wipings from the knife and the corner of the Scotch-brite pad.

After the Scotch-brite pad the rim was wiped with a make-up pad wetted with 99% isopropyl alcohol.

Next I decided to clean out the airway in the shank. This was quite clean and answered the previous question about the pipe being rarely smoked or recently cleaned. I think this pipe had only been smoked a handful of times.

The internals were cleaned now it was time for the exterior. I took the stummel to the sink. I used Murphy’s Oil Soap undiluted and a medium bristle toothbrush to scrub the outside of the stummel. This was rinsed with warm water and then the stummel was dried with a cotton dish towel. Upon returning to the workbench I vigorously rubbed the surface with a make-up pad wetted with 95% ethyl alcohol. The pad showed that it removed something from the briar.

I repeated the rubbing with a fresh make-up pad wetted with acetone. There appeared to be some sort of clear finish on the rim.

Subsequent rubbing with the solvents did not produce the removal of more finish.

The stem showed signs of oxidation. I feared that this would be the most difficult part of this restoration. The cleaning of the airway of the stem was done with bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol and was uneventful.

I lightly sanded the entire stem with the 400 and 600 sanding sponges. I then placed it into a container with a solution of Oxy-clean and water. I let the stem soak for 2 hours.

During the 2 hours, I started sanding the stummel with the 400 and 600 sanding sponges. I wiped the stummel off with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol. I could only see two small pits that I thought required filling. They were both on the rim. With a rim this large and smooth I did not want anything to detract from the smooth surface. I used a fly tying bodkin to apply small drops of brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) to the pits. I then dipped my finger into my container of briar dust, getting a little dust stuck to my finger tip, and pressed it onto the CA filled pit. This was repeated for the second pit. The CA set-up quickly and was sanded smooth using the sanding sponges.

The sanding continued with the 1000-3500 sanding sponges in sequence. Between each sponge I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad dipped in alcohol. I was very careful to avoid the stamps and the edge of the mortise.

The stummel then was micro-meshed with the 4000-12000 pads. Between each pad the stummel was again wiped down with a make-up pad moistened with alcohol.

The stem was then slathered with Before and After Restoration Balm by finger tip and baby toothbrush.

After about 30 minutes I wiped the remaining balm from the stummel using the inside of an athletic sock. It was really looking good.

Before working on the stem, I wrapped the shank in a bit of painters tape to protect it from the Soft Scrub and the sanding of the stem. I wanted it attached as it gave me more to hold on to. I retrieved the stem from the Oxy-clean bath, dried it off with paper towels and started scrubbing with Soft Scrub on a make-up pad. The oxidation just kept coming off the stem. Several make-up pads later it was looking much better. The area immediately ahead of the tenon still had some light brown rather than black. I upped my efforts with the remaining scraps of a Magic Eraser and Soft Scrub. That seemed to do the trick. Below you can see some of the make-up pads and a mineral oiled stem.

The tape didn’t stick too well to the freshly balmed shank so another strip of painter tape was applied before I sanded the stem. The sanding was done with the 1000-3500 sanding sponges. Between each sponge I rubbed in a drop of mineral oil with my fingers and wiped it off with a paper towel. After the sanding came the micro-meshing. Micro-mesh pads 4000-12000

were used in sequence. Between each pad rubbed in a drop of Obsidian Oil with my fingers and wiped it off with a paper towel.

The last few tasks remained and the finish line was quickly approaching. I polished the stem with Before and After Fine Polish with a soft cotton cloth and repeated that polishing with the Extra Fine Polish.

All that remained was the carnauba waxing with the buffer.

