Photographed and written by
John M. Young
I have to admit to being smitten by this little darling when she arrived. She was not the target of my acquisition, more like an innocent bystander. The pipes I was after in that estate lot were the Senlars. If you are new to the blog I did three Senlar pipes in January. I’ll link them for you if you are interested: Senlar Canadian, another Senlar Canadian and a Senlar billiard. Anyway, this little bent sweetheart was so cute and had been smoked quite a bit. That indicates to me that she was a good smoking little pipe.
The stamping was crisp and clear and read, EXECUTIVE over IMPORTED BRIAR and she had an L stamped and painted on the saddle stem. My mind was eagerly thinking, “How difficult could it possibly be to research a pipe with that distinctive set of stamps?” Well mind, you got me into another situation with high hopes only to be dashed by reality.
Here is all I could find on the information highway.
Notice even the little flag symbol in the upper right corner is empty. My father frequently said, “when all else fails, read the instructions.” That old quote made me think to check Steve Laug’s rebornpipes.com blogs. His instructions on restoring pipes are amazing as are the vast number of pipes he has restored over the past dozen years. I searched his restorations for “Executive”. Well, heck, if he hasn’t done one then they are indeed a rarity. Any speculative nonsense that I could come up with would be just that – speculative nonsense. If you have any information regarding this brand please feel free, no feel obligated to share it in the comments (wink).
On to the restoration. The pipe looked to be in quite good condition. Below are the photos I took prior to doing any work.
Other than the stem fitting very tightly, there were only normal issues: The rim was lava encrusted, the bowl was caked and the stem was oxidized. There were no severe bite marks or tooth chatter on the stem and the cake only seemed to be in the middle section of the bowl with little at the top or bottom. The previous owner must have come up with a unique way of smoking a pipe and only smoked the tobacco in the middle of the bowl. Okay, I thought that was funny.
I started with a clean piece of denim on the work surface. I figured that I would need to have this stem in the Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer solution for a minimum of 4 hours. So, I started prepping the stem for the deox (that’s my play on detoxification – detox).
The preparation included rubbing the stem with 0000 steel wool to clear off the worst of the surface oxidation and the calcium deposits around the button.
Next I wanted to clean out the air way to keep that tar and yuck (the technical term for smoking residue) from the deoxidizing solution. I first tried an alcohol dipped bristle pipe cleaner. I could only get it about ½ inch or 1cm into the tenon end of the stem. I tried a non-bristle pipe cleaner with about the same result.
I retrieved the Falcon Extra Thin pipe cleaners. I dipped one into the 95% ethyl alcohol and worked it through the airway. Success!
Several Extra Thin cleaners later the stem was ready for deox.
I inserted a pipe cleaner into the tenon end of the stem to act as a hanger for suspending the stem in the deoxidizing. I was hopeful that the stamped logo would survive the process.
Time of entry was 13:00. I had a funeral visitation at 17:00 and some errands so by my return in the evening it should be ready.
In the meantime, I prepped the work surface for the reaming. I placed the white plastic surface, PipNet with the #2 & #3 blades, General triangular scraper (with the tip ground round), Smokingpipes Low Country knife, 220 sandpaper wrapped wood dowel and the 320 sandpaper wrapped Sharpie marker.
The PipNet with the #2 blade was a bit too small but it did a fine job at breaking up the cake and removing most of it.
The #3 blade was just a bit too large for the chamber so the knife and scraper were used to clean the chamber walls.
This was followed by the 220 sandpaper wrapped around the wood dowel and finally the 320 sandpaper. The photo below is after the 220 and shows there is still some sanding work to be done on the lower and bottom of the tobacco chamber.
With the tobacco chamber reamed, I turned to the rim. I moistened the lava with saliva and scraped it with a sharp pocket knife. This is a slow process that requires care and patience.
After the scraping I took the stummel to the sink for a scrub with Murphy’s Oil Soap. The soap was used undiluted and scrubbed with a medium bristle toothbrush. When finished the stummel was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel. At this point I poured approximately 3 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the bowl and holding my thumb over the rim and finger over the mortise, I let the alcohol flow through the interior of the pipe. The hydrophilic nature of 95% ethyl alcohol will pull water from the briar putting it in solution with the alcohol as well as soften the yuck in the shank. I used a nylon shank brush to scrub the airway. I poured the alcohol into a medicine cup. By looking at the color of the alcohol I could gauge how dirty the airway was – not too bad.
