Photographed and written by
John M. Young
Geometry, design and art are not things that I have ever been trained in. Sure, I took an art history class in college and loved it but that could have been just for the nude women. I was 19 years old after all and in 1985 the internet was not a source of said nudies. Back to the aesthetics of pipes; panel shapes with their flats and curves draw me to them. I cannot explain why, perhaps it is like they are providing some order to the chaos of fire and smoke or, maybe they just look cool. Whatever the case may be, this panel caught my eye and the stamped name on the shank made me laugh. SMOKES STOGIES SNUFF AND STUFF. I made several assumptions here; the stamp referred to a tobacconist shop, the “SMOKES” referred to cigarettes, the “STOGIES” to cigars, “SNUFF” the nasal variety not the films and “STUFF” the catchall category. I definitely wanted to visit that shop as I am a snuff taker/pipe smoker who has not seen snuff in a brick and mortar establishment in more years than I can remember. I am not sure where this pipe came from. It was most likely part of an estate lot. My record keeping is poor at best and the secretary continues to not come to work. This is probably due to the fact that I’ve never hired one. The below photos are of the Smokes Stogies Snuff and Stuff pipe prior to working on it.
So many issues. The glaring ones are; the cloudy clear coat, oxidized stem, hole in stem and the tobacco still in the bowl. Well one of those will be easy to fix.
Whew, that’s a relief.
Background
I think it is safe to say that Smokes Stogies Snuff and Stuff is not the original maker of this pipe. A quick internet search did not produce the tobacco shop that I had imagined. I envisioned a castle-like structure with old world charm nestled in the historic section of an old New England town. Then I found this matchbook. Anchorage Alaska! That completely edited imagined scene. Now I envisioned rustic sea-side tobacconist along a wharf with a fleet of fishing boats moored. Instead of a wooden cigar-store Indian statue there was a haggard sea captain with a pipe, wooden leg and a harpoon in hand. Oh, the vivid mental images were running wild.
Alas there matey, little could be found of this tobacco shop. Fortunately there were the names of the proprietors on the mathbook – Mike Plipton and Wades Osborne. There was also the address. Hmm, Penney’s Mall didn’t sound like it fit my wharf scene and a search 412 W. 6th Avenue, Penney’s Mall Anchorage Alaska 99501 completely ruined my imagined scene. The below photo is of the Anchorage JCPenney. Not a fishing boat to be seen.
The search continued. Next I tried the proprietor’s names. Mike Plimpton’s name led me to the following obituary:
(Michael Charles Plimpton (1945-2003) – Find a Grave Memorial)
I could find nothing on Wade Osborne.
I then searched out Anchorage tobacco shops currently in business, hoping to find someone who knew of or about Smokes Stogies Snuff & Stuff or the proprietors. One of the shops that I contacted, via their website, was G&P Fine Tobaccos Limited (https://gptobacco.com/). I received the following email reply:
“Our shop started in the late 60’s and we know of this shop.
It was a small shop in the JC Penney’s mall in the mid 80’s and was very short lived according to our shop oracle (who starting working our group of shops in the early 80’s).
They were in business for about 2 years and abruptly closed
Ill let you know if he remembers more. Ill be meeting with him again soon
Best regards,” (personal communication, email)
A second avenue of research led me to the Alaska Pipe Club Facebook page. I posted an inquiry and a few photos of this pipe and asked if any group members had additional information. I received a few replies from kind and knowledgeable Alaskans.
One of the most helpful replies was:
From G&P / Tobacco Cache this morning: Our retired guys chimed in this morning with some history. It was a shop that formed in the mid 80’s in the penny’s mall. They recall it being in business for a couple years aprox 2- years then it abruptly closed. Hurriedly for some reason that no one recalls. No records exist on it aside from advertisements such as the match covers. Nice find. Always cool to discover shop stamped pipes. We have collected a few from the earliest Tobacco Cache and Pipe and Pouch FAIRBANKS, but haven’t seen much other. Happy collecting.” (Facebook, Alaska Pipe Club group chat)
Well, the approximate date of the pipe seemed quite certain now who made it was inquisition. Unfortunately, there was no shape number stamped on the pipe. I had restored a Telford’s Canadian pipe earlier this year. Telford’s is a tobacco shop outside of San Francisco, California. In talking to the Owner, he told me that the pipe I was restoring was made by Comoy’s and stamped by them for sale in his shop. I started looking at Comoy’s shapes for a panel billiard with a square stem. According to pipedia.org Comoy’s did produce such a pipe but there was no photograph or image to confirm the exact shape or the number of panels.
(Comoy’s Shape Number Chart – Pipedia)
Next I searched GBD. The GBD 9486 was a nearly exact match to the Smokes Stogies Snuff & Stuff pipe.
(GBD Shapes/Numbers – Pipedia)
I posted my proposed manufacturer in the Alaska Pipe Club group and received the comment that Kaywoodie also made a very similar panel shape. The reply is below:
John M. Young it certainly looks like a GBD. I collect GBD’s and love them. Panels are super rare to fine. Also note that Kaywoodie made panels like that (identical shape) as well as GBD
I searched the Kaywoodie shapes and found a match from their 1968-69 catalog. Kaywoodie No. 44 Octagon Apple did appear to have the correct shape but it lacked the saddle stem and did not list the square shank.
Based on my limited searching I think it is a fairly safe assumption that the Smokes Stogies Snuff & Stuff pipe was produced by GBD in the mid 1980s.
The Restoration
As usual the pipe received a clean denim piece as a work surface.
I cleaned out the stem which surprisingly, was quite clean. 95% ethyl alcohol and bristle pipe cleaners were used and the stem was lightly sanded to remove the surface oxidation.