I would describe this Custombilt Original 669 as a large bent apple shape. It has been strange for me writing the latter half of this blog as I smoke the pipe. I don’t often smoke a restoration while typing up the restoration. By the way, it smokes very well, cool, dry and for the first few puffs the flavor of spice that I have only gotten before from a newly reamed Marxman pipe. I am very pleased with how this Custombilt turned out. I have a new appreciation for the brand. Given this pipe is not as1934-1940s original Tracy Mincer Custom-bilt (if you read the history you will get the hyphen, there) but it is a lovely old pipe. I do hope that you have found something useful here. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe. I thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Custombilt Original 699.
A Kaywoodie HandMade Restoration

February 14th, 2024

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

If I were a betting man, I believe it would be a fairly safe bet to say that many pipe smokers had either a Dr Graybow or a Kaywoodie as one of their first pipes. Kaywoodie has a long and colorful history dating back to their origins, “Kaywoodie name first appearing in February of 1919.” (Kaywoodie History – Greywoodie LLC) The history of Kaywoodie pipes is fortunately well documented thus, allowing rather precise dates for a Kaywoodie collector to declare the provenance of their charges. The above pictured Kaywoodie is stamped HANDMADE over KAYWOODIE (left) and IMPORTED BRIAR (right). No shape number is present.

Using this information and referring to the Kaywoodie Collectors’ Guide listed on pipedia.org I found that these pipes were made during the following years:

“Handmade-Oversize-Carved 1947-1955 on and off” (https://pipedia.org/images/3/3d/Kaywoodie_Pipe_Names.pdf) and that

“The Oversize Kaywoodies were, as the name implies, “Giants”. Lowndes notes that these pipes were stamped simply, “Hand-Made”. The pipes were all roughly “bulldogish” in appearance and were available in the following styles and grades7 : • Hand-carved “Colossus” ($10) • Walnut finish, banded “Hercules” ($20) • Hand-carved “John Henry” ($10) • Virgin finish, specimen grain “Paul Bunyan” • ($25)Virgin finish, banded specimen grain “Goliath” • ($25)Walnut finish “Atlas” • ($20)Hand-carved, Meerschaum-Inlaid “Samson” ($15)” (Kaywoodie Collector’s Guide – p10.pdf)

Looking into the stampings, I went to piphil.eu for confirmation. ThereI was able to find an exact match of this pipe’s stampings.

(Kaywoodie series from L to Z — Pipes : Logos & Markings (pipephil.eu))

Well, that was easy. This large Kaywoodie Hand Made, though not very “bulldogish” was most likely made between 1947 and 1955 at the West New York, New Jersey factory. If you would like to see the 1947 Kaywoodie catalog here is a link: Kaywoodie_1947.pdf (pipedia.org). It is a fascinating read with great old marketing photos and illustrations. Just out of curiosity I wondered what $10 in 1947 was equivalent to today. According to a bis.gov inflation calculator it is $131.09 (Using Dec. 1947 and Dec. 2023)(CPI Inflation Calculator (bls.gov)). I highly recommend reading the above links for further Kaywoodie history.

Before we get to the restoration let’s take a look at how the pipe appeared before I did any work to it and compare it to a more normal size Kaywoodie.

Just kidding. That is actually a mini pipe. Here is a real comparison using a Kaywoodie author. And yes, the Hand Made in those last two photos is the finished version.

Now we can do the restoration part. Normally I begin with a clean denim piece to work on then get out the white plastic reaming surface and do the reaming. This time I did start with the denim but started scraping the shank and the tenon on the white plastic rather than reaming.

As you can see, quite a bit of tar/smoking residue was removed. After this I addressed the tobacco chamber. The tools were the PipNet with #3 blades, Smokingpipes knife, General triangular scraper, 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel and 320 sandpaper wrapped around a Sharpie marker.

The PipNet did the majority of the work. Although the chamber did not look heavily caked the bowl was so large that the cake that was there left a large pile. After the PipNet the knife and scraper were used followed by the sanding with 220 then 320 to get to bare briar. The tobacco chamber looked good and free of any heat damage.