Returning to the workbench I wetted a make-up pad with 95% ethyl alcohol and wiped off the stummel. The pad came back with some color. I wasn’t sure if this was from a clear coat or just old wax. The pipe did appear to have a varnish-like coating originally but the dull/flat briar indicated that it had been mostly removed.
I decided to err on the side of certainty and scrubbed the carved areas with a brass brush dipped in the 95% ethyl alcohol. This removed a bit more color from the briar and cleaned up the rusticated areas better.
Once again I neglected to photo the cleaning of the shank. I think this is a subconscious effort by my damaged brain to avoid remembering the tasks which I do not enjoy as much. I assure you that the shank airway was cleaned and the world now has fewer clean cotton swabs and pipe cleaners.
With the stummel exterior and interior cleaned, it was now ready for some sanding. I taped the stamp with painters tape for its protection and began with a light sanding with the 600 sanding sponge followed by an alcohol wipe. I was looking for pits that would need to be filled. I did find a couple but in looking at them and thinking about it, I decided to leave them alone. I thought they actually added to the rustic look of the pipe.
I sanded the smooth areas of the stummel with the sanding sponges in sequence from the 1000-3500 sponges. Between each sponge I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad moistened with alcohol.
Once finished with the sanding sponges, I used the micro-mesh pads 4000-12000 in sequence again, wiping the stummel with an alcohol dipped make-up pad between micro-mesh pads.
The stummel then received a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm applied by finger then rubbed into the rustications with a baby toothbrush.
It was time to head into town and allow the Restoration Balm and the Deoxidizing solution to do what they do. It was 21:00 when I finally returned to the patiently waiting pipe parts. I removed the stem from the deox solution, letting most of the solution drip off. I like to use a coarse shop rag for the initial wiping off of the excess deoxidizing solution. It helps absorb and abrade the oxidized material from the stem.
Here is the stem freshly wiped off. Notice the white German Shepherd hair, she photobombs me even when she is upstairs.
YAY! The logo survived intact.
I used a couple more Falcon Extra This pipe cleaners to clear out the airway of any remaining deox solution then a third to apply mineral oil to the airway. I applied a liberal coat of mineral oil to the stem as well. The oil was allowed to sit and soak in overnight.
The next morning I returned to the workbench and started to finish the Executive. I wiped the oil from the stem and scrubbed it with Soft Scrub on make-up pads. The pads came back with oxidized vulcanite. Most of the color that you can see on the photo below was from the step-up of the saddle. The stem itself was pretty oxidation free. Once finished I reapplied mineral oil.
I then wiped the remaining Restoration Balm from the stummel. Normally, I do not let the balm sit overnight. It had dried to a consistency of refrigerated butter and took a bit more effort to rub off. I used the inside of an athletic sock for the hand-buffing and wiping of the stummel. It looked very nice.
I reinserted the stem and taped the shank stamps and stem logo with painters tape in preparation of the stem sanding.
To repaint the stem logo, I removed the tape and used a cotton swab dipped in alcohol to remove any oil. I used Pure White acrylic model paint on a detail paint brush to apply the paint to the stamped logo. This paint dries quickly. Once dried I used the 2600 micro-mesh pad to lightly scrub the white paint from the area above the logo.
The stem was then micro-meshed with the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. In between each pad I applied a drop of Obsidian Oil with my finger tip and wiped the stem with a paper towel.
The stem was then polished with Before and After Fine Polish applied by fingertip and hand buffed with a soft cotton cloth.
This was then followed by polishing the stem with Before and After Extra Fine Polish applied by finger tip and hand buffed with a soft cotton cloth.
The final steps were to use the buffer to apply several coats of carnauba wax to the pipe. I tried to avoid the rustications while applying the wax and just focus on the smooth areas.
Overall this pipe turned out very nicely. I love the shape. I think if I had to give it a name, I’d call it a bent pot or maybe a bent squat tomato. Either way, it feels great in the hand. I am sure it will be a fine smoking pipe especially for English blends with it’s nice wide bowl. The greatest disappointment is that the “BRIAR” from the IMPORTED BRIAR stamp, which was very light from the start, has seemed to evaporate. The briar grain is lovely and set off nicely by the rustications and the black vulcanite. The surviving stem logo with new paint looks great and will hopefully lead to additional information on the maker of this old darling. Again, if anyone has any thoughts or ideas of the provenance of this pipe, please leave it in the comments. I do hope that you have found something here useful. If you enjoy this sort of thing, please like and subscribe. I thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.
Below are some photos of the finished Executive (whatever it is).
NebraskaPeteGeek 