Next, a pipe cleaner was inserted into the tenon to act as a hanger for the stem as it was submerged into Before and After Extra Strength Deoxidizer.
The stem in the solution for 3 hours.
I hoped that the clear coat on the stummel was a shellac which would be easily removed with 95% ethyl alcohol. I tested this with alcohol on a make-up pad. It was not. This was not surprising since the pipe was of a more recent make. Though being lazy, I had hoped.
The reaming tools were assembled: Kleen-Reem, Smokingpipes Low Country reaming knife, General triangular scraper and a wood dowel wrapped with 220 sandpaper.
The Kleen-Reem did the majority of the work in removing the cake from the tobacco chamber. Minimal scraping was needed. I then sanded the interior to bare briar and saw no sign of any damage from heat to the chamber.
The stummel was scrubbed with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a medium stiff toothbrush. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton dish towel.
Since the clear coat was not soluble with alcohol I opted to soak the whole stummel in acetone to remove the finish.
The stummel wanted to float higher in the acetone than I like so an empty brass pistol cartridge (brass band doner) was used to weigh it down.
30 minutes later the stummel was removed and wiped with a make-up pad wetted with acetone. The finish had been removed but so had a good deal of the Smokes Stogies Snuff & Stuff stamp. I have found that some manufacturers will stamp on top of the clear coat rather than stamping the briar then applying the clear coat. This is more often done on lesser quality pipes. In these cases removal of the finish will also remove the stamping.
While the yuck, also known as smoking residue, was still soft from the acetone bath, I worked on removing it from the shank. This was done with a nylon shank brush, cotton swabs, bristle pipe cleaners and 95% ethyl alcohol.
The stem was removed from the Deoxidizer (deox) and allowed to drip the excess solution back into the jar. The not yet patented Deoxidizer Drip-O-Matic consists of the pipe cleaner hanger wedged into the lid of a taller bottle.
After dripping, the stem was vigorously rubbed with a coarse shop rage to absorb the remaining solution and to abbrade some of the loosened oxidation.
Below you can see the oxidation that was removed with the shop rag.
The stem was looking much better though slightly pitted by losing the oxidized rubber.
I then used several make-up pads with Soft Scrub cleanser to further rid the stem of oxidized rubber.
The stem was reattached to the stummel to preserve the joint where the two pieces meet. I then lightly sanded with a 400 and 600 grit sanding sponge. This prepared the stem for the rebuilding of material lost to tooth/biting damage.
I roughened the area that was to be rebuilt with 80 grit sandpaper.
A piece of a plastic lid was cut to act as a dam to stop the black cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) from building up in the airway. The plastic dam was wrapped in several coats of cheap Scotch tape to add to its thickness. The good 3M tape does not work as well as the cheap stuff at resisting the CA and the CA drying accelerator used to speed the curing of the CA.
With the dam inserted into the mouthpiece, black CA was layered onto the button area. This CA was then spritzed with a drying accelerator. Several thin coats are preferred over one thick coating as the accelerator does not penetrate into a thick layer.
Below, you can see how the deeper dents were filled before the area was covered.
The new CA patch was then filed, smoothing the surface. Sanding sponges further smooth and remove the lines from filing.
The shiny spots on the photo below indicate places where additional CA needed to be applied and material built up.
This process was repeated until the damage was no longer obvious.
I wanted to give the stummel a little bit of a contrast stain to bring out the briar grain.
The stummel was pre-heated with a heat gun to open the pores of the briar. A duct-tape wrapped fishing bobber was inserted into the tobacco chamber to keep dye from entering. Most folks use a wine bottle cork for this but I’ve found that not drinking severely limits the availability of wine bottle corks.
The black Fiebing’s Leather Dye was applied with a folded pipe cleaner and flamed with a lighter.
The stummel was then wiped with a paper towel to remove excess dye.
I then took the stummel to the buffer where the new black dye was buffed from the surface of the pipe with rouge compound. Below you can see one panel buffed. The dye penetrates the softer grained briar more than the harder grains. When buffed off this contrast accentuates the grain.
The stem and stummel were then sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 400-3500. Between each sponge the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad dipped in alcohol. The Stem was rubbed with mineral oil and wiped with a paper towel.
The pipe was then worked with micro-mesh pads 4000-12000. Between pads the stummel was wiped with a make-up pad dipped in alcohol. The Stem was rubbed with Obsidian Oil and wiped with a paper towel.
The stummel was given a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm and allowed to sit for 20 minutes.
The Restoration Balm was wiped from the stummel using an inside out athletic sock.
The pipe was then taken to the buffer where it was given several coats of carnauba wax. The final step was hand buffin the pipe with a microfiber polishing cloth to further raise the level of shine.
I would like to thank the folks at G&P Fine Tobacco Limited (https://gptobacco.com/) and the Alaska Pipe Club for assisting with the research for this restoration. If you are ever in Anchorage please pay G&P Fine Tobacco Limited a visit. I think this piece of tobacciana known as, Smokes Stogies Snuff & Stuff paneled, square shank, saddle stem billiard turned out quite well. I was sad to see the stamp not make it through the finish removal completely intact. It is still legible but not with ease. The stem reconstruction turned out well and the contrast dye looks very nice and accentuates the briar grain. The dimensions of this Smokes Stogies Snuff & Stuff paneled, square shank, saddle stem billiard are:
- Length: 5.53 in./ 140,46 mm.
- Weight: 1.53 oz./ 43.70g.
- Bowl Height: 2.09 in./ 53.09 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.60 in./ 40.64 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.73 in./ 18.54 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.41 in./ 35.81 mm.
I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.
Below are some photos of the finished Smokes Stogies Snuff & Stuff paneled, square shank, saddle stem billiard.
NebraskaPeteGeek 