The next task was to clean the exterior of the stummel. I took it to the sink and scrubbed the stummel with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a medium bristle toothbrush. This was repeated two times. I spent extra time scrubbing the rim and the rusticated surfaces couldn’t be scraped to

free them from lava. I was not happy with the way the lava was being removed with the toothbrush so I used a brass brush to further scrub the rim. The Murphy’s was rinsed off with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton dish towel. I then poured about 5 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the bowl. I allowed the alcohol to flow into the shank but not pour out. I then used a nylon shank brush to scrub the airway of the shank. After the scrubbing I poured the alcohol into a medicine cup. The alcohol was dark brown. I applied a drop of Dawn dish soap to the shank brush and scrubbed the airway again with soap and water. The soap lather was dark gray. The soap was rinsed and scrubbed while rinsing. to rid the airway of all the soap. Fresh alcohol was poured into the bowl and I again scrubbed the airway with the shank brush and alcohol. This time the alcohol was much lighter when poured into the medicine cup.

I returned to the workbench. I wetted a make-up pad with 95% ethyl alcohol and wiped the exterior of the stummel. The carved groves still looked like they had some of the years of accumulated dirt and grime ground into them. I then dipped a baby toothbrush into the alcohol and scrubbed the stummel with that. The carvings had ridges that ran perpendicular to the grooves. I matched the scrubbing of the toothbrush to the ridges and

scrubbed them with alcohol. After the scrub I again wiped the surface with an alcohol wetting make-up pad. The stummel exterior was cleaned.

The exterior of the stummel was looking good. Now to deal with the airway. I was hoping that the scraping, alcohol scrub and the soap scrub would make cleaning the airway a bit easier. I was right, it did. Now, that is not to say that I didn’t have to do a couple more alcohol nylon brush scrubs. I did and many cotton swabs as well but all the scraping and previous scrubbing had made my life a bit easier. Eventually the airway was clean.

I was pleased at how stummel had cleaned-up with the accumulated dirt gone. The rim still did not look good. Below are photos of the scrubbed stummel and rim.

I was not pleased with the charring of the rim. I would normally rub Vaseline on the rim and scrape this with a sharp knife to remove the charred briar. The rustication prevented this. New plan, soak the rim in Murphy’s oil soap for an hour then try scrubbing it again. I had no idea if it would work but I thought I remembered reading about a German Facebook buddy doing it with a pipe. I found a wider medicine cup and poured in a few millimeters of Murphy’s Oil Soap.

While waiting for the Murphy’s to do or not do something, I started the initial sanding of the stem. I used the 400, 600 and 1000 sanding sponges to remove the tooth chatter, scratches and oxidation from the stem. I then used Soft Scrub on a make-up pad to vigorously rub the stem. This worked brilliantly. The Soft Scrub removed all signs of oxidation and left a beautifully black stem behind. The stem was then coated with mineral oil and let to sit and absorb oil.

Although it had only been about 15 minutes, I couldn’t wait to see if the Murphy’s was doing anything to the charred briar. I lifted it up and used the baby toothbrush to scrub the rim. The soap darkened with charred wood. Wow, this is actually doing something! Sascha Mertens, the Facebook pipe restoration buddy from Germany, comes through again. Thank you Sascha!

I placed the stummel back into the soap and waited another 15 minutes. Fortunately Netflix and Lorenzo Medici kept me from tampering with the stummel. 15 minutes and another baby toothbrush scrub and more of the char seemed to be gone. Well let’s see what evil plots Lorenzo can nullify in a half hour. 30 minutes later and saving the Medici Bank from usurpers, miscreants and maybe some alien vampires at least 10 times, Lorenzo and I were victorious. He, at saving the bank and Medici family and me at removing most of the char from the Kaywoodie.

Okay, it wasn’t all gone but a little sanding with a wooden ball and 220 to give the rim a bevel and…

Who knows what kind of magic will happen?

I could live with that.

The sanding of the stummel went fairly quickly as I only had to work on the smooth sections. I used the 400 and 600 sanding sponges lightly and wiped with an alcohol wetted make-up pad. I was looking for sand pits that might require filling. I found a few all in one smooth section. Unfortunately I did not photograph this step but, you can see the fills as dark spots on these before and after shots of the right side. The pits were filled using

Cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) dabbed into the pit. I then placed a pinch of briar dust on top of the CA and pressed hard with my fingertip. The CA and briar dust set-up almost immediately. I then used a small flat needle file to smooth the fill and finished it with the 400 and 600 sanding sponge. I continued with the series of 1000-3500 sanding sponges. Between each sponge I wiped the stummel with an alcohol wetted make-up pad.

Once the stummel was sanded I moved on to micro-mesh the stummel. The 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads were used. Again, as with the sanding sponges, I wiped the stummel with an alcohol wetted make-up pad between pads.

At this point I applied a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm to the briar. I world the balm into the rustications with a baby toothbrush. The balm was allowed to sit for an hour.

After an hour, I applied additional Restoration Balm to areas of the stummel that appeared to have soaked-up the Restoration Balm and now looked dry. This was mainly on the rim. An additional 20 minutes was given to the stummel.

After 20 minutes, the remaining Restoration Balm was wiped away with the inside of an athletic sock. The terry cloth material was great at getting into the rough surfaces and wiping away the excess balm.

Back to the stem. I wanted the stem/shank joint to be nice and tight with no rounding of the edges. To manage this I wanted to sand the stem in place with the shank. I had avoided sanding the edge of the shank while sanding the stummel but that cannot be done with a stem and still look finished. I needed to protect the shank so wrapping it with painters tape was in order.

I worked the stem with the 1000-3500 sanding sponges in sequence. Between each sponge I rubbed the stem with mineral oil on my finger and wiped it with a paper towel. When finished with the sanding sponges I used the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads in sequence. Between each pad I rubbed in a drop of Obsidian Oil with my finger and wiped it with a paper towel. The final stem polishing was done with Before and After Fine Polish. This was applied with my finger and rubbed with a soft cotton rag. The Fine Polish was followed by Before and After Extra Fine Polish applied and rubbed the same way.

The last step to this restoration was to apply a couple of coats of carnauba wax using the buffer. I tried to only apply the carnauba to the flat surfaces. This meant that I could not apply the normal amount of pressure with the pipe to the buffing wheel. I did not want to get carnauba wax embedded into all of the grooves of the carvings. This made me go much slower and more carefully. It worked and looked great. I still felt like the grooves needed some kind of wood sealer or protector. I opted to use Renaissance Micro-crystalline Wax Polish. This is a wax that can leave white spots if it is allowed to

dry too thickly. I applied it with my finger tip, working it into the coarse grooves. While it was drying I buffed it with a shoe shine brush. The hairs of the brush smoothed and evened out the wax as it was drying. Like it says on the label “Apply sparingly with a soft cloth and buff gently. Dries hard instantly. Resists liquids spillage. Does not show finger marks”. I wanted the “dried hard” and “resists liquids” features. I also love the solvent based smell of it. When completely dry the smell is gone. I hand buffed the completely dried pipe with a microfiber polishing cloth.

I am very pleased at how well this Kaywoodie Hand Made pipe turned out. It feels good in hand with the grooves being smooth and comfortable. The smooth surfaces, separated by the carved grooves, come together nicely towards the shank. The briar grain, though not distinctive, is attractive. I am impressed with how well the stem polished-up it’s glossy black contrasts the medium browns of the stummel beautifully. This is a very large pipe weighing 2.7 ounces (76,5 g). It’s length is 6 in. (15.2mm), bowl height: 2.38 in. (60mm), chamber depth: 2 in. (50.8 mm), chamber diameter:.875 in. (22.2 mm), outside diameter (side-side): 1.63 in (41.4 mm), outside diameter (front-back): 1.75 in. (44.5mm).

I do hope that you have found something here useful. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. I thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Kaywoodie Hand Made.
A Dulwich Supreme Billiard Restoration

February 12th, 2024

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

The Dunwich Horror is one of H. P. Lovecraft’s best known works from 1928. The name of this pipe has little to nothing in common with that story other than sharing most of the letters in Dunwich. The Dulwich Supreme was far from an eldritch abomination of cosmic proportion and it most likely is more recent than 1928. Rather it appears to be a fine piece of briar with an intact meerschaum bowl and good quality vulcanite for a stem.

This pipe was part of an estate lot that contained the 3 Senlar pipes from earlier restorations (Senlar Canadian, A Second Senlar Canadian and Senlar Billiard). This pipe caught my eye with its light colored briar and forward

canted bowl, both features I find attractive. And, of course, the Lovecraft-esque name. I had restored several meerschaum lined pipes though not a favorite. I had kept a couple of them for use on windy days when I was working on an outdoor project. I considered the small bowl size as a detractor from frequent use. Although the cleaning with soap and water was always a feature that I liked.

Here is what I was looking at.

I failed to photograph the third stamp, along the bottom of the shank. They read, DULWICH over SUPREME (left), MADE IN over ENGLAND (right) and FINEST BRIAR over EXTRA and a shape number 127 (bottom). I could find very little information on Dulwich pipes. The information from pipedia.org is a single line, “|”'[[Dulwich]]”’||brand that often has Meerschaum lined bowls” (Search results for “Dulwich” – Pipedia). Pipehil.eu had nothing. I turned to Steve Laug’s rebornpipes blog and his extensive list of pipes that he had restored and found that he had restored 3 Dulwich pipes on two separate blog posts: Refurbishing a Dulwich Quaint Oom Paul 64 and A Rare Find – A Pair of Fieldcraft Dulwich Quaints. In both of Steve’s posts he too could find little information on the Dulwich brand. Also of note is that none of the three Dulwhich pipes that Steve restored had the meerschaum liner. With little information to go on and no idea of a date for this all I can do is make a guess – made in England in the 1970s.

After the initial photos were taken the Dulwich received a clean piece of denim at the workbench. I did not want to use the PipNet for reaming for fear of the torque that my massive forearms would deliver to the fragile meerschaum liner. Okay, that was an exaggeration although, I am pretty sure that my forearms do have some mass. In my previous restorations of meerschaum lined pipes I have found that the meerschaum is usually chipped, has breaks and/or missing pieces. This Dulwich was dirty but intact. I opted to only use scraping tools and sandpaper to ream the tobacco chamber.

The scraping went well and was followed by sanding with 320 sandpaper. The interior of the tobacco chamber felt smooth yet remained discolored. I feared being too aggressive with it and stopped sanding when the walls were smooth and cake free.

I cleaned the rim by gently scrubbing with Castille soap and a Scotch-brite type dish cleaning sponge. The lava on the rim came free with minimal scrubbing. The exterior of the Dunwich was scrubbed using Murphy’s Oil Soap undiluted and a medium bristle toothbrush. The soap was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel. After the scrubbing I wiped the surface of the briar with a make-up pad moistened with 95% ethyl alcohol. The pad showed some color as it removed some of the remaining finish from the stummel. I do not think that this briar was stained so the pad removed a bit of shellac or wax.

Next, I removed the stinger from the stem and placed it in a medicine cup with 99% isopropyl alcohol to soften the lacquer-like tar. As the stinger soaked I started sanding the stummel. There were numerous scratches, dents and dings on the surface of the stummel. I thought that most of these were minor and would sand out easily. I began with the 400 sanding sponge followed by a wipe from an alcohol wetted make-up pad. I was examining the stummel for pits that might need filling. I only found one. This was indeed “supreme” briar. The one small pit was treated by placing a small drop of thin

cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) in the pit and sanding over it with the 400 sanding sponge. The briar dust from the sponge combined with the CA in the pit to make a barely noticeable fill. I continued sanding the stummel with the sequence of 1000-3500 sanding sponges. I did not tape over the stampings, rather was very careful to avoid them and the edge of the mortise.

With the stummel sanded I turned my attention to the stem. The tooth chatter looked far worse than it actually was. None of the bite marks were deep enough to require filling with black CA. the surface was scratched and there was oxidation on the surface. I sanded the stem with the 400 and 600 grit sanding sponges. I then placed the stem into a bath of Oxy-Clean and let it soak for an hour. After the soak I ran several pipe cleaners through the stem to clean it out. I then used Soft Scrub on a make-up pad to scrub the stem. The pad quickly became discolored with the oxidized vulcanite that the stem was shedding. The cleaning left the stem a nice black with no signs of brown. It was then coated with mineral oil and allowed to sit for another 30 minutes.

I used a piece of alcohol wetted 0000 steel wool to remove the tar from the stinger and inserted it back into the stem. I then taped the shank with painters tape and reinserted the stem into the stummel and sanded the stem with the 1000-3500 sanding sponges. Between each sponge I applied a drop of mineral oil with my fingertips and wiped with a paper towel.

The whole pipe was micro-meshed intact. I worked with the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads in series. Between each pad the stummel received a wipe with an alcohol dampened make-up pad while the stem received a drop of Obsidian Oil rubbed in by finger and wiped with a paper towel. After the micro-meshing the stem was further polished with Before and After Fine Polish followed by the Extra Fine Polish.

After the stem was polished the stummel was given a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm. I planned to allow it to sit for 30 minutes then wipe it off. When I checked on it after 15 minutes the briar had absorbed much of the balm and appeared dry in places. I then applied a second coating of the Restoration Balm and allowed it to sit an additional 30 minutes.

After the final 30 minutes, I wiped the remaining Restoration Balm from the stummel with the inside of an athletic sock.

All that remained was to apply a few coats of carnauba wax to the pipe with the buffer.

This was by far the best looking meerschaum lined pipe that I had ever worked on. It quite literally puts the others that I have to shame. The quality of the briar is very fine and after being waxed the briar looked fantastic. The vulcanite stem cleaned-up well and has a brilliant glossy black which accentuates the briar even more. This Dulwich is a fine looking pipe and I am sure it will be a great smoking pipe as well. I really like the forward cant of the bowl and how the white of the meerschaum peeks out at an observer from the front. This pipe is larger than any of my other meerschaum lined pipes which allows it to have a larger bowl capacity. I am very pleased by how this pipe turned out. I do hope that you have found something here useful. If you like this sort of thing please click the like and subscribe buttons. I thank for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Dulwich Supreme Billiard.
A Bruce Peters Dublin Restoration

February 9th, 2024

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

Back on January 20, 2024 I posted a blog about a Broadcaster Billiard. While researching the history of that little darling I discovered that it was what some call a coupon or certificate pipe. The term comes from an advertising method where a coupon or certificate for a new pipe was placed into the packaging of pipe tobacco. The buyer could fill out the coupon, include a check and order the pipe or in some cases accumulate enough coupons and turn them in for a new pipe. A wonderful marketing idea, especially for folks who considered a pipe as a consumable product like shoes. When they got too worn and dirty they just replaced it with a new one.

It turns out that one such tobacco company that pursued this technique was Penn Tobacco Company, Penn as in Pennsylvania. In the Broadcast er blog I wrote the following:

“The history of Broadcaster is actually the history of the Penn Tobacco Company and Henry Leonard and Thomas Inc. (HLT). Broadcaster was a brand of pipes only available as coupon pipe from Penn via the coupons included in packages of pipe tobacco. Penn produced the tobacco while HTL produced the pipes for Penn. Pilehil.eu explains this and three other lines of pipes below.

Brand of the Penn Tobacco Company formed in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania in 1901 by Russell Uhl († 1914) and Henry Weigand († 1942). Bruce Peters was a Treasurer of the company.

There were four pipes in the line offered by the company: the Bruce Peters (top of the line), the Silver Mac Duff, the Vox Pop, and the Broadcaster. The pipes were manufactured for Penn by Henry Leonard & Thomas, manufacturers of Dr. Grabow pre-smoked pipes.

(http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b8.html#brucepeters)”

If you are interested more in the history of the Penn Tobacco Company and my research into the history of the Broadcaster and subsequently this pipe, please take a look at the Broadcaster Restoration.

It turns out that Penn’s advertising genius caught another customer, me, far after their own company faded into history. I wanted to restore examples of those pipes. Through the wonders of the Internet and eBay, we can find these poor abused darlings and have them delivered to our door. Below is the listing of the Bruce Peters that I purchased from eBay.

Wait, not that one. Dang eBay searches, just when you think, “how can I go wrong with a name like “Bruce Peters”…

Yeah, that’s much better and more appropriate. A mere 9 days after purchasing the Bruce, as I called him, it arrived. Ole Bruce looked a bit rough. Here are the before photos.

I felt like a game show host. Read this next line in your best game show host voice. “Welcome to another episode of “What’s Under That Filth? America’s favorite game show where contestants wager a guess to see if there is beauty under the filthy grime of old pipes.” Hmm, I don’t think it will give The Price is Right any competition. Anyway, I thought that the Bruce might have some pretty grain under there. It was hard to tell, the stamps were barely visible, BRUCE PETERS on the left and BENCH MADE over IMPORTED BRIAR on the right. There was a thick lava deposit over the rim. I could also see rim damage from knocking the rim on various unforgiving surfaces. The stem looked like some prayers offered to the patron saint of desperate situations and lost causes, Saint Jude Thaddeus would be required. I’m not even Catholic, but any help removing the calcium deposits and oxidation is appreciated.

I took old Bruce to the workbench and against my better judgment, gave him a clean denim piece. You know he is just going to get it all dirty.

I usually start with the reaming. I assembled the reaming tools: PipNet withthe #2 blades (I would have used the #1 but it broke), The Scotte reaming tool, Smokingpipes knife, General triangular scraper, 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel and the 320 sandpaper wrapped Sharpie.

I started to ream the tobacco chamber with the PipNet but the cake was hard, dry and the opening was too constricted with cake. Scraping with the General opened the chamber enough to get the Scotte in. This was followed by the PipNet and more scraping. Eventually the sanding revealed briar in very good shape. No heat damage was seen.

I carefully scraped the rim with a sharp pocket knife. As expected there was damage to the front of the rim from repeatedly knocking the dottle from the pipe on various hard rough surfaces.

Next it was time to give Bruse a scrub. I used Murphy’s Oil Soap undiluted and a medium bristle toothbrush to scrub Bruce. This was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel. I then poured about 3-4 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the bowl, allowed it to flow into the shank and scrubbed the airway with a nylon shank brush. The alcohol was then poured into a medicine cup to judge how dirty the airway was. Dark brown = very dirty, light brown = not so bad and clear = a new pipe. This one was very dirty.

After the stummel dried I was impressed with the grain and decided that it was worthy of a set of post-scrub photos.

These last two show the dents and dings on the front of the rim. That is going to take some topping and sanding to reestablish the bevel of the rim.

I now believed the quote from above:

“the Bruce Peters (top of the line) … by Henry Leonard & Thomas, manufacturers of Dr. Grabow pre-smoked pipes.”

(http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b8.html#brucepeters).

The “top of the line” grain of this Bruce Peters was quite lovely.

Back to the cleaning. The shank was quite dirty, as should be expected after seeing that tobacco chamber. I did a series of 3-4 ml of alcohol into the bowl followed by scrubbing with the nylon shank brush, dump the alcohol in a medicine cup and check for color routines. After many of these the color of the scrub alcohol became lighter. The two photos below show a lightening of the alcohol in the medicine cup. Eventually the cotton swabs emerged clean.

I removed the stinger from the screw-in tenon and dropped it into the alcohol for a soak. While it was soaking I gave the stem an initial sanding with the 320, 400 and 600 sanding sponges to remove the calcium deposits and the worst of the oxidation. I oiled the stem with mineral oil and let it soak while I cleaned the internals. It too was dirty but cleaned out well with alcohol dipped bristle pipe cleaners. The alcohol soaked stinger was scrubbed with a 0000 steel wool dipped in the alcohol and gave up its tar varnish.

With the airways cleaned out it was time to start sanding the stummel. I began with the 600 sanding sponge followed by an alcohol dipped make-up pad wipe. I was trying to see any spots that would require filling. There were four small spots on the front of the stummel. I placed a small spot of thin cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) on each spot and sanded over it with the 600 sanding sponge. The briar dust from the sponge and the sanding combined with the CA and filled the small pits. The area was then sanded smooth.

The next area that needed restoration was the rim. The photo above also shows the damage that needed to be dealt with. For this I took the stummel to the counter where I had a sheet of 220 sandpaper laid flat. I sanded the rim in a circular pattern while turning it in my grip every 3 revolutions. I tried to sand the rim evenly without changing the shape of Bruce. Once I had sanded enough material to erase the damaged areas I had to reestablish the bevel of the rim. I did this with a 1 ½ inch rounded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe end-cap wrapped with 220 sandpaper. The below photo shows two of them, one with sandpaper and one without. The rounded end was ideal for the rim bevel.

I proceeded on to the 1000-3500 sanding sponges wiping the stummel with the alcohol wetted make-up pad between sponges. I was careful to avoid the areas immediately around the stampings.

Next I turned my attention to the stem. I’d already sanded it through the 1000 sanding sponge but there were a couple of dents on the underside that needed to be filled with black CA. I failed to photograph the process. I will describe it briefly. I used alcohol on a cotton swab to remove the oil from the dented area. I placed small drops of black CA onto the depressions then spritzed the area with CA drying accelerant. After the accelerant had evaporated the CA had hardened. I used a small needle file to smooth the drop and sanded with the 400 and 600 sanding sponges. I then applied additional black CA over the entire area in a smooth uniform coat. I again spritzed with the accelerant. This larger area was then filed smoothly. The larger area blends the black CA to the vulcanite better merging the two better than blending two individual spots.

The stem was then sanded with the 1000-3500 sanding sponges. Between each sponge I applied mineral oil to the stem then wiped the excess off with a paper towel.

I micromeshed the stummel separate from the stem. The micro-mesh pads were used in sequence from 4000-12000. I wiped the stummel with an alcohol dampened make-up pad between each pad.

The stem was returned to the pipe and I micromeshed the stem attached to the stummel for ease of holding. I allowed myself to micromesh the first few millimeters of the shank while doing the stem. Between each micro-mesh pad the stem received a coat of Obsidian Oil rubbed in and wiped with a paper towel.

This little beauty, wait, that sounds wrong for a pipe named Bruce. This handsome pipe was looking nearly ready. Bruce got a nice coating of Before and After Restoration Balm for the stummel and a coat of Obsidian Oil for the stem. They were allowed to soak or whatever they did for 30 minutes. After that they were wiped off with the inside of an athletic sock and by the power of terry-cloth they looked very good. The final step was to give the pipe several coats of carnauba wax with the buffer.

This brings the total to two of four Penn Tobacco Company coupon pipes restored. I don’t want to get your hopes up too much but, there is a Vox Pop pipe in route to southeast Nebraska as I type this. I think this Bruce Peters Dublin turned out very nicely. My curiosity of the coupon pipes had lessened but was far from cured. The grain of the Bruce Peters is a beautiful mix of bird’s eyes on the front, back and left side with more horizontal stripes on the right. The stem polished up very nicely with the glossy black accentuating the briar grain even more. I am not a big fan of metal screw-in tenons and their stingers but this aluminum ring doesn’t detract from the pipe’s looks. This pipe was a textbook example of a well used pipe just needing some restoration to change it back into the beauty that it was in 1950. The best part about a pipe that has been smoked as much as this one indicates that it is probably a very good smoking pipe. I do hope that you have found something here that fits your needs. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe. I thank you very much for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Bruce Peters Dublin.

And finally here are the Broadcaster and Bruce Peters patiently waiting for their Vox Pop sister to join the